INTERVIEW: Chikwendu Aiming To Become UN Woman-In-Fine Arts Ambassador

VANGUARD INTERVIEW

Oge Chikwendu

Over the weekend,in the very busy city of Lagos, at the Terra kulture Art Gallery and Events Place, Victoria Island, our crew met up with one of the most unique and upcoming Nigerian Female Fine Artist of the 21st Century; Oge Chikwendu.

OgeChikwendu is an artist who closes generational divides by merging contemporary arts and age-old artefacts on innovative surfaces. She’s currently vying to become the first female ambassador of Fine Arts in next edition of the United Nation’s Women – in – Fine Arts competition.

The competition titled “Choosing the Next Professional Female Fine Artist in Nigeria” is slated to hold between the 13th and 15th of July 2022, at the Eko Hotels and Suites Lagos.

Oge Chikwendu hails from Alor in Idemmili South LGA of Anambra State. In this interview, she speaks about her works and career. She gives a peek into her journey so far and tells the plans she has as she becomes the first UN Women’s female ambassador for Fine Arts in Nigeria.

She bemoans the challenges faced by women in Fine Arts, comparing it to some of her personal experiences during preparation for the competition. She enjoins African women, African artists and the black race to be proud and showcase ‘their rich heritage in Arts to the world. She also decries the lack of sponsorship and international opportunities as limiting factors against local female artists.

Expatiating on the importance of sponsorship, she narrated how lucky she was to have a sponsor and used the opportunity to appreciate the endorsement of African Business gurus, Chief and Mrs. Chris Ekwenibe, the brains behind Onitsha South Urban Mass Transit, who took her up as a beneficiary after she presented a piece of Chief Ekwenibe’s mother at her funeral, last October, in Neni, Anambra State.

Excerpts from the interview:

Introduction

“My name is Oge Chikwendu, I’m a Fine Artist from both the University of Nigeria Nsukka and the Yaba College of Technology Lagos. I’m amongst the 8 contestants competing to become the first female ambassador of fine arts in this maiden edition of the United Nations Women-in-fine arts show.

The show has as theme: Depicting the current unity situation amongst cultures in Nigeria specifically using paintings and sculptures, so I have painted seven works and made three larger-than-life sized metal sculptures along these lines.

What she’ll do when she becomes a UN woman-in-fine arts ambassador

I hope to shed more light on the African woman’s struggle through arts. I also hope to organise more competitions for women artists to showcase their works and I’ll lend my voice to speak against discrimination and violence against women.

Major challenges of being a female artist in Nigeria

Well, first, a lot of people don’t take you seriously so you need to work extra hard to prove yourself. Also funds and opportunities are more scarce and less available to women so, you need to strive harder.

Art as business venture in Nigeria

Everything about our country is arts. Our culture, our diversity, our religion and our language. There are a lot of exploring and tapping to do from our way of life as Nigerians. TheTiv woman dresses differently from the Igbo woman, yet they are both colourful and beautiful.There are many untold stories about our ways of life, so much that we can depict them using colours, forms and artefacts. That’s a business venture.

Advice for younger artists

Keep exploring, keep being innovative and create more stories of your history and heritage, using your immediate raw materials. Think globally, act locally. Someone is always watching.

Final words

I appreciate God for life, my parents for educating me, and my sponsor, Chief Chris Ekwenibe for supporting me on this journey. I hope to make you all proud. I have so much love for all of you.

INTERVIEW: Osinachi Nwachukwu: Untold Story About Cause Of Death Of Popular Female Gospel Singer

Osinachi Nwachukwu

Osinachi’s Eldest sister has confirmed official cause of death! SHE DIED OF BLOOD CLOTHING FROM HER HUSBAND STUMPING ON HER CHEST AS HE BEAT HER!

The sister of the late gospel music artiste who died last week of alleged Cancer of the throat, Sister Osinachi Nwachukwu, today, revealed to Vanguard Metro that, her sister died as a result of a cluster of blood in the chest from the kicking she got from her husband, Mr Peter Nwachukwu.

Speaking with one of the family members, Ms Favour Made, who is the elder sister of the late Osinachi, she exposed all the inhumane treatments her sister got from her husband, before her untimely death.

She spoke with Juliet Umeh

Q: We heard it was cancer that killed Osinachi.

She did not die of cancer. The husband, Mr Peter Nwachukwu hit her with his leg on the chest. All this while, he has been beating her but my sister hides all that she was passing through from us.

Before now, we have told her to come out of the marriage, we told her that they are not divorcing and that it’s just a separation. But she felt that God is against divorce.

We told her that separation is not a sin but just for her to stay alive and take care of her children. She will always tell us to relax and that the man will change.

So when the man kicked her in the chest, she fell down and he took her to the hospital but he did not even tell us.

It was her friend who lives in Ebonyi state that called her twin sister because Osinachi has a twin sister, to ask, ‘did your Sister tell you that Peter hit her on the chest? the sister then told her no.

It was the hitting on the chest that killed her.

My brother had to ask the doctor what killed her and the doctor said that there were clusters of blood on her chest.

Unfortunately, they did not tell the doctor that she was kicked in the chest because the doctor could have known what to do if he had an idea of what happened.

Each time we talked to her, she will be pleading for peace and if we move to act, she will tell us no, that we should calm down.

Q: Where was your sister residing and how many children did she have? Also, where is her husband now?

My late sister Osinachi was living in Abuja with her husband and four children, three boys and one girl.

My younger brother who has gone to see the children said Nwachukwu is not arrested, he is in his house in Abuja. When my brother got there, the children were so happy to see him and they told him that they want to come and see their grandmother who is my mother.

Q: Where are her children presently?

The children are with their father. My brother has gone to Abuja to see the children. But I told him not to go alone because the man is a beast that he should go with somebody.

Q:So what is the husband saying now?

The husband is just boasting. Before now, he told the twin sister that he is going to separate her and her sister who was his wife. He doesn’t allow us to come near Osinachi. Since Osinachi got married to him, she has never visited our village, Isuochi in Abia state.

She only visited our village when our father died in 2017.

Even the day they were coming for my father’s burial, as he was speeding, Osinachi told him to please take it easy the was he was driving, the next thing he did was to slap her. It was my little sister, the second to our last born who was with her in the car that told me this. When my little sister wanted to act, Osinachi started begging again and told her to calm down. If I were in that vehicle, I would just have given him his own slap without saying a word.

Osinachi has a very soft heart. Even her twin sister is more courageous than herself.

Now on her sickbed in the hospital, when the twin sister visited, Nwachukwu didn’t allow her to stay with Osinachi. Then Osinachi started begging the husband to allow her sister to stay because she was passing from heart pain, but the man refused.

There, Nwachukwu ordered her out of the hospital. Osinachi then begged the sister to leave hence her husband refused.

Q: What position are you in the family and how many are you?

I am the first daughter of the family and we are six girls and one boy which made us seven.

The boy is the fourth born and he is 30 years old.

Q: Where is Peter from and what does he do?

He is from Nnewi in Anambra State. He doesn’t have any known job to me.

In fact, he ordered my sister to release to him the password of her YouTube music channel and when my sister said no, he spat on her and also told her that the money in his account was finished.

Q: I learnt he is your sister’s manager?

Yes, he acts like one. If my sister is booked for a program, the money charged for the program is paid into his account. He is the one that will negotiate the price.

All monies were paid into his account and my sister will be left with little or nothing. This was somebody that God had lifted up.

He feels that we have nobody because our first son is late, he died before my father died in 2017. So he believes that the only brother I have cannot do anything.

He feels we have nobody to speak for us.

He told us that if Osinachi did not come back alive, she will come back dead.

Q:How did you get the information about your sister’s death?

When my sister died, he didn’t tell us.

It was other people that told us about her death. It was one of her friends she contacted to cook jollof rice that called Osinachi’s twin sister to ask if she had heard anything. She said that the time she got to that hospital, she didn’t see Osinachi on her bed. The man did not tell us.

Then, when we put a call across to him, he didn’t pick it up until around 8 pm when he started calling my brother. Meanwhile, we were told that she died in the afternoon but we got the news from other people around 5 pm.

So around 8 pm, Nwachukwu then called my brother that he has never been allowed to come near them. He casually told him that his wife is dead, that he should come.

My brother then asked him, Is it now that he wants him to come to his house.

Nwachukwu also called my mother and said that his wife is late.

My mother now asked him that, so he has fulfilled his promise of killing her? He then switched off his phone.

Q:What’s your mother saying right now?

She only wants to see her grandchildren since her daughter is already gone.

The children have been longing to come but Nwachukwu had never allowed them.

The children do not know their mother’s village except when my father died.

Even when my sister visits Enugu where we live for the program, her flight is always booked back to Abuja on the same day. He doesn’t allow her to come to our house in Enugu.

My mother did not do Omugwo, that is to take care of any of those four children when they were born.

In fact, when Osinachi had her second child, she called me to tell me that this man wants to kill her. I went there to bring her home. After some time, Nwachukwu came with some people to plead and he was forgiven.

