Will Ndigbo ever unite?
Will Ndigbo ever unite?
Will Ndigbo ever unite?
The incident that happened at Concorde Hotel, Owerri, Imo State on Monday, September 27, 2010, which made headlines in all the national dailies, was indeed a show of shame. As I watched that dance of shame orchestrated by Ndigbo, Majek Fashek's "African Unity" came to my mind. In that song, Majek asked very pertinent questions about African unity. That minute, I began to ask the same questions about Igbo unity.
On that fateful day, key Igbo leaders, including the highly revered Second Republic Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme; former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa; former governors of Anambra and Ebonyi, Dr Chris Ngige and Dr Sam Egwu; immediate past governor of the Central Bank, Prof Charles Soludo; former Minister of Education, Mrs Chinwe Obaji; among others, had gathered at Concorde Hotel, Owerri, venue of the proposed Igbo Summit convened by Chief S. N. Okeke. The convener had earlier booked a hall in the hotel. None of the invitees could have had any premonition of what eventually happened. From nowhere, security operatives, acting on order from above', denied the above-named Igbo leaders and other Ndigbo who gathered at the venue, access to the facility. They had to make do with the small grassland in front of the hotel. Right there in the heat of the scorching sun, the Igbo leaders present bared their mind on the reason for the gathering.
But who told security operatives not to allow Ndigbo to use a facility in the Igbo heartland? Concorde Hotel of all places, built by Dr Sam Mbakwe, a pan-Igbo and a democrat par excellence? These people that are locking others out, how many such facilities have they built? But that is beside the point.
Up until now, nobody has owned up. The Imo State government has denied giving the order, and the Federal Government has also said it knew nothing about it. Who then gave the orders? The Holy Spirit perhaps. But no matter how many times they deny it, Ndigbo know that that historic locking out' has something to do with 2011 and Goodluck Jonathan's ambition. Dr Chris Ngige, speaking at the summit, related how a text message came to his phone on his way to the venue, accusing him of attending an anti-Jonathan gathering. In other words, the impression Jonathan supporters got was that those who attended that Igbo Summit were against Jonathan's ambition in 2011.
I am neither pro-Jonathan nor pro-IBB. That must be stated clearly. But let me ask: are Ndigbo not free to seek to protect their interest if the prevailing political equation in Nigeria does not favour them? How many Igbo people have ruled Nigeria since 1960? If IBB's coming to power in 2011 will guarantee Igbo presidency in 2015, are Ndigbo not free to go for it? Why should an individual's or a group's interest prevail over the interest of the entire Igbo nation?
But while the summit was going on in the sun, another group emerged, bearing Jonathan's posters and chanting pro-Jonathan slogans. It was very clear that their whole effort was geared towards disrupting the Igbo summit, which they thought was pro-IBB. But it did not end there. Yet another group came up in support of Aliyu Gusau, thus creating a scenario of utter confusion. And to think that none of the contenders over whom Ndigbo are dividing themselves is even Igbo in the first place.
I just looked at the scenario and I said: "What a shame? When will Ndigbo ever speak in unison? When will the Igbo man rise up and say no when other tribes want to use him against his people? When will Ndigbo begin to place collective interest above personal interest?
Ndigbo seem to be a confused bunch. That was how in 2003 when Ohanaeze Ndigbo decided that no Igbo person would be a running mate to any presidential candidate, the late Chuba Okadigbo went and queued behind Buhari. When confronted, he retorted that it was better to play a second fiddle than to play no fiddle at all. So it is that Ndigbo, who once constituted a major leg of the tripod on which Nigeria stood, have become completely irrelevant in the political arrangement, and now Ndigbo have to fight and antagonise themselves over who to support between a Southern minority and Northerner who held this country hostage for eight years and stepped aside in 1993 only to want to step in again in 2011.
So, I ask again: where is the Igbo man in this whole zoning bullshit? Are Ndigbo doomed to self-destruct? Will Ndigbo ever speak with one voice? These are pertinent questions for every Igbo man to answer.
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