ANAMBRA STATE: Governor Willie Obiano Farewell Speech

Gov. Willie Obiano. Image: Youtube

Ndi Anambra ekenem unu.

Eight years ago, when I gave my inaugural address, I shared my vision of a greater Anambra State with you. To some people, it sounded like a dream. To many, it came across as the usual sweet-talk from a politician. And yet to others, it carried the light of hope. Umu nnem, today, most of those dreams I shared with you have come true!

You asked for safety, we gave you “Nigeria’s safest state.” You asked for dignity; we sent our children to a global contest of intelligence and they defeated America, China, Spain and Turkey and brought back dignity and honour. You asked for legacies, we gave you monuments. Ndi Anambra, I touched a dream!

Brothers and sisters, as your governor, I worked under extreme pressure. I took many hard decisions. I stepped on toes. I didn’t answer some phone calls. I lost some friends on account of these. If you are one of those who felt offended by what I did or did not do, please forgive me. For in the words of the great Nelson Mandela, “Forgiveness liberates the soul.” A governor is also human. Whatever I did was for the good of Anambra State. Dalunu!

Umu nnem, I’m also aware that I did not fulfill every promise I made. But no government in the world has ever kept all its promises or solved all the problems of its time. However, my intentions were pure and my ambitions sincere. Let history be the judge!

Now, let’s take a look at what we did. Our efforts were audacious; covering major areas of development, from the softest to the hardest issues that challenge modern governance. While I have decided to leave my account of stewardship to historians and students of leadership, it may be necessary to recall that my Team and I began by defining the realities of our environment.

SECURITY

We figured that we would not be able to make reasonable progress unless we found a solution to the challenge of insecurity and public safety in Anambra State. In response to that, we organized Nigeria’s first international conference on security and flew in an Israeli security expert to facilitate the conference. The outcome was a revolutionary security architecture which helped us launch an all-out war on crime in our dear state. The crackdown was heavy; but in the end, we took back our state from the men of the underworld. I have not the slightest doubt that the glory of the new Anambra began with our victory over crime and criminalities.

The Soft Issues of Governance

Our campaign to return self-belief to our people was subtle but effective. The melodious Anambra Anthem, the Anambra logo and symbols of unique identity, the core values which are recited by school children every day; are all silent efforts to give our people’s pride back to them. Through these silent efforts, we have succeeded in raising some generations of Anambra children who have enough self-esteem to compete with their mates from across the world. Our concept of ana alu olu, ana alu mmadu which emphasizes commitment to the welfare of Anambra workers also led to improved loyalty and productivity from the workers. I must however recall that my administration was hit by two major recessions. But we still increased workers’ salaries and never owed salaries or pensions for one day. Our policy of “Doing more with Less” ensured that Anambra was insulated from the ravages of recession while we rolled out a Stimulus Package to reflate our sub-national economy.

The N20m Community-Choose-Your-Projects-Initiative

It is interesting to recall that our Economic Stimulus Package actually gave rise to the highly acclaimed N20m Community Choose-Your-Project Initiative, which has become a much sought-after model in rural development studies. This initiative also ensured that my administration touched all the 181 communities in Anambra State with projects of their own choices. The success recorded in the first phase of the project encouraged the administration to do even more; leading to the commencement of the second phase of the project. As a result of this, all the communities got projects worth N40m each from my administration.

Indeed, one of the major achievements that I look back to with pride is the establishment of a Court of Appeal in Awka. Until that development, our people had always travelled to Enugu to seek justice. But the setting up of the court has restored our people’s pride and dignity.

Education

We approached Education in three broad areas: Students’ Welfare, Teachers’ Welfare and Infrastructure Development. Essentially, my administration set out to maintain the competitive advantage our state has enjoyed in education over other states in the country and take it a notch higher. To achieve that, we sent Anambra teachers on off-shore training and exposed them to global best practices. We did that because we knew that the best way to take charge of tomorrow is to inculcate the right character in our teachers today. This is one of the secrets of Anambra’s great performances in education under my watch. In infrastructure, the 1000-room hostels we built in 12 technical colleges across the state are monuments that will speak for me long after I’m gone. In addition, we funded both missionary and public schools in equal measure. We donated the sum of N2.8bn to both Mission and Public Schoools. In Students’ Welfare, we have offered scholarships to over 300 students. A direct outcome of this is that both our school children and their teachers won impressive awards under my watch. And with this development, I have no doubt that the future belongs to Anambra State!

Health

In the words of America’s Ralph Waldo Emerson, “the first wealth is health.” My Team and I believed in this axiom. Health comes before wealth. One of our greatest legacies in the health sector is the Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) which was set up to make quality health delivery services easy and accessible to the greater number of our people. With only N12,000 per year, residents of this state can access high quality healthcare as they like. Our second major legacy in the health sector is the Anambra Oxygen Plant which is the biggest state-owned oxygen plant in Nigeria. This investment has continued to play an unforgettable role in the fight against COVID-19. The third major legacy is the Immaculate Heart Multi-Specialist Hospital Aguleri. This hospital is a showpiece of medical excellence. It is equipped with the most modern facilities that can be seen in any hospital across the world. Beyond these, we also paid a great deal of attention to the challenges of delivering quality healthcare to the riverine areas. We floated 26 water ambulances to deliver medical supplies to riverine communities. We also provided Keke ambulances for quick emergency shuttles in locations where conventional vehicles cannot easily access. And finally, we donated the sum of N1.2bn to all mission and government owned hospitals in the state to strengthen their capacities to respond to the medical needs of our people.

My Economic Blueprint

Fellow citizens, when leadership is focused and innovative, it invokes the future. My team and I worked very hard to invoke the future of Anambra State. We worked on my Economic Blueprint which is anchored on Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade & Commerce and Oil & Gas.

Agriculture

When we lit the fire of agricultural revolution in Nteje on May 15, 2014, we created a fertile soil for big industrial farms like Coscharis, JOSAN Agro, Chelsea Farms, Excel Farms and Lynden Farms to thrive. Our story changed immediately afterwards. Rice production output climbed from 80,000 metric tons in 2014 to 525,000 metric tons in 2021. Maize production rose from 15,902 metric tons to 74,255 metric tons. Cassava rose from 275,832 metric tons in 2014 to 2,060,687 and Vegetables from 48,032 metric tons in 2014 to 482,400 metric tons. We now have over 160,000 farmers and 3000 co-operative societies for farmers. In less than five years of operation, Coscharis Farms had quickly added a fully automated 40,000 metric tons rice mill to its investments. JOSAN Agro also added 50,000 metric tons rice mill at Umumbo to its fast expanding line of operation. Similarly, Lynden Farms expanded its scope beyond the 90,000 bird-facility it started with in Igbariam. It now has three production houses with an output of 265,000 birds laying an average of 72,000 crates of eggs per day.

Industrialization:

Our foray into industrialization was driven by the Anambra Small Business Agency (ASBA) which I set up on December 8, 2014. Since then, ASBA has successfully funded 10,000 cooperatives, micro enterprises and artisans while also providing operating capital to 300 small and medium enterprises. ASBA’s success has attracted Nigeria’s most modern Small and Medium Enterprises complex to Nkwelle Ezunaka. The complex houses an ultramodern industrial shoe-making hub with cutting edge technology and a capacity to produce shoes that compare with shoes made in Europe. One of the machines in the complex has a capacity to produce 1,500 soles per hour. On the strength of these stellar achievements, Anambra was declared the “Best State in Support of SMEs” and honoured at the Presidential Villa, Abuja in 2018. Today, made in Anambra shoes are exported to other West African countries on a weekly basis.

Oil and Gas

The crowning glory of our efforts in oil and gas is the recognition of Anambra State as an oil-producing state by the federal government. We have 15 oil wells at the moment. With this achievement, our dear state is now qualified to receive additional revenues from the 13% derivation fund given to oil producing states. This will definitely give a big financial elbowroom to my successor and make it easier for the state to undertake more ambitious projects. In addition, we successfully constructed two bridges to open access to the oilfields. They are the Aguleri Otu Bridge (which is also the longest bridge in the South East; measuring 280 meters long) and the Umueje Bridge. The Umueje Bridge also offers a direct access to the multibillion Naira worth Chelsea Farms. Before now, the oilfields could only be accessed through Enugu State.

Trade and Commerce

Our remarkable legacy in Trade and Commerce is the market modernization scheme which ensured the disbursement of the sum of N10m each to the 63 markets in Anambra State. It helped the various Traders’ Associations to upgrade the facilities in their markets. We also relocated many markets to lend depth to commerce and boost the capacity of our markets.

Power Supply

Ndi Anambra, you may recall that in my Inaugural Address I had assured you that my administration would pay a great deal of attention to power supply in our dear state. Today, I am delighted to report that we successfully constructed a 33 kVa distribution line from Oji River sub-station in Enugu State to supply electricity in Orumba North and South and even Isuochi town in Abia State. We also constructed another 33 kVa line from Agu Awka to Anambra International Airport to ensure a 22-hour supply of electricity to the airport per day. But perhaps even more important than that is our partnership with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for the construction of electricity projects in Ifite-dunu, Umuchu, Amansea and Aguleri that will change power supply in Anambra State for the better.