So, after that incident, I don’t know what he did to my sister that whatever he does to her, my sister will not talk. Even if she wants to talk, she will tell outsiders.

Q:How did Osinachi meet Nwachukwu?

It was where they went for a program. Nwachukwu saw how my sister was ministering, he then fell in love with her

Vanguard News Nigeria

Soludo’s Truth Commission

Charles Chukwuma Soludo

BY UGOJI EGBUJO

Gov Soludo has hit the ground running. But while running on slippery ground, haste should be made slowly.

Soludo has taken the bull by the horns. He is courageous. But with an angry bull, deep in a china shop, courage must be tempered with tact. While brimstones are still falling and daggers are still drawn, what’s the incentive to tell hurtful self-indicting truths? If Soludo had timed his truth commission with tact, he would have scheduled it for the post ceasefire period.

The magnificent Aguata local govt headquarters has been razed. A senseless culture of arson is afoot. It was razed the day Soludo named a truth commission. Hands and feet must be on deck to check the menace.

But a truth commission, no matter how noble, is not a fire bridge squad. A truth commission is supposed to excavate skeletons hidden by the rubble so that the living can heal. So that tomorrow can see yesterday. A truth commission constituted in the active case of atrocities will become, at best, a commission of inquiry. If Soludo wants a spade, let him go for a spade.

It’s important to make haste to alleviate poverty. A sensible governor must hurry to clear the mountains of filth choking and dehumanizing Okpoko people. Gov Soludo started well. Prosperity and well being can’t return without security. So Soludo started well. But politicians are politicians. And sometimes, the cheering carries them away.

So instead of running, they start galloping. Otherwise, how did Soludo, who touts himself as a solution provider, seek to inject a truth commission into the crises in the southeast without involving the other governors. Truth commission sounds lofty. And politicians want to claim ownership of ideas. But even lofty ideals, hastily and poorly conceived, can be grandiose.

Truth Commission is Restorative justice. The aim always is to unearth and consequently help healing and prevention. It’s hoped that Soludo Solution, at its core, isn’t this roadside cosmetology that this Truth Commission reeks of. It can’t be arrogance. And it’s not charlatanism. Soludo should know; he should know that going solo would be futile.

He should know that true leadership involves the building of cohesion. His first task ought to be the mobilization of his brother-governors and Igbo leadership to collectively pull in the federal government. A clear-eyed, soberly reflective pan Igbo village meeting with the full involvement of the southeast governments and the federal government is the only solution.

Hopefully, Soludo isn’t playing to the gallery. Because he is a breath of fresh air. It would be sad to see him fall prey to charlatanism which has crippled Igbo politics. Any truth-telling must start from Soludo and to Soludo. If Soludo bothered to study the South African Truth Commission, he would have appreciated the caliber of the head of that commission. And the pivotal role the acceptability of the head of the commission played. A divisive character can’t head a truth commission. If Soludo had reflected on the Oputa panel, he would have appreciated that everything rested on the gravitas of Justice Oputa. Any truth commission instituted in Igboland over this crisis must be headed and peopled with people like Justice Oputa and Desmond Tutu.

A truth commission is not a playfield for rabid sensationalism and cunning political chicanery masquerading as human rights crusading. Of what use is a truth commission in which the stakeholders have not expressed any confidence. How will that commission attract confidence if it looks like a knee jerk contraption? Bringing in people from across the Southeast states to participate in an Anambra Truth Commission is divisive in itself. The Igbo nation should sit together, Oha and Ezes, to harness the power and spirit of the collective. The Igbo need thoroughgoing, bone-deep unity, not facades. This isn’t the time for showmanship.

Soludo’s immediate job is fire fighting. Since he looks like the natural leader, yet a newcomer, he must stoop to forge fellowship with other Southeast leaders. Then the governors must come together to reason with the youths. The IPOB and the other youth groups should yield to dialogue with the governors and southeast politicians, and religious leaders. That way, any criminals feasting on the motherland can be isolated. When common grounds are reached, the governors and other leaders should go to the federal government with demands, concessions and guarantees. It must be done in the spirit of give-and-take. A concerted political effort from the southeast will yield peaceful and progressive outcomes.

Any one-man show is a kindergarten comedy.

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INTERVIEW: What I Find Most Attractive In A Man — Genevieve Nnaji

Genevieve Nnaji attends the 13th Annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood Awards Luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 06, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. Image: David Livingston

AZHU ARINZE’S CONVERSATIONS WITH SHOWBIZ STARS

How does it feel to have risen this far within so short a time?

I’m trying to handle it as much as I can. It feels fulfilling. I feel I’m having the best of my time. I feel the Lord is with me. I feel I have been able to make an impact on people and I have a lot of fans and I’m enjoying my life. It feels good.

To what or whom do you owe all that?

God’s gift, talent, determination, pride …

What do you mean by pride? They say it goes before a fall. And now you are saying it is responsible for your success?

You have to have pride to be able to stand the crowd, you have to have pride to be able to stand the intimidation and arrogance of people. Especially people who feel you have to pay dues to get to where you are going. You have to have the pride and stamina to tell them boldly you know what you are doing; they didn’t bring you to the industry, you will leave when you want to and you leave because you want to.

Where do you want to or hope to be in the next 10 years?

In the next 10 years, I know I will be married with kids. But I think it all depends on what God has fashioned out for me. I know I will still be in the entertainment industry or the fashion world or whatever.

What do you like most about stardom?

The fact that it opens doors for you is what I like most about it. You walk into a place and every other person is queuing up for one thing or the other, they just start to recognize you. Oh! come in, come in… it’s actually a door opener for us or for me. It has brought respect, especially when you do what you are doing well. What I hate most about it is the price that we get to pay for stardom- negative publicity, the untrue scandals; actually, the only thing I hate about is the bad press.

What will you say is the worst story ever written about you in the press?

So many bad things. But the one I hated most was the one of Fred Amata and I, which I don’t know where they got it from. It hurt me so much. It was not just fair.

How do you feel anytime you read negative things about your person in the media?

Certainly, I don’t feel good…

What if the stories are true, but maybe you were not expecting them to be published?

It’s rarely been the truth . Maybe a bit of it, but that’s not how it happened. The press never tells the story the way it is. It’s usually a bit from here and a bit from there. For a very long time, they have not written anything true about me…

How did you come into the movie industry?

I have been acting since I was eight in Ripples. that was how I got into acting. For movies, I think that should be 1998 in Most Wanted. I met Torino (Emeka Ojukwu) in a bus and to my greatest surprise, he recognized me, from Ripples, when I was about eight, nine. He asked why I left the industry. He later invited me to this audition- Most Wanted. I got a role, a ‘waka-pass’ and that was it.

But the story we heard was that Kunle Coker brought you in and that both of you even dated?

Yes, Kunle Coker was actually my boyfriend. But he did not bring me into the industry.

What do you find most attractive in a man?

The fact that a man will take me for who I am, not for what he hears or what he believes. I like people who take me for the me they see. That’s the most important thing. And have regard for me. And trust too.

What do you think is the biggest mistake that men make with women?

Everyone makes mistakes. But to me, I will not tolerate any man who

hits women. To me, that’s evil.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

I believe in infatuation at first sight. Love is a very strong feeling. It does not just come. People think infatuation is being in love. They are two different things. You don’t know anything yet until you get to meet the person and you begin to fall in love. Not just physically, but externally with the person.

Can you recollect the first time you fell in love?

Yes!

Tell us about it.

I think we met at a show. This was when I was in secondary school and we shared a lot of things in common- singing. It was a case of two compatible people who were so much in love with each other and…

So, what eventually happened?

Like I said, relationships must come and go. You can’t help everything that happens. Some things just happen for no reason .

What’s your definition of love?

Love has to be understanding, caring. Love, to me, is being with somebody for 24 hours without being bored. Love is catching your breath every time you see whoever you are in love with· Love is friendship, love is understanding and love is trust.

Do you believe in being faithful in a relationship?

Yeah! I’m very faithful.

Can you date a fan?

I’ve never dated a fan. And I don’t know if I can. But people come around to toast as per fans. But it’s a matter of nicely telling them off. There are different reasons why fans like or love artistes. So, it actually depends on why my fan loves me. It depends. Although, I don’t think it is advisable to date a fan. The reason being that people are in love with what they see on the screen, not the real you.

What’s your greatest wish?

That God continues to bless me. Especially with the right man and a good family.

What’s your favourite colour?

Blue.

What are your hobbies?

Singing, dancing…

Let’s have your bio-data. People don’t seem to know much about you?

I’m from Aboh-Mbaise in Imo State. I went to Kemistar Nursery and Primary School, Surulere; Methodist Girls High School, followed by one in Ikeja. I kept on moving. But ended up at Girls Secondary School, Akwakuma in Owerri, Imo State.

Why have you not furthered your education?

Life is not the same for everybody. Some people are so lucky, they come out of secondary school and they go straight to university because they have the back-up of people and it’s so easy. It looks simple…mine was different. But I’m determined. Definitely, I’m gonna go back to school. I wanted to make money, I love my money, I cherish my own money. So, I will go back when I’ve made enough. But even while I’m there, I won’t stop working.

