Nnamdi Azikiwe "Address To The Igbo People"

 

This address was delivered at the Igbo State Assembly held at Aba, Nigeria, on June 25, 1949. In this address, Nnamdi mentioned the bad press, discrimination and marginalization of Igbos under the British government and called for Igbos to fight for their self-determination but under Nigeria and Cameroon, which will later lead up to the United States of Africa.

Harbingers of a new day for the Ibo nation, having selected me to preside over the deliberations of this assembly of the Ibo nation, I am conscious of the fact that you have not done so because of any extraordinary attributes in me. I realise that I am not the oldest among you, nor the wisest, nor the wealthiest, nor the most experienced, nor the most learned. I am therefore grateful to you for elevating me to this high pedestal.

The Ibo people have reached a cross-road and it is for us to decide which is the right course to follow. We are confronted with routes leading to diverse goals, but as I see it, there is only one road that I can safely recommend for us to tread, and it is the road to self-determination for the Ibo within the framework of a federated commonwealth of Nigeria and the Cameroons, leading to a United States of Africa. Other roads, in my opinion, are calculated to lead us astray from the path of national self-realization.

It would appear that God has specially created the Ibo people to suffer persecution and be victimised because of their resolute will to live. Since suffering is the label of our tribe, we can afford to be sacrificed for the ultimate redemption of the children of Africa. Is it not fortunate that the Ibo are among the few remnants of indigenous African nations who are still not spoliated by the artificial niceties of Western materialism? Is it not historically significant that throughout the glorious history of Africa, the Ibo is one of the select few to have escaped the humiliation of a conqueror’s sword or to be a victim of a Carthaginian treaty? Search through the records of African history and you will fail to find an occasion when, in any pitched battle, any African nation has either marched across Ibo territory or subjected the Ibo nation to a humiliating conquest. Instead, there is record to show that the martial prowess of the Ibo, at all stages of human history, has rivaled them not only to survive persecution, but also to adapt themselves to the role thus thrust upon them by history, of preserving all that is best and most noble in African culture and tradition. Placed in this high estate, the Ibo cannot shirk the responsibility conferred on it by its manifest destiny. Having undergone a course of suffering the Ibo must therefore enter into its heritage by asserting its birthright, without apologies.

Follow me in a kaleidoscopic study of the Ibo. Four million strong in man-power! Our agricultural resources include economic and food crops which are the basis of modern civilisation, not to mention fruits and vegetables which flourish in the tropics! Our mineral resources include coal, lignite, lead, antimony, iron, diatomite, clay, oil, tin! Our forest products include timber of economic value, including iroko and mahogany! Our fauna and flora are marvels of the world! Our land is blessed by waterways of world renown, including the River Niger, Imo River, Cross River! Our ports are among the best known in the continent of Africa. Yet in spite of these natural advantages, which illustrate without doubt the potential wealth of the Ibo, we are among the least developed in Nigeria, economically, and we are so ostracised socially, that we have become extraneous in the political institutions of Nigeria.

I have not come here today in order to catalogue the disabilities which the Ibo suffer, in spite of our potential wealth, in spite of our teeming man-power, in spite of our vitality as an indigenous African people; suffice it to say that it would enable you to appreciate the manifest destiny of the Ibo if I enumerated some of the acts of discrimination against us as a people. Socially, the British Press has not been sparing in describing us as ‘the most hated in Nigeria’. In this unholy crusade, the Daily Mirror, The Times, The Economist, News Review and the Daily Mail have been in the forefront. In the Nigerian Press, you are living witnesses of what has happened in the last eighteen months, when Lagos, Zaria and Calabar sections of the Nigerian Press were virtually encouraged to provoke us to tendentious propaganda. It is needless for me to tell you that today, both in England and in West Africa, the expression ‘Ibo’ has become a word of opprobrium.

Politically, you have seen with your own eyes how four million people were disenfranchized by the British, for decades, because of our alleged backwardness. We have never been represented on the Executive Council, and not one Ibo town has had the franchise, despite the fact that our native political institutions are essentially democratic—in fact, more democratic than any other nation in Africa, in spite of our extreme individualism.
Economically, we have laboured under onerous taxation measures, without receiving sufficient social amenities to justify them. We have been taxed without representation, and our contributions in taxes have been used to develop other areas, Out of proportion to the incidence of taxation in those areas. It would seem that we are becoming a victim of economic annihilation through a gradual but studied process. What are my reasons for cataloguing these disabilities and interpreting them as calculated to emasculate us, and so render us impotent to assert our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

I shall now state the facts which should be well known to any honest student of Nigerian history. On the social plane, it will be found that outside of Government College at Umauhia, there is no other secondary school run by the British Government in Nigeria in Ibo-land. There is not one secondary school for girls run by the British Government in our part of the country. In the Northern and Western Provinces, the contrary is the case. If a survey of the hospital facilities in Ibo-land were made, embarrassing results might show some sort of discrimination. Outside of Port Harcourt, fire protection is not provided in any Igbo town. And yet we have been under the protection of Great Britain for many decades!

