Ojiaka Ekwu Okwu: Minstrel Who Plays Only For Kings, Wealthy

Image: Youtube

BY GEOFFREY ANYANWU

One of the things that make Igbo tick is their rich cultural heritage. Music is one aspect of Igbo way of life that has witnessed great transformation overtime, though yet to be whittled down by modernity. Igbo cultural music especially in Anambra State has various genres, one of which is Ufie; widely referred to as the king of music. It is also called Uvie or Igede in some parts of the state.

It is popularly said that “Ufie adighi aku be ogbenye,” meaning that Ufie music does not play in a poor man’s house. It is indeed music of royalty, meant only for kings, the wealthy and the powerful (warriors).

A 47-year-old man, Bernard Izuchukwu Ibekwe from Adazi Enu in Anaocha Local Government Area of anambra state has created a niche for himself with Ufie music.

Popularly called Ojiaka Ekwu Okwu, Ibekwe has travelled to some African countries and the United States of America with his music.

When Daily Sun met him recently, he spoke so passionately about his vocation. “My music is called Ufie in and around Anaocha, Aguata and Orumba; people of Anambra East, Anambra West and up there call it Igede.

“This is the first music in Igboland, meant for title holders, like traditional rulers, traditional Prime Ministers, Ndi Ichie, Ndi Nze na Ozo and Ndi Lolo only. It is not anyhow music, it’s not for young men and women. It is the first music you play for any titled person in Igboland. Any titled person that hears this music will turn back.

“When you coronate the monarch, this is the only music he will dance, the Onowu will not dance any other music except this, the titled men do not dance kurukere dance, the only music that can be brought close is Igboeze which he may use to go out. But in the palace, Ufie must be there before any coronation takes place.”

Ibekwe who said he has played Ufie music for ten years disclosed that his father and grandfather also excelled in the vocation. “This music my forefather played it, my father played it. My forefather played it and when he died the lot fell on my father out of all his siblings, he did not learn it from anywhere and my father played it for many years. He was playing it before my birth and continued until he died in 1995. Before he died he told me that I will be the one to do all he used to do notwithstanding that I am not the first son. My father married two wives and I am sixth male child.

“So I started in 2009. My father made his instruments likewise I. All these instruments I use, I make them myself, anyone that learnt the music; I will be the one to make the instrument for him, you cannot find it in the market. Those whom I taught the music and who were opportune to learn it, I made their instruments for them.

“I inherited it from my father, but those who come to learn it from me; I give conditions and things they will do so that they can learn it and take it home.”

“So God has been blessing me and I have repackaged it that wherever I go they say Ufie has gone digital. If I set my instruments well you will think it is live band when you hear the sound. I have full complement of musical instruments because I also play highlife music.

“But this Ufie is the one that is taking me round the world. It has taken me to Abuja, it has taken me to Lagos four times, it has taken me to Ghana, Sierra Leone and it has also taken me to America. This Ufie has taken me far, I have been to New York with this music, Idemili people in America took me there and I did album for them.”

The multi-talented artiste did not stop there; he also produces costume for other cultural groups and makes local musical instruments. He also composes cultural music and teaches people dancing steps.

“I compose music myself and form new musical troupes that have not been in existence, arrange the music, teach the people the dancing steps they will use for it and it becomes a cultural group. In fact if you watch me dance you will empty your wallet appreciating me. Music is my talent and destiny.”

Though not a graduate, but Ibekwe said as long as he lives that all his children would be graduates unless anyone that chooses not to be. According to him, one of his sons; Ifenna, who plays with the band has graduated while his daughter is studying medicine at the University of Nigeria.

He described Igbo music as very meaningful and instructive adding that Ufie is the king of all traditional music. We have Aku-na-echenyi, Igba Ijele, Igbaeze, Okpanga, Odi and others but one thing that gives me joy in Ufie is that when it is time for it to be played, every other music will stop even if it’s Osadebe or Oliver de Coque that’s on stage; they must stop. The kingmakers will ensure that every other music stops for Ufie to play. So, Ufie is the king of all traditional music,” he declared.

One of his most exciting moments was when the Igwe of Ichida; Charlie Million was crowned. “We were eight Ufie music groups there. While the other seven were played, people complained that there was Ufie they had not heard, that there was Ufie that if Igwe heard he would be moved, then the Igwe asked his driver to go and bring this particular Ufie. At a point Ndi Ichie said we will be playing one after the other so that they can select the one they wanted. When I started playing, Igwe came down from upstairs and took with him a giant bottle of gin that had a stand and dropped it on my Ufie. He appreciated me with big amount of money including money his friends spread on him. From there he took me to where he was crowned that I should be the one that will cover it,” he narrated.

The father of 11 children from three different wives though one of them is late, said he runs away from women because they rush him much. He said he makes good money to keep his family happy adding, “You know this my music does not play in poor man’s house. It is also a saying that “Ufie adighi aku be ogbenye,” it only plays in rich men’s homes and whoever that does business with a rich man should be like him.”