Tell us about your parents, what do they do?

My parents are there. My mum is a teacher and my dad is retired.

What was your dad into before his retirement?

He was a bank manager with African Continental Bank (ACB) …I’m the fourth of eight children, the third girl. We are four girls, four boys. I come from a very strong Christian family. And I think that has been able to have an effect on my life, especially since I came into the industry. You see, even when people go out to say all sorts, my mother knows the kind of daughter she has. She knows the limit that I can go.

She must have been devastated when you took in, in your teens?

Well, well …I think so.

What was your childhood like?

My childhood was fun. It was fun. You don’t get to get all that these days.

What’s the greatest complement that has ever come your way?

My complexion.

.......VANGUARD

Proffer Solution To Frequent Collapse Of Our National Grid, UNN VC Charges Engineers

IMAGE: UNN.EDU.NG

BY IKECHUKWU ODU

NSUKKA, ENUGU STATE (VANGUARD) - The Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Prof. Charles Igwe, on Friday, charged engineers to intensify researches aimed at finding lasting solution to the energy crisis which results in frequent collapse of the national grid.

The Vice Chancellor who described energy as the life wire of all the sectors of the economy, said that the prospect of the nation towards solving its myriad of challenges may not be feasible without reliable electricity.

He made the statements during his opening address at the 19th Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture, HMML, christened ‘The Path to Stable Electricity in Nigeria,’ organised by the Faculty of Engineering, UNN, at the St. Teresa’s College Main Hall, Nsukka.

He also described Herbert Macaulay as one of the first Nigerian nationalists who championed Nigerian independence, adding that UNN would continue to recognize his great contributions to national development.

He equally said that UNN instituted HMML lecture series to highlight the several faces of a man who has been described as the father of Nigerian nationalism and to encourage present day engineers, surveyors, architects and other professionals to learn from his professional lifestyle and make every effort to leave good footprints on the sands of time.

While delivering the HMML lecture, the Managing Director of Azura Power West Africa Limited, Eric Okeke, said the problem of energy problem in the country is lack of money.

He also said “This is because, without money, whatever product we develop is a waste. In simple terms, what makes a product attractive to the inventor is simply the ability of that product to generate money. Is there a market for this my product and if there is, are people ready to pay me to enjoy the services of my product? Once the answer is yes, then we are in business. But where a product is not attractive enough for users to pay for it, or where it is attractive, but the owner does not have the mechanism to collect payment,then no matter how beautiful that product is, it is a failure,” he explained.

Okeke also said that lack of enough energy generation, transmission and distribution capacity to ensure that consumers enjoyed stable electricity in their homes and offices, as well as non cost reflective tariff to ensure that value chain was operated and maintained efficiently, and investments made for future growth, were the two major issues resulting in inaccessibility of energy in Nigeria.

He also said “Nigerians have always taken electricity as a social product which should not be paid for. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when this attitude emerged; but it stands to reason that electricity from the grid became increasingly unstable (and so served as a backup power source to most people rather than their primary source), people stopped paying for a product they were not receiving. Cognizant of this, the government at the point of privatisation planned to increase the tariff over time.

“The logic was that people would only start paying when service had improved, and service would only improve if the previous issue of under capacity was solved,” he said.

He however said poor private investments in power sector had been attributed to fear of investors to recoup money invested as electricity consumers most times feel reluctant to pay for service rendered.

“Power generation is cost effective,so the inability of some customers to pay for service rendered have been a drawback to electricity distribution companies in the country,” he said.

Mr. James Agada, an Engineer and Managing Director, Ixzora Laboratories in a keynote address said that the problems of stable electricity in Nigeria has to do with technical, political and economic challenges.

“Technical, political and economic are among the challenges militating against stable electricity in Nigeria

“It is also an opportunity for policy makers to create an environment and structure where such private generation can be fed back to the public grid,” he said

Earlier, Prof Emeka Obe, Dean, Faculty of Engineering in UNN said that electricity remain the key driver of every modern economy.

According to him, “electricity is the base of infrastructure on which nearly every other infrastructure relies.

“The lecture provides us with the avenue to interact with distinguished professionals who have the love for our faculty and indeed our university at heart,” he said.

The Dean, however appealed for help to enable the faculty to have a 1000 capacity lecture theater, new and separate building for seven departments, among others

EFCC: Obiano Didn’t Build Projects With Sands, He Did Well As Governor, Says Sen Umeh

BY CHINEDU ADONU

Gov. Willie Obiano in farewell speech. Image: Youtube

Following the arrest of the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano by Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, the former Senator of Anambra State, Sen. Victor Umeh has said that the commission would leave him after listening to him.

Sen. who made this known while speaking during the 80th birthday of Prof Uzodimma Nwala in Enugu said that Chief Obiano did well as a governor.

“Arrest of Obiano is not new in Nigeria. Most governors, when they leave office, EFCC will swarm on them. He must be given the right to be heard. We don’t know why they arrested him. But I’m sure when they listen to him, he will be able to defend himself.

“One thing I keep telling people is that former governor, Obiano did wonderfully well with Anambra money. He used our money well to the displeasure of those in the opposition. They don’t want to accept it.

“A governor who built an international airport, got it commissioned and working. Planes are coming in there and going and you are still looking for your money. He also built an international conference centre. All these projects he didn’t build with sand.

“Apart from meeting the other obligations of running the government, meeting the needs of the people, paying workers salaries, he did so much for Anambra State. That is why we have to be calm to allow the EFCC to finish their job. But I’m confident that Obiano will defend himself.

He, however, commended Prof. Uzodimma Nwala for choosing a lifestyle that had helped Ndigbo, stressing that he has used the Alaigbo Development Foundation to present a lot of thought-provoking suggestions on how to foster Igbo unity and how the Igbo people will engage the rest of Nigerians in the political arena.

Hear him, “Prof Uzodimma Nwala is a great Igbo son. He is somebody who has used his time to think about the well-being of the Igbo people.

“He is somebody who, despite his accomplishment, has refused to be compromised by anybody. With his academic attainments, he is in a position to look for any kind of appointment in Nigeria. That’s what life is about – convictions. Some people are living aimlessly and have no purpose in life.

“It’s not easy for you to choose a particular lifestyle that will shun material acquisition. Maybe it’s because he’s a Philosopher. He understands life more than anything else. He is somebody who believes in his Igbonness. He also thinks about the well-being of the people.

“He also has historical knowledge of the journey of the Igbo people in Nigeria. That understanding has kept him focused in how to make Alaigbo big. He doesn’t hide his Igbonness. He challenges people who write or talk negative things about the Igbo. He has countered them in a number of papers.

“Uzodimma Nwala has a vision and purpose in life. He just turned 80. His teacher who was here is 96 years. I want him to live longer than his teacher and he can because he is still living very strong and healthy.

Umeh who is also the former National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, commended, the governor of Anambra State, Prof, Charles Soludo for choosing dialogue as means of solving conflict as was presented during his inaugural address.

“Soludo has loaded manifesto. As a professor of Economics that has worked around the globe before coming to Nigeria, he knows what to do. So, we leave the work for him to do it. We’re not going to set agenda for him. He has his own agenda set for himself. We can only trust his abilities to do the things he has promised to do.

“At this time we have to talk about security as the area of primary concern. Without security, he will be able to do a little on Anambra State. He understands that. We expect that he will address the issue of security very strategically.

“In his inaugural address, he has seen dialogue as a means of resolving conflicts and containing any spate of violence that is occasioned by agitations for one thing or the other. So, he is calling everybody to a round table. When you talk, you achieve peace.

“Severally, I have told the government of Nigeria to dialogue with groups like IPOB and others agitating for anything in Nigeria.

“Across the country, if you don’t have the mechanism to resolve conflicts, what you harvest is disorder and insecurity. You cannot ignore people who are not happy. That’s what I have been saying for a long time. The government of Nigeria must deploy a conflict resolution mechanism that is hinged on dialogue. You must meet people. You cannot continue to ignore people who are angry. They will continue to do things until they get attention. So, it is cheaper to dialogue than to play ostrich to the problem facing the country,” he said.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

What, Exactly, Do Nigerians Want From Ndigbo?

BY IKECHUKWU AMAECHI

THE usual refrain on the lips of Nigerian leaders, particularly those who successfully prosecuted the brutal civil war against the breakaway Biafran Republic is the indivisibility of the country.

One of them, General Ibrahim Babangida, in an interview with Arise Television on August 7, 2021 to mark his 80th birthday anniversary, put it rather bluntly: “When we were in the military, we talked about certain issues about Nigeria: the unity of Nigeria as far as we were concerned was a settled issue.”

While it would have been good if the unity of Nigeria was a settled issue, happenings in the country tend to suggest otherwise unless the unity Babangida and his ilk talk about is the agreement by those who won the war to exclude those that lost.

Otherwise, what kind of unity is it in a country where a people that constitute a significant percentage of the population are hated and despised not for any crime committed but for simply being who they are – Igbo. Two recent events prompted this reflection.