The Overall Impact of my Blueprint

Fellow citizens, the direct result of implementing my blueprint is that under my watch, the economy of Anambra State grew from N3.2trn to N4.4trn. That comfortably placed us as Nigeria’s fourth largest economy. Another direct result is that under my watch again, Anambra joined Lagos and Rivers as the only states in Nigeria that could meet their operating obligations with funds from their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and earnings from Value Added Tax (VAT). Still under my watch, poverty rate in our dear state dropped from 53% in 2010 to 14.8% in 2020. Our dear state was also rated as the state with the lowest unemployment rate in Nigeria in 2020 at a stunning 13.1%. That was a time when the national average stood at 27%. Similarly, we were also rated as the state with the best Fiscal Responsibility Index in Nigeria after only Rivers State. And finally, to crown it all, Anambra State attracted the sum of $10.2m in foreign direct investment in 2020. Ndi Anambra, these statistics tell a simple story. A story of resilience in the face of incredible odds. A story of my stewardship to you.

Our Fight against Gully Erosion

It is important to mention our titanic struggle against gully erosion which threatens to swallow up our 4,844 square kilometers of land. Some of those gully erosion sites had swallowed large areas and several buildings before we moved in. A good example is the 100 Foot Road Nnewi which was threatening to swallow the famous Nkwo Nnewi Spare-parts Market before we moved in. The perplexity of fighting gully erosion is that you sink billions of naira in a big hole only to show a resurfaced patch of land afterwards. Anybody could walk past a reclaimed erosion site without knowing the enormous financial resources that went into reclaiming it. But that’s what we did in Nnewi, Amachalla Awka, Ugamuma Obosi, Minaj Obosi, Abagana, Enugwu-Ukwu, Nkpor, Nnewichi, Ezinifite, Ojoto, Ikenga Ogidi, Ekwueme Square and Nkisi Aroli among many other places.

Anambra International Passenger/Cargo Airport Umueri

Ndi Anambra, no experience compares to the pleasure of touching a dream. The feeling is unbelievable. It is even more so if the dream had lasted for 30 long years. Ndi Anambra we touched a dream when we commissioned the Anambra International Passenger and Cargo Airport Umueri. We are a people who covet dignity and honour. That airport has restored the dignity of our people and opened a new economic corridor for the entire South East region. The airport is a monument onto the ambitions of Ndi Anambra. It is a tribute to our desire to reject average and expand the frontiers of excellence in all we do!

International Convention Center Awka

The Awka International Convention Center represents the size of our dream. In its grandeur and sublime aesthetics, the Center points at the huge possibilities for Anambra State. In concept and execution, the International Convention Center did not pay attention to modesty. It reflects our collective drive for the best in whatever we do.

In both the City Stadium and the iconic flyovers in Awka and Amawbia, we see a statement in disarming beauty. They speak the language of the future. Just like the dazzle of the streetlights that shimmer all over our landscape at night. The 17 bridges and 113 roads we completed are also part of our distinctive landmarks. The robust development of Tourism Treasures like the Ogba Ukwu Caves and Waterfalls at Owerre-Ezukala and Ogbunike Caves in Ogbunike has added tourism to the many attractive offerings from Anambra State. They are things that remind us that we are the Light of the Nation.

A Promise Kept

Ndi Anambra, you may recall that the title of my inaugural address is “Expanding the Frontiers of Excellence.” Now if you look at the sparkling elegance of the Anambra International Passenger and Cargo Airport and the intimidating immensity of the International Convention Center, you may accept that my Team and I have indeed walked our talk. Also, in the same inaugural address, I had declared and I quote that “under my administration, we have no choice than to decide whether we are truly the sons and daughters of our fathers and true heirs to their long history of pioneering excellence.” Again, I think we have shown that we are true sons and daughters of our fathers and mothers. I think we have pioneered a few things and set a few standards for the future generation. Ndi Anambra, I think we have run this race well. I can look history boldly in the eye and dare it to judge me. I know it will be kind to me!

Historic Elections Under my Watch

Umunnem, I cannot end this speech without thanking you for the incredible support you gave me in the past eight years. I look back to all the historic records we made with pride. I look back to 21/21 with a deep sense of gratitude. What comes to my mind when I do that is the brilliant quote from American basketball icon, Kobe Bryant that “Winning takes precedence over all things.” Ndi b’anyi, winning is such a wonderful experience! Twenty-one over twenty is a watershed in the political history of this country. It was a moment when a proud people rose to their feet as one to reject every attempt at imposition. I thank you for that. I also thank you for the memorable nineteen-over-twenty-one victory you gave Prof Chukwuma Soludo in the last election. You rose against threats of violence and brazen intimidation to ensure that the vision of society we had worked hard to entrench in the past eight years is sustained. Dalunu rinne.

Ndi Anambra, it is not always easy to say goodbye. But I am happy that I am leaving you in good hands. I pray you to give the same support I enjoyed from you to our new governor. I have no doubt that he will surpass all our expectations.

Umunnem, dalunu

Oga adili unu mma o!

God bless Anambra State.

God bless Nigeria

Willie Obiano

2023: Challenges Of The South East

BY SUNNY IKHIOYA

(VANGUARD) Every human being or society has the natural propensity to be wicked and violent, if the enablements for peace and stability are not in place, but is the recourse to violence the answer to these challenges? Will this be the answer to the much marginalised situation that the Igbos of the South east have faced since the end of the civil war in 1970?

When the Russian communist revolution took place in 1917, ending centuries of imperial rule and setting into motion political and social changes that led to the formation of the Soviet Union, the world took notice.

What Karl Marx, the philosopher predicted in 1848, had come to pass. His thesis was that capitalism would inevitably self-destruct, and would be replaced by socialism and ultimately communism.

According to Ernest W Adams, “Britain, like the United States, was never quite as oppressive towards its peasants and industrial working classes as some of the other nations of Europe were.

“It was bad, make no mistake, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad to be a British peasant, as it was to be a Russian peasant under the czars. And, Britain made a number of important reforms that took the wind off the sails of the most extreme revolutionaries. The UK offered universal male suffrage in 1918, undoubtedly in part to recognise the sacrifices of so many men in the first world war, but, also in response to the Russian Revolution.”

In other words, in places where peasants were well treated, there was the least likelihood of a people’s revolution and vice-versa. When you look at the regions and countries with the highest rate of terrorism in the world today, they are places where the peasants, the ordinary folks have been left on their own; no food, no proper education and other basic needs.

They include Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, northern Nigeria, among others. The common trend is of a people who have been abandoned by their governments and so, they fall easy prey to religion and ideological doctrines. They see themselves as those with nothing to lose.

In the French revolution, at least four of the top ten leaders (Jacques Pierre Briscot, Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine and Georfes Danton), all were executed through the guillotine, the same instrument that they had used to eliminate so many of their rivals.

What does this tell us? We must learn from history and never allow past mistakes to be repeated. Happenings in the South east are not ideal for development and progress of the people in that section of the country.

The leadership in that region must put heads together and pull their people, from the trap that their youths are presently encircling them in. It is a no win situation for them, especially if people from other parts of the country are not keying into their methodology.

The whole world knows that by all standards of fairness, the Igbo of the South east deserves to be President of the country, come 2023, but how this will materialise depends on the Igbos. Every Igbo man is pan Nigerian, and has his kith and kin cut across the length and breadth of the country, which gives him a networking advantage.

They have the resources to make this happen but need to do this in humility and with respect for their fellow Nigerians. That hubris, that pride and arrogance must be subdued, that feeling of ‘I am the best,’ must be totally expunged from their mindset. The spirit of ‘I’, instead of the ‘we’ must be cleared, while the feeling of force over dialogue must also not come into play. That is why they must reexamine their strategies.

Politics is a game, if you do not play it right, you will continue to end up on the losing side. I am not a fan of Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, director of publicity and advocacy of the Northern Elders Forum, but I totally agree with him that bringing the presidency to the South will not be by force. If you are to go by force, it will no longer be a democracy. We must decide on what we wish to practice.

It is also noteworthy that, while the Igbos are flexing muscles, they have not really narrowed down on the list they want to pick their presidential candidate from. While they continue with their belligerence against themselves and the world, supporters of Bola Ahmed Tinubu are already doing underground work, lobbying and campaigning to make their candidate become the next president.

You do not sow yam and expect to reap corn, you must work hard, plan and adopt the right strategies. Identify the weak areas and collectively agree on what path to follow. As it is now, it will seem as if Igbo leaders are waiting to ride on the notoriety of IPOB, to become popular candidates.

The ones that have been bold enough to tell the truth are being hunted down and threatened, others are keeping quiet, including governors of the region. They are not able to come out with a working security outfit, like the South west have done. We must try to build a united country that is free from unnecessary ethnic and religious sentiments.

History has shown that the Azikiwe-Awolowo division/betrayal was inspired by the British. If you have listened to the testimony of Mr. Smith, a Briton who witnessed it all in Nigeria, Azikiwe was blackmailed by the British into that alliance with the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, not withstanding the fact that Zik by nature was a pan Nigerian.