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

UNN Gaduate Invents Modern Igbo Calendar

Image via Sun News

BY FELIX IKEM

NSUKKA (SUN NEWS)--Less than a month after Chairman, Enugu State traditional rulers’ council, Igwe Lawrence Agubuzu in his proclamation at the Iwajiofu 2019 (New yam festival) of his community, challenged Information Communication Technology experts to include Igbo calendar in cell phones to display the four Igbo market days on the screen; a University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) graduate has designed and unveiled an Igbo calendar.

In what looked like great astrological breakthrough, Emmanuel Ezikanyi made history when he presented and defended the calendar in the presence of UNN academics.

The graduate of Adult Education and Administration who may emerge recipient of the special traditional award promised by Igwe Agubuzu claimed to have developed the Igbo calendar application currently on Google play store which he said was subject to occasional upgrade.

He said the essence was to sustain the dying culture and tradition of the Igbo. “What I want to achieve with this work are firstly, to restore our original Igbo traditional calendar and make sure that our people understand it and use it on our day to day life. This is because the rate at which our culture is fading away is shocking and shameful. So, we need to restore it. Again, we will use this work to settle disputes that occur as a result of miscalculation of lunar months among those that use it in our cultural events.”

Ezikanyi said that he discovered in his research that different communities have difficulty in counting lunar months, citing Aku Diewa Igbo-Etiti LGA, Nsukka LGA and Orba in Udenu LGA, all in Enugu state as places where the miscalculation was prevalent.

According to him, it will ensure that Ndigbo have a unifying standard calendar that will regulate their cultural events; for instance, the feast of new yam festival that depends on moon in fixing its date of celebration.

“As Ndigbo, we should stop the use of civil calendar in place of Igbo traditional calendar. Today, our people use civil calendar and attach Eke, Orie, Afor and Nkwo on it and term it Igbo calendar. That is not Igbo calendar at all. Different authors use international fixed calendar with 13 months of 28 days each with addition of one day making it 365 days of solar year as our calendar. This work has addressed this problem of misconception of Igbo traditional calendar. It also shows that Igbo traditional calendar has male and female calendar, the male calendar is based on lunar month which alternate 12 months in a year; sometimes one month is added to balance the year. Each month has 29 or 30 days and female calendar is based on weeks which have 28 difference periodic months; it takes each of this month 14 days to complete one solar year of 365 days,” he explained.

Ezikanyi’s invention further addresses the problem of Igbo date system of Uka Eke, Uka Nkwo, Uka Afor, Uka Orie and so on, used in various periodic meetings or for fixing date by the rural dwellers which always posed challenge to those in urban centres.

He further explained: that” This work has provided Igbo date formats that will enable people to use moon and weeks in writing dates and joint date. It also provides formula to convert Igbo date to civil date and civil date to Igbo date; formula to find out when someone was born by using formula to convert date to Igbo native week. For example, with this formula I found out that 1/10/1960 was Eke and Saturday, 15/1/1970, with this we can find out those born on Eke, Orie, Afor or Nkwo day, so that we can maintain our natural and unique name of Nwa Eke, Nwa Orie, Nwa Afor and Nwa Nkwo. Finally, every Igbo person should understand and use our traditional calendar all over the world. This work has provided phone APP, titled Modern Igbo Calendar on Google play store, but needed to be updated, to ensure that distance is not a problem. Above all, the calendar is a wonderful instrument for unity and cultural stability. No culture can survive without calendar that regulates its activities. So, for Igbo to exist as a united people, they need their traditional calendar to bring them together as one entity.”

However, the young graduate who is currently awaiting his mandatory National Youth Service Corps told our reporter that he began the project in 2015 but “When my work came into limelight, I was invited by the Director of Institute of African Studies, UNN to defend the invention which I did. I have also presented the work to the entire council of traditional rulers, Enugu North chapter and it received an unprecedented acceptance.”

Regardless, he said that his challenge had been the sponsorship to publish the calendar and update the phone App that is online. He would also need sponsorship to create the awareness in the media especially radio and television.

In addition, he said: “I want the state Governments of South East to adopt this work in schools so that our children will learn it. Again, I want schools in the region to adopt Igbo calendar reading in the curricula from primary to university level. This will go a long way in enhancing Igbo language and culture.”

Tagbo: Legendary Father Of A Thousand And One Sons

Rev. Fr. Nicholas Chukwuemeka Tagbo. Image via PM News

BY UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

The rule is that a Catholic Reverend Father must not father children. Another rule says that if you don’t break the rules you cannot change the world and attain the height of legends. Very Reverend Father Nicholas Chukwuemeka Tagbo has an uncountable number of very eminent sons. I count him as my father too.

He was the longest-serving Principal of the famous Christ the King College (CKC) Onitsha, and all his former students adore him as their father.

I did not attend CKC but I knew Father Tagbo more than the students because I lived all my early years in the staff quarters of the renowned secondary school with my linguist uncle, Job Okwuoma Aginam, who taught Bible Knowledge and French in the school.