First, was the shameful conversion of the sacred altar of God by a Catholic priest as a launch pad for his vitriol against Igbo congregants in his parish.

On Sunday, February 6, Rev. Fr. James Anelu, the priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Ewu-Owa Gberigbe, Ikorodu, Lagos State, abruptly, without provocation, stopped the singing of soul-lifting Igbo choruses and songs during a service he was conducting.

In a video that went viral, the visibly angry clergy pontificated that the excesses of Ndigbo must be curtailed if they are to be kept from “dominating other people in this parish”.

And what was the crime of the Igbo parishioners? They were joyfully singing and dancing to the altar of God during the second collection.

To the embittered and resentful priest, singing Igbo songs in a Catholic church in Yoruba land is an act of domination.

He was so incensed that he uttered a heresy: The spirit of God in any place recognises only languages indigenous to that geographical location.

It is instructive that Fr. Anelu is not Yoruba. If he had enquired about the history of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, he will probably find out that over 65 per cent of the money used in building the church and running it, including feeding him, was contributed by Igbo parishioners.

Barely 24 hours later, an obviously embarrassed Alfred Adewale Martins, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, issued a “disclaimer” directing Anelu to proceed on “an indefinite leave of absence”.

In the suspension letter which he personally signed, Archbishop Martins urged all “Catholic faithful to hold on to the faith and continue in our worship of God as one big family united in love and not separated by language, culture and race”.

I doubt if Anelu, wherever he is now, is penitent. He is simply consumed by hate. He is a victim of prejudice. And we commit a serious error of judgement if we think he is an outlier.

The second incident happened in Yola, Adamawa State. An Igbo businessman, Vincent Umeh, who lives in the state, bought a house from a willing seller, Ismail Mamman. Today, he cannot live in the property not because of any infraction of the law but simply because he is Igbo.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Ibrahim Baba Zango, currently serving in Lagos, says it is an insult for an Igbo to be his neighbour in Yola.

Umeh should reverse the purchase deal or face bitter consequences, including risking his life, DCP Babazango decreed. “We are a homogeneous community, I don’t want you; you can’t be my next door neighbour, I swear. What sort of insult is this? Can any Northerner move now to the South-East, say Onitsha and just bump into any neighbourhood to buy a property; just like that?” DCP Babazango asked Umeh on phone.

Such chutzpa may strike some as bizarre. But it is not. Just like Fr. Anelu, DCP Babazango is also not an outlier.

That is the humiliation Ndigbo are subjected to in their own country every day. From Lagos to Sokoto; from Bayelsa to Kebbi, they are being harassed every day for daring to invest and own properties in their own country.

Most times, some of these harassments are state-sanctioned. For instance, two weeks ago, the Kano State Sharia police, Hisbah, destroyed nearly four million bottles of beer in a crackdown on alcoholic beverages. The bottles were crushed into the ground by bulldozers in front of cheering crowds. After the bulldozers had done the job, Hisbah operatives then lit the crushed remains on fire and allowed the blaze to burn into the night.

“Kano is a sharia state and the sale, consumption and possession of alcoholic substances are prohibited,” the head of the religious police, Haruna Ibn Sina, crowed after supervising the mindless ruining of people’s lives.

Most of these businesses being destroyed are owned by Ndigbo. There is no law in Nigeria banning alcohol. Nigeria is deemed a secular state, yet Sharia law trumps the Constitution when Igbo businesses are involved. Nobody raises a whimper in defence of the right of the people to do legitimate business in their own country.

The irony is that just like Fr. Anelu who is sustained by offerings made by his Igbo parishioners, Hisbah officials are paid with money raised from the Value Added Tax, VAT, paid on the same alcoholic beverages they destroy with glee.

Those who blame Nnamdi Kalu and his Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, mentees for preaching secession ignore the asinine antics of Fr. Anelu and DCP Babazangos of this country, the same way those who blame Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu for declaring an independent Biafran nation in 1967 conveniently gloss over the waves of pogrom that resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent Igbo folks, patriotic Nigerians, most of them born in the North, with no other place to call home until the well-organised slaughter began in 1966.

Between May and October 1966, more than 30,000 Igbos and other Biafrans were killed in Northern Nigeria, and between October 1966 and June 1967 more than 100,000 more were massacred. In some instances pregnant women were killed, unborn babies pulled out of their wombs and murdered as well. Many of the victims were beheaded.

Those who defend that bestiality by invoking the equally condemnable killings in the January 15, 1966 coup conveniently ignore the fact that the Military Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the cream of the Igbo officer corps were wiped out in the revenge coup of July 29, 1966.

They also forget that long before the January 15, 1966 coup, which was conveniently branded an Igbo putsch by those who had an extermination agenda, pogrom had been the lot of Ndigbo in the North.

A report, “Chronology of recorded killings of Biafrans in Nigeria: From June 22, 1945 to September 28, 2013”, put it this way: “The first incident in which the murder of Igbo people took place in Nigeria was in Jos on June 22, 1945. Hundreds of Ndigbo were murdered by the Hausa-Fulani during the pogrom and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of their property either looted or destroyed. No single person was apprehended or charged by the British regime nor an enquiry set to determine the “official” cause of this gruesome act.

“The second mass killing of Igbos and other Biafrans happened in Kano in 1953. In both cases, thousands of Igbo people with their families were brutally murdered and their property looted.”

What those who raise the spectre of Igbo domination simply because Ndigbo are everywhere forget is that the people love adventure. It did not start today and it is very unlikely to end tomorrow. Many Igbo leaders were born outside Igboland. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was born in Zungeru, a town in Niger State, on November 16, 1904, ten years before Nigeria’s birth after the amalgamation in 1914. Odumegwu-Ojukwu was born in the same Zungeru on November 4, 1933.

The fact is that Ndigbo love travelling. They enjoy it. That is who they are. Do they dominate their environments? No. Rather, they help in building up wherever they sojourn. That is a virtue not a vice, which should not call for envy and bad blood.

If all other Nigerians can imbibe that culture, the country will be better for it. Those who don’t want Ndigbo out of Nigeria and yet will not allow them to enjoy their full rights as citizens are the problems of this country, not Ndigbo.

Killings By Unknown Gunmen: Is South-East Becoming A Failed Zone?

BY STEVE OKO, VANGUARD

The resurgence of the activities of the ominous unknown gunmen in the South-East geopolitical zones in the recent weeks is becoming worrisome.

Unknown gunmen became a phenomenon in the zone in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests in 2020, got to an alarming height up till mid-2021 but began to show a downward curve before the end of the same year.

However, with the recent incidents in some communities in the zone particularly Imo, Ebonyi, and lately Abia (a hitherto relatively peaceful state), it is no longer in doubt that the unknown gunmen are on the prowl again in the region which prided itself as the most peaceful, enterprising and resourceful in the country.

The inability of the government to unravel the mystery behind this or to unveil the real identity of the masterminds of this group has also not helped matters, and in fact, is to blame for its persistence.

There has been a blame game between security agencies and the agitators of self-determination in the zone on who is behind the octopus masquerade and whose interests it serves.

While Government continues to point accusing fingers at the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, the pro-Biafra group has not minced words in their allegation that security agents in collaboration with some “treacherous governors” in the zone are sponsoring the activities of the group to disrepute, discredit and demonise IPOB, and ultimately justify the on-going clamp down on the group especially the Eastern Security Network, ESN.

There have also been allegations that the festering insecurity in the zone is politically motivated.

The mode of operation of these unknown gunmen in some instances leaves members of the public more confused on who actually is behind the mysterious masquerade.

For instance, could security agents really be the ones killing their colleagues to create a certain impression?

But another disturbing poser is: could agitators of self-determination truly be burning down houses of fellow folks as recently witnessed in Imo communities and in the Mgbowo community of Enugu State where men in security uniforms were conspicuously observed in a viral video carrying out these atrocities with impunity?

Who are truly the people behind the mysterious unknown gunmen?

Despite the narratives of each of the sides, the fact remains that South East is burning! The fire is ragging so fast that if nothing urgent is done to extinguish the inferno, the entire zone will soon be consumed.

In less than two weeks unknown gunmen killed security agents on roadblocks in Enugu, a number of houses in Umuonyeoka Community in Ihitteafoukwu, Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State were burnt down by armed men suspected to be law enforcement agents.

The “unknown gunmen” reportedly razed residential houses belonging to one Sonyval and Chinonso Madu, siblings of one Mr Uche Madu, who is alleged to be a member of ESN.

According to reports, the unknown gunmen stormed the area in seven cars shooting sporadically before heading to the Uche Madu compound.

A community source, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen that “they came to apprehend Mr Uche Madu and when they couldn’t get him, all hell was let loose and they allegedly descended on the country home of his siblings, Sonyval and Chinonso Madu, which they set ablaze without allowing even a single pin to be evacuated from the building.”

Following the magnitude of damage inflicted on innocent folks in the community, the House of Representatives had mandated the Inspector General of Police, IGP; as well as the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, to investigate the incident and ascertain the true identify of the masterminds.