On the economic plane, I cannot sufficiently impress you because you are too familiar with the victimization which is our fate. Look at our roads; how many of them are tarred, compared, for example, with the roads in other parts of the country? Those of you who have travelled to this assembly by road are witnesses of the corrugated and utterly unworthy state of the roads which traverse Ibo-land, in spite of the fact that four million Ibo people pay taxes in order, among others, to have good roads. With roads must be considered the system of communications, water and electricity supplies. How many of our towns, for example, have complete postal, telegraph, telephone and wireless services, compared to towns in other areas of Nigeria? How many have pipe-borne water supplies? How many have electricity undertakings? Does not the Ibo tax-payer fulfill his civic duty? Why, then, must he be a victim of studied official victimization?

Today, these disabilities have been intensified. There is a movement to disregard traditional organization in the Ibo nation by the introduction of a specious system of a form of local government. The placing of the Ibo nation in an artificial regionalization scheme has left an unfair impression of attempted domination by minorities of the Ibo people. In the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council the electoral college system has aided in the complete disenfranchisement of the Ibo. As a climax, spurious leadership is being foisted upon us—a mis-leadership which receives official recognition, thus stultifying the legitimate aspirations of the Ibo. This leadership shows a palpable disloyalty to the Ibo and loyalty to an alien protecting power.

The only worthwhile stand we can make as a nation is to assert our right to self-determination, as a unit of a prospective Federal Commonwealth of Nigeria and the Cameroons, where our rights will be respected and safeguarded. Roughly speaking, there are twenty main dialectal regions in the Ibo nation, which can be conveniently departmentalized as Provinces of an Ibo State, to wit: Mbamili in the northwest, Aniocha in the west, Anidinma and Ukwuani in the southeast, Nsukka and Udi in the north, Awgu, Awka and Onitsha in the centre, Ogbaru in the south, Abakaliki and Afikpo in the northwest, Okigwi, Orlu, Owerri and Mbaise in the east, Ngwa, Bende, Abiriba Ohafia and Etche in the southwest. These Provinces can have their territorial boundaries delimited, they can select their capitals, and then can conveniently develop their resources both for their common benefit and for those of the other nationalities who make up this great country called Nigeria and the Cameroons.

The keynote in this address is self-determination for the Igbo. Let us establish an Igbo State, based on linguistic and ethnic factors, enabling us to take our place side by side with the other linguistic and ethnic groups which make up Nigeria and the Cameroons. With the Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Yoruba, Ibibio (Iboku), Angus (Bi-Rom), Tiv, Ijaw, Edo, Urhobo, ltsekiri, Nupe, Igalla, Ogaja, Gwari, Duala, Bali and other nationalities asserting their right to self-determination each as separate as the fingers, but united with others as a part of the same hand, we can reclaim Nigeria and the Cameroons from this degradation which it has pleased the forces of European imperialism to impose upon us.

Therefore, our meeting today is of momentous importance in the history of the Ibo, in that opportunity has been presented to us to heed the call of a despoiled race, to answer the summons to redeem a ravished continent, to rally forces to the defence of a humiliated country, and to arouse national consciousness in a demoralized but dynamic nation.

SOURCE

Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961). Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

NNAMDI AZIKIWE'S OPINION OF OJUKWU AND BIAFRA

Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, governor-general of Nigeria and member of the Queen's Privy Council, on the day of his appointments, November 16, 1960. Image: Popperfoto via Getty

AZIKIWE'S OPINION OF OJUKWU/BIAFRA

"Yes. I played a prominent role in Biafra for the unity of the country in order to restore peace and bring about unity of the country. That’s the role I played. I advised Ojukwu. I said well look, you have declared secession.

What we should do is to get the elder statesmen and women of the nation to reconcile you and Gowon. I said by declaring secession, you get so many people who do not believe you to remain there.

You see all of us were interned. As we were interned then, we couldn’t express our own views as we see it because, he made Decree Number 5 which vested absolute powers in himself and if you were against his views, it then constituted an act of subversion and the penalty was death by shooting.