Ordinary folks have been made to fight this imaginary war over the years. The achilles heel of the Igbos is the tendency to assert their superiority through bullying in whatever form, the same way some of the Fulanis are doing now that they are in control of leadership of Nigeria. We must all remember the fact that, no empire lasts forever. No matter how good, everything is dependent on time, circumstances and chance.

This is the chance for the South east but will they take it? Some have said that, even if the presidency is zoned to the South east on a platter of gold, they will not be able to produce a candidate, because it will be impossible for them to agree on one among themselves.

The South had only come this far in the pursuit of the 2023 ticket, because of the strong leadership that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has provided for the southern governors forum. Even within this forum, you can see the South east governors dragging their feet. Let us see if they will prove us wrong.

Ikhioya wrote via www.southsouthecho.com

The Indigenous Igbo People Carved Into Kogi State: Exposing The Hidden History

Image: Ogbonnaya Okoro via Twitter

BY OGBONNAYA OKORO

Let me usher this discourse by first clearing the air that the Igbo presently in Kogi are not migrants. The places they are settled had been their ancestral lands and never Ịgala land as erroneously portrayed over the years. The Ịgala are the ones who migrated from Wukari in Taraba State and settled at a place called Amagede before they moved to the Idah area. There are still the Ịgala tribe in Taraba State today.

When they migrated, they met population of Yoruba, Benins and Igbo who already lived in the various places. These Wukari people emerged with them and through their influence produced the language known as Ịgala language.

To cement this historical narrative, let us hear from the Attah of Ịgala himself, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Michael Idakwo Ameh Oboni on his interview with the Punch published on 26 August 2017. Regarding the history of the Ịgala people he said and I quote him verbatim:

“Talking about the origin of the Ịgala people, a sizable group migrated from Wukari in Taraba State from where they came to Benue along the River Benue and continued very close to the confluence at a place called Amagede by River Benue and slightly down from Amagede downwards to Idah and they settled there. And there, they met a sizeable population of the Yorubas and the Benins and to some extent, some Igbo. So the migrant population from Wukari merged with them and produced a language called Ịgala as a people”.

Before the migration of these Wukari people, they were some Igbo indigenous people in Ịda. That’s why we have Ụmụịda in Enugwu Ezike, Igbo Eze North Local Government Area, Enugwu State. I traced the history to Ụmụịda and realised that there is a community called Ụmụshiene. They left Idah and settled in this place in Enugwu Ezike. Some fraction of the community left, leaving their land there.

They didn’t just leave the land, some of them still remained there. When I interviewed a man called Ayọgụ who is 80 and Itodo who is 85, they said that annually, their brothers from Idah which is now in Kogi State bring to them resources from the land they left many years ago and settled in Enugwu-Ezike. Their brothers there take care of the land. Their wives prepare palm oil and other things. During Iri Ji Festival, they bring jars of palm oil to them as produce of the Ụmụshiene land in Ịda. There is Ụmụshiene in Ịda Kogi State and Ụmụshiene in Ụmụịda, Enugwu-Ezike in Enugwu State. They are the same blood. The Ụmụshiene in Enugwu-Ezike are the senior brothers. Any male child from there will first take kola nut before anyone from the Ida side of Kogi.

The question is: who migrated from where to where? What was their original language and culture?

Ụmụshiene in Ụmụịda Enugwu-Ezike migrated from Ịda now in Kogi State. Ịda was their ancestral land. Some left while some remained. Those who remained still bring goodies for their brothers in Enugwu Ezike.Their language spoken from time immemorial had been Igbo and not Ịgala. There are few other communities in Ịda which languages of communication is Igbo. Their pure culture is Igbo. You can also locate some in Ankpa Area but they are in the minority due to the high population of the Ịgala.

Back to the Ịgala influence. When those people who migrated from Wukari touched the place known as Ịgala land today, they made Ịdah their center. That is why till now, Attah Ịgala lives in Ịdah. The Ịgala people scattered all over the state and beyond. Remember, during this period, there was nothing like state, local government etc. We know people by their community name which is basically clan. People can migrate and settle wherever they find themselves.

Ịgala people extended their influence to the northern Igbo, especially the Nsụka area. They intermarried with the Igbo. Just to prove to you that Ịgala language is the combination of different tongues base on different people found in that settlement according to their Attah, there are many things in common linguistically, between the Ịgala language and the Igbo language. Our market days are almost the same. Some lexicons are the same.

Researchers and historians like Professor Afigbo and co had researched on the influence of the Ịgala people on the northern Igbo. There is acculturation amongst them. Intermarriage. Language. Names. Even the Igbo descendants found in those places could understand Ịgala and also Igbo. Some Ịgala people can also understand Igbo.

An Ịgala man in his 70s by name Ọjọbọ told me:

“Some of our mothers are Igbo from Nsụka. I speak both Igbo and Ịgala”.

There are names the Igbo and Ịgala share in common. Such names as: Ọnọja, Itodo, Atama, Ozioko, etc.

But from my finding and from the introductory remarks of the Attah of Ịgala cited in this article, you can believe me that some people the Wukari migrants met at Ịda area were Igbo before they emerged. This means, some we refer to as Ịgala in those axis are actually Igbo. You heard it from the mouth of Attah. Ha bịara abịa wee zute ndị nọ there. This is why it’s so easy to intermarry with the northern Igbo.

Some left those axis and migrated to other parts. While others joined them. This is like the case of Ovoko who migrated before the war to Ikponkwụ in Okpuje area because their land was fertile. After the war, Ovoko migrated back.

The question is, where is Ikponkwụ today? This question will lead us to the following subtopic:

State Creation as Divide-and-Rule System of Dispersing Brothers.

State creation is a major tool causing identity crisis. When a people are being carved away from their brothers to join others who subject them as the minorities. But then, every sincere human devoid of political selfishness and spirit of self denial knows exactly his or her root no matter how long the truth behind the history has been distorted.

In Kogi State, apart from the Igbo communities mixed with the Ịgala, there are aboriginals and indigenous Igbo communities without mixture. They are fully Igbo. Take for instance, Avurugo.

1. Avurugo:

This community is fully an Igbo community. This place had been their ancestral land before some individuals from other parts of Nsụka joined them. How do one locate Avurugo? If you are going through Nsụka, you will pass through Ịbagwa Anị and connect to Okpuje. You can also access there through Okutu. While interviewing a 75 years old man here, he said:

“All of us here are Igbo but we are now in Kogi State”.

They have a market square called Eke Avurugo. This market makes some people misconstrue the name of the community as Eke Avurugo. No. Eke Avurugo is the market located in a community called Avurugo. The market is open only in Eke market days. The language of transaction is purely Igbo. There is no mixture of Ịgala and Igbo in the market. There is no speaking of English in the market. I understand whatever they speak. Their dialect is Nsụka dialect and some parts also have relationship with a few villages in Ụzọ Ụwanị and Okpuje area.

Sitting amongst three elderly people I heard them interact:

“Ụnụ abọọ?
Ị bọọ?
Ị dị agaa?
Deeje
Ala nụ”

In Nsụka dialect of Igbo which I am highly conversant with, “ụnụ abọọ?” is a morning greeting just as saying “ụnụ abọọla chi?” if loosely translated into the English language it means— have you waken up? “Ụnụ” is the plural form of “you”.

When one says: “Ị bọọ?”, it’s a singular form, meaning: “have you waken up?”

“Ị dị agaa” means how are you? Other Igbo dialects could have it as: “i mere aṅaa, ị dị aṅaa, ọlịa, kedụ, olee otú, kee ka i mere” etc.

Deeje is the Nsụka’s greeting inform of daalụ, Ndeewo. Salutation. While in Nsụka dialect, “ala nụ” means welcome just as “nnọọ” in standard Igbo.

People of Avurugo speak this way. Undiluted Igbo dialect. Their location as well have no much outside influence. They are neighboring town with Okpuje and Okutu.

There is another market called Ahọ Ekwurugbo. Remember that in Nsụka dialect, Ahọ is Afọ. This market is open only on the Afọ days of the Igbo week. I saw some people going to the market and I decided to follow them. The market is far from Eke Avurugo. When I got to the market, my jaw dropped. Language of communication is purely Igbo without any other linguistic interjection. I went to price yam, cocoyam, pepper in Igbo.

“Ego ole ka ị ga-akwụ?” (How much will you pay) They’d ask.

Interesting.

These are farmers. They produce everything they eat. They look healthy because they eat natural food. In this afọ Ekwurugbo, you will see that food items they sell are coming straight from the farm. Their fresh pepper and tomatoes are not coming from the north. They grow them in abundance themselves and sell to each other. Such perishable goods look very neat and healthy. Sparkling red colour. Everything is original. They do not import food instead they produce food and consume within.

Their ọkpa tastes like that of original Nsụka ọkpa. They cook ọkpa-cup and nylon ọkpa. I must confirm whether it’s the same. I bought some and devoured. I confirmed my curiosity. Remember, everyone in the market communicate in Igbo. I use general Igbo, they still understand me. Yes, every Igbo who can converse in any dialect of Igbo understands the general Igbo known as Igbo izugbe.

