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Igbo leaders launch Ojukwu’s dream today in Ahiara
From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha
As Igbo leaders converge on Ahiara, Imo State, the historic site of the famous declaration of the philosophy and vision of the failed state of Biafra on June 1, 1969. Ohanaeze President, General Chief Ralph Uwaechue articulates the new Igbo struggle anchored on the dreams of the late Biafran leader, Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
Below is the speech:
The Ahiara Declaration and Ndigbo
“Today, Monday January 16, 2012 in Ahiara, Imo State , we are commemorating an epochal event that marked the unflinching determination of Ndigbo to resist oppression and persecution unleashed on them in Nigeria . With the Ahiara declaration of 1st June 1969, the Igbo Military Leader Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu rallied Ndigbo behind a common cause – the struggle for their survival in dignity and security as an ethnic group.
The Biafran secession bid, aimed at securing that objective, failed militarily, but the spirit which propelled it remained in the minds of many, symbolized in the towering personality of Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. His enduring message to Ndigbo, now a most treasured legacy, is that they must always be courageous and united in their legitimate struggle for political and economic survival within the Nigerian nation.
In furtherance of the actualization of that unmistakable admonition and as an abiding tribute to this great Igbo leader, Ohanaeze Ndigbo following wide consultation, is launching a determined bid to fulfill Ojukwu’s cardinal dream – a Nigerian president from his home base, the South-East geopolitical zone.
Recent developments on the national scene have made it mandatory for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to step out promptly and nip in the bud, the incipient but potentially divisive controversy, involving some highly placed Igbo political office holders, vis-à-vis the position of Ndigbo on the vexed question of South-East presidency.
Six Zonal Structure
There is today ample evidence that Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations, have accepted the six zonal arrangements and not a Sudan-type, conflict-prone, bi-polar demarcation of North and South. This fact came clear in 2007, when the elective headship of the two key arms of government – the Executive and the Legislature emerged from North-West (President Umaru Yar’Adua) and North-Central (Gen. David Mark). At the same time the third arm of government – the Judiciary – was headed by Justice Legbo Kutigi also from North Central, although by existing convention, succession here has been by professional seniority.
Nobody, anywhere in the country, complained that the “South” was short-changed and deprived, simply because what the vast majority of Nigerians saw in the situation were two contiguous but separate zones, North-West and North-Central. They did not see a “North” having it all and the entire “South” going empty handed. For them our country has six geo-political zones, not two, vis-à-vis the distribution and rotation of key national offices.
At Independence in 1960, what our founding fathers settled for was a full-blown Federal Structure, with three Regions, East-North-West as the federating units of our nation.
They did not, in their wisdom, opt for two regions – North and South. All three regions were constitutionally equal in status. A fourth Region – the Midwest , was created by regular constitutional amendment in 1963. Alongside the subsequent creation of states by abrupt military fiat in 1967 and thereafter, the democratically conceived regional option remained very much alive and soon metamorphosed into the current six geo-political zonal arrangement. This equilibrated political zonal structural adjustment, now serving as the basis for the distribution and rotation of key national political offices, was informed by the glaring need to better accommodate the interests of our nation’s numerous ethnic groups, large or small.
The primacy of regional control over the federal in our country’s power equation was dramatically demonstrated by the choice of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the charismatic and powerful leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) to head the government in Kaduna as the regional premier and send his deputy Sir Abukakar Tafawa Balewa to head the Federal government as Prime Minister in Lagos. Thus, the national master plan adopted by our founding fathers at Independence was pure federalism. There was an agreed specific power sharing formula between the federal and regional governments.
For our recently recovered democratic dispensation to stabilize and endure, we should not perpetuate the autocratic military deviation from the unambiguous terms and intentions of this zonally based socio-political contract, which brought us together as a modern nation, without first of all properly consulting and securing the clear consent of the inheritors of that sacred agreement – the Nigerian people.
Those who are still preaching the antiquated, if not unpatriotic, North-South political doctrine with regards to power shift should stop to reflect on the fact that of the fifty-one years since Independence, the geographical area which they designate as the North has produced civilian and military rulers of Nigeria for some thirty-eight years, leaving in the process a most significant stamp on the crucial configuration of our State and Local Government structure. Although we admit that some of them, proved to be leaders of good polish and nationally acknowledged integrity, like Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and lately Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua.