After my primary school education at Sacred Heart School, Odoakpu, Onitsha, which shared the same compound with CKC, I passed the Common Entrance Examination and was given admission without my choice in St Peter’s Secondary School, Achina.

It would have been easy meat to change from SPSS Achina to CKC but Father Tagbo and my uncle decided that I could excel anywhere!

Incidentally, most of my mates who got admitted to CKC and finished up in 1977 as me could not get results due to the widespread WAEC leakages of that year known as EXPO 77.

As you can see, Father Tagbo and my uncle could see the future! The only subject I took in WASC that was not released was History, but I was home and dry in fine fettle.

Father Tagbo had such a towering impressive height to behold in his white soutane. I remember after the Biafra War that I was carrying my little sister, Chinwe, of about three years while Father Tagbo was talking in front of the CKC staff quarters and the little tot kept stretching her hand to touch the priest while I kept drawing her hand back.
Then the little baby raised her voice in protest in Igbo thusly: “Kam metunu m ya aka”, that is, “Let me touch him with my hand!”

Then, Father Tagbo took notice and admonished me to let my sister touch him before he then lifted her into his arms!

We used to be altar boys at Christ the King Parish within the CKC compound, a church that was dedicated by the then Archbishop of Onitsha (now Cardinal) Francis Arinze, with me winning a gold medal as a torch-bearer. Father Tagbo never used to say the masses, but one certain morning the regular priests – Father (later Bishop) Simon Okafor and Father (later quit the priesthood) Emeka Okide – were not around.

Father Tagbo had to step in to do the morning mass. Some altar boys had dressed up, but Father Tagbo looked at them and then turned to me and said: “Nwa Aginam (that’s what he calls me, after my maternal uncle’s surname) dress up and follow me! I don’t want anybody to delay me on the altar!”
Before I could get into gear, he was already at the altar. The mass that used to last about an hour-and-half took only 30 fast minutes! Father Tagbo was that sharp!

My attachment with Father Tagbo continued even after I had gained admission into the university. A dear friend of mine, Aloy Umeodinka, who had taken his WASC at CKC had to seek me out while I was holidaying at the CKC staff quarters to get his results and testimonial from the priest.

A book on the life and times of Father Tagbo entitled ‘Sons of a Priest’ has just been edited and published by a distinguished alumnus of CKC, the prize-winning novelist Odili Tony Ujubuonu.

A peep into the book reveals the testimony of Father Tagbo’s classmate and football playing partner, the former CEO of Ajaokuta Steel, Dr Fidelis Ezemenari who among other things disclosed that as a youth Tagbo reproached their goalkeeper – now an acclaimed Igwe of a big town – who conceded a goal and claimed he had seen six different balls at the same time, that he ought to have caught one of the balls instead of taking time to count them!

To conclude, here is an excerpt from the coffee table book:

“He gave up his life ambitions to make us rule our worlds. Tagbo was satisfied to be just a principal and a priest while some of his classmates in Christ the King College became bishops and one would later become a cardinal. He gave Nigeria over twenty Senior Advocates of Nigeria and remained an obedient citizen. He raised men who became GCON, CON, CFR, MFR etc. but was content and very proud to be honoured with just an OON. He produced three state governors while he remained a simple priest in a local parish. He had over a hundred billionaire businessmen as his sons yet he remained faithful to his vow of poverty as a priest. He trained boys that became Chief Judges of about four states and senior judges in courts across Nigeria, yet he ended as Citizen Nicholas. His bell of humility tolled twelve when he happily lived as a poor old priest under the current Archbishop of Onitsha Diocese, who was once his obedient student in Christ the King College.”

The Imperative Of A National Holiday For Zik

Nnamdi Azikiwe

BY UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

ANAMBRA POLITICS: Men Who Want Obiano’s Job

Governor Willie Obiano. Image: Twitter

BY OKEY MADUFORO

Ahead of the next governorship election in Anambra State, OKEY MADUFORO examines current intrigues, factors and permutations that will determine which senatorial district will produce Governor Willie Obiano’s successor

With about two years and eight months into his second term in office as the governor of Anambra State, Governor Willie Obiano on doubt has began to brainstorm on who would succeed him at the end of his eight years tenure.

His party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has an internal arrangement of rotation among the three Senatorial Districts in the state and it has, accordingly zoned the gubernatorial seat to Anambra South Senatorial Zone.

But some elements in APGA are, however, contending that since the zoning formula has gone full circle from South to Central and down to the North it is only proper and fair that the North should start the fresh circle of rotation, irrespective of the fact that the incumbent governor is from the North.

This pressure has already deepened the challenges currently being faced by Gov. Willie Obiano whose kinsmen from the North are breathing down his neck to pick the APGA candidate from the North.

Should Obiano give in to their pressure, the likes of Prof. Charles Soludo who has been touted as the chosen one may well forget the ambition of flying the flag of the party in the next election.