Well, it was a war-time measure and that is understandable. So, I advised him. I said go to the conference table and iron out your differences. Allow elder statesmen and elder stateswomen to bring the two of you to the conference table and settle this matter so that there will no more be civil war and the country may be united. He agreed. But Gowon was advised by the Ministry of External Affairs to insist on pre-conditions .

That is that before he could negotiate with the secessionists, that they must accept certain terms; accept the 12-state structure and all. So, it was quite obvious that the Federal Government wanted Biafra to come to the conference table with their hands tied and their feet tied. But they won’t be free agents.

That was the diplomatic mistake on the part of the Federal Government. So, when they did that, then Lt- Col. Ojukwu told me, “How can I go to the conference table based on these ultimatums?”

Still I advised Ojukwu to go to the OAU and ask them to use their good offices to settle the dispute and that we should avoid loss of lives. He accepted my advice in good faith.

Then he said, ‘Now, you have some heads of state in Africa who are your friends, would you mind going to appeal to them to use their good offices so that the Nigerian civil war could be an item on the agenda for OAU summit in Kinshasa?’ I said I would gladly go. So he sent me to Monrovia as a peace envoy.

I went there and met my friend, President Tubman. Tubman expressed his willingness to use his good offices. He told me he would see another mutual friend, the late Haile Sellassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, and both of them would see that the civil war was placed as first item on the agenda of the OAU Summit in Kinshasa.

I returned and broke the news to Ojukwu. He was very pleased.

Then, when the OAU summit opened, Chief Awolowo, as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive Council and Commissioner for Finance, led a strong Nigerian delegation to Kinshasa and raised a very strong objective on the Nigerian civil war being placed as an item on the agenda on the grounds that according to the OAU Charter, this was a domestic affairs and member states were precluded from interfering in the domestic affairs of each other, which was really sound according to international law.

But we wanted to solve it in the African way, to use mediation and conciliation to bring two warring brothers together.

The OAU accepted the submission of Chief Awolowo and so it was not put into the agenda. Well, history will show now between Chief Awolowo and myself, who actually accentuated the war. I was trying to get the OAU to settle the dispute so they could go to the conference table and he was thinking of legalism, that it would amount to interference in the domestic affairs of a member-state.

But meanwhile here you have two brothers killing each other.Well, Ojukwu told me, I have done my best. You see, Nigeria was relying on law and we are relying on humanity.

What’s next? I said why not try other heads of states and see what could be done to bring about peace? He then said he left the initiative with me. I suggested going to some heads of state and see what can be done. But his advisers led by Dr. Nwakama Okoro suggested recognition.

That if we can get other states to recognize Biafra, maybe the hands of Nigeria may be forced to go to the conference table.

Well, I thought that was a sound idea and I placed my services at their disposal so as to meet my friends.

We had in mind President Senghor of Senegal, President Houphouet Boigny of Ivory Coast, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, President Milton Obote of Uganda, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and of course Francois Bongo, he is now Omar. He now has become a Muslim. He was then a Christian.

The long and short of it all was that I and these great African statesmen agreed that if Gowon persisted with pre-conditions, then they would accord recognition to force the hands of Gowon to go to the conference table and bring about peace.

That was one.

Two, Gowon had already predicted that the war would end on March 31 and as far as these African statesmen were concerned, these killings and atrocities did not do any credit to the image of Africa and as such what should be done was to stop it as soon as possible.

Therefore if the war didn’t end by March 31, then the propaganda of ‘Biafra’ that it was an act of genocide would be justified. And they didn’t want to accept that.

I went on this mission and succeeded in persuading these heads of state to agree to give recognition just to force the hands of Nigeria, diplomatically speaking, to the conference table.

President Senghor said he couldn’t because the majority of his supporters were Muslims and rightly or wrongly they felt it was a religious war. And he said well, if he granted recognition, then his government would fall.

But he supported the idea of forcing the hands of Nigeria to the conference table. Houphouet Boigny was prepared, provided his people backed him. Ditto for the others except Milton Obote who told us that Prince Mutesa and the Bagandans wanted to secede and he couldn’t support secession when his own state was confronted with similar problems. It left four of them.

That is, President Nyerere, Houphouet Boigny, Kaunda and Bongo. They agreed on the understanding that the war did not end by March 31, 1968 and pre-conditions would be removed to make it easy for both Ojukwu and Gowon to go to conference table.

