Echoes from the Igbo Summit Page 1 of 3
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Echoes from the Igbo summit Page 1 of 3 Echoes from the Igbo summit by Joe Igbokwe THE organisers of the Friday January 19,2001 historic Igbo summit deserves a million thanks for bringing anybody that is somebody from the Igbo nation to Enugu to re-assess the position of Ndigbo in the Nigerian federation. In fairness to the organisers, this is the first time since the end of the civil war in 1970 when prominent Igbo sons and daughters will gather in such magnitude to address a common problem. Various attempts had been made in the past to bring Igbo leaders together but such moves have always been marred by controversies and mistrust. This situation was not helped either by the experts and professionals in divide and rule tactics from a section of the country who see and take Nigeria as a private estate to be looted and plundered. These people in their inordinate ambition combined with stolen national patrimony have sworn that Igbo will never speak with one voice since 1970 as they had been doing before the Nigerian-Biafran war started in 1967. But all the plots, the subterranean moves, and the behind the scene scheming to continue to suppress the entire Ndigbo ended on Friday, January 19, 2001, when eminent Igbo leaders removed the kid gloves to tell their oppressors that enough is enough. The historic one-day event put the entire machineries of the Enugu State government to a stand- still as every attention was focused on the landmark summit. With the exception of one or two other Igbo leaders, anybody who is somebody in Igbo nation was physically present at the gathering. The seriousness and the importance attached to the summit was understandable. Nigeria still has an Igbo problem. Igbo nation has therefore been short-changed and officially cheated in the Nigerian federation. It is no exaggeration to say that other Nigerians have perfected their criminal gang-up and fraudulently sealed the unwritten rule in Nigeria that Igbo nation must get the smallest in anything that is being shared among the six geo-political zones in the country. Regrettably, when Dr. Alex Ekwueme and others advocated for a six zonal structure in 1994 at the Abacha constitutional conference, they did not do it so that Ndigbo (South-East) will be the underdog, the cry baby or the ordinary football to be kicked around by the actors of other zones. Dr. Ekwueme and colleagues who put their stamp of authority for the creation of the six zonal structures did not do it to create a master-servant relationship. Dr. Ekwueme and others did not do it so that the strong will continue to dominate the weak. They did not do it to create winners and losers or to allow winners to take it all. They did not do it to widen the gap between the oppressors and the oppressed. It was a genuine attempt to redress the inherent imbalances in the Nigerian project, and perhaps to address the problems associated with the distribution of Nigerian resources. Regrettably also, this genuine and patriotic attempt to give every group a sense of belonging in Nigeria was later used against Dr. Alex Ekwueme at Jos PDP primaries in 1998. Dr. Ekwueme was criminally accused by the enemies of Nigeria of trying to break up the country with his six geo-political zones arrangement. Unfortunately, the arrangement is what is being used today by the central government. That is Nigeria for you! Few days before the summit proper, the news that filtered into our homes and offices was that IBB http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/earticles/echoes_from_the_igbo_summit.htm 7/18/2008 Echoes from the Igbo summit Page 2 of 3 and his field workers had infiltrated the Ohaneze hierarchy to pursue a different agenda not unconnected with 2003. As a result of this many eminent members of Ndigbo in Lagos who have sworn never to have anything to do with Ohaneze Ndigbo until the body is restructured decided to storm the venue to see things for themselves. I belonged to this category who went to Enugu to look at Igbo quislings and traitors in the faces and call a spade a spade. Every bonafide Igbo son or daughter knows that the name Ohaneze is a beautiful one but the characters and utterances of some of those who parade themselves as the leaders of the body has given many eminent Igbos sleepless nights. Some of those who parade themselves as Ohaneze chieftains are known political lepers and harlots who conspired with the common enemy to deny Ndigbo their fair share of the nation’s resources. These are the people who shout Igbo marginalisation when they are not given contracts or when their sons and daughters are not given appointments. At Enugu, the vote contractors and political turncoats who use the name, Ohaneze to pursue private businesses met face-to-face with those who have distanced themselves from the body. At Enugu, I saw Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd), Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd), Dr. Pat Utomi, and many other eminent Igbo sons and daughters who mean well for Igbo nation. Although, majority of those who attended the summit were determined to put an end to the cry of marginalisation who should have no business at the summit in the first place bulldozed their way into the venue to sell other people’s agenda. Perhaps that is why Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe described the Enugu Summit as a rally. The vote contractors of the East were equally present. So were the hundreds of Anambra women imported to Enugu by Governor Mbadinuju to sell his 2003 agenda. Those women in Odera T-shirts were the biggest embarrassment at the summit. And the question is: what did Governor Mbadinuju want to gain by bringing these illiterate women at the venue of such a serious meeting? One of the women said they were promised N1,500 each for the Enugu show of shame but they had not received any kobo. If the Enugu, Odera show was an eye sore, the propaganda on the radio and television stations in Anambra State which came up every five minutes each day remain the biggest insult to the collective intelligence of our people. Somebody must call Governor Mbadinuju to order. The IBB for 2003 campaigners were also physically present. Prior to the Enugu event, they had met in Enugwu-Ukwu to sharpen their skills and streamline the moribund IBB 2003 project. Abuja campaigners for the incumbent were there. The agents of those who want to select presidential candidates for Ndigbo were at the summit, including those who have arrogated to themselves spokespersons for Ndigbo even though they are deaf and dumb. The all-weather and anything goes Igbo leaders were equally present. In spite of all these, serious people carried the day leaving the unserious and charlatans to lick their wounds. Another major set back for the Enugu Summit was the venue. I do not know what the organisers had in mind when they chose such a small place as the Hotel |Presidential for such a unique gathering. Those placed at the door to ensure that hooligans stayed away from the venue did not know what to do to control the surging crowd. They could not recognise some Igbo eminent sons who came to the summit. At a time one had to intervene to save some of these great Igbo sons from embarrassment because the gate-keepers could not recognise them. And since many people went to Enugu for different reasons, a serious crack was noticed among the participants. Another unfortunate aspect of the Enugu Summit was the presence of fraudsters and empty heads who were trying to compare the present government with that of IBB and Abacha. Some of these myopic elements in their foolishness were moving about trying to convince those at the summit that IBB or Abacha regime is better than Obasanjo regime, but the truth of the matter is that there is nothing you can do to change a person who refuses to learn from history. It was Professor Chinua Achebe who says "No one can do much about the weather: we must accept it and live with it or under it. But natural bad habits are a different matter; we resign ourselves to them at our peril." It is a shame that some of our leaders who were in Nigeria in the past 20 years are among those who are selling this dangerous idea. Let me then warn here that any liberated http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/earticles/echoes_from_the_igbo_summit.htm 7/18/2008 Echoes from the Igbo summit Page 3 of 3 slave from Southern Nigeria who fails to learn from the sordid events of the past 20 years in Nigeria will remain a slave forever. At the risk of not being thought to be holding brief for this present regime, I know enough history to realise that a silent revolution is still going on in this country and to all intents and purposes, this country will never be the same again. I am of the opinion that President Obasanjo understands the situation in the South East. The President has the capacity, the political will and wherewithal to end the misery and agony in the East in order to stop charlatans, turncoats and Abacha campaigners from assuming the spokespersons for the East. President Obasanjo should pull the rug from their feet, and the time to do it is now. The Enugu Summit has come and gone but the message, is very clear and concise- Igbo do not need to scream to get what rightly belongs to them in Nigeria.