Despite denials of any involvement by the security agencies in the atrocity, what doesn’t add up is how armed men in seven vehicles would storm a community, operate for about two hours unchallenged, and disappear into the thin air without a trace.

It is certainly an ominous sign of a failed state!

There have also been calls for a probe of the alleged involvement of the operatives of Ebubeagu regional security outfit in the mystery unknown gunmen.

A coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, has called for their arrest describing their actions as “wicked and barbaric.”

The youth group while condemning the overzealousness of the security apparatus, expressed displeasure on the alleged jungle justice being meted out to suspects.

COSEYL in a statement by its President-General, Goodluck Ibem, over last week’s incident in Imo State called for the investigation and prosecution of the group over the barbarity.

”We are not in the stone age where anyone or persons will wake up one morning, accuse someone of being a criminal and kill the said person.

“We are in the 21st century where we have the rule of law and the constitution guarding the people and government activities as regards governance. For Ebubeagu security operatives to wake up and start killing Igbo youths in whatever guise is totally unacceptable.

“Most of the houses in the affected communities have been burnt down and destroyed while the little few persons who escaped being killed have run away leaving those communities empty without anyone or animal sited anywhere. Those towns are now ghosted communities, without any living thing.

“One of the disturbing incidences in the community was a situation where a woman received matchets cuts in her head, hand and other parts of her body because of her inability to provide her husband or tell the Ebubeagu operatives where her husband went to.

“This is unbecoming of a sane society. Ndi-Imo and Ndi-Igbo must rise and condemn in its entirety this despicable act by these so-called Ebubeagu security operatives.

“The courts remain the last arbiter and no one has the constitutional right or powers to take the life of another man at will. It is unlawful and a criminal act to torture, maim or kill anyone on the premise of being a criminal.

“Houses and properties that were destroyed in those Communities, which court gave such orders? These operatives just assumed the duties of the courts and went ahead to destroy peoples homes and assets without recourse to the law of the land. Too sad.

“We warn those Ebubeagu security operatives to stop forthwith the extrajudicial killings now and we demand that those found wanting or culpable of extrajudicial killings in Imo State should be made to face the music. Enough said,” COSEYL warned.

South-East governors are yet to be forgiven by the people over the shabby way and manner they handled the inauguration of Ebubeagu contrary to the yearnings of majority folks that preferred a regionally coordinated security outfit. The governors are being accused of hijacking the Ebubeagu outfit and working in cahoots with the federal government to suppress the opposition and also use them to identify and spy on key supporters of the growing agitation for self-determination.

Unfortunately, the governors seem to be more consumed and preoccupied with their 2023 ambitions instead of genuinely and selflessly addressing the menacing security challenges in the zone.

Some of them have also not really delivered nor used their advantaged position to better the lots of their people, a sad commentary that accounts for the growing loss of confidence in the governors.

It’s only those who want to massage the truth that may still argue between the governors and promoters of self-determination agitators who truly calls the shots in the zone.

If the truth must be told, the governors have since lost the confidence of the people due to underperformance, insincerity and non-commitment to the cause of the zone.

As if those were not enough, the recent invasion of a Cattle Market in Omumauzor, Ukwa West, Abia State where about eight persons were killed and some others wounded in a midnight raid by armed bandits, are all pointers that South East is boiling.

The revelation by Gov Okezie Ikpeazu when he visited the scene where he disclosed that the yet-to-be-identified attackers did not come from the immediate community according to preliminary investigations, yet threw a challenge that much remains to be done by the intelligence community on the sources of the rising insecurity in South East.

So far, nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack just as the motive of the invaders is yet to be known.

Although Government had announced some measures including siting a military base in the area to boost security in the environment, how these measures would prefer a permanent solution to the unknown gunmen malady remains a mystery.

Kidnapping for ransom has become regular around Abia North and Okigwe axis where a number of abductions by armed bandits have been witnessed in recent times.

Students and lecturers of Abia State University Uturu, Marist Academy Uturu, as well as innocent commuters plying the Uturu Isuikwuato route, have variously fallen victims of these hoodlums suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, thus compounding the sources of the festering insecurity in South East.

Worried by the ugly development, Co-Chair of Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Forum, Bishop Sunday Onuoha has blamed the intelligence community for the persistence of the activities of unknown gunmen in the South East.

Bishop Onuoha told Saturday Vanguard that it was either the intelligence community was not alive to its responsibilities or the government was not making use of the intelligence at its disposal.

He said that the persistence of the unknown gunmen saga in the zone was suggestive that there was a leadership failure in the country.

“If the intelligence community cannot gather intelligence to unravel those behind this, it then means we don’t have a country”, the cleric lamented.

He urged Government to quickly engage those who feel aggrieved in the zone and genuinely address their grievances in the interest of national peace.

“ If there are people who are angry, what stops the Government from engaging them in a dialogue to resolve their grievances?” He queried.

Meanwhile, the police have said the force was not yet overwhelmed despite the resurgence of unknown gunmen in the zone.

Zonal Police Public Relations Officer in charge of Zone 9, Umuahia, Mr Kingsley Iredibia, told Saturday Vanguard that the force was making efforts to put the challenge under control.

He said that police were synergising with other security agencies including the Ebubeagu security outfit to contain the challenge.

The Police Spokesman expressed hope that the challenge would soon be permanently overcome.

How long shall the zone wait for the much-expected federal succour or intervention?

Should South-East governors, the political elite and other critical stakeholders sit complacently and watch the zone go on flames?

Outrage In Igboland Over Desecration Of Ozo Title By women

Ozo titled men in Igboland. Image via Vanguard

•Women do not and cannot take Ozo title —Nzuko Ozo •It's willful desecration of Igbo values •Ozo initiation can’t be done in foreign land •It's abuse of Igbo tradition for women to parade with Ozo title —Abia monarch •The women just acted Nollywood, which contradicts lots of Igbo customs and tradition —Emeka Onyeso •An aberration and naked exhibition of emotional depression —Prof. Agu •It's a mere joke from people seeking media attention —Ozobu •S-East residents now relocating to other places

By Anayo Okoli, Dennis Agbo, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinedu Adonu, Chinonso Alozie, Ikechukwu Odu, Steve Oko & Emmanuel Iheaka

ENUGU (VANGUARD)—THERE was outrage recently across Igboland, particularly among elders, traditional rulers, Ozo title holders, titled chiefs, leaders and stakeholders, over an online viral video showing some Igbo women in the Diaspora, specifically in the United Kingdom and Ireland, who claimed to have been initiated into the prestigious Ozo title society, a respected title that is an exclusive reserve for men of integrity and honour. In the video, the Igbo women also claimed to have formed a group they called ‘Umunwanyi Ozo Prestigious Chieftaincy Association, UK and Ireland’. The action sparked off a barrage of angry reactions and condemnation from Igbo leaders, who are well versed in culture and tradition. However, the recalcitrant women were said to have withdrawn the titles and apologised.



Apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Ohanaze Ndigbo, in reaction to the video, invited some leaders of the United Kingdom branch to find out what actually happened. The leaders, during the briefing, confirmed that the illegal act did happen, but they washed their hands off the whole mess.

On that note, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, in strong terms, condemned the women and their action, saying that such was not accepted in Igboland.

Nzuko Ozo Ndi-Igbo Nigeria, a group of Ozo title holders, in angry reaction, summoned an emergency meeting of the stakeholders of Nzuko Ozo Ndi Igbo, where they vehemently condemned the women and their action, describing it as reckless and irresponsible. They explained that throughout Igboland, Ozo title taking is an exclusive reserve for men, insisting that “women do not and cannot take Ozo title”.

They also stressed that Ozo title initiation in Igboland only takes place in the ancestral home land of the initiate-paternal or maternal-and never in foreign or strange land, pointing out that “the Ozo traditional institution exists only in recognised Igbo communities and there are rules for recognition of new communities, as well as procedures for initiation of new members, which include bestowal of Ofo Ozo from its rightful custodian”.

Stressing the importance of Ozo title in Igboland, Nzuko Ozo Ndi Igbo explained that “Ozo title is a sacred Igbo institution for which an intending aspirant undergoes several rigorous puritanical processes”, and not a chieftaincy title which is awarded or conferred by an Igwe or Eze.

They therefore denounced the ugly action of the women, saying that “it is reckless and irresponsible for a group of Igbo Women within or outside the shores of Nigeria to claim to be Ozo title holders and also claim to have formed an association called ‘Umunwanyi Ozo’ Prestigious Association of United Kingdom and Ireland”, describing them as “bizarre group of Igbo women”, and warn them of dire consequences which will descend on them for this willful desecration of Igbo values.

“Nzuko Ozo Ndigbo hopes that the women will come to their senses and terminate this charade and save themselves from the Igbo Nation ancestral wrath”, the group noted in a communiqué signed by Prof Ike Oluka, the National Chairman and Prince Ikenna Onyesoh, The Regent of Nri Ancient Kingdom, member, board of trustees of the group and Dr. Ferdinand Ozoani, a member of the board of trustees.

In his reaction, a eminent Law teacher at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Prof. Agu Gab Agu, who is an Ozo title holder in Ngwo community of Enugu state, said that Ozo title is well respected and valued in Igbo land that no one ever toys with it.