The so-called South by contrast has so far clocked less than fourteen years in the presidential saddle. If therefore, the two-zone North-South concept were to prevail, and strict equity were to apply vis-à-vis power shift, when then is the South due to hand over the presidential baton? Is it after completing its own equalizing stint of thirty-eight years? Surely, in the interest of national cohesion and socio-political stability, we must recognize the fact that our country simply cannot progress steadily, to the desired benefit and comfort of all the component groups, while operating an unstable elastic zoning system, which either shrinks to two or expands to six as and when it suits the sectional interest of any part of this vast and variegated nation.
Igbos role in Independence
Igbo political role in Nigeria has been consistent in the pursuit of national unity and inter-ethnic cooperation. Under the leadership of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwwe, the Igbos played the role of bridge builders in the fledgling Nigerian nation. Zik, as he was fondly called, accepted the leadership of the legendary Yoruba political activist, Herbert Babington Macauley to form and direct the first truly significant national political party – National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC).
With respected and nationalist Yoruba leaders like Dr. Ibiyimka Olorun–Nimbe, the first and only Mayor of Lagos, Sir Odeleye Fadahunsi, the first national vice president of the NCNC and second indigenous Governor of Western Region, Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu, the lion of Ibadan politics, and others including Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Chief Mojeed Agbaje and Otumba T. O. S. Benson, the then Igbo leadership forged a political alliance which cut across ethnic boundaries. Such was the extent of their success that Zik was poised, after the regional election of 1951, but for a last minute hitch, to become the Premier of the Western Region, the home ground of the Yoruba nation.
The party which he led, NCNC and its allies won a majority of seats in the Western House of Assembly. Similarly, in the Eastern Region, the Igbo-dominated NCNC, true to its pan-Nigerian orientation and commitment, elected as the first mayor of Enugu metropolis, Mallam Umaru Altini, a moslem from Katsina, North West Nigeria.
Furthermore, in 1957 when the British colonial Government, under intense pressure from southern politicians pressing for Independence, attempted to uncouple the union between the North and the South forged through Lord Lugard’s Amalgamation of 1914, with the offer of Independence to the three Regions individually, provided any two accepted the offer, a political crisis loomed large on the national horizon. The Northern Region, led by the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) took the position that the North was not ready for that level of political and economic Independence . The Western Region, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) promptly declared its readiness to accept the offer. It was the Igbo-led NCNC that held the balance. It was an issue that could make or break Nigeria if the three Regions chose to go their separate ways to Independence.
The NCNC leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, took the stand that although the Eastern Region was ready to assume the responsibilities of Regional Independence, its attainment without the North would lead, in his own words, to the “Balkanization of the Nigerian Nation” and conceivably a break-up of the country. The Eastern Region would rather suppress its appetite for Independence and the obvious gains it would entail until the Northern Region was ready. That was how Nigerian Independence was delayed until 1960. In short, the Igbo–led Eastern Region would rather forgo the advancement of its own political and economic interests, than risk the break-up of Nigeria. Similarly, when Zik moved to the Federal scene as Governor-General and later titular President of Nigeria, the NCNC, under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Michael Okpara, continued faithfully.
Had the Eastern Region opted for Independence at that time, the territory under its control would have comprised in today’s terms the following nine states with their enormous human and natural resources: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu , Imo, and Rivers. It would also have included in all probability (as was the case with then Northern Cameroon, which became today’s Adamawa and Taraba States) what was then Southern Cameroon, with the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula well in the middle of a distinct, sovereign and Independent Eastern Nigeria. By 1960, the three Regions would have become separate sovereign states. There would have been no question of Biafra ’s attempted secession in 1967 from a non-existing Nigerian federation, nor indeed, the ferocious and devastating civil war fought to stop it.
The role of Ndigbo in socio-economic front
On the socio-economic front, the Igbos played and are still playing a leading role in the promotion of national integration. Today, there are several millions of Igbo people living, working and helping to develop significantly parts of Nigeria outside Igboland. They are in remote villages and towns nationwide. Be it our country’s commercial cities of Lagos or Kano , heavy Igbo presence attests to Igbo people’s belief and commitment to pan-Nigerian nationhood. For the Igbos, anywhere in Nigeria is home. Indeed, a few years ago, the former FCT Minister, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, was quoted as saying that Igbo investment in indigenous private property development in the Federal Capital Territory, accounted for some seventy percent of the existing structures. Clearly, the Igbos put their money where their heart is – Nigeria ’s centre of unity.