So they granted recognition and it worked like magic because immediately after this, Dr. Okoi Arikpo, who must be presumed to be responsible for this diplomatic blunder (he was the Commissioner for External Affairs]---a good man no doubt, but he is a very poor diplomat in my own humble opinion - announced to the outside world that Nigeria would no longer insist on pre-conditions and that he was prepared for conference table but the war did not end on March 31 and so, they left the impression, you see, that Nigeria wanted to annihilate the Ibos.

You noticed the Soviets gave Nigeria more arms and Nigeria used those arms to destroy the secessionists. Here, I came in again and I advised Ojukwu. I said look since Gowon has withdrawn the pre-conditions, go to the conference table and argue the points so as to pave way for a peace conference.

It was agreed that they should meet in Niamey. I advised Ojukwu to go. Again Gowon was ill-advised so he couldn’t come.

At Niamey here was Ojukwu. I was on his side. Gowon wasn’t there but Haile Sellassie, Hamani Diori, Tubman and General Akran were there representing OAU. So, I told Ojukwu, I said now you have an upper hand.

These respected leaders of the OAU were there. I had briefed Ojukwu. I said ‘look your line of approach is to express appreciation for what the OAU was doing in order to maintain peace in Africa but you were prepared to co-operate and you are leaving the whole matter in the hands of the OAU to see what could be done to bring an earlier cessation of hostilities.

I said just say that and thank them and sit down.Now Gowon didn’t attend. He sent a junior man, I think Alhaji Femi Okunnu or so, to represent him. And they didn’t even attend this conference at which the four heads of state presided. It was only the Biafran side.

So Ojukwu won a diplomatic victory and you know Ojukwu is a very good speaker if you give him all the facts. He was a good public relations expert and he won. He said, ‘well if Gowon was sincere why did he spite such great men and didn’t attend?’ That worked.

They agreed that Nigeria could be contacted so that we have a peace conference in Addis Ababa. It was a diplomatic victory for Biafra and so we returned to Biafra highly elated. And Ojukwu insisted that I should accompany him to Addis Ababa.

Then something happened. Some of his advisers felt that I was becoming a victim of compromise and that I was a bad influence. That all I was trying to do was to make Biafra impotent. They told Ojukwu that Biafra was holding its own militarily. And why should we want a peace conference?

That he should be very, very careful with me, especially as an Onitsha man because they thought that I was using him as a means to give publicity for myself internationally and that time will come when people will look more to me than to himself.

Well, as a young man, human, he fell for such flattery. I don’t want to mention all the names, but particularly influential in swinging his opinion at that material time was Mr. C. C. Mojekwu, who was based in Lisbon. Then Mr. Matthew Mbu was our Commissioner for External Affairs and he himself did as much as possible, but then he realized that he was having someone who has power of life and death over everybody.

So, we went to Addis Ababa and on the night before the conference, Matthew came to my bedroom at about 10 in the night. He said, “Do you know that all we have done, this man is going to undo them tomorrow?’ I said ‘No’. Then he brought out a printed version of a long speech.

The world press said it lasted for 90 minutes.

He [Ojukwu] went back on everything we discussed. He attacked the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union - all the nations of the world and the OAU, and said that they were misleading us and that the sovereignty of ‘Biafra’ was not negotiable.

We went to the conference. I sat next to him. I thought that he was going to speak in accordance with the spirit of Niamey. But he spoke for 90 minutes and he just got the whole place upside down.

Naturally, Tony Enahoro - he led the Nigerian delegation - replied in kind and so we were back to square one. So, when we returned, I advised him. I told him that I was surprised at what he did but it was not late. He said, ‘The sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable and if anybody should try to compromise that sovereignty, then it will be an act of subversion.’

Well, that was quite clear to me so I said, ‘Your Excellency, you still have Port Harcourt and you can still bargain from position of strength - after all, the main issue in the civil war is oil and they say that in international politics, oil is combustible and as you have a combustible situation you can begin from the position of strength’. He said, ‘No, Port Harcourt is impregnable.’ ‘Very well, Your Excellency,’ I said. I went back to Nekede where I had been in protective custody since February, 1968. Two weeks later, Port Harcourt fell.

He sent for me. I said, ‘Well, Your Excellency, I did warn you. You cannot now negotiate from a position of strength but having received recognition from four states, we can still use them to see what we can do to appeal to the outside world.’ He said, ‘Very well, I think you should go to the United Nations to seek for recognition.’ I said, ‘Your Excellency, let us wait until after OAU summit in Algiers and find out what Africa thinks.’ In the meantime, I went to Tunisia to see my friend Habeeb Bourguiba of Tunisia. He wasn’t quite well, so we moved from Carthage to Hermit where he stayed. Ojukwu had always said the civil war would be won on the battlefield and not on the conference table, and Bourguiba didn’t take kindly to that. He said don’t you people advise this young man? I explained to him that I have done everything I could to advise him, but he insists on going to the battle field.