Prof. Agu, who belongs to Ubelenze-Ozo, the highest Ozo title holding in his Ngwo community, dismissed the action of the women as aberration and a naked exhibition of emotional depression.

He explained that Ozo title holding arose because of the republican nature of Ndigbo and marks show of respect, wealth and fame, indicating the industriousness of the title holder.

Agu stressed that the holder must be self-sufficient, possesses integrity, honour, self-respect and other virtues such as being able to speak the truth at all times and which indeed places the holder as an elder even if such a person is in his young age.

“The importance of Ozo title holding is that it helps in leadership of the community because the holders are truthful, self-sufficient, represents leadership of the community and it is an apex leadership in the Igboland,” Agu explained.

According to him, women are not bestowed with the title because of the dual nature of their citizenship.

“Without being immodest, in Igbo land, it is said that a woman is another man’s property and can be married out. Forget about Beijing conference and all that, this is the way it has been patented over the time by the people who started it. Women are ranking but they are very important in Igbo cosmology.

“The Igbo women in Europe who took the Ozo title is an aberration and a naked exhibition of emotional depression. It doesn’t talk good of where we are coming from. Are they aiming to become men, are they not satisfied with being women? They have withdrawn the titles and apologized but their villages should admonish them because even the white people recognize their boundaries,” Agu said.

He stated that Ozo title was not tied to fetish practices, noting that as a Christian, he holds the title and does not partake in any fetish activity.

“Ozo title is not just reformed but refined and that is why we have educated people in the system,” Agu emphasized.

A foremost Abia monarch, the traditional ruler of Isuochi Ancient Kingdom in Umunneochi Local Government Area, Eze Godson Ezekwesiri, while reacting to the issue dismissed the initiation of women into the sacred and prestigious Ozo society, describing what took place as “a gross abuse of Igbo tradition and custom”.

Eze Ezekwesiri who spoke with Vanguard on the heels of the illegal initiation by some Igbo women in the United Kingdom into Ozo society.

According to the monarch, Ozo title is an exclusive reserved title for men with honour and respect who have made the necessary heroic roles to qualify for sure title.

He noted that although Ozo title is not a common in all communities in Igbo land, some communities have Ichie title as its equivalent which he added, is equally exclusively for men

The monarch, however explained that since the affected women were initiated into the Ozo title abroad, they could be ignored as the strange action has no effect on Igbo custom and tradition.

Ezekwesiri said the affected women took the wrong steps wondering if they would courageously join other titled Ozo title holders in their meeting back home in the country.

“This is very strange. Ozo title is not for women but for men according to Igbo custom. When they come back to the country can they attend the meeting of Ndi Ozo? They should be ignored”, the monarch said.

Renowned traditional ruler in Imo State, Eze Matthew Onweni, in his reaction, described such conferment as nullity.

Onweni, who is the traditional ruler of Ogbor Autonomous Community in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area, said it is alien to confer ozo title on a woman in Igbo land.

The monarch added that no one has the traditional right to confer an Ozo title in Diaspora, maintaining that the title is ancestry and involves a lot.

Onweni stated that a woman could be conferred with a chieftaincy title in conjunction with her husband, but not an Ozo title. He urged people to respect the culture of the Igbo.

“Women becoming Ozo for what? They can be conferred with a chieftaincy title in conjunction with their husbands and based on what they have done for the development of the community, but not Ozo. It is not in our culture. Unless they want to emulate England being ruled by a woman. Those in England can do anything because they are under the Queen.

“But here, it is not our tradition. We are yet to know if it is an innovation.

“You can’t confer Ozo title in America or outside the community. It is not a Diaspora thing. Was the ‘Ofo Ozo’ taken to United Kingdom and Ireland for the conferment? Conferment of Ozo involves a lot. It is an ancestral thing. Nobody has the traditional right or capacity to make someone an Ozo in Diaspora. They should come home and follow the culture of Igbo people.

“Such conferment is null and void, and can never be accepted in Igbo land”, Eze Onweni submitted.

On his own, another Imo monarch, Eze Oliver Ohanwe, the traditional ruler of Ihim Autonomous Community also in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo state, sounded a note of warning that Ozo title is not easily grabbed in Igbo land the way people cheaply get chieftaincy title.

Ohanwe pointed out that Ozo title has remained hereditary and could take roughly 30 days for the installation process to be completed.

According to the traditional ruler, “I want to say this; they can do their chieftaincy title in foreign lands. But Ozo title in Igbo land is not matter of eating and drinking the way they do when they are taking their chieftaincy title.

“The Ozo title in our land will take roughly 30 days including a lot of preparations that are involved. Ozo title is not given; it is hereditary. It is hereditary. You don’t grab it by force.

“The implication is that, it not like other titles being proliferated that has messed up our traditional heritage. Those of them doing it should see themselves as impersonators. This is not the chieftaincy title they can get anyhow and anywhere they want. This is a different thing”, the monarch stressed.

In his contribution, an Ozo title holder, Chief Vincent Ekwueme, of Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State lambasted hose Igbo women who conferred the revered Ozo title on themselves in the Diaspora.

Chief Ekwueme, who goes by ‘Oyi Igbo,’ as his Ozo title, said that those women acted in total disrespect of Igbo tradition, adding that women take the title of ‘Lolo,’ which is conferred on women whose husbands are Ozo title holders.

The nonagenarian said that it is wrong to take Ozo title in the Diaspora because the traditional items and rituals which are performed step by step before one is initiated as Ozo cannot be found there.

He also said those women who took the title reserved for the men folks must be called to order and also made to atone for the total abuse of Igbo tradition.

He also said that only those who were already conferred with the title have the authority to confer it on other people.

A chieftain of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu, in his reaction, condemned the act which he described as an abomination in Igbo land.

He stated that no woman has been decorated with the Ozo title in over 50 years history of the title in Igbo land and warned that anybody associated with giving such title to women should be made to pay a heavy fine to cleanse the land.

Ozobu also explained that the Ozo title is one of the most revered titles in the Igbo traditional system and is never adorned on anybody in Diaspora.

“It is absolute nonsense for anybody whether at home or in Diaspora to initiate women to Ozo title. It is not done. It is a worthless thing to talk about. It is a mere joke from people seeking media attention. It is not the culture of the Igbo to initiate women into the Ozo traditional society. It is an abomination in Igbo land.

“In Igbo land, a woman has no place taking Ozo title. In Igbo land, this tradition has lasted over 50 years ago, there has never been a history of women being initiated into Ozo society. To give such title to an undeserving person in a foreign land is to say the least, demeaning.

“Ozo title is never given in a foreign land. So, for a woman to claim to be initiated into the Ozo traditional society is to tell you how much the customs and traditions of the Igbo have been bastardized. It tells you that some Igbo fathers have failed to impart the Igbo tradition to their children. This is a very big failure on the part of such fathers.

“In Igbo society, women have their own recognition and titles, but it is an abomination to give the Ozo title to any woman, no matter her status. Anybody who commits the abomination of giving Ozo title to a woman should be made to pay a heavy fine and even pay to cleanse the land which he or she has defiled”, Ozobu said.

The Ohanaeze chieftain disclosed that the Ozo title represents peace, honesty, truth, honour, responsibility and proper administration of the Igbo society.

“The Ozo title is not just any other title in Igbo land. It is not just the red cap and the band on the leg only; the Ozo title also implies responsibility, honesty, honor and dignity. There are certain things the Ozo title holder can’t do because of what he represents. In some communities, many people take the Ozo title and also take it for their unborn children. And when such children grow up, they are informed about what has been done on their behalf by their fathers. They are bound by those responsibilities.

“It is another way of salvaging our society by bringing peace, harmony, truth and proper administration of the society. This is what the Ozo title is all about. It has never been extended to women in the history of the Igbo people. Any woman who wears a red cap and claims to have been given an Ozo title should have the cap removed and chased away. It is an abomination”, he said.

Ozo Dr. McGinger Ibeneme also has condemned the illegal and abominable act, insisting that such is never allowed in Igbo land.

According to Ozo Ibeneme, they are women who claim to be modern feminist but in reality are they are modern anarchist who try to truncate everything and turn the world upside down.

He however said though women cannot be initiated into Ozo society but can be recognized as Ada-Ozo following the initiation of their husband into Ozo society.

He expressed disappointment that the same Igbo women who were trained to be advanced by the men are the one mocking the Igbo culture.

“Assertion that Ozo title is exclusive for men only is not completely right because it is men and their wife that receive the honour at same time.

“When a man is initiated to Ozo Society, the wife will become Ada-ozo, and that is the only way a woman can join the society. Ozo was founded by men. All these women are those who identified themselves as modern feminist but in reality they are modern anarchists who try to truncate everything and turn the world upside down.

“I have never seen where men insisted on joining Umu-Ada meeting or form Women meeting, Norway branch. It is always the women who want to force themselves into masculine things. Women have their things, even in the old, they have women group, market group, dancing group, women society and during that time the society was in order, there was complete synchrony among the various group, none dominated the order.