It is therefore clear that all this long, since the British colonial administration put together this vast country, the evident role of Igbo people in the political, economic and social history of Nigeria has been that of bridge builders and nation builders. The desperate resort to Biafran secession in 1967, following successive massacres and tearful exodus of Igbos from Northern Nigeria the previous year, and its subsisting residual echo in the emergence of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), are clearly an aberration, not an Igbo hallmark, emanating from a sudden sense of rejection and persecution of a people who have given their all, in spirit and material resources to the concept and construction of a truly united, prosperous Nigerian nation.
Cruel Irony
There is today therefore, the cruel and bewildering irony that a people who have done so much to keep Nigeria alive as one nation are being systematically denied their rightful “Federal Character” turn at producing a president for this country. The negotiation for Nigeria’s Independence from Great Britain, though with the strong support of the smaller ethnic units, was masterminded by the leadership of the three largest ethnic groups – Hausa/Fulani (Sir Ahmadu Bello); Igbo (Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe); Yoruba (Chief Obafemi Awolowo). Apart from the minorities who have been presidents of our country, two of these three bigger groups – Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba – have already had their turns of the presidential slot several times over.
How to balance the imbalance
To rectify this stark and totally unfair anomaly, virtually perpetuating the exclusion of our country’s largest ethnic group from its rightful share of political power at the centre, must now be clearly perceived and resolutely accepted as the priority task of the leadership of the Igbo nation in charting a new course for Ndigbo in the Nigerian polity. The attainment of this objective will restore the confidence of the Igbo nation, severely bruised by the civil war and its debilitating aftermath, both in itself as a people and in the Nigeria project, where it once held an indisputable pride of place.
Ndigbo, apart from their demographic weight are exceptionally resourceful as evidenced by their outstanding achievements in various fields of human endeavour both at home and abroad. Now is the time to put these impressive attributes to work and make the desired political impact at the national level, where team work is crucial for our collective success. Hence Ohanaeze Ndigbo, is putting great emphasis on uniting our people and guiding them towards a common political and economic agenda. The attainment of South-East presidency demands all hands on deck as it will not be handed over to Ndigbo on a platter of gold.
The increasing display of unity by South East Governors and other well-meaning Igbo sons and daughters in pursuit of a common political and economic agenda is a welcome step in this direction. The virtually unanimous Igbo support for President Jonathan at the elections of last April is an instructive evidence that our people are coming seriously together and can use their collective demographic weight to influence national affairs significantly. This is a healthy departure from the hitherto individualistic, rapacious and opportunistic approach prevalent amongst those struggling for political office in total disregard for collective legitimate Igbo interest at the national level.
How to achieve Igbo Presidency in 2015
In pursuit of the objective of South-East presidency in 2015, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has put forward a case and is canvassing for the rotation of the office of the president among the six geo-political zones of our country. The rallying cry for Igbo support for President Jonathan during the general elections of last April was clearly based on this particular premise. It was essentially support for a South–South presidential slot, with Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, already in the saddle at Aso Villa, as a lucky, credible and worthy beneficiary. This patriotic political Igbo gesture extended to the South-South zone in 2011 is characteristically consistent with the massive Igbo support similarly given to Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s South-West zone in 1999 cited earlier, with Chief Obasanjo triumphing over his kinsman Chief Falae, in a distinctly intra South-West presidential contest.
In line with this thinking of Ndigbo, all five governors of the South-East zone in an impressive and patriotic display of unity, irrespective of their different political party alignments, spoke with one voice and acted in unison in support of the South-South presidential candidate and selflessly abstained from the presidential and vice presidential contest. So did a good number of erstwhile South-East aspirants to the presidential seat equally abstain. So also did support for the South-South come from our respected traditional rulers, revered religious leaders of all denominations, major political stakeholders and the masses of the Igbo nation, who came out to register and support a South-South presidency at the election proper last April.
They all expect the South-East to have its turn in 2015.