Conversely the North also has a second trump card of drafting the current member of the Federal House of Representatives from Anambra East and West Constituency, Chief Chinedu Obidigwe or the current Chief of Staff to Obiano, Mr. Primus Odili as possible running mate to Prof Soludo from Anambra South Senatorial District.

But fears are being entertained that the propagators of Anambra North may have an agenda of orchestrating a plot to impeach the would be governor from the South to enthrone the Northern deputy governor as substantive governor hence actualizing their initial agenda. Be that as it may the South is pulling all stops in producing the next governor of Anambra State hence polarizing the zone into three separate political blocks.

The Ihiala political block would certainly not get the nod of the South since former governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju from Uli, Ihiala Council Area has taken the slot. The Old Aguata Union (OAU) Aguata, Orumba North & South is neck deep in the contest irrespective of the fact that it had produced Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife and Sen. Andy Uba who they contend never completed a full tenure of four years. Ezeife spent less than two years while Andy Uba spent 17 days in office.

Nnewi Political block is currently shopping for strong candidates across Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo council areas and as at the time of this report it has over five aspirants and the more proactive camp is the Nnewi North Local Government Area with heavy power brokers in the race.

Former governor Chris Ngige had earlier during the issue of zoning described the concept as the poisoned chalice, insisting that the idea is one that nobody knows who would drink from it.

Ngige has been seemingly vindicated in view of the extraneous influence the church now has over the politics of Anambra State and currently both the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church are determined to enthrone one of their own as governor of the state.

A section of Anambra political watchers have described the meddlesomeness of the church in politics as “Satanic Christianity,” contending that had it been that was the case before now Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife of the Salvation Army wouldn’t have emerged as governor of the state in view of the numerical strength of his Christian denomination.

They alleged that the governorship seat has been reduced to a mere church representative position where a denomination in power plays the winner takes it all, reserving choice political appointments to knights and parochial church committee leaders and leaders of the Deanery.

Even priest and pastors are appointed into special positions to the detriment of merit and proficiency, hence propagating mediocrity.

Apparently, all gubernatorial aspirants have converted all the church Dioceses to pilgrimage centres where Bishops and Vicars are consulted with the assistance of Grand Knights of the churches to obtain the Episcopal blessings of their denominations.

Hence it is almost certainly that the church would make substantial inputs into who becomes the next governor of the state, as old boys of Christ the King College (CKC) are pitched against the Old Boys of Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Anglican Mission School and Catholic Mission School. The duo of Peter Obi and incumbent Willie Obiano are old boys of (CKC) and the DMGS old boys are angling for a shot at the top.

APC /PDP silence

These two political parties have chosen to remain silent about the zoning arrangement and none of the parties may likely throw the ticket open for grabs. They see zoning as an APGA arrangement, insisting that they would go for the best irrespective of zones.

According to the Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Ndubisi Nwobu, every aspirant is credible and the party shall conduct the freest primary election to produce the most credible candidate.

“All that we need is a good and populist governor for Anambra State and not because it is the turn of his zone. But if the party leadership chooses to do the zoning arrangement we shall also go for the most credible from the zone in question because the party is supreme at all times”

Chief Basil Ejidike of the APC noted that much as his party believes in equity, it “is interested in good governance, but it is too early in the day to begin to talk about the election and the zoning project, but I can assure you that we shall produce the best. Zoning is an APGA arrangement and with time our party the APC would come up with our position on zoning.”

Apparently the gubernatorial aspirants are not unmindful of these scattered pictures of confusion, hence they have continued to trudge on. At the moment Anambra South has a total of 15 aspirants which include the contenders and the pretenders.

Johnbosco Onunkwo, APC

The young man contested the gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the last election and his foundation has been making some statements. He has the financial strength to execute the project and has been able to cut across political parties and the political blocks across the three senatorial districts.

Onunkwo, however, has the challenge of overcoming the conspiracy of the elite who sees him as a younger person capable of retiring the old and never-say-die politicians from active service and that was the challenge that Comrade Tony Nwoye had in the last election.

He still has to battle with his kinsmen in Umuchu community in Aguata Council like Engr. Godwin Ezeemo the political structures of Sen Andy Uba and his younger brother Chris Uba of the APC and PDP. His Catholic background is an advantage.

Godwin Maduka, PDP

The Umuchukwu-born doctor and pharmacist had his first baptism of fire in politics when he surreptitiously backed the unsuccessful senatorial ambition of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu in APGA which crashed like a pack of cards.

His venture into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is seen by political watchers as an experiment that would only give him relevance, because the murky waters of Anambra PDP is one that has the propensity of sinking strange vessels in a voyage meant for Vikings.

It would certainly be the eighth wonder of the world should Maduka emerge as the candidate of the PDP, though has the capacity and the muscle to take on any candidate from any political party.

Godwin Ezeemo, PDP

He is making his third attempt at the governorship position of Anambra State and what he has going for him is his consistency in the political tarmac. Also he is an Anglican which gives him an edge over and above other aspirants from the PDP.