So we crossed our fingers awaiting the verdict of Algiers. You know it was decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I advised Ojukwu that to go to the United Nations to seek recognition would be unrealistic since Africa had decided by 33 to 4 in favour of Nigeria. I said Nigerian envoys, the Nigerian delegations, would just percolate the membership of the United Nations and they would frown at the whole thing. He insisted. I was then in Paris. I wrote him a letter. I said:

‘Since you refuse to go to the conference table to negotiate for peace, since you prefer that the civil war should end on the battle field and not on the conference table; since you said that the sovereignty of Biafra is not negotiable, I am afraid I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have destroyed all the vestiges of any optimism for peace.

Therefore I am relieving myself of my services as a peace envoy. I cannot continue as a peace envoy. I cannot continue as a peace envoy because you have let me down. You left me under the impression that if I succeeded in getting recognition you will go to the conference table. You got four recognitions; you did not go to the conference table. I am therefore going to London on exile.’

I went to London in voluntary exile and the British government granted me asylum. I do not see how anybody could say that I ran away from my country.

I crossed the Atlantic 46 times, trying to negotiate with various heads of state so that they could grant recognition or make OAU to settle the dispute. How could the head of state turn round now and accuse all those who were politicians in pre-1966 and post-1966 as being responsible for the downfall of the republic?

I did my best to preserve the unity of Nigeria and also to preserve the lives of old men, able-bodied men and women and children but I failed. What could I do? I went on free exile and they keep saying that I was among those responsible for the downfall of the republic. I plead not guilty".

Excerpts from the interview he granted to New Nigerian Newspapers, 1979, as Presidential aspirant under the platform of Nigerian People's Party.

UNIZIK Champions Igbo Cultural Renaissance

Nnamdi Azikiwe University

BY ALOYSIUS ATTAH

The Directorate of Igbo Village and Centre for African Civilisation (IVACAC), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has lived up to its billing in the promotion of Igbo culture and civilisation to the globe, since it was established in the 2016/2017 academic session of the university.

Back to back, the centre has held the new yam festival, Ohazurume Igbo lecture as well as other cultural exhibitions that exposed the lessons of the Igbo African heritage.

This year’s new yam festival and Eze-na-Ifite Igbo conference was unique as it brought together Igbo scholars and culture enthusiasts, traditional rulers and student researchers on Igbo affairs.

The forum reaffirmed the need to continue talking about “Igboness”; that is what concerns the Igbo people and the need for “Igwebuike: which connotes the spirit of oneness, collectivism and communalism as opposed to individualism and selfishness.

Welcoming guests to the ceremony, Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Charles Esimone described the theme of the ceremony: “Igbo culture and civilization”, as a tantalizing theme rendered “quite germane in the face of a putative cultural asphyxia said to be dangling ominously over Igbo culture”.

Represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Prof Fredrick Odibo, Esimone said the Igbo have always been self-sufficient and that there was need to ask questions and proffer solutions on what happened to the Igbo enterprise, why things were not working well and to appraise where the Igbo were heading to.

Chairman of the occasion, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka (Ogirishi Igbo), said his heart was gladdened by what was witnessed in the university named after the Great Zik of Africa by the awakening of the Igbo spirit. He said that so many crops in Igbo were going extinct likewise other medicinal plants endowed to the Igbo free by nature due to the loss of interest exhibited by most Igbo of today and called for sustainability of the Igbo village and its activities in the university.

President, Naturecracy Association International, Prince Chinedu Nsofor, while presenting a keynote address on the spiritual significance of celebrating new yam festival, said western civilisation brought the Igbo many goodies but caused them more harm in dislodging the cultural heritage of Igbo and African civilization.

He urged the Igbo not to continue lamenting the injustices and errors in the foundation of Nigeria or continue to clamour for war but rather resurrect the intrinsic powers inherent in the epic “Igbo sense” to chart a new destiny for the Igbo nation.

Nsoffor advocated for ‘naturecracy’ as the way to go so as to enable the Igbo go back to nature and true culture. He described it as a ‘think home philosophy’.

Director, IVACAC, Rev. Fr. (Prof.) Bona Christus Umeogu, in a discourse on Iri ji, Ezi-na-Ifite and Igbo village, said yam is not only an Igbo affair as almost all continents of the world have yam in their respective traditions.