“As a matter of fact, the Igbo women were more influential than the men. The men were tasked to do all the risky jobs and the women do jobs that are not risky or physically tasking. There was no conflict or rivalry. It was for the purpose of orderliness and complimentary engagement in the communities.

“But in modern world, most of the people who propagate this so called feminism are people who do not want to do things that women do and are not also ready to so what men do because when the chips are down, they still want the men to do all the things they cannot do as women.

“Ozo society was a cultural association founded by Igbo men and it conferred responsibilities to the men who were initiated and their wives. It is an exclusive society that conferred nobility on the initiated. A married woman or single woman can never by herself be initiated into Ozo society. It is never done and it can’t be valid when if is done.

“I try to see it in a comical perspective, like in ESUT, they have Nze and Ozo which is a student things; it is not serious but a parody group. That’s how I see the so UK called Women Nze and Ozo thing. To that effect information needs to be given out that it is a parody association and does not deserve the outrage it is really commanding at a point in time because that is making it look more serious than it is.

“Moreover, you can’t take Ozo title outside Igbo land and not outside Igbo land but your community. In some Igbo culture, they only permit the Ozo title from your mother’s home. In my own side, Achi community in Oji River, the only place you can take Ozo title and be recognized is from Achi, any other title outside that is not recognized.

“The origin of Nze and Ozo is from Nri in Anambra State and most of Nze and Ozo in Igbo land get the initial authority from that ancient kingdom where the association was formed. So, Nze and Ozo is not something that after eating and drinking in a foreign land you just decided to have the title. Did they do the rituals preceding the initiation proper?

“Why didn’t they look for other chieftaincy group since they like Igbo culture without trying to mess up association that has existed for over three hundred years? It is a attempt for anarchy. Why is it that it is Igbo people that are doing this? The Igbo women are the most advanced in Nigeria.

“Ndigbo empower women to be advanced but not to be making mockery of the culture that empower them. No matter what the motives are, they were not well thought out before embarking on it. I suggest they will retrace their steps and chose another thing else or make it clear that they are a parody association but not to be making mockery of our culture.

“The Ozo title is a noble order created originally for the purpose of truth and mobilization of funds for Igbo traders founded by Prince of Nri in 1420 AD and it grew into a noble association that began to play leadership roles in the community. It has different connotations in different Igbo clan; it has different recognitions in different communities, even the reach is not exactly the same as it differs from place to place.

“The real thing has been watered down because people who are very modern were not comfortable going into the actual ritualistic things. However it does not make it inferior, the important thing is that you swore the oath of purity, to live above the board, to always tell the truth, to be in a truthful arbiter and do contribute in the development of your community.

“It is an exclusive Association that one of its basic qualifications is that you are an Igbo man and you are married because once you become initiated into the Society your wife automatically becomes Ada-Ozo. The person who is qualified is screened by the community”, he explained.

Politics Of Bitterness, Cause Of Crisis In Igbo land; Way Out —Igbo Stakeholders

Igbo should reject self-serving, greedy politicians

•Less emphasis should be laid on money politics — Bishop Onuoha

•INEC should play according to rules —Ahamba, SAN

•Winners, losers should embrace dialogue — Abia CAN scribe

•Winners take all should be discouraged — Cleric

•S-East should go for only men of honour — Ex-commissioner

•Politicians should know they must return to the people after political tenure —Enugu monarch

•Politics should not be seen as do-or-die affair — Ebonyi monarch



By Anayo Okoli, Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Peter Okutu, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinedu Adonu, Chinonso Alozie, Ikechukwu Odu, Steve Oko & Emmanuel Iheaka

IGBO SOUTH EAST (VANGUARD) -- The security crisis in Imo State and by extension, the South-East region, has unarguably been narrowed down to be politically induced. From some confirmed accounts of political disagreements and power tussle among politicians and bad governance from the political leaders, it is safe to conclude that the cause is rooted in politics of bitterness.

It was, however, unfortunate that some traditional rulers were caught in the crossfire in the fight between politicians and they became part of the victims.

Perhaps, it could be as a result of their sycophantic nature; playing politics against their prescribed role of being apolitical. As we approach another political season and election year, what would Igbo politicians and people do to get it right and avoid politics of bitterness, see it as game not a do-or-die affair?

According to a prominent Ebonyi monarch, Eze Moses Okafor Ngele, the traditional ruler of Ishiagu Kingdom, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, politicians should not see and treat politics as do-or-die affair but a friendly battle between brothers and sisters. If it does not favour you this time, it could be your luck next time.

‘Politics should not be seen as do-or-die affair’

“We need to be careful and play politics with wisdom and the right counsel from the elders. Politics is an important aspect of humanity. Through the game of politics, leaders at different levels emerge at various seasons and times.

“We should oppose the politics of do-or-die. We are all brothers and sisters created by God in His own image. We should play politics with the mindset that one day, we will also return and reside among and interact with those we have led.

“As monarchs, when politicians come to us stating their political ambition, our own is to advise and pray for them. There is need for us to be apolitical.

“Many crisis and killings going on in the South-East could be seen as politically motivated. So, we need to be careful and play politics with wisdom and the counselling of the elders,” Eze Ngele said.

A clergy, Pastor Brutus Edafe, in his view, faulted the manner some politicians go about the business. He said some of them employ high-handedness, overbearing nature and nefarious activities in their art of politicking, actions that most times, put them at logger heads with their people. He advised politicians to know that there is life after politics.

“We are encouraged to join politics so that we can contribute to leadership and development and cause a change in our society. However, politicians need to play the game according to the rule.

“Some politicians can no longer travel to their respective villages and states because of the evil they committed while playing politics. Politicians need to know that their people are watching them.

“So, they need to know that there is life after politics. 2023 election is not the end of life or the world. There is no need for killing, kidnapping and other evils associated with politics, to be unleashed on the electorate.

“I advise them to be cautious of their actions, be mindful of their language and avoid anything that could cause crisis in their communities, local government areas and states because of the approaching 2023 general elections,” Edafe admonished.

Misplaced priority

The Methodist Archbishop of Okigwe Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Biereonwu Livinus Onuagha, in his response blamed the problem on misplaced priority, saying that Nigeria has made politics the easiest way to become rich, doing little or nothing. He lamented that Nigerians now see politics as the most lucrative and easiest job anyone can do in Nigeria.

According to Bishop Onuagha, because of that, anybody, including criminals and idiots do everything possible, foul or fair, to go into politics as they see it as the only way they can make money quickly and effortlessly, for that matter.



“Unfortunately, almost everything in Nigeria is possible; through any dubious means, one can become anything. Academic excellence is no longer tolerated, it is no longer valid, because a politician can come up tomorrow within one or two years, he becomes a lawyer, becomes anything people struggle and read for years to become, just because he can throw money around. So there is no more regard for excellence in this nation, and that has affected our political landscape terribly.

“Politics in the truest sense of it is to serve the people and not to serve individuals. Unfortunately, Nigeria politics is self-serving or serving few individuals and not the people.

Only few states in Nigeria are serving their people, the rest are filled with people who are serving themselves and unfortunately too, they are clinging to power without letting go.

“The worst part of it is that our traditional rulers who are supposed to be custodians of traditional principles, are bought over by these greedy and money-minded politicians and they simply compromised and could no longer exercise their traditional authority over the politicians.

The politicians threaten their thrones with all manner of insults, ranging from suspension and sack which ordinarily is not in the powers and duties of politicians. That is why what is happening in Imo State is politically-masterminded.

“When people accuse the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, of having hand in the crises in Imo State and other states in the South- East, I laugh. I have to tell you this that IPOB is 100% free from whatever is happening in Imo State and other states in the South- East. I say it again that IPOB is 100% free from whatever is happening in Imo State; what is rather happening in Imo State is just politicians who want to hold sway, feeding their boys and arming them to keep them perpetually in power. They saw IPOB agitation for the restoration of the State of Biafra as an opportunity and propaganda to cover their evils by pointing accusing fingers at IPOB. But their accusations are no more tenable, they don’t hold water any longer as they have started exposing themselves and the roles their compromised security personnel are playing in the crises in Imo and other South-East states.

“IPOB has long defined their aims and objectives; and that is simply, agitating for the restoration of Biafra and they are not for political activities. Even when you talk about governorship and everything, they don’t want it; they will rather ask their people not to be part of it. You talk about Presidency, they don’t want it, so anybody who is talking about IPOB having a hand in what is currently happening in Imo State is only trying to blackmail Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB.

“Every right thinking Igbo man will always understand and have already understood; that it is a game plan by those greedy and money-minded, power-drunk politicians to accuse IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu as a cover, to get whatever they are looking for in the states and at Abuja. Unfortunately, it will surely boomerang one day; some people say it is already boomeranging.

Less emphasis should be laid on money politics — Bishop Onuoha

“So, for me, if there will be peace or if they want peace to reign in Imo State, South-East and by extension, Nigeria, less emphasis should be placed on money politics. America plays money politics but it has not destroyed democracy; it does not destroy individuals, communities and their states. Everybody who is into politics in America is there to serve the people and when you don’t serve the people, you are removed immediately. But in our own case, whatever you do in office as far as you are loyal and friendly to the powers-that-be in Abuja and throw money around, you are there untouched and free to commit anything unlawful and unacceptable, you are covered.