The people of Avurugo are happy people. They are peaceful and welcoming. Another interesting Igbo trait characterised in the prism of ile ọbịa. The Igbo welcome strangers and treat them well. Passing through this compound, an old man approaching 80 years smiled and waved at me. I had to stop. I greeted him. He offered me a seat. Conversation had began. He told me a lot. He said they are all Igbo carved to Kogi and put under Ịgala’s leadership. They have their kin in Igbo-Nsụka.

Another interesting finding about the Avurugo is the names of their villages. All are Igbo. The following are the villages in Avurugo:

* Ụmụọchịna
* Ekwurugbo
* Ụkpabiogbo
* Ụkpabioko
* Obinagụ
* Amaọhụrụ
* Nwa-Olieze
* Ere-Ane
* Ọzara
* Iheobune
* Nnọkwa
* Ekproko
* Alọme
* Agbataebiri
* Abụtaogbe
* Ọla
* Ịgabada
* Ọdọlụ
* Amaokwe

Please kindly read through these villages again. Check their names. Igbo or not? Before you conclude, let me also tell you that I visited all and confirmed my curiosity and shock that they are all Igbo people pushed into Kogi State. Their worldview, daily communication is purely Igbo. Just as every other Igbo villages, they do their thing. They have large expanse of land as well. Their vegetation is greenish. Their forests are neat. Fresh air and beautiful shed left and right.

2. Ikponkwụ

Ikponkwụ was once a community within Okpuje area in Nsụka but now a community in Kogi State. Because of their beautiful land for agricultural activities, Ovoko moved there and would finally return after the war. Ovoko is located in Igbo-Eze South L.G.A of Enugwu State. Some who could not return stayed back, some even extend to Avurugo and settled amongst them.

3. Akpanya

This community is fully an Igbo community. If you want to access Akpanya you can easily do so through Enugwu-Ezike. Assuming you are coming from Obolo-Afọ, you will pass Ụda, Amụfie before getting to Ogrute. From Ogrute, take the roundabout as if you are going to Ịbagwa-Aka, then take the first right turn leading to Ụmụịda. These places are located under Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugwu State. Immediately you pass through these places, you will get to Ụnadụ in Igbo-Eze South L.G.A which has the same topography with Akpanya which is now under Kogi State.

The first village by the boundary is called Agbedo Akpanya. I remembered the name of my professor in Nsụka, Professor C.U Agbedo immediately I got to this village and found out its name. He is from Enugwu-Ezike. The proximity between Enugwu-Ezike and Agbedo Akpanya as well as sharing the same dialectal similarities got me thinking. But then, that’s not the bone of contention here.

I targeted the market day. It’s called Orie Akpanya. The market is always full in Orie market day of Igbo week. People from different parts of Nsụka do visit the market. The language of communication in the market is Igbo. Not just the market, the entire village. They converse in Igbo. They think in Igbo.

When I interviewed some group of young men, about 6 of them, they told me plainly that all their parents are Igbo. Some for political reasons told me they are Kogi. As we continued discussion and it was getting interesting, one of them said:

“Forget that we are in the north central, our mothers are from Nsụka. All of them. Some married to Ịgala men that is why some speak both Igbo and Ịgala”.

One going by the name Amos Ọnụ said: “my ancestor was from Ngwuru Nsụka. He lived here”.

From the valuables and the elders I interviewed, I found out that while some Igbo were aboriginals, some Igbo also visited from other parts, migrate and joined them. As discussed from the outset, there was nothing like state or local government in the past but clans. The people of Akpanya are Igbo. If going deeper, entering into the heart of Kogi, you will see pure Ịgala communities and some having mixtures of Ịgala and Igbo.

The reason for such mixture is as a result of proximity and intermarriage. Most people in those places are bilinguals. They speak both Ịgala and Igbo accurately and respectively.

The pure Igbo villages within Akpanya include:

* Agbedo
* Oji Akpanya
* Ogboligbo
* Ịjagudu
* Ajịobi
* Ojiela Akpanya
* Akpabirikpo (Igbo/Ịgala)
* Ajịkele
* Oju Ogboligbo
* Ajekele Ogboligbo
* Agbọkete
* Apata
*Igudu
* Ọdụmọgwụ, etc.

These are Igbo speaking villages that can be found under Akpanya. Akpanya share boundary with Ụnadụ, Agụ Ịbagwa, Ichi under old Nsụka region. They have the same traits.

A man in his 40s whom I interviewed said:

“My grandfather’s mother was from Ịbagwa Aka; my direct father is from Ngwuru Nsụka. All the women in this place are married from Igbo land. All our fathers are born from Igbo women from Igbo land. But as you can see, we are in Kogi. North Central”.

Oji Akpanya was the first place the missionaries visited in the olden days while Ogboligbo is in the center. Agbedo is the getaway of the community.

If you leave Akpanya and go further, you will get to another community called: Amaka.

3. Amaka

Just as the name implies, you already know the language it belongs to. Amaka is an indigenous Igbo people whose language and culture is Igbo. But as a result of state creation, they have been carved into Kogi State. Church services are conducted in Igbo language just as every other communities I have previously mentioned. Their land had been their ancestral land and never Ịgala land as erroneously portrayed. They are just victims of state creation due to their location. They are pushed into Kogi State.

4. Ọnịcha Igo

This is another Igbo speaking community which can be found in Ofu L.G.A of Kogi State. There are different villages here. They mix with Ịgala too and intermarry. Some individuals here are bilingual speakers—Igbo and Ịgala.

5. Ịbaji

There are concentrated Igbo communities in Ịbaji. They don’t deny their Igboness especially those who never allowed state creation to demarcate them from their bloodline. The headquarters of Ịbaji is located at Odeke. Odeke has an ancestral connection with Agụleri now in Anambra State. They live close and share common boundary.

How do we confirm this?

During festivals, just as some would shout: “Igbo kwenụ!”, the Odeke people will say:

“Odeke-Agụlụ Kwenụ! Odeke-Agụlụ Kwenụ!”

But these people are now in Kogi State because state creation say: “Okeke you are Anambra, Okafọ you are now in Kogi”. But they still say till date: “Odeke-Agụlụ Kwenụ!”

Other Igbo settlements in Ịbaji include:
* Uchuchu Anaọcha
* Uchuchu Anapịtị
* Echọwa which they now corrupted as Echeño
* Ọbale,
* Omabo, etc.

These places are said to be originally farmlands of the Odeke people.

The Ịbaji live and connected to the Ogurugu and Ụzọ Ụwanị in Enugwu State and even share common boundaries with them.

There are three major clans of the Echọwa now called Echeño. These clans are:

* Ịkana
* Olugo and
*Nyagba.

The village called Ụmụọnụra in Echeño Ịbaji originated from Ezeawụrụ. Some clan migrated from Ifite Ọka (Awka) and settled there in Echọwa which was one of the farm settlements of the Odeke people who have root and bloodline with the Agụleri. Their oral tradition and citation during festivals say it all.

These Igbo communities in Ịbaji also connect to the Anam people of Anambra, then extend to Ịga, Ugbela, Ahịa of Ụzọ Ụwanị Enugwu State and Ojo Ogurugu in Enugwu State as well.

These communities lived together because there was nothing like state or territory. They interacted. They are bloodlines until statism happened and they are carved to the north central.

Till date, their culture is Igbo. They still have four Igbo market days, but then, the mixture with the Ịgala changed afọ to ede especially in the Echeño side but others as Eke, Orie, Nkwọ are in tact.

Their masquerades are Igbo masquerades: They have Ijele. They have Akpaakụ. Ofe nsala is their native soup and they still maintain the name—ofe nsala. They speak Igbo.

But then, there is Ịbaji dialect. It is a creolized language as a result of mixture of Igbo and the Ịgala. Not everyone in Ịbaji is Igbo. Some are Ịgala. They mixed with Igbo and created Ịbaji language. That’s why Echọwa changed to Echeño.

Some other unaffected Igbo villages in Ịbaji which are strictly Igbo and now regard as Kogi people include:

* Ụmụọbụ
* Ụmụoye
* Anapịtị
* Nwajala
* Eweli,
* Ubulie-Ụmụeze, etc.

Echeño people of Ịbaji bear Igbo name as Ujumma, Egwuatụ, Ifemere etc. Many I interviewed did not deny their origin.

6. Akolo

The full name of the community is Akolo Ukwueze— indigenous Igbo people community in Kogi State. You can easily access here through Okutu, Nsụka Local Government Area of Enugwu State. They are predominantly Igbo. No migration. Their location had been their ancestral land before they were said to be Kogi. These people are farmers.

Note: I have mentioned Amaka before. The full name of the community is Amaka Okpodu. They are pure Igbo.

Other Igbo communities in Kogi State include:

* Ugwuebonyi
* Ebokwe
* Ọzara
* Amaokwu
* Amadịefiọha
* Amaụfụlụ
* Amaụwanị
* Amankpo etc.