This Orient Daily Newspaper publisher is at home with politics and has a way of starting with a bang, leaving his supporters with the belief that the heat would be sustained only to end up with an anti Climax when the tide is high. Should Ezeemo plays the church politics as it is played and stamp his feet on the ground mother luck may smile at him.

Chris Azubuogu, PDP

He is on his third term as the member representing Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency in the National Assembly and age is on his side. His achievements as a federal lawmaker are his great assets and his projects have also forayed into Anambra Central and Anambra North Senatorial Districts respectively.

Though his traducers contend that he is not as popular as his fellow aspirants in the party, Azubuogu believes that he has the magic wand and has chosen to maintain a low profile while building strong political structures across the state.

He is also seen as a lamb without blemish since he has no baggage on his shoulders. Being a Roman Catholic, he remains a top contender from Nnewi political block.

Sen. Andy Uba, APC

He was there for 17 days as governor of Anambra State and a two term senator of Anambra South District. His failure to win the last National Assembly election is a minus for him unless he does something very magical. He is one of the top contenders in the APC and his structure in the party has remained intact ever since.

But observers believe that Nnamdi Uba would need to resolve his differences between him and his younger brother, Chief Chris Uba if he must pull through. This is, however, dependant on if his brother has no ambition to contest for the post on the platform of the PDP. This was one of the reasons why he lost the last election. Interestingly he is an Anglican.

Prof. Charles Soludo, APGA.

A number of propagators of a President of South-East extraction are of the belief that he is a presidential material and not for governorship. But he is the anointed candidate of APGA. Against this backdrop of the fact that no aspirant in the party has indicated interest in the position Soludo almost became governor in 2010 but for the death of late President Umaru Yaradua who was solidly behind him.

The former Central Bank governor is a strong Roman Catholic from Aguata Local Government area and APGA may have fundamental problem should he be denied ticket of the party.

Sen. Uche Ekwunife , PDP

This Amazon of Anambra politics is no stranger to the political terrain and she is determined to break the jinx of a woman winning the governorship election of the state. She has been a two- term member of the Federal House of Representatives and Senator for the second term. Though Sen. Victor Umeh scuttled her first term through the courts but the proprietor of Ogene FM Radio has refused to be cowed.

In recognition of her guts, politicians in the state describe her more as a man and than a woman in view of her exploits in Anambra politics with the major stakeholders of PDP behind him especially former Governor Peter Obi.

Ekwunife bestrides the two political templates of Anambra politics. She is from Igbo Ukwu town in Aguata Council Area of Anambra South and married to Agu Ukwu Nri town in Anambra Central District which she represents at the moment.

She was an Anglican before getting married to a Roman Catholic and she is one of the patrons of the Christian Women Organization (CWO) of the Catholic Church and also one of the major sponsors of the Christian Pentecostal Mission.

She is indeed an aspirant to watch in the PDP and party members are aware of this glaring fact. But for last minute moves of the then Governor Obi during the APGA gubernatorial primaries of 2013, Ekwunife was coasting to victory against Gov Willie Obiano.

Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah ,YPP
The CEO of Capital Oil and Gas, publisher of Authority Newspaper and Ifeanyi Ubah Football Club has to his credit the defeat of the Ubas and termination of their political dynasty in the last general election to become senator.

For a man who midwife the Transformation Agenda of Nigeria (TAN), the official campaign platform of former President Goodluck Jonathan the gubernatorial contest is more of a mere dress rehearsal.

Uba’s victory in the last election made a strong statement about what is expected in the next gubernatorial election because with the seven local government areas in his kitty, he only needs to win at least four council areas each from Anambra Central and Anambra North to obtain the constitutional spread to win the governorship election.

Similarly, Ubah enjoys so much sympathy from APGA due to the political crisis of candidacy between him and Obiano, while borating of very cordial romance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) as observation from his relationship with Senate President and the APC government at the centre.

However, Ubah has not declared his ambition to contest but his body language speaks volume of his interest in the race. Going for him is the fact that he remains in the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and he has no plans to join another party.

In the light of the above, his party primary election would certainly be a work over and while other aspirants are deep in intra party crisis of who becomes the candidate, he has all the time in world to start early campaigning without the attendant bruises that trail party primaries. Currently he is building the Nnewi Catholic Cathedral for the Diocese.

From all indications, Anambra South Senatorial District is the hot bed of politics of attrition and the zone is the heart beat of all activities. Most aspirants would certainly search for running

mates from Anambra Central all things being equal. The outcome will unfold in no time.

SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH

PUNCH INTERVIEW: I Still Don’t Know What My Stage Name, Ovuleria, Means

Lizzy Evoeme as Ovularia in New Masquerade

BY ALEXANDER OKERE

Mrs Lizzy Evoeme, popularly known as Ovuleria, in the now rested NTA series, New Masquerade, played the role of assertive wife of Zebrudaya Okoligwe in the TV comedy. The 77-year-old veteran speaks with ALEXANDER OKERE about her childhood, career and family experience

You currently live in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Has it always been your base?