President Goodluck Jonathan has publicly declared and emphatically assured our nation that he will not seek re-election at the end of his current tenure in 2015. To every politically conscious Nigerian, who believes in true and demonstrable federalism and wishes to see the strategic office of the president go round the various geo-political zones of our great country, this is the opportunity to complete the first round of zonal presidential representation, hence the South-East should take its rightful turn in 2015. Thereafter, and only thereafter, will it become fair and proper, if considered necessary, to change the extant rules of engagement, certainly not in the course of an on-going game.
By the time President Jonathan completes his tenure, South-East, the once hallowed political base of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, generally acknowledged as perhaps Nigeria’s foremost founding father, the placidly intrepid Dr. Akanu Ibiam, the indomitable Dr. Michael Okpara, the indefatigable Igbo Union leader, Chief Zacchaeus Obi and lately our legendary Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, all of blessed memory, now sticking out in unenviable political solitude, will distinctly remain the only zone that has not held the top-most executive office in our country since Independence in 1960.
Producing the next president by the South-East, a zone replete with outstandingly capable hands, is therefore, not a favour waiting to be granted, but a logically due and legitimate political right justly accruing to it within the Nigerian family in a true ‘federal character’ setting. Ndigbo worldwide fervently and fraternally urge all Nigerians and our various political parties to see the case of South East presidency in this equity-generated light.
Source: Sun, 16th January 2012.
Ahiara Declaration, 2015 & The Struggle For Igbo Emancipation
A colloquium on Ahiara declaration (January 16-17, 2012 ) formed one of the frontlines of activities to commemorate the life, times, tremendous courage and sacrifice of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the then Republic of Biafra which now comprises of South Eastern and South-Southern parts of Nigeria. Ahiara declaration made by Ojukwu on June 1, 1969, two years into the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-1970, has been described by analysts as masterpiece political and ideological testament in which a vision of a new society was articulated in the light of the contradictions that led to the civil war and near breakup of Nigeria. It was a moral boost to the Biafran/Igbo struggle.
As Igbo prepares for the burial of her illustrious and brave son and hero, Dim Emeka Ojukwu, it becomes pertinent, not only once, to recount the declaration of unity, focus and bravery which mark the Igbo spirit – declaration made by Eze Igbo Gburugburu himself. Below is a paper presentation by Chief Charles O. Okereke, Publisher - Nigeria Masterweb (www.nigeriamasterweb.com) at the Colloquium On Ahiara Declaration held January 16-17, 2012 in Ahiara, Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria – at the venue of the declaration by Ojukwu in 1969.
Ahiara Declaration, 2015 And The Struggle For Igbo Emancipation
By Chief Charles O. Okereke
( Paper Presentation At The Colloquium On Ahiara Declaration – January 16-17, 2012 )
Igbo Kwenu! Ohanaeze Kwenu! Ndigbo kwezuonu! Nke onye chiri, ya zara. Fathers, mothers, elders, brothers, sisters, ladies and gentlemen, I stand gratefully here today, in my humble self, to address a nation whom God has blessed with all blessings, a people bound in love, wisdom and unbreakable unity, and before great men and women whose desire for a better posterity is unmatched all over the world. I stand here today, the least of the brothers, first of all, to show my undiluted gratitude to Igbo who, even in the midst of great injustice and threat to slavery, especially in the 60s, came out en masse - leaving everything we held dear - our families, barns and business- to defend our generation against a common enemy - the spirit of genocide and annihilation – and to gain an eternal place for our people in a free world. Age, experience and ‘Nzuko Igbo” have taught me that the spirit of Igbo is one; indeed we are one and we cannot be anything else but united- no matter the height of our jubilations or the depth of our sorrows. Above all, I stand here before you, Ndi nwem, and before the God of all - our one and only king - to pour out my gratitude to God for His mercies to us all in our journey in Nigeria and in life. Although it’s been over forty (40) years since the Nigeria-Biafra (Igbo) war ended, you, my brothers and sisters, can still agree with me that, despite the continued unwritten law which militates against Igbo progress in Nigeria, through God, there still remain reasons to shout, once again, at the top of our voices: “Happy survival!”