In conclusion, we have seen the effect of state creation as well as the migration of the Wukari people from Taraba state who came down to the lower Benue through Amagede and mixed with others then became what we know today as the Ịgala. They met some Igbo in the land especially those in Ịdah area. The blend and intermarriage has affected both languages to have similarities. State creation has moved some Igbo land to join Kogi. We have pointed out those people who still maintain their language and culture.

But the question is, why is it that the indigenous Igbo carved to Kogi are not even recognised as an ethnic group just as others? There is a ploy to hide this identity and push some narratives. Tales of lies have been told for some to believe that those Igbo living in Kogi are the Ịgala who learnt Igbo language because of their interactions, intermarriage and proximity with the Igbo people. BIG LIE. They know their identity. They have kinsmen in different part of Nsụka. They breathe Igbo. They live Igbo. They eat Igbo. They dream Igbo. They had been in their ancestral land before they were told to be Kogi immediately Kogi State was created.

Even Kogi government knows that these Igbo communities are purely Igbo; could it be the reason for absence of government intervention and development? The Igbo spirit in them help them to create their own world without being totally dependent on government. Nigerian factor has made them to neither feel the presence of Enugwu and Anambra government nor Kogi State government. These territories are like displaced people. But they have decided to make life out of everything. They created their own world and happily living in it. Only Ịbaji area where oil was discovered that government of Kogi State began to drag the territory with Anambra; Enugwu also joined hand. This shows that treasure is priority for recognition of people’s identity. That settlement is Igbo speaking part and Igbo land.

Finally, these are indigenous Igbo people who have been in their ancestral land before Kogi was created and they were pushed into it under the Ịgala leadership. They are not Ịgala people who speak Igbo because they are on the boundary side but Igbo people who through Nigerian definition of things carved out of their land to join others for the purpose of divide-and-rule system hidden under state creation..

This history should be preserved for posterity.

I paused!

© Maazị Ogbonnaya Okoro
Linguist, Writer, Researcher and Historian.

The militarization Of Igbo Land

BY THIS DAY EDITORIAL

The deployment of soldiers in the southeast is unconstitutional, contends Sonnie Ekwowusi

The ongoing militarisation of Anambra State and the rest of Igbo land under the guise of combating insecurity is illegal and unconstitutional. Capitalizing on the messy political violence and a few political assassinations in Anambra which claimed the life of Dr. Chike Akunyili and other precious lives, the Federal Attorney-General and Justice of Minister Abubakar Malami (SAN) had announced last week that the federal government might declare a state of emergency in Anambra State. Not unexpectedly, prominent Nigerians and institutions have been blasting Malami for harbouring and uttering such a wicked statement. Notably among them is the Anambra State governor Chief Willie Obiano. Chief Obiano has said that he had reached President Buhari on the matter who told him to ignore Malami as the federal government does not intend to declare an emergency rule in Anambra.

Why is the Federal Attorney-General pressuring the federal government to declare a state of emergency in Anambra when a state of emergency had not been declared in different parts of North East and North West battling deadly terrorism and armed struggle resulting day after day in monumental human casualties and sacking of communities? When a people’s dignity, honour, pride, reputation, and existential values are constantly eroded in nauseating fatalistic Fulanization and Jihadization, there is a cause for concern. Being a senior lawyer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria for that matter, Malami ought to have known that neither he nor President Buhari nor any other political office holder can wake up one morning and unilaterally declare a state of emergency in Anambra. Even though our democracy has been seriously corrupted and abused at recent times, government actions are still governed by the rule of law, especially the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the supreme law of the land. By virtue of section 305 (1)(2) (3a-g)(4)(5)(6) of the Constitution, President Buhari may through an instrument published in the Official Gazette issue a Proclamation for a State of emergency in Anambra. Thereafter President Buhari shall immediately, after the said publication, transmit copies of the Official Gazette of the Government of the federation containing the Proclamation to the National Assembly which will decide whether or not to pass a resolution approving the proclamation. Note that President Buhari shall not issue a proclamation for a state of emergency in Anambra unless there is actual breakdown of public order and public safety or there is a clear and present danger of a breakdown of public order and public safety in Anambra. In a nutshell, President Buhari cannot declare a state of emergency in Anambra without an instrument published in the official gazette, and, without issuing a proclamation to that effect, and, without the concurrence of the National Assembly.


Apart from Malami’s state of emergency threat, the federal government, under the guise of protecting lives and protecting in Anambra and the South East, has deployed soldiers to invade Anambra State and the rest of the South-East in what has been tagged as “Operation Golden Dawn” ( reminiscent of George Wallace’s Operation Golden Dawn). The latest military offence, which is no different from Operation Python Dance 1 & 11 of 2016-2017, is actually targeted at dislodging IPOB and ESN as well as create the enabling environment for the federal-assisted Anambra politicians to steal the Anambra Gubernatorial election come November 6. Considering the atrocities committed in Igbo land by soldiers deployed to invade Igbo land under “Operation Python Dance” 1 & 11, it beats the imagination that the government has again deployed soldiers to invade the same Igbo land. You will recall that during the so-called “Operation Python Dance” 1 & 11, several innocent Igbo civilians were either murdered or badly injured or publicly flogged or harassed or hounded by soldiers. The disturbing video clips of the aforesaid invasions are still available for all to watch.

The latest deployment of soldiers to invade Anambra State and the rest of the South-East under “Operation Golden Dawn” is illegal and unconstitutional. Section 217(2)(a) (b)(c)(d) of the 1999 Constitution has in no unmistakable terms spelt out the circumstances and conditions under which President Buhari can deploy soldiers to any state of the federation. There are: (i) for the defence of Nigeria from external aggression. (ii) for the maintenance of the territorial integrity and securing the borders of Nigeria from violation on land, sea and air, (iii) for suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President; subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly. In other words, whilst President Buhari can freely deploy our military to defend our country against aggression and to maintain our territorial integrity, he cannot dispatch the Nigerian soldiers (acting under “Operation Golden Dawn”) to invade Anambra State and the rest of the South-East in order to combat insurrection and/or other internal armed conflicts in those place without “such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of National Assembly, and “performing such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly” as stipulated by section 217(2)(c)(d) of the 1999 Constitution. It is clear that the aforesaid constitutional provisions were violated when President Buhari deployed the Nigeria soldiers under “Operation Golden Dawn” to invade Anambra and the rest of the South East.

Even a plea of the doctrine of necessity by President Buhari cannot avail him or justify “Operation Golden Dawn”. The doctrine of necessity can only be pleaded upon certain conditions such as; (a) there must exist an imperative necessity arising from danger affecting Anambra State; (b) the action must be proportionate to the necessity (c) action taken to meet the exigency and must be the only available action (d) there must be incapacitation of the state security apparatus which normally maintains security. During the prosecution of “Operation Python Dance 1 & 11 in Igbo land from 2016-2017, the Nigerian soldiers did not comply with the Rules of Engagements (ROE). The soldiers went berserk intimidating, harassing innocent passengers and motorists and unlawfully incarcerating innocent citizens in Igbo land. They also went about killing suspected Biafra agitators and IPOB members and dumping their corpses in nearby bushes. Now, recent reports reaching us attest that the soldiers operating under “Operation Golden Dawn” are committing the aforesaid crimes which they committed in Igbo land under “Operation Python Dance 1 & 11. For example, for adorning an outfit depicting the Biafran rising sun, prominent actor Chiwetalu Agu was last week publicly molested and humiliated by some soldiers. Other innocent citizens in Igbo land are presently experiencing similar molestation or humiliation.

This is unacceptable. How can soldiers who are supposed to be combating crimes turn round to start committing their own crimes? No matter the situation, committing jungle justice in Igbo land cannot be rationalized. Two wrongs cannot make a right. Soldiers cannot do wrong in order to right another wrong. The end does not justify the means. Soldiers cannot employ illegal means to achieve a lawful end in Anambra and the rest of the South East. There should be no repeat of the atrocities of soldiers under the previous Operation Python Dance 1 & 11 in the South-East.

ESSAY: Who Are The Returnees In Akwa Ibom?

Akwa Ibom map image via Research Gate.

BY NSIKAK EKANEM

John James Akpan Udoedehe has an impressive ex this and that in his political profile – former Uyo Local Government Chairman and former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was also a one-time Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

In 2011 he was the governorship candidate for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Akwa Ibom. Though he lost the election to then incumbent Godswill Akpabio, he gave the former a run for his money in what remains the most blood-spilled and ethnicity-tensed election in the annals of electoral contests in the state. Before defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ACN he was the helmsman of Akpabio’s 2007 governorship campaign.

After his unsuccessful bid for the governorship position in 2011 he has been aspiring to fly governorship flag of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in 2015 and 2019 elections, to no avail. Though his consistency with the main opposition party in the state could be said to be unwavering, his dedication to electoral interest of his party after the 2011 election has been wavering just as he has been suspected to play a fifth columnist role for the party in power. Even so, he remains one of the top gladiators in the politics of Akwa Ibom.