He listed various species of yam in Igbo tradition to include Ji ocha, Ji Oko, Ji Anunu, Ji Adaka, Ji Mbuna/Abana, Ji Mmiri, Ji Ofia, Ji Ona, Ji Adu, Ji Nwanyi eri, etcetera.

“New yam festival in Igboland is the king of all festivals and includes lot of Igbo cultural things like thanksgiving, kolanut breaking, masquerade performance, theatrical and dance exhibitions.

“The issue of thanksgiving during new yams harvest and festival has always been a thorny issue. Before the coming of the Church in Igbo land, the people have Ifejioku as the god of yams, the god of fire and the god of harvests. Because of this, some people think that new yam festival is a “pagan” festival but the answer must be given this way: with the coming of the church in Igbo land, Igbo people who are converted (Christian, Islamic, etc) are no longer bound to give their thanksgiving to Ani or Ifejioku, but to the God of their religion.

“It will be of importance to make it clear, at last, that yams in Igbo land are not only used for food, commerce and sacrifice, they are also used for healing purposes. For instance, the potassium and sodium content of yams like Ji Ona, Ji Anunu and others, regulate blood pressure in the human body. The hair and the skin have essential protein content called collagen which the vitamin C in Ji Nwannu increases for the wellbeing of the hair and the skin. A particular type of yam called Ji Adu is rich in manganese, which regulates blood sugar perfectly and helps stop minor kinds of inflammations,” Fr. Bonachristus posited.

Traditional ruler of Awka, Obi Gibson Nwosu, who was Father of the Day, said the entire Igbo communities cultivate yam, but only the Awka community through the iron smelting craft, produces the hoes that are used in cultivating yam.

The Imperative Of A National Holiday For Zik

Nnamdi Azikiwe

BY UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

Today (November 18) is a public holiday in Anambra State in honour of Nigeria’s first President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was born on November 16, 1904. The holiday was shifted by two days because his (post humous) birthday this year was last Saturday, a work-free day. There ought to have been a holiday throughout the country today because Zik was not just Nigeria’s finest national leader but also a pan Africanist of the finest hue.

It is a deserving honour for the pivotal leader who led the charge for Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960. As a result of his unparalleled efforts Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would in the course of time become the only black Governor-General of Nigeria, the first President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the only Nigerian whose name appeared in a Constitution of Nigeria, the first Senate President, among many other sterling firsts.

The great one fondly called Zik of Africa remains a binding force of togetherness in Nigeria even in death. He deserves a national holiday on his birthday, November 16, as eminently highlighted by Chief Willie Obiano, the Governor of Anambra State, by urging President Muhammadu Buhari to declare the birthday of Nigeria’s first president as a public holiday.

Governor Obiano who made the call at Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, while marking Nigeria’s 59th Independence celebration stressed that some African nations like Ghana and Tanzania had honoured their pan-African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere. He described Dr. Azikiwe as the greatest Nigerian who lived in the last century and argued that with the requisite honour being given to Zik it would enable the people to have a better understanding of Africa and the black race that Azikiwe inspired.

The governor revealed that Zik inspired notable citizens and nationalists, including Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Bashorun MKO Abiola, with his intelligence, eloquence and public oratorical skills.

Leading from the front, Governor Obiano stated that Anambra State will start to observe November 16 annually as a Work-Free Day in commemoration of the birthday of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. He pointed out that the day would be set aside to reflect on the contributions of Dr. Azikiwe to the growth of the country at large.

There is no gainsaying that Zik remains Nigeria’s foremost nationalist and therefore deserves a national holiday. This comes from the background of President Buhari having set the precedent of honoring the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential vote, Chief Moshood Abiola, with the renaming of the National Stadium in Abuja after him, bestowing on him the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, Nigeria’s highest national honour given to only heads of state, and making June 12 a national holiday.

As the erudite Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, said, “Abiola never left anyone in doubt that he was greatly inspired by the nationalism, patriotism and sportsmanlike spirit of Nigeria’s first president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, GCFR, PC. Abiola remained an avowed Zikist up to his death.”

On his part, Governor Obiano reiterated: “It has become imperative to remind President Buhari of the request I made to him on behalf of the government and people of Anambra State when he visited Onitsha to commission the newly completed Zik Mausoleum last January 24 that he declare Zik’s birthday a national holiday. Ghanaians observe the birthday of their first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, himself a Zik protégé. Tanzanians observe a national holiday in memory of their first president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, as Angolans do in memory of Dr Agustiono Neto, their first president.