On Tuesday, May 30, 1967, mandated by the elders and leaders of the old eastern region of Nigeria, late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, leading Ndigbo and other Biafrans, declared secession from Nigeria and announced the republic of Biafra. On June 1, 1969, two years on, and while the war was nearing its end as a result of many factors which have remained recited in different quarters, our leader, the true servant of our people, Emeka, delivered the speech known as “The Ahiara Declaration.” Not feigning non-cognizance of many opposing reasons as to why the declaration made by Ojukwu in Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria, was made, and having been taught by age, experience and the elders, I have arrived at this obvious and irrefutable truth: the Ahiara declaration was the spirit of Igbo, the spirit of unity, survival, freedom and progress. It was the spirit of manliness which stands, taller than all, even at the point of death. Picking from the words of the declaration, and I quote: “We have fought alone, we have fought with honor, we have fought in the highest traditions of Christian civilization. Yet, the very custodians of this civilization and our one-time mentors, are the very self-same monsters who have vowed to devour us;” it was abundantly clear that the intention of true Igbo leadership and the will of the spirit of Igbo remains one and only: to keep Igbo united through thick and thin- through injustice, hypocrisy, or in good times. The content of Ahiara declaration should, in no wise, be mistaken for weakness or a plea to those who never cared for anything besides their selfish interests and callous decisions. On reacting to external influences which militated and still militate against Igbo spirit in Nigeria, Ojukwu read: “Our struggle has far-reaching significance. It is the latest recrudescence in our time of the age-old struggle of the black man for his full stature as man. We are the latest victims of a wicked collusion between the three traditional scourges of the black man - racism, Arab-Muslim expansionism and white economic imperialism. Playing a subsidiary role is Bolshevik Russia seeking for a place in the African sun. Our struggle is a total and vehement rejection of all those evils which blighted Nigeria, evils which were bound to lead to the disintegration of that ill-fated federation. Our struggle is not a mere resistance - that would be purely negative. It is a positive commitment to build a healthy, dynamic and progressive state, such as would be the pride of black men the world over.”
Today, the very things spoken as in prophecy still stare us in the face, not one have bettered; if anything, the pains and cries have escalated. Which shall we accept amongst these three evils: racism (tribalism, anti-Igbo), Arab-Muslim expansionism, or white economic imperialism (which has always favored other Nigerians against the Igbo)? Do we accept any of these or do we maintain that Nigeria must rightly and urgently evolve to a healthy, dynamic and progressive state, such as would be the pride of black men the world over? In Ahiara declaration, more than making the world, once again, inexcusable for her silence and support for the genocide against Igbo, the intention was primarily and solely centered on reviving the Igbo spirit- the spirit on oneness and unity in the face of challenges and extinction threats. One surely cannot mistake the passion and depth of Ojukwu’s appeal to our people in the 60s to stand their ground for justice to the end as an act of surrendering or plea. The Igbo spirit does not surrender, no matter the circumstances. In Ojukwu’s words of encouragement and focus for our peace, and I quote “We must not flag. The tape is in sight. What we need now is a final burst of speed to breast the tape and secure the victory which will ensure for us, for all time, glory and honor, peace and progress,” I also implore and encourage us to stand up and for the Igbo course because victory - this time, not with just 28 rusty riffles, bare hands and wills to survive, but with democracy determined to take its course - is at hand and, indeed, the tape is in sight. It was the spirit of Igbo’s unity which the Ahiara declaration rekindled. This same spirit is what I call on us all, especially at this critical time of our seemingly choking life in Nigeria, to embrace and work with, for the safeguarding of our core values and raising a grateful posterity. “Onye ajuru anaghi aju onwe ya” is a wise Igbo saying which still stands true for the Igbo in Nigeria today; we can no longer answer the many strange names given us in Nigeria, we must, as a matter of urgency, retain our relevance and indispensability in the polity of this country.