Unlike many Nigerian political officer seekers, he is not good at hiring crowd, yet he can boast of sea of heads at any political event gathered at his instance. He may not have the gift of the gap to lure his audience with alluring words but he has the streetwise-ness to command mass movement, especially among the downtrodden. A cerebral young man called Ofonime Honesty honestly described him as “The man who braved the odds to breathe life into opposition politics in Akwa Ibom”.

So many others see him as having nuisance value. His street bravado, which his adversaries described as touting, is traced to his formative years in his father’s then flourishing transportation business in Uyo, which might have deposited a sizeable sociological gene in him. May be it has more to do with his biological gene than the environmental influence or combination of both.

Whether it is to his advantage or disadvantage, most of Udoedehe’s teeming followers often voluntarily, willy-nilly, charlatanry and in a riffraff-like manner amplify his intentions and actions with distortions, beyond the proportion of the doer of the action. It does not occur to them that overzealous or madcap drive to give a niche to a brand, especially a political brand, when it is unneedful, without subjecting it to ratiocination, with the belief that the brand will be embraced hook, line and sinker by the public, is often packaged higgledy-piggledy, resulting in high propensity of being counterproductive.

When Udoedehe, recently at a public event in Uyo, traced the political history of Akwa Ibom to the fact that the state “always have Lagos returnees coming to become governors” and that time has arrived “to have a home grown person as governor” he probably did not mean to ostracize, inculpate and alienate any segment of the Akwa Ibom populace or cause aspersion on any individual person with a view to drawing artificial fault lines and narrowing 2023 political space in the state.

Unfortunately, what the former senator might not have meant have been making rounds in the state through messy marketing by his minions in any available public place. In attempt to market the message on the need for “home grown person” to be governor, Udoedehe has been inadvertently portrayed as a politician with a complex problem, intimidated by mere speculation of a person or persons with certain connection with Lagos. One who goes to a race with inferiority complex on account of the physique and profile of other contestants meet defeat from the starting line and it would take millennial magic for the person to reach finishing line, let alone winning the race.

As a one-time senator, and later, a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, provided his character and worldview align with his political status, Udoedehe has what it takes to be called a statesman, therefore, going to the market place with pedestrian and parochial postulation aimed at castigating Akwa Ibom indigenes residing in Lagos is unbecoming and condescending of a person that has attained such position in the public.

The keywords in Udoedehe’s message are “home grown” and ‘Lagos returnees”. Whereas the phrases, on the face of it, are simple enough for comprehension by even pupils in the primary schools, ambiguity has crept in through innuendoes deploy by the amplifiers in the course of expatiating the call for change. If where one is brought up has to do with a person’s formative stage, which is from childhood to adolescence, how come someone who was born around the vicinity of his nativity, grew up there and had his primary to tertiary education there before getting a job in Lagos, from where he constantly shuttle to his village, is given a separatist tag of “a returnee”?

With Lagos as a case point, one of the contradictions of the Nigerian federation, which is against the spirit of an ideal federations, is that while a citizen’s hands are busied every day for a living in the city his heart remains in his village. That accounted for why a person living and working in Lagos goes to his village to enroll in the voters’ register. If a person residing in Victoria Island for decades is asked to choose a road for construction he would rather mention with alacrity roads in his village and not anyone around the neighbourhood of his residency.

In the late 1980s or thereabout, Ray Ekpu packaged a fundraising programme for his village in Akwa Ibom and brought Arthur Nzeribe, who announced a scholarship foundation for indigent students of the community to study in universities. Recently, when Udeme Ufot of the SO & U advertising firm clocked 60 all roads for his friends across the country, the de crème de la crème, were leading to his village at Etinan in Akwa Ibom for a thanksgiving all because he wanted “to draw attention” to deplorable roads passing through his village.

Granted that the meaning of “returnee” is as assumed by those making a taunt of it, what is wrong in a country like Nigeria, where high premium is placed on state of origin over residency for an indigene who intends to join politics in his country home?

From antiquity to contemporary time, history abound of leaders that return to their nativity and assume some sort of deus ex machina role. Think of the biblical Moses in the liberation movement in the ancient Israel! In the same vein, two most prominent and powerful Igbos, in my estimation, are legendary Nnamdi Azikiwe, known across the globe as Zik of Africa, and Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. The two of them were born in Zungeru, in the present day Niger State in November 1904 and 1933 respectively. Zik was educated in the United States. On returning to Nigeria, he lived in Lagos, where he had his major exploits in politics. Ojukwu, who was fluent in Hausa and Yoruba before speaking his native Igbo, was also brought up in Lagos.

Though, Zik’s pan-Nigerianness and pan-Africaness have been a subject of criticism among a segment of the Igbos, owing to Nigeria’s ethnocentrism, the fact remains that the Igbos were unalloyed in their commitment to being loyal and ever committed to following Zik while his robustly engaged political career lasted. In the case of Ojukwu, the fact that 50 years after, the disastrous relics of the Nigerian Civil War still remain a sore to the Igbos in Nigeria, yet the Igbos remain unregretful for faithfully identifying with Ojukwu, who was the main prosecutor on the Biafran side of the war. Their Zungeru birth place did not count while their cosmopolitan orientation was considered a plus for the Igbos to get to their envisaged place in the Nigerian nation.

Who really is a returnee in Akwa Ibom? Let us take a look at those who eke out a living through their toils in Lagos or elsewhere and at the same time have filial identification with the plight and aspirations of their native community. Let us compare the former with those that attain prominence through mandate given to them to render service to the public and at the end of their service they relocate to Abuja or elsewhere outside Akwa Ibom because they have fed fat and elevated to status no longer fit for habitation in the Akwa Ibom environment. Let us also take a glance at a politician with serial record of profiteering in elections after elections in Akwa Ibom, who leaves to unwind elsewhere, leaving his followers in the lurch, only to return for next election.

All Akwa Ibomites anywhere in the world should be unapologetic in condemning any attempt by any individual or group persons to smear certain people and spew exclusionary rule in the pursuit of their personal political ambition. If at all, there is anything edible in a pack of unconstitutional exclusionary rule, it is only its momentary palatability in the mouth of those spewing it. It is a trouble to the stomach since its indigestibility lead to a vicious complex ailment.

Exclusion is an anathema to democracy. It promotes narrowness that democracy antagonizes and kills the ennobling essence of all-ness and openness that democracy epitomizes. Since democracy offers a market place for diversities let all sort of people – fake home grown and real home grown, returnees and the runaway – flock together till harvest time.

SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH

A Reason To Separate The Igbo From Nigeria

Image via Nairaland Forum

BY OSITA EBIEM

Right from the onset, it may be necessary to make this point clear: That Nigeria is a genocidal state. We need to have that in mind while responding to the question of whether the Igbo should continue to maintain their stake as partners in the colonial union known as Nigeria. Throughout history and in all regions of the world where there has been genuine and honest response to genocides, separation has always been the only sensible response. At the end of the crime, the victims are usually removed far away from the perpetrators. That is the only solution that permanently prevents future occurrences of the atrocities of genocide in any society where it has taken place.

While the people are saying “Never Again,” the only reliable guarantee that is capable of safeguarding such a promise is the shield and assurances that sovereign independent international boundaries provide for a persecuted people like the Igbo. The truth is that while you try as much as possible to keep fires away from gunpowder, you should also make efforts to keep gunpowder away from fires.

Here following, we will name a few of the victims of genocides in the past who of necessity had to be separated from the perpetrators in order to ensure that the victims do not suffer the same fate in the future. Some time ago in 2016, in the midst of threats from the Turkish government which perpetrated the crime, German legislators officially recognized the Armenian Genocide as such. The United States Congress, despite protests from the Turkish government has also officially recognized the Armenian genocide.

Soon after the Turkish Ottoman Empire committed the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 with the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians, the Armenian people had to separate themselves into an independent country of Armenia with the administrative capital in Yerevan.

After the German Nazis committed the genocide of the Jews in Germany and the rest of Europe in which 6 million Jews were massacred, the victims had to separate themselves far away from the perpetrators. This Jewish Genocide is known widely as the Holocaust. The genocide ended in 1945 and the Jews established an independent state of Israel in the Middle East in 1948.

It is the accusation of genocides that led to the breaking up of the countries that made up the former united country of Yugoslavia.

The genocide of the East Pakistanis by the government of West Pakistan led to the separation of the two formerly united country, where the East became Bangladesh. The list goes on.

The genocide such as the one that took place in Nigeria against the Igbo is an institutional genocide. Most genocides are institutional crimes, anyway. In most cases it is only states that have the capacity to muster such elaborate machineries usually required to carry out such great massacres. The government as well as the other peoples of Nigeria committed the genocide of Biafrans between 1966 and 1970 in which 3.5 million Biafrans were killed. Igbo made up 3.1 of the 3.5 million who died in that genocide.

The root cause of the Igbo Genocide in Nigeria is hatred. Therefore, the hatred that produced the act is institutional and not merely individuals’. The Nigerian state as an institution is the primary source of the prevailing Nigerians’ hatred of the Igbo. Because its source resides in the institution of the federal republic of Nigeria, it will be near impossible to uproot this hatred from the Nigerian society. It will be near impossible to create a lasting atmosphere in the Nigerian society where the Igbo will be eventually accepted and allowed to exist side by side with the other Nigerians in the spirit of true brotherhood.