“The Great Zik of Africa was not just Nigeria’s first president or the man who led Nigeria to independence in 1960. He was Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor General and the first Senate President. He was the first Nigerian to build a bank, thus inspiring his colleagues as regional premiers in the 1950s to establish their own banks. He was also the first Nigerian to set up a university, and consequently challenged his peers to follow in his footsteps. A Nigerian nationalist of incomparable status and a man of letters through and through, the Great Zik of Africa had established as early as the 1950s newspapers in Ibadan, Zaria, Kano, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and, of course, Lagos to fight for Nigeria’s liberation from oppressive colonial rule.

“Zik inspired a generation of Africans, including the late President Nkrumah of Ghana, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nwafor Orizu, who became Nigeria’s second Senate President. It has, therefore, become a national scandal that a national holiday has yet to be declared in honour of this great African son. The people and government of Anambra State once again call upon President Buhari to end this national blight by declaring November 16 of every year a national holiday in commemoration of Dr Azikiwe’s birthday.”

A quintessential Renaissance man, Zik was a politician, poet, author, orator, sportsman, visionary, nationalist, but above all else, a remarkable human being.

Zik lived and died as the acclaimed Father of Modern Nigeria. Zik was the complete Nigerian. Born in the Hausa-Fulani North of Eastern Igbo parentage, Zik spent his most productive years in the Yoruba West. He spoke Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo fluently, as well as other Nigerian languages. He was a welcome presence everywhere n the country.

A native of Onitsha in Anambra State, Zik was born on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru and died on May 11, 1996.

Zik who wore the traditional title of Owelle of Onitsha with uncommon aplomb was the lionized author of books such as Renascent Africa, Liberia in World Politics, My Odyssey etc.

A national holiday for the leader who made Nigeria’s independence possible is very imperative. The Nnamdi Azikiwe national holiday, or Zik’s Day, is an idea whose time has come in celebration of the father of modern Nigeria. It is incumbent on President Buhari to make it happen.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

UNIZIK Suspends Embattled Lecturer, Orders Verification Of Staff Certificates

Image via Punch

BY SAMSON FOLARIN

AWKA, ANAMBRA (PUNCH) -- The Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, has suspended embattled senior lecturer, Peter Ekemezie, over allegations of certificate forgery, plagiarism, among others.

The PUNCH learnt that the decision was taken at the end of the 117th general meeting of the varsity’s governing council.

The council, while ordering Ekemezie to hand over all the school property in his possession to his head of department, banned him from visiting the campus.

In addition, the certificates of all workers of the institution were to be verified, beginning with the academic staff.

This was after weeks of reporting by The PUNCH on the senior lecturer, who had been allegedly covered up by some powerful forces in the school for years.

He was to be promoted from the position of a senior lecturer to a Reader (associate professor) despite the allegations against him when our correspondent began reporting the case.

Ekemezie was employed by UNIZIK in July 2010, but his employment immediately generated controversies because he was allegedly employed as Lecturer 1 Level 11, instead of Lecturer 2, Level 9.

Sometime in 2013, one Mrs Egolum claimed that the 46-year-old collected money from her to help her process a special degree programme at the University of Port Harcourt.

Investigation into the allegation by a senior staff committee set up by the management of UNIZIK led to the discovery that Ekemezie himself was allegedly parading a forged BSc certificate.

The committee’s recommendation to the management was reportedly swept under the carpet.


A few years after, some lecturers accused Ekemezie of using plagiarised works to gain promotion and special favours from the institution, an allegation confirmed by another committee set up by the school.

Like the BSc certificate, the recommendations were also allegedly ignored.

Ekemezie himself wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, accusing some lecturers of fighting against his promotion and planting incriminating documents in his curriculum vitae to implicate him.

The police investigated and discovered that he lied. He was subsequently charged with giving false information and certificate forgery.

Still, the university did not act.

The Chairman of the Governing Council, UNIZIK, Azeez Bello, while promising that the council would act on the matter, said some members of the institution’s senate might have been compromised.

Ekemezie’s claim to being an external examiner at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and University of Benin were denied by the authorities of those schools.

The Anambra State indigene later concocted lies against our correspondent and filed a suit before a Magistrates’ Court. The matter was struck out.

Further investigation into the academic records of the lecturer showed that he allegedly did not also meet the minimum number of years for his postgraduate diploma, master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy.

The Dean of the UNIZIK School of Postgraduate, Prof. Philomena Igbokwe, while reacting to enquiries from our correspondent, said the lecturer completed his PhD in just 14 months, instead of 36 months.

“According to extant regulation, the timing is not in line with (the) approved duration,” she had said.

The revelation opened floodgates of criticism of the school’s system by some academics and online readers of The PUNCH.