Although the war officially ended on January 15, 1970, it’s no longer a secret that the very things which precipitated and necessitated Igbo secession have remained, nonetheless, in their multiplied dimensions. Today, Igbo blood is still being poured all over Nigeria - especially in the North. Our fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and children, to this very day, still fall victims of the unwritten law in Nigeria which seeks to wipe us off the map. Nigeria belongs to all, and that is what we, Igbo, have said and shown to all in Nigeria; yet, without having to enumerate the many wrongs done us in Nigeria, what now stands at the vertex of all truths is that the Igbo have remained and are still marginalized in Nigeria. The crescendo to which this crafted callousness has reached is no longer hidden- even before the eyes of those whose ignorance erected monuments of sorrows in every family in Igboland as a result of the war. To attest to this, one can still hear- in many quarters of Nigeria, of the mistakes and regrets of fighting the wisdom and vision of the Igbo in Nigeria, and the invasion of our homeland form 1967-1970. Alluding briefly to the injustice done against me and against Igbo in the African union symbols competition held from February 17 – October 31, 2003, where I was denied my rights to the first position simply and obviously because I am Igbo; the hang man’s noose against Ndigbo still dangles. The composition of the person acclaimed to have won the first position was not played before the panel of judges, and the person to whom they sold the second position happened to be one of the judges in the panel - a rule birthed in injustice against Igbo; mine, rigged to the third position, was the only played anthem before the judges which Africans also voted the best online. Yet, only and only because I am Igbo, the very people who have ceaselessly but unsuccessfully championed for an extinct Igbo race extended their claw of injustice to the African Union. It was in my several unaddressed petitions that I came to observe one obvious truth: from the early days of the amalgamation, through the war to this day, one thing which has stood clear above all else is the continuous machinations of some elite within Nigeria to deny and deprive Igbo of any glory- locally and in foreign spheres. One could also still recall that Philip Emeagwali, a true son of Ala-Igbo who has made marks in the global hall of fame, has received untold criticisms and undisguised animosity towards everything Igbo from the many peoples of other tribes in Nigeria. These they have done and continue to do, not because the truth is not clear for all to see, but because the Igbo man - right from the days of Ahmadu Bello’s inflammatory and hate-filled remarks to date, has largely remained comfortably successful in all his endeavors. For these, we have been hated and marginalized.
This injustice goes beyond my humble self, Chief Charles Okereke, and Engineer Emeagwali; the desire to keep the Igbo enslaved and marginalized has become endemic in the minds of those Nigerians who would never see or appreciate any good from Igbo. Today, you can see another dimension of this hatred leading to the massacre of our people all over the North with the very silence which greeted the pogrom and genocide of the 60s. Although these facts are there for all to see, what we, the Igbo say today, is that “enough is enough;” the marginalization of the Igbo has reached its elastic limit and the continuous blood-spilling of our people no longer serves any excuse in the quest for a united Nigeria. If anything, they still tend to force on us the spirit of slavery and defeat; but the spirit of Igbo says “no” and our elders echo this voice of truth. Igbo is a nation of peaceful and democratic people, and we will no longer let ourselves be relegated to the background because of our Godly values and respect for mankind- no matter where they come from. One cannot recount the many areas of marginalization of Ndigbo by the unwritten law of those bent on keeping Nigeria underdeveloped, but truly one stands out: Igbo can and will no longer accept or tolerate the seat of defeated thrust upon us by those who would never want to see us regain our God-given potentials. This 2015, above all things, and for a truly functional and democratic Nigeria, an Igbo presidency is one thing every Igbo should and must unconditionally stand in support of. Without using bigotry, and speaking from a generally accepted point of view, the crafted, systematic and systemic denial of Igbo presidency since the war ended has grossly impeded the growth of this nation. Some who do not wish Nigeria well may wish to differ, but, looking at what we, the Igbo, have achieved in every area of development with just N20.00 each after the civil war speaks in favor of the undying and resilient Igbo spirit. By the virtue of our blessed inheritance, we turn forests into cities and make deserts enviable homes. Igbo is a spirit and the spirit of Igbo is the spirit of all-round success. Having carefully studied the politics of Nigeria and how tribalism and undefined hatred and animosity against the Igbo have played their roles in impeding growth in every sector of the Nigerian society, I humbly, as our father, Dim severally did before he returned home, make these passionate pleas:
1. That Igbo should, and as a matter of survival and living, must come, once again and forever, together in the spirit of the Ahiara declaration to assert our basic rights in Nigeria.
2. That the Igbo take it upon us, from this very blessed and memorable day, to champion for Igbo presidency in Nigeria come 2015.
3. That our leaders- in their different capacities- do whatever it takes, in the spirit of true federalism, to prevail upon our friends and neighbors from other tribes and ethic groups within Nigeria on the need for an Igbo presidency come 2015. We, as Igbo nation, have severally, in the past, stood behind and seen to the successes of peoples from other tribes and ethnicities in Nigeria for the post of the presidency - a post no Igbo has occupied since we lost in a “no victor no vanquished” war.