Institutions run as continuums therefore their established policies, customs, norm and culture such as the society-wide hatred of the Igbo, run from one generation to the next. Agreements, armistices and promises such as “Never Again,” “No victors and no vanquished” and other similar lofty pledges, when they are genuinely made, can only hold for a while in genocidal societies like Nigeria. Eventually there will always emerge the biblical Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. And once such Pharaohs arrive in power, the vicious cycle resumes and genocide repeats itself.

It is in the light of the above truth that we know that the only real permanent solution that will prevent any future genocides of the Igbo in Nigeria is for the Igbo to be separated from Nigeria into a sovereign independent Igbo country or state.

SOURCE: MODERN GHANA

Eastern Region Unites On Kanu's Parents' Burial

IPOB members from Igweocha, Rivers State at the burial of Nnamdi Kanu's parents. Image via Vanguard.

BY CHIMAOBI NWAIWU

Satisfied with the successful burial of its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s parents, In Isiama Afaraukwu Umuahia, Abia State, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday said that attendance by people from the 11 States of old Eastern Region, now divided into the South East and South-South, was an indication that they are united in pursuit of freedom. 

The old Eastern Region is made up of Abia, Imo, Enugu Ebonyi, Anambra, Edo, Delta Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.

IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful said that Mazi Kanu’s parents’ burial has more than before, united the old Eastern Region who were allegedly maliciously divided into South-East and South-South, in order to prevent their coming together to fight one common problem against them which is injustice.

The attendance by traditional rulers, chiefs kings and queens from all the South-East and South-South, is a proof the old Eastern region is still one united people, even though the Federal government divided it into two geopolitical zones to stop them from uniting for a secession a second time. 

“We had traditional rulers and chiefs, from Ijaw, iIkwerre Anang, Efik, Ogoni, Ibibio, Idoma, all present and others represented in Afara Ukwu Ibeku Umushia, to pay their last respect to Nnamdi Kanu’s parent” 

“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s parents’ burial once again has united South-East and South-South in the pursuit of one important goal which is freedom for our people.” 

It will be recalled that representatives of very important personalities and members of IPOB from the all the State in South East and South with private and chartered vehicles stormed Isiama Afaraukwu Umyahia, Abia State, for the burial.

According to IPOB, the attendance of the burial by people from different states of the South East and South-South was how the old Eastern Region was doing things together before the government of Nigeria became threatened and divided the region into two. 

The group thanked the elders and politicians of Yoruba ethnic group and individuals that attended the burial ceremony, just as it thanked traditional rulers from Igbo land, politicians and businessmen that attended including, former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator Victor Umeh and Mr Peter Obi, and others too numerous to mention.

-----VANGUARD

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Murder

 Fegalo Nsuke

BY FEGALO NSUKE, MOSOP PRESIDENT


Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder is most certainly the worst Nigeria did to the Ogoni people outside the genocide which has been the outcome of Shell’s reckless oil mining operations since 1958.


The pain of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder along with eight others including John Kpuinen, Barinem Nubari Kiobel, Nordu Eawo, Saturday Doobee, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate and Baribor Bera remain the most unpleasant side of our country’s history. It is so because the “Ogoni 9” as they became known and referred to were definitely innocent and did not deserve death.

In the words of former British Prime Minister, John Major, their trial was fraudulent and their execution was a judicial murder. I think their execution was “state murder” and has remained a permanent stain on our country’s human rights records.

The executions were perceived by the Nigerian authorities at the time as necessary to pave way for the Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigeria’s subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, to re-enter Ogoni for oil mining operations. Shell had acted so irresponsibly in Ogoni, destroying the Ogoni environment and causing massive deaths.

In the early 90s, Ken Saro-Wiwa led the Ogoni people in protest against Shell and the Nigerian government marginalization of the Ogoni people. The protests forced Shell out of Ogoni but invoked official state repression leading to the death of over 4,000 persons. This excludes the thousands who have died from living in the poisonous Ogoni environment. An estimated 50 persons currently die weekly within the coastal communities where the effects of pollution had been strongest and at least one(1) out of every three children born in the Ogoni region are likely to die within three months after birth.

Over 24years after the 1995 executions, it is unfortunate that our country is yet to come to terms with the reality that our society needs to move forward in the spirit of reconciliation. We need to face, speak and live the truth about the persecution of the Ogoni people over the quest for basic rights and by so doing rebuild our country on a foundation of justice.

The truth is that Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others were murdered in their innocence and that must be addressed in the interest of justice. Attempting to force oil mining activities in Ogoni without the resolution of the Ogoni demands for Ken Saro-Wiwa’s exoneration along with his eight other associates, opening up a process for genuine and adequate discussions on the future of Ogoni and cleaning up previous oil spills in the area will be an invitation to crises and a deliberate plot to kill the Ogoni people.

The Ogonis will always resist forceful oil resumption, the result is that the government will draft in the soldiers who only kill the Ogoni people. That will be irresponsible on the part of government and should be avoided especially at this time that MOSOP has shown willingness to engage in discussions on the future of the Ogoni people.

We do not want any more Ogoni blood spilt by the Nigerian government. Already, over 4,000 deaths had been recorded due to direct state repression between 1993 and 1999, our environment had been completely destroyed and unable to support the population any longer, there is no future for our oil rich Ogoni whose resources have built Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and made Nigeria a regional power.

After Saro-Wiwa’s murder, the first and earliest moves Shell and Nigeria made in Ogoni was to attempt to forcefully resume oil production. Shell the polluter and her ally, the Nigerian government have only been interested in the Ogoni oil and not in development. That attitude must change. While Nigeria has shown strong will to resume oil mining activities in Ogoni, the authorities must also address the pains and deep cuts created by the repression. That will help to bring healing to families and facilitate reconciliation.

For the Ogoni people, addressing the 1995 murders is fundamentally required to win the support of every Ogoni as we progress. It is doubtful that the Ogoni people will ever be happy to see fresh exploitation of their natural resources without any action to exonerate the innocent agitators who were murdered in 1995, a proper cleaning of previous oil spills and discussions on the future of the Ogoni people.

Attempting to ignore the unfair and unjust murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others will leave the majority of the Ogoni people in deep pains and frustrate every progress we could possibly make to move forward.

The exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others should not be too difficult to do. The sentences should undergo a judicial review and their names cleared. This is fundamentally requited to show a new government commitment to social justice for the Ogoni people who still grapple with deep injuries in their hearts about a state sponsored persecution that killed thousands of people. The pains of the repression remains very strong and frightening in our hearts and the Ogoni people must be helped and reintegrated into national life.

Attempting to disregard these suggestions will endanger the lives of the Ogoni people. It will make the people loose confidence in peaceful struggles and put the Ogoni community in greater danger.

In addressing the problem therefore and moving Ogoni on a new path towards progress, we need to understand that there may not be true reconciliation until we all move towards justice for the people, both for the living and for those who were unjustly killed in the cause of the struggles for a better life for all of us.

Justice demands that we do not move forward and forget those whose sacrifices opened the opportunities for us to move on. It is a basic principle for every society desirous of progress.

We must act in ways that build confidence and encourage the peaceful methods which the Ogoni people have adopted. We should not be negligent to allow people loose confidence in our nationhood, we must make our country work by the actions we take and the concerns we show to each other.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and all those with whom he was killed were innocent. That fact cannot change and will not be forgotten. We must encourage the rebuilding of a new Ogoni beginning with their exoneration and then we move on to discuss the future of Ogoni.

That is the way to go.

NSUKE WRITES FROM ABUJA

NEWSROOM: Police Wades Into Crises Rocking Gariki Cattle Market In Enugu

The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Ahmad Abdulrahman, has waded into the crisis rocking the Garriki Cattle market at Ugwuoba in Oji River Local Government Area of the state.

The move was aimed at restoring peace at the troubled market over the postponed election to elect accepted leaders at the multi-million naira cattle market.

The commissioner of Police met the two factions in the market – Amalgamated Cattle Dealers Association, ACDA, led by Aminu Iya and Amalgamated Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers Association, AFCDA, led by Buba Garba, at the State Police Headquarters in Enugu on Friday.

Speaking to newsmen before the meeting, the representative of Amalgamated Cattle Dealers Association, Mr Abdul’aziz Mohammed, accused members of the faction led by Garba of being responsible for the postponement of the Ugwuoba cattle market election.

Mohammed said the AFCDA members allegedly disrupted the election that was scheduled to hold in 2019 at the Oji River Local Government Secretariat by importing those he described as “thugs” to participate in the election.

He said that the action led to its postponement by the former Chairman of the local government, Mr Harrison Okeke.

On how the “thugs” got registered for the election, Mohammed alleged that Alhaji Buba photocopied the original registration card for them, which informed the decision to lock them out of the secretariat’s gate.

He said that the issue of election which had divided the market and caused revenue loss came to fore after the death of their leader, Mr Baba Malam in 2019.