Our correspondent learnt that the university governing council met last Wednesday and Thursday and deliberated on the various issues.

A release by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Dr Emmanuel Ojukwu, titled, ‘Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Interdicts Dr Peter Ekemezie,’ stated that the matter had been on for some time.

“The governing council at its 117th general meeting held on Wednesday, June 26, 2019, considered the report of the appeals and petitions committee on the petitions against his person titled, ‘Fraudulent Claim of Patent by Dr Peter Ekemezie and other irregularities in his current appraisal.’ Council noted that the matter, which had lingered for more than five years, was a criminal case, pending before the court of law. It, therefore, resolved to suspend deliberations on it.

“Guided by the provisions of Section 13.1.5 of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Senior Staff Conditions of Service, the Governing Council decided to interdict Dr Peter Ekemezie from his duties in the university with effect from Wednesday, June 26, 2019.

“Council, thereafter, directed as follows: He shall be entitled to receive one-half of his salary; he is required to hand over all the university property in his possession to his head of department and he is forbidden from carrying out his duties or visiting the university except with the express permission of the vice-chancellor,” the statement said.

A source privy to the resolutions at the meeting told our correspondent that there was an instruction for the verification of staff certificates.

The source explained that it was to restore sanity to the system.

“The council was very angry that this case lingered this long. The new vice-chancellor is a pastor with the Deeper Life Bible Church and he is strict and firm. He said even if his own sister committed an offence worthy of sacking, he would do it,” the top varsity source said.

Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, the varsity spokesman, Ojukwu, confirmed the verification of the certificates, adding that it would begin with the academic staff.

He said the new management of the varsity, led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone, was determined to redeem the school image.

“This council is determined to do the right thing to correct all the anomalies. The society should learn from the university. So, the VC wants to restore the quintessential university culture and this has started,” he added.

The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, UNIZIK chapter, Dr Steven Ufoaroh, said the verification of staff certificates would expose more workers with fraudulent claims.

He said, “The university council members and the VC are living up to expectation because the issue of discipline ends at their doorstep. If this had been done earlier, all the attacks on the school image would have been unnecessary. I believe with this, all similar cases may be exhumed and people will sit tight and know their proper placement based on their academic qualifications.”

A former Head of Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Prof. John Nduka, lamented the poor appraisal system which ensured the promotion of Ekemezie without verification of his academic claims.

He blamed the former vice-chancellor, Joseph Ahaneku, for the rot in the system, adding that several letters he wrote to him calling attention to the problems were ignored.

Nduka said, “If Ekemezie started work in 2010 with an alleged forged BSc certificate and somebody is just talking about it today, after he had gained promotion, what do we say about that?

“The issue of forged certificate had been known in the institution before the former VC promoted him to become a senior lecturer. The records are there. The committee report was dated January 23, 2015. That is over four years already. Does it take donkey’s years to handle such matters?

“The university law is that when you have a case, a university committee is set up to do preliminary investigation and if a prima facie case is established, the management places such a person on suspension. Then the VC refers the matter to the senior staff committee within a minimum of three months and maximum of six months and after that, the senior staff committee submits its report to the VC, which he will then send to the council. The council only ratifies the decision of the committee. It does not take more than six months. Maybe the new VC has woken up.”

The Director of General Studies, UNIZIK, Rev. Fr. Obi Oguejiofor, described as “shameful” the silence of the former administration over the matter.

The professor of philosophy explained that ASUU held a congress on Monday over the latest revelation that Ekemezie had his PhD in 14 months, adding that the union chairman was mandated to take up the matter with the VC.

He said the news of Ekemezie’s suspension and certificates verification were good for the school’s reputation.

“I spoke to the former VC, but he did not act. This matter is a big shame to whoever is connected to UNIZIK. I told the former VC to his face. But he left him to operate for years. I fail to understand a situation where someone with all the allegations against Ekemezie would be left to roam round for that long; it is not tolerable” he added.

A senior lecturer in the school, Dr Chigozie Anarado, said the decision was long overdue.

He noted that the varsity authorities must review how its standards sunk to the present level and make radical changes.

Anarado said, “It is a mixed feeling for me because I believe this ought to have been done a long while ago. But it is better late than never because at the end of the day, posterity will judge us.

“But we must go beyond that. We need to unravel how we got to this point ab initio. It is good that verification of certificates is done because there could be more fraudulent academics lurking around the corner. I am sure it is not only in UNIZIK you have this kind of thing. When you see something like this, you can be sure it is a representation of what is happening in other varsities. But it is important that we begin to clean up so that we can ultimately make the society a better place.”