4. That, in other to achieve this, every other matter and reason for disparity and disagreements amongst us should and must be relegated to the background and all efforts, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, resources and time be channeled towards communicating with, educating, and reaching agreements with our people in their different positions and beliefs in Nigeria.
5. That, this time, as a nation united unto eternity, we must speak with a voice to the rest of Nigerians of the need, justice and inevitability of accepting and having an Igbo presidency come 2015. Subjugation is not our inheritance and the spirit of slavery in times of great freedom is strange to us.
6. That every politics we play henceforth, no matter the party, be rooted in the conviction and steps towards producing an Igbo presidency come 2015.
7. That, in all wisdom, looking at the prevailing party in Nigeria today, and its zoning methods which have always rubbed us of our rights to the presidency since the war ended, it has now become pertinent and expedient to consider coming together and joining talents and resources in a party which agrees to true federalism and which supports, unconditionally, an Igbo presidency this 2015.
8. That, unlike decades gone, we should make it clearly understood by all and sundry in Nigeria that the rejection of an Igbo presidency come 2015 would amount to Nigeria’s unfeeling of the Igbo pains and marginalization for over half a century. And making it clear that, should Nigeria and the elite who have and always would want an incapacitated Igbo in Nigeria, remain adamant on denying us our God-given rights in Nigeria, the only alternative left to us may be to lead our people out of a nation where we have remained rejected, robbed, marginalized and killed- despite our unrivaled competence and contributions towards a better Nigeria.
Today, as in the day of the declaration of our survival and the passionate appeal to keep fate in the midst of life-threatening dangers, as in the day of Ahiara declaration, I, in the spirit of our great leader, Dim Ojukwu, who has gone to rest, and in true Igbo spirit, once again, passionately implore every Igbo and Igbo body- the Ohanaeze Ndigbo- to rally round the spirit of our survival that, this time, we may not only live to survive, but survive to live in our land and in Nigeria…like the rest of Nigerians. In this plea to come and remain forever united, it is imperative that I quote, once again, a passage in Biafra’s Ahiara declaring as it thus is: “We say that Nigerians are corrupt and take bribes, but here in our country we have among us some members of the Police and the Judiciary who are corrupt and who “eat” bribe. We accuse Nigerians of inordinate love of money, ostentatious living and irresponsibility, but here, even while we are engaged in a war of national survival, even while the very life of our nation hangs in the balance, we see some public servants who throw huge parties to entertain their friends; who kill cows to christen their babies. We have members of the Armed Forces who carry on “attack” trade instead of fighting the enemy. We have traders who hoard essential goods and inflate prices thereby increasing the people’s hardship. We have “money-mongers” who aspire to build hundreds of plots on land as yet unreclaimed from the enemy; who plan to buy scores of lorries and buses and to become agents for those very foreign businessmen who have brought their country to grief. We have some civil servants who think of themselves as masters rather than servants of the people. We see doctors who stay idle in their villages while their countrymen and women suffer and die.” It is imperative, my people, that in order to actualize an Igbo presidency come 2015, we, as a untied people, must do our best to shun these things which have reduced Nigeria to a nation of unbearable corruption.
An Igbo presidency, you well know, will accord us with the power and mandate to correct the many injustices and balance the polity in the country - enabling every region and constituency to have as much rights to Nigeria as every other area within Nigeria. This has exclusively been denied us over these decades. Our leaders – from federal to state levels – must take it upon themselves to lead by example because, until this is aptly done, our children and the youths of our land will continue to find it difficult to comprehend any rational in listening to us as elders, let alone adhering to our good leadership and instructions. Ohanaeze na ndi nwen, finally, with the spirit of heaviness and uncertainty for our great loss in Eze Igbo, Chief Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, (let us maintain once again a minute of silence for Dim), finally, ndi nwem, let us rekindle the Igbo spirit which entails unity, formidable force, peace, justice, equality, progress, health, pride and life. May God grant us wisdom, willingness, and resources to build a future for our children- a future for which they will remain eternally grateful; a future which will announce to the whole world the arrival of the true Igbo. It’s the Igbo spirit and we have partaken of this grace in our noble births. Thank you and God bless you all. Amen.
Signed:
Chief Charles O. Okereke, B.S., M.S.
People’s Servant (Ps.)
Publisher, Nigeria Masterweb ( www.nigeriamasterweb.com )
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