“They have employed divide and rule tactics and sowed seed of discord in the various tribes. Unfortunately, they have divided us to the point that anybody trying to get us together will be seen as an enemy and non-performer and therefore, it will be difficult for us to come together again. But one day, Nigerians will come together against those greedy and self-serving politicians, and that is the day our emancipation will begin.

“However, for the people in Imo State and politicians in Imo State and South-East at large, they should think and work for the people otherwise, I urge the people to sack them. The Imo people, if they know what is good for them and their state, should sack all those politicians causing them sleepless nights, they do not deserve the offices they are occupying.

“Power is in the hands of the people and they should use it against bad politicians, those bad eggs occupying seats in the states and at the federal level; they have the weapons in their votes and they should use it wisely against the politicians and render them perpetually powerless. If they allow the politicians to take away the powers in their votes, they will become slaves forever in the hands of those politicians, if they want to remain slaves to the corrupt and greedy politicians in Imo State and Igbo land, let them continue to remain slaves,” Bishop Onuagha charged.

INEC should play according to rules— Ahamba, SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ahamba, in his opinion, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be strict and follow diligently its rules in conducting elections and avoid anyboy manipulating them.

He was of the view that politicians who could not win elections forced themselves on the people by bribing INEC officials to write results for them. The senior lawyer said if the INEC officials refused to be induced with bribes, it would go a long way in curbing the excesses of politicians.

“What I can say, you remember that some people say there will be no election in Anambra State and there was an election. When the time comes, the situation will sort itself out.

“If you are playing and if you see the election as a game, you must stick to the rules for it to be peaceful. The people playing the game and the referee which is the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must act according to the rules.

“Once that is done, there will be no problem; even when somebody knows he is not good enough; he knows he will not win, what he does is to go to INEC, to write results and declare him winner.

“The point is that if people can play according to the rules, and the law dealing with people who do not, then we don’t need much time to get it to what we all desire on how it should be done right,” Ahamba said.

Contributing, the Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Abia State chapter, Dr. Okey Mgbeahuru, called for the spirit of brotherhood among politicians, urging winners and losers in every election to embrace dialogue to resolve differences between them.

Winners, losers should embrace dialogue —Abia CAN scribe

He explained that the winner-takes-it-all syndrome has continued to bring bitterness and rancour between contenders in every election. To boost peace and smooth governance, Mgbeahuru called on the winner to extend a hand of fellowship to the loser who should also embrace such a gesture and assist the winner in governance.

He further charged the political class to always play politics by the rules and shun violence in a bid to acquire power.

In his word: “In every political game, there must be a winner and a loser. The winner should extend a hand of fellowship to the loser, while the loser on the other hand, should embrace such a gesture and assist the winner in governance, rather than resort to war and strife. We should remain one even after elections because no one has the monopoly of knowledge. No one should be thrown away in the scheme of governance, for two good heads are better than one. We should play the politics of today to see tomorrow.

“The year, 2023 is another remarkable year in the annals of our country, Nigeria. Its significance is not just the number, but it is an election year. It means that Nigeria has successfully completed another four years of democratic rule and set for another general election to elect leaders from different political parties.

“This change in leadership is solely determined by the people. Regrettably, the context of general election in Nigeria is practised on the contrary. The political class heats up the polity with animosity, hatred, malice, bitterness and rancour.

“The assumed elite political class stops at nothing to ensure that their desired objectives are met. In a bid to acquire power, they sponsor thugs who resort to destruction of lives and property of their opponents. But they forget that, according to the scriptures, leaders are made by God. This is evidenced by His choice of leaders during the Old Testament era in the Bible.

“Leadership, politically, is now a do-or-die affair in most countries of the world, contrary to the tenets of the game. Democratic leadership should be the obvious choice of the people and not through the use of force.”

Also, a renowned politician and chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chris Ejike Uche, believes that only men of honour can see politics as an opportunity to serve and not a do-or-die affair and admonished that such men should be elected to govern the people.

S-East should go for only men of honour — Ex-commissioner

Uche, an erstwhile Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development in Imo State, described as worrisome what he termed political animosity in South-East Zone, and charged the people of the zone and Nigerians in general to go for professionals with proven track record of leadership training and honour, saying that it is the only way the political narrative could be changed in the region.

“The dice is cast and the political shenanigans are ongoing. The present situation in the South-East is disturbing. Many see politics as a do-or-die affair. They don’t see it as service. I am calling on them to sheathe their swords.

“If we want Igbo Presidency, then we should come together. We can’t get it by being in disarray. The animosity should be shelved and we should know the right person and support him.

‘Life will surely continue after the elections’

“We must appreciate the fact that we are brothers and that life will surely continue after the elections. We need people with deep knowledge of the economy and international relations.

“Nigerians should be wary of robbers camouflaging as politicians. We don’t need people with no record of leadership training; we need technocrats. We don’t need professional politicians, what we need are professionals in politics, men of honour. That is the only way the tension can reduce and the narrative changed,” he submitted.

In his contribution, the traditional ruler of Iggah Ancient Kingdom in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe Herbert Ukuta, has cautioned against politics of rancour and bitterness ahead of 2023 elections.

He cautioned violent and bloodthirsty politicians to bear in mind that they would return to their people at the end of their political career, warning that it would not pay them to kill and maim those they were supposed to be leading just to grab political power.

He also frowned at recycling of old politicians in different offices, adding that there should be level-playing field for all political aspirants to contest elections in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation and harassment of any sort.

The monarch also urged the Federal Government to stop interfering with the politics of different states and allow people their fundamental rights to freely choose those that would represent them in political offices.

“What is the point of being violent with your brothers and sisters during elections? It is either you win or lose. If you force yourself into political office, it becomes violence.

“Politicians should remember that their positions are tenured, and that at the end of it, obviously, they must go back to their people. How are they going to live with them if they are turned to enemies in order to force themselves into political office?

“To stop political insecurity in Nigeria, the Federal Government must stop interfering with the politics of the states. Let the elections be free and fair so that the electorate, the people at the grassroots would have a voice because they are the people that suffer the effects of bad governance.

“Another thing that can breed political violence is the politics of recycling political leaders. Nobody has the exclusive right of occupying political office for life. Our politicians should allow level- playing field for all political aspirants because nobody knows who God wants to use for the liberation of His people in politics. Our old politicians should give the younger ones a chance to showcase their political prowess in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation of any kind.

“The violent stock is not supposed to be in politics because one cannot be killing and maiming those he is supposed to be leading. We need serious political orientation in this country for things to work out well. The Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency are no longer at their best in their respective duties.

“INEC should also go back and study the meaning of being independent. It cannot continue writing election results in the parlor of any politician who bribed the commission, thereby stealing the people’s mandate; that is another cause of political violence, especially, if the people knew that they didn’t vote the person who was declared winner,” the monarch explained.

‘Politicians should sign a peace agreement’

The Co-Chair of Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Forum, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, stressing on the Imo situation, said there is need for President Muhammadu Buhari to summon all political gladiators in the state to Aso Rock and compel them to sign a peace pact as part of measures to lessen the killings in the state.

The cleric who described the killings as senseless and unacceptable said time had come to hold the political elite in the state accountable.

His words: “These killings are evil and unacceptable. I call on the President to invite all the political gladiators in Imo to the Villa, and not allow them to leave until they sign a peace agreement.”

Bishop Onuoha also challenged faith leaders with unquestionable character to step in and broker peace among the political warlords in the state.

He argued that since the gladiators are members of various faith organizations, faith leaders should help to call them to order.

Still speaking on Imo situation, the National President of the Prime Ministers Association of Nigeria, High Chief Uche Akwukwuegbu, appealed to politicians in Imo to sheath their swords especially as the election come nearer.

He also urged the political players in Imo State to allow the incumbent Governor Hope Uzodinma, a chance to govern, arguing that there can be only one governor at a time.

“The political elite should give the governor a chance to rule. You can’t have two governors at the same time. They should allow him to govern and complete his tenure no matter how he came in”.

Chief Akwukwuegbu advised politicians to eschew politics of rancour and bitterness.

Renowned political scientist, Prof Obasi Igwe, in his opinion, urged politicians to shun hiring youths for political thugs and embrace free and fair election to maintain peace and progress after elections.

He also tasked the youths to learn to hold leaders accountable, condemn and refuse to participate in cultism, bribery and corruption, kidnapping and other social ills.

“Register to vote and be voted for and ensure that the vote counts. The youths must spearhead the struggle for a modern democratic secular state of equal civilized laws and equal applications, a single judicial system based on Common Law and insistence that crimes of any sort, especially those that are electoral or related to corruption, life and property, are severely punished.

“Above all, short of a violent revolution, the youths must insist on good governance, including free and quality education, and well remunerated jobs, as the ultimate guarantors of security in any part of the East and beyond”, he said.