He said that his faction was ready to participate in the election.

Meanwhile, Garba, the leader of Amalgamated Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers Association, has described the allegations against him and his members as `false and malicious’.

He said that the allegation that his members disrupted the earlier election was an attempt to ridicule him before the members of the public.

He said that his group would be ready to work with anybody who emerged as a leader in the market through the conduct of the free, fair and credible election in the market.

An indigene of Ugwuoba Community, Mr Jonathan Ikwumeleze however, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that only generally accepted election would restore peace, unity, accountability, and development in the cattle market.

NAN reports that the two factions, at the end of the closed-door meeting, agreed to sheath their swords for the sake of peace and also work together towards getting electing leaders in the market.

---------------NAN

Between FG’s N10b Enugu Airport Intervention And Infrastructure Abandonment In Southeast

Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Image: Facebook

BY LAWRENCE NJOKU

ENUGU (THE GUARDIAN) -- SouthEast is not new to complaints. Anybody who has followed events in the zone closely since the end of the civil war will readily affirm that allegation of marginalisation by successive administrations of the country holds sway among its people. Although time has proven that the allegations are not imaginary but real, what has continued to agitate the minds, however, is when this negative toga could be removed from the zone.

Last Monday, governors, and leaders of the zone were at it again when they met at the Government House, Enugu. The meeting, which held behind closed doors for over four hours, was attended by Governors Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Deputy Governor, Nkem Okeke of Anambra State.

Others included president general, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo; former Enugu State governor, Jim Nwobodo, National Assembly caucus from the zone represented by their leader, Sen Enyinnaya Abaribe, religious leaders and traditional rulers among others.

When they rose, Umahi, who is chairman, Southeast Governors’ Forum had told reporters: “We have resolved that we are going to see the president about the welfare of the southeast. That is what we resolved. When we come back, we will give you the content of our meeting with Mr President.”

Although he refused to disclose in details what Ndigbo wanted to discuss with the president and probably why the issue of “welfare” of the zone has become so worrisome that it should be resurrected at this time, however, those who are familiar with the terrain in Igboland would readily agree that it was same old story – infrastructure abandonment.

It was not the first time Igbos were raising concerns about their welfare. In fact, it was not also the first attempt at bringing President Muhammadu Buhari up to speed with happenings in the zone.

During the first term of the administration in 2015, governors of the zone had led other Igbo leaders to congratulate President Buhari over his electoral victory and used the opportunity to present the various needs of the zone to him.
Part of their demand, which had continued to reverberate is the parlous state of Enugu-Onitsha road; the Enugu-Port Harcourt road; the Onitsha-Owerri road; the moribund industries in the Southeast; the completion of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu; the 2nd Niger Bridge and the Onitsha dry port project. They had insisted that developments had eluded the zone resulting in a plethora of agitations from its youths who could not find paid employment after graduation.

Although the president had given assurances that he would look into some of the demands within available resources, nothing tangible had happened since then; in fact, some policies and decisions taken by the administration have worsened the situation of the zone with its economy almost at a standstill.

A source stated that the president’s appointments further compounded things for the zone. He stated that apart from the absence of Southeast in the security architecture of the country, several other key areas have been denied the zone or skewed against it.

The source referred to the multi-million naira rail track rehabilitation project, the gas line power projects, continuous dereliction of federal roads and other intervention projects which the administration initiated in various parts of the country did not put the southeast zone into consideration.

Former Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Joe Nworgu had summarised the hapless development when he said that the president’s negative perception against Ndigbo was not amenable.

Nworgu had, in an interview with The Guardian, where he lamented the deplorable state of Ndigbo called on the people of the zone not to expect anything from the Buhari administration, stressing that he was speaking from precedence.

“When he was the chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), go and check the record and see the number of contracts he awarded and executed in the Southeast and the number of contracts he awarded and executed in his own zone. He showed so much bias against the region.

“In 1983, when the Military struck and he took over the reins of power from the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari, he placed Shagari, who was the head of government with constitutional power under house arrest in his house and remanded Alex Ekwueme, who was the Vice President without constitutional powers in prison. So, I don’t expect anything to change for Ndigbo because he does not think that we are part of the country. He still believes that we are a conquered people who should be relegated to the background,” Nworgu had said.

It was revealed that Monday’s emergency meeting of the leaders at Government House, Enugu was called following developments considered dangerous over the closure of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, the only federal presence in the zone still operational.

The airport, which was closed to traffic on August 24 to pave way for the repair and expansion of its runway, has remained without activity as there was neither contract nor any contractor insight to begin the rehabilitation plan.

The propaganda that preceded the shut down had all kinds of obstructions blamed on the government of Enugu State, especially with an abattoir and radio mast that were said to have created safety concerns which government was allegedly not willing to relocate.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Siriki, who had in an earlier meeting with leaders of the zone given an assurance that the airport would be reopened before December for use by Christmas holidaymakers, suddenly announced last week that there were no funds to prosecute the rehabilitation works.

He had further said to the bewilderment of the zone that a princely N10 billion was required to effectively handle whatever challenges the airport was faced with, especially at its domestic wing.

Voices, concerns, and suspicions had begun to gather in the zone. A wave of tension was building up, especially against an allegation that there was an intended plot to perpetually keep the Southeast down and out of the scheme of things in the country and that the closure of the airport was the last straw.

Even in its derelict state, the airport became a beehive of activities and economic nerve centre of the Southeast providing accommodation for local and international flights with the Ethiopian Airline operating in it.

Even the reports that in order to keep to its promise to deliver the airport in record time, the Ministry of Aviation had moved to raise mobilisation funds for the contractor that handled the resurfacing work on the runway in 2010 could not provide succour. Of the N1 billion allegedly being demanded, the Ministry was said to have raised N300 million, which is paid to the company. The company was said to have decided to withdraw since the money demanded could not be raised and in the absence of an award letter from the Federal Government.

Sources close to the Enugu meeting explained that the growing unease led to exhaustively deliberations, where the options to approach the presidency on the development, was struck.

Sources, however, disclosed that the leaders had agreed to ask the presidency for “special funding for the airport since it was not in the budget or return home to look inwards for funds to undertake the project.”

This was said to have been based on rumours that there were no funds to prosecute the jobs as well as the plethora of awarded jobs in the zone that lie in abandonment due to paucity of funds.

Checks by The Guardian revealed that Opi-Ninth Mile-Udi-Anambra border road had been awarded, so are sections of Enugu-Port Harcourt, Enugu-Onitsha highways, Aba-Owerri and Aba-Port Harcourt roads among others in the zone, but while some are yet to take off, the ones that took off after their awards have been abandoned.

However, meeting with the President last Thursday ended with the announcement of the approval of the N10 billion intervention fund for the upgrade of the airport.

President Buhari, who said he had received the assurance of the Minister of Aviation that the rehabilitation work would be done speedily and to the highest standards, added, “even as we have many items competing for our limited resources, we will continue to prioritise infrastructure investments in every part of the country. It is our responsibility to ensure Nigeria’s infrastructure is fixed. We will keep doing this.”

News about the approval of funds for the airport had elicited some mixed reactions from some residents, the majority of whom believed that there was no justification to have allowed the facility to depreciate before an intervention.

Others queried the idea of subjecting leaders to begging before anything from the government could be done in their zone, stressing that, it was unfair that Igbos should be looked upon as “beggars to be considered for a development project.”

They insisted that it had always taken a visit to the president in Abuja for any “project to come under execution in the Southeast zone,” stressing, “so far, none of such projects had been completed.”

“We hope the approval is given executive backing to ensure that it does not end up like other past approvals whose jobs are still uncompleted in the zone. Let the president march his pronouncement with action and with this, we know that something has been done for the Southeast,” it was noted.

There were others who insisted that had such intervention been made in other sectors of the zone, it would have helped to uplift and boost its economic potentials, adding that, the president would have changed the negative perception about him with the realisation of the upgrade.

Emeritus President, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, however, insisted that the approval was one among other long hurdles that needed to be achieved before the work was started and completed.

He said: “The Federal Government closed the airport without arrangements for its repairs. So, we acknowledge the first step, which is the approval of N10 billion. The next hurdles are there – budget, Bureau of Public procurement and contract award. Finally, the release of the contract sum will be the toughest stage. What these hurdles mean is that the residents of the affected areas have a long way to go before the airport is reopened. May I pose this question; where else in this country must the leaders go cap in hand before the government will perform its duty?”

But a Civil Rights Activist, Kennedy Enwerem told The Guardian, “I think the models that are following are not working. It is the private sector that should drive all these and I think they should sign the road/transport sector bill to encourage private sector participation in the maintenance and rehabilitation of infrastructure.

“Like the situation we have in the zone, the Federal Government should ask the Southeast governors to rebuild the roads in their domain and manage them for some time. I can assure you, we will find a private sector that will take over these roads and reconstruct them. The Federal Government does not have all the funds; it is bugged with so many challenges that require funding. The Ministry of Works under Fashola awarded several roads that have not taken off. They hold the Federal Executive Council meeting every week with awards here and there and end up executing none. That is the problem.”

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN