The Ohanaeze President we want
By WISDOM C. NDUBUISI
Ohanaeze Ndigbo is the apex socio-cultural organization of the Igbos. Ohanaeze, is to the Igbos, as Afenifere is to the Yorubas and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is to the north. They are not political parties rather; they are forums where issues affecting their respective people are discussed and decisions taken. As an apex organization of their respective people, members are influential people in the society, both past and contemporary leaders. As a youth, I don't know when Ohanaeze was formed but since year 2000, I have been monitoring the activities of the organization. According to one of the founding fathers of the organization,” the objectives of Ohanaeze are to unite the Igbos; promote peace and unity; speak with one voice, the wish of the Igbos amongst others".
From 2000-2003, the {some dates here may not be accurate} during the tenure of Profs .Eze Ozobo and Ben Nwabueze, President and Secretary Generals respectively, the organization witnessed peace and unity. One of their failures, according to some observers is that, they were so soft and lacked the boldness to stand on their words. Others say they were toothless bulldogs; they don't back words with actions. Whatever their views, the truth is that their tenure was peaceful. The tenure of Prof. Joe Irukwu and Joe Achuzie, president and secretary generals respectively, took off from 2003 on a good note but unfortunately, ended on a bad exit. According to Ohanaeze constitution, their tenure was two years but to step down for new executives. This plunge the organization into a prolong crises which resulted to the appointment of Ndubuisi Kanu as the interim President by the then five south east states governors. The organization became fictionalized as Kanu led one group while Irukwu led the other group. However, Kanu was on assignment-to conduct elections and hand over to the new executives-which he did. Irukwu continued with his group while the newly elected executives led by Chief Dozie Ikedife, the president general leads his group. Irukwu finally considered the battle lost on his side when he purportedly resigned and handed over to his deputy, Hon. Enechukwu, former Anambra state speaker. Meanwhile Irukwu had made himself unpopular during the failed third term. He was said to be romancing with the former president, Obasanjo on the third term instead of supporting Igbo president. However, when the third term bid failed, he (Irukwu) tried to save his face by announcing that Igbos can now produce the President. Irukwu's tenure, according to observers again, was characterized by double-standard. Others say it was mediocrity.
Enechukwu, the factional president of Ohanaeze is no match to the de-jure president, Ikedife. Past and present events have proved this to be true. Over 95 percent of Igbos home and abroad identify with Ikedife and he never relents in speaking the minds of his people since he became Ohanaeze president. Just recently, the five south east states governors met in Enugu and resolved to wade into the Ohanaeze lingering crises and conduct fresh elections. This decision of the governors is highly commendable and heartwarming.
While commending the governors for their wise decision, I also wish to call for caution in the process. (1) There should be no personal choice candidate (2) I suggest that the factional group be dissolved and Ikedife allowed to complete his elected tenure (3). While searching for the new president, they should look for one with the Igbos interest at heart
(4) There should be no zoning formula so that they can look beyond a particular state to get the real person.
Finally, if Ohanaeze's constitution allows for a second term, then I suggest that Ikedife be allowed to re-contest because he has done very well to deserve another tenure. He is the kind of Ohanaeze president we want. One good turn, they say, deserves another. He deserve another turn because he did not fail rather he delivered. Ndigbo cannot afford to have Ohanaeze president that is self centred.
•Ndubuisi wrote in from Oyigbo, Rivers State.
Lagos launches agric programme, to tackle rural-urban drift
By Bertram Nwannekanma
BUOYED by the high incidence of rural-urban drift to Lagos metropolis and the need to ensure food security in the state, the government has launched a new initiative tagged: "State Agricultural Awareness Programme (SAAP)", which targets the training of young men of school age interested in agriculture.
Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Lanre Balogun, who disclosed this during a stakeholders' forum at the weekend in Lagos, said the new initiative was aimed at ensuring food security, provision of jobs and discouraging rural-urban drift.
He urged principals and agricultural science teachers to encourage the students to see farming as a lucrative vocation, which guarantees self-reliance.
In an address delivered on his behalf by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Muyideen Akinsanya, the commissioner observed that the farmlands are being cultivated today by aged men who largely practise subsistence farming with crude energy-sapping implements.
He said the result of this is that their productive ability is far below the food requirement of our ever-growing population.
He added: "To redress the situation and prepare youths for the enormous challenges ahead, we have to catch them young, prepare their minds and start inculcating in them the idea of mechanised farming in all facets of the industry like poultry, piggery, animal husbandry, fish farming and cropping".
Balogun noted that the programme was capable of speeding up rural development as youths will be encouraged to remain in the villages while the farm produce will provide enough raw materials to attract agro-allied companies, which will in turn bring about expected developments in the areas.
He solicited the cooperation of the principals and agricultural science teachers in ensuring that students derive maximum benefit from the programme.
Balogun promised that the state government would render all necessary assistance to ensure that the programme is a success.
"Part of the strategy is the massive provision of infrastructure in the rural areas of the state", he added.
Source: The Guardian, 18th February 2008.
Ohanaeze: When things fall apart
By Adelani Adepegba
The Igbo socio-cultural association, Ohanaeze Ndigbo seems to be under a curse. The curse of intractable in-fighting and schism plaguing the group appears to be defying all solutions as the gladiators involved are not too keen about making peace.
The failed attempt by the South-East Governors Forum to engender a new atmosphere of brotherhood in the organisation goes further to show how polarised the association was. It also indicated that mere cosmetic efforts cannot resolve the leadership crisis that had become the Achilles’ heel of the once revered organisation.
The governors had, at their last meeting in Enugu in December, 2007, undertaken to end the leadership crisis rocking the association which was traceable to tenure of the executive. They had set up a reconciliation committee chaired by the Ebonyi State governor, Chief Martins Elechi, to reach all the aggrieved parties with a view to bringing them to the peace table.
But last week when the reconciliation committee met the governors to give its report, it was discovered that its trouble-shooting did not succeed. Only the Dozie Ikedife faction of Ohanaeze showed up at the Protea Hotel venue of the reconciliation meeting. The other faction led by Chief Ifeanyi Enechukwu, an offshoot of the executive of the former president-general of the association, Prof. Joe Irukwu, did not send any representatives to the peace parley which was attended by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Chief Christian Onoh, Prof. Ben Nwabueze and others.
The meeting, which started on Friday night and dragged into the wee hours of Saturday morning however went ahead to deliberate on the future of the organisation. Public analysts see the refusal of the other faction to attend the meeting as a proof that the reconciliation committee was yet to get at the tap root of the problem.
The communiqué issued at the end of the meeting showed that the governors have decided to ignore the other faction and rather work with the Ikedife group.
In the five-point statement read by Governor Peter Obi of Anambra who is the chairman of the governors’ forum, the meeting warned that the unity of the organisation is not negotiable, adding that there was only one recognised Ohanaeze Ndigbo, which of course is the Ikedife group.
It further said that Ohanaeze has only one constitution which specifies two year tenure for elected officials.“ All Court cases relating to Ohanaeze crisis must be withdrawn before the next meeting. We appeal to all Igbos to embrace peace and unity of action for which Ndigbo has failed,” Obi said on behalf of other governors.
The Enechukwu group however distanced itself from the purported peace parley, saying that it has nothing to do with Ohanaeze. The Secretary General of the group, Col. Joe Achuzia (rtd.) said that no invitation was extended to him or his group to attend the meeting. He said that the governors lack powers to decide on Ohanaeze, urging Ndigbo and other Nigerians, to discountenance the statement made out of “personal prejudices and sentiments” of the governors.
“We were not aware of the meeting. Nobody told us about it. I want you to understand that whatever they did there has nothing to do with Ohanaeze. I have said severally that Ikedife and his group are not Ohanaeze. If they are, let them go to the secretariat. They are not Ohanaeze. They are impostors. For the governors, you know that they cannot speak for Ndigbo. They are merely individual members. So, any communiqué they issued should be taken as their individual opinion. It is not binding on anybody,” he said.
Achuzia, watchers would be recalled had held the same office under Irukwu’s leadership, which critics say makes his continued stay in office and the whole issue of tenure curious and strange.
Though the governors touched on the raw nerve of the crisis which is the issue of tenure, their approach to the controversy was at best superficial and parochial, according to analysts. While in office, Irukwu had insisted that Ohanaeze constitution specified a four year term for the executive, a position that was hotly contested by other interested parties. He left the office and handed over to Enechukwu who also insisted on spending four years in office as president-general. The Ikedife group backed by former Governor Uzor Kalu of Abia State conducted what critics say was more of selection than election in which the proponents of two year tenure emerged. A video of the purported election was circulated to show that the Ikedife executive was merely handpicked and as such does not have legitimacy to act as Igbo leaders.
The governors themselves were seen as part of the problem as they all want to control the organisation and use it for their political ends. An Igbo leader, Chief Chekwas Okorie, believed that the governors were not grounded in matters concerning the association and that their approach lacked depth.
What then does the crisis portend for the Igbo in national politics? A former Health Minister and Ohanaeze chieftain, Prof. Alphonsus Nwosu, said that a divided Ohanaeze would only drag Ndigbo back politically. Igbos, he added, have suffered humiliation based on the controversy within the socio-cultural association which ordinarily should champion the cause of the South-East.
Nwosu cited the uncertainty over the date for the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party whose chairmanship office was zoned to the South-East. Igbos, he said, were being made to endure ‘humiliation of postponement’ while the aspirants, according to him, have been running around “like clowns” because there was no credible leadership to speak on their behalf to hold the party to its word about a definite date for the event.
He said that a united Ohanaeze working in tandem with a vibrant South-East Governors’ Forum would fast-track socio-political development in the zone. Saluting the governors for their initiative, he said that the South-East Movement which he was part of would collaborate with other progressive groups to ensure that peace was achieved in the beleaguered association.
But as far as the Professor of Medicine was concerned, it does not matter who was at the reconciliation meeting as long as the objective of peace and unity was achieved.
“Let the people realise that November 8, 2008 will become impossible without reconciliation in February because November is the expiry of tenure (for both factions) and there must be mandate renewal. Anyone with moral justification based on two-year term or four-year term would know that his tenure expires by November, 2008. Neither Ikedife nor Enechukwu should remain (in office) after November,” Nwosu stated.
Irukwu, in his comments on the steps taken by the governors, said he supported everything that follows the rule of law.
The Igbo leader, who spoke over the telephone from London said he wanted a united Ohanaeze, hence his decision to quit office to allow peace to reign. He however declined to speak on Achuzia’s continued stay in office.
From the way things are going, concerned Igbos have cause to believe that the Ohanaeze of their dream may emerge by the end of the year when there would be a change of guard. They feel that the cord that binds Ndigbo which is symbolised through the Ohanaeze would soon be re-knotted and songs of harmony ring again.
Source: Punch, 31st January 2008.
Nwosu decries Ohanaeze crisis
Written by Tony Edike Sunday
ENUGU—FORMER Health Minister and prominent Igbo leader, Professor A.B.C Nwosu has strongly condemned the unending leadership crisis that has torn the pan Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo apart, urging the South-East Governors, religious leaders and Igbo elders to quickly intervene to resolve the crisis.
He feared that the current internal contradictions and infighting among Ndigbo, if not arrested, would deny Igbos their benefits in the country as no progress could be made in an atmosphere of rancour and bitterness.
Speaking with Vanguard in Enugu, Nwosu observed that the apex Igbo umbrella organization had for sometime failed to compel any action in Igbo land owing to disagreements among the leaders making the once respected Ohanaeze an effete organization with the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) becoming the most respected body in Igbo land.
He warned that if the combatants in Ohanaeze do not think Igbo and effect reconciliation quickly, the war in Ohanaeze may escalate with disastrous consequences on Ndigbo not minding the fact that Igbo land does not belong to either faction.
Source: Vanguard, 5th December 2007.