No, it hasn’t. I came to Port Harcourt three years ago. When I left Enugu, I went to live with my daughter in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. My daughter, in 2016, passed on, so there was no way I could continue living in Uyo. That was why I relocated to Port Harcourt.

Were you born in Enugu State?

I was born in Calabar, Cross River State, but I am a native of Akabo in the Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State. I married an Ngwa man and I have spent almost all my life with Ngwa people. My father was a seafarer; he was a captain and a trader. My parents had eight of us and I happen to be the first of them all. My father was one tough disciplinarian, who didn’t take any nonsense from his children. The way he used to whip me and my siblings is still fresh in my memory. I still dream about it, sometimes. But it paid off for me.

Was acting your childhood ambition?

I wouldn’t say it was or wasn’t. My childhood ambition, actually, was getting married as early as I could and running away from the home because my dad was very tough. Being the first child, everything came down to me; if somebody didn’t wash the plates or their clothes, they would ‘call my name’ (hold me responsible). I found it hard to take all the time.

In those days, girls married early; some of my peers were getting pregnant without caution but my father used to threaten that he would kill and bury me under his chair, if I disgraced the family. That put fear in me and I looked forward to getting married and moving out so I could escape his whip.

How did you join the New Masquerade team?
I belonged to a drama group in Aba; it was called Ndiche Playhouse and we used to do plays and invite people to watch and make donations because money wasn’t that available then as it was not long after the Nigerian Civil War. There was a show we did that was popular. So, when the New Masquerade came to Aba, they were also doing shows on television.

On one occasion, somebody invited me to attend the rehearsals for a play, Sons and Daughters. I went there and auditioned for a minor role and got the role. When one of the major actors, Gertrude, was leaving, they wanted somebody to take up her role in the play, Zebrudaya, and asked if I could do it. I told them I could and that was how I got the role. James Iroha, aka Gringori Akabogu, produced ‘Sons and Daughters’ and ‘Zebrudaya’.

How was the name ‘Ovuleria’ coined?
I don’t know; it was the producer who coined that name and told me to answer it and I did. He never told me the meaning.

Did your major acting career begin with the New Masquerade?

Yes. I can confidently say that because even when I was with the Ndiche Playhouse, it didn’t last for too long. I started my acting career with the New Masquerade in 1985 or 1986.

Do you think it was a commercial success for you?

If you are asking whether I benefited from it, yes, I did. We were paid, especially when it went to the network platform. It helped me. Being a widow with children, what I got from it went a long way in helping in managing the affairs of my family.

Do you know what led to the discontinuation of the programme?
How would I know? The authorities of the NTA know what led to it (its discontinuation)?

When it ended, what did you do next?

I didn’t take up any other profession. I continued acting; that was the time Nigerian home video started. I did few shows before I travelled to be with my family elsewhere. But I can’t remember the shows now.

Did you have any challenge moving on after the New Masquerade?

I missed the time I spent with the cast but I didn’t dwell on that or sit down and lament and feel miserable because as God would have it, just at that time, my daughter invited me to come abroad. By the time I came back, the boredom and sadness had worn out.

The stage name, Ovuleria, seems to be more popular than your real name. Did it affect you personally?
It affected me but I won’t say it did negatively. Most people who know me don’t know me by any other name except Ovuleria. But to tell you the truth, when people close to me, like family members or intimate friends, called me that name, it sometimes annoyed me. I prefer being identified with my real name. I felt that a fictional name was taking over my real self.

Are you still in contact with the major cast of the New Masquerade?

I miss all of them who have passed on because we were not just colleagues but a family. We had quarrels but we made up. We ate together and travelled together.

Can you tell us the countries you visited as part of the cast?
We visited the United States of America and Sierra Leone, Cameroon; but within Nigeria, we visited almost every part of the country.

What are the other things the TV sitcom did for you?

It gave me fulfilment and achievement because I enjoyed every moment of what I did. When you go out and people you don’t know and wouldn’t have met in your entire life tell you they appreciate what you did on TV, it gives you fulfilment.

At 77, do you have any regrets?

I don’t have any regrets. God has been in control of my whole life, in spite of the tragedies I have faced. I believe God knows why they happened.

Will you like to share some of such sad moments?

I lost my husband at a very early age. I lost him during the Biafran War (Nigerian Civil War). Out of the five children God blessed me with, I now have only two left. Losing my children and husband has been my saddest moment.

How did you meet your husband?

I met my husband in my church choir. He was also a member of the same choir. I married very early.

Was it because of your father?

I told you my father was a bully and I always wished I could marry and get out of the house. So, when I met my husband (and he was a very handsome man), he was a promising civil servant at that time and there weren’t many of them. He was a court clerk and at that time, civil servant were regarded as ‘big men’ (wealthy men). I found him very attractive; when he proposed to me, I accepted and the marriage was fruitful and successful though short-lived. He died as a result of the war.

What would you describe as your happiest moment?
My happiest moment is when I am with my grandchildren.

What would you have become if you were not an actor?

I wanted to be a teacher or a nurse. But when I married my husband, he said I was not going to work, that he would rather work and look after me and the children. So, if I could turn back the hands of time, I would have loved to be a teacher or a nurse.

Comedy in Nigeria has taken different forms since the era of the New Masquerade and similar sitcoms that were popular in the 80s and 90s. How would you rate the types of comedy aired in the country today?

Personally and from an old woman’s point of view, it has greatly improved. But the quality of shows produced now is not what it used to be during my time. There are things, like the language and acting, which go on air these days but weren’t allowed during my time. I don’t agree with some of them, personally. There are some roles given to people which I wouldn’t play for any amount of money.

Morality has gone to blazes. I think female actors should consider their personal and social gains before accepting roles. Everything is not about money. My father used to quote a portion of the Bible which says that a good name is better than gold. However, it depends on the individual because according to Zebrudaya, “one man is meat, another is poison.”

If you are given a role to play, think of what you will be portraying to the public and the impression people will have about you as a person because not everybody will know that what you play is not who or what you are. If you want to make a name for yourself, make a good name.

SOURCE: PUNCH

Interview With Elliot Uko: No Sign That APC, PDP Will Consider Igbo In 2023

Elliot Ugochukwu Uko. Image via Business Hallmark

BY VINCENT KALU

President and Founder of Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), Elliot Ugochukwu Uko has said that there is no sign that Nigeria’s two big parties, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are seriously considering to present an Igbo as candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking with VINCENT KALU, Uko, who is Secretary of the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA), and a member of Southern Leaders of Thought, noted that an Igbo man as president would serve as a soothing balm and a unifying gambit to heal the land.

The 20th anniversary of IYM was quite interesting, how did the journey start and how has it been these past years?
The IYM was founded and established by God Almighty for a particular purpose. God has been directing the affairs of the IYM since 1999. What started out as a youth organisation earlier designed to promote Igbo language and spread good behaviour amongst Igbo youth, through distribution of a leaflet titled “Igbo Code Of Conduct “, gradually began to accommodate questions from Umuigbo at the end of each seminar, on the precarious Igbo condition in Nigeria.

Slowly, IYM began to enlarge the discussion from the importance of education and other issues to the need for Nigeria to give Ndigbo justice. Gradually, our resource persons at every seminar drifted into the pathetic political situation of Ndigbo in Nigeria. That is how IYM began to fight for justice for Ndigbo.

IYM suddenly became the defender of Ndigbo over the years. From promotion of Igbo language, to stressing the need for education, to Igbo code of conduct, now to fearlessly defending the rights of Ndigbo. IYM metamorphosed into the authentic and trusted voice of the oppressed and voiceless Ndigbo. Because the Igbo elite can meander their way to survive in Nigeria, they do not care about the plight of the downtrodden; IYM became the trusted voice of the masses of Ndigbo overtime. That’s what happened.

IYM initially wasn’t created to inspire the younger generation of Ndigbo, to wake them up from slumber to make them understand that if they do nothing about their condition in Nigeria, they will only be shifting that job and responsibility to their progeny. But that is exactly what IYM became with time. Nobody seemed to care about the younger generation of Ndigbo. So I took up the gauntlet. My target was purely the younger generation, to prepare them for the task ahead.

I travelled all over the country preaching to Igbo youths to organise themselves and fight for their rights. I told them nobody would fight for them if they don’t fight for their rights. I showed them glaring instances of clear oppression and subjugation of Ndigbo in Nigeria. I moved from school to school, compiled details of brazen suppression of our rights and denial of our dues as part of Nigeria.

It was only a matter of time before they woke up from their slumber. I was fortunate, respected elders honoured my invitation to speak to the youths at every of my seminars. We had question and answer sessions. It was those questions and answers sessions that opened my eyes to the depth of the frustration of the Igbo younger generation. I became alarmed.

Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, who generously and kindly attended dozens of my IYM seminars confided in me that he wasn’t shocked at the bitterness in the hearts of Ndigbo younger generation. He told me that he knew the younger generation of Ndigbo would be very angry at the treatment they are receiving from Nigeria.

He said the rest of Nigeria does not care about the frustration of Igbo youths, because Nigeria is busy, still celebrating the defeat of Biafra. He said the younger generation of Ndigbo would not accept the suppression of Ndigbo much longer. He knew that something was bound to give. He posited that the envy and fear of Ndigbo was largely responsible for the conspiracy to hold Ndigbo down perpetually, by denying them their rights.

So, by the late 1980s, I had known that the younger generation of Ndigbo would reject and resist the position of servitude designed for Ndigbo by the victors of the civil war. I happened to know this, not because I am a very smart person, no no no, I found out simply because I organised seminars for Igbo youths and during question and answer sessions, young Igbo men would lament that they are tired of Nigeria and wished for a separate state where they would be treated like human beings.

The students in Owerri, at my event at the Rosy Arts Theatre, would say the same thing the traders at Aba told us. The traders at Idumotta or Alaba market, Lagos, would say the same thing the civil servants in Enugu told us, and these people do not know each other.

The Nigerian state was clearly deceived by the “desperate hustling” of the Igbo elite club, who are so desperate for anything that they are willing to execute a contract through subletting, even crawling from office to office licking boots for crumbs. Nigeria’s leadership erroneously concluded that Ndigbo have finally accepted the humiliating position designed for them, as their proper place in Nigeria forever and ever. Accordingly, the humiliation of Ndigbo became state policy.

They forgot that Igbo elite represented only one percent of Ndigbo. They also forgot that Igbo are so republican in nature, and that every Igbo reacts according to how the shoe pinches him and the Igbo are never controlled by the announcement from one emir somewhere.

They also did not realise that the elite accepted the continuous humiliation in Nigeria because of two reasons. One, they are educated and therefore can always find a way to survive in Nigeria, known globally as very corrupt playground for Asian and Middle East scammers, masquerading as business men, who boast all over the world, how Nigerian officials are the easiest to compromise their positions to the detriment of their own citizens.

Secondly, the Igbo older generation, who were brutally punished by the colonial masters (from July 1967 to January 1970) through total blockade and ruthless bombardment of even refugee camps, for daring to forget that the colonial master himself, has great plans over Nigeria’s oil for his home country.

The trauma of the war created two different classes of Ndigbo. One, those who are willing to accept the continuous humiliation of Ndigbo, and those who are willing to do anything to restore their lost dignity. This fact, sadly, remains lost on the Nigerian state, which regrettably believes that force and intimidation will subdue the angry Igbo younger generation to accept the continuous humiliation Ndigbo have been facing since 1970.

Could that be why MASSOB and IPOB are agitating for Biafra?

Count your teeth with your tongue. I have repeatedly screamed the way out for decades. I have been screaming long before Ralph (Uwazuruike) established MASSOB. If I had joined my friends and classmates to hustle for political accommodation in Nigeria, I would not have known the shocking discovery I found out during the question and answer sessions at IYM seminars for Igbo youths. If those my friends parading as successful politicians had found time to organise seminars for Igbo youths like I did in the 1980s and 1990s, they too would have discovered the degree of anger burning in the hearts of Ndigbo younger generation. They also would have known that even their personal aides are not happy with Nigeria. They would have known that the only people happy with Nigeria are those benefiting from the misery in the land. They would have known, that these agitations were inevitable. It was bound to happen. Nigeria was bound to come to this.

What is the way out?
I will only be repeating myself. Twenty five years ago, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, my leader, asked Bob Onyema to bring me to Villaska Lodge, Ikoyi for a meeting. At that time, I was leading a coalition of Ndigbo Youth groups in Lagos. What came out from that very important gathering of very important leaders was actually packaged for the General Abacha constitutional conference of 1994/1995. What some people at that time called Afenifere agenda, simply because the great Senator Abraham Adesanya- led NADECO amplified it at that time. I am yet to see any superior argument till date.

Nigerians have no better choice. Nigeria is not working. There are reports of past conferences, many sections are bitter and angry at the current structure, some even want to opt out of Nigeria.

The system that worked from the mid 1950s to mid 1960 gave everyone a sense of belonging. You see the people lying to themselves, that they can hold Nigeria together under this unitary structure are the problem. Why they choose to deceive themselves beats me. Nigeria cannot grow under this military constitution. If the political structure is not reconstructed to true federalism by devolving powers to the federating units, Nigeria will die. Going back to the 1963 Republican Constitution is the way out, my dear brother.

Former minister, Prof Chinedu Nebo said recently that Igbo political leaders are responsible for the woes of Ndigbo. Do you agree with him?
Prof Nebo is a highly respected intellectual and leader of men. It depends on what context he spoke. Everybody knows the Igbo political leadership has not done well. Just look at the zone. No seaport, no airport, no rail services, no motorable roads, that’s not all, no clear political direction.

When you add this to the popular narrative all over the country, that a certain influential politician from the Southwest drafted Buhari for the top job six years ago due to what they termed, the unbridled arrogance of Igbo politicians who encircled Jonathan at the time, fending off everybody else, so the story goes. This politician from the Southwest was very bitter with the Igbo politicians who surrounded Jonathan at the time. He lamented how he abandoned his own presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu and entered into a deal to return Jonathan in 2011,only to be dealt a bad card. He is said to be willing to forgive Jonathan, but remains unforgiving to the Igbo politicians who he believed misled Jonathan. Out of anger and frustration, he entered into alliance with Buhari to get back at Ndigbo. Now if this narrative is true, just in case it’s true, it then throws up the question: What did Ndigbo benefit from Jonathan for which we are presently suffering so much isolation over the conduct of Igbo political class, over which some people do not wish to forgive Ndigbo?

It could only mean, that those Igbo politicians who shepherded Jonathan and allegedly blocked this angry Southwest leader from receiving any patronage whatsoever from Jonathan, hijacked Jonathan for their personal benefit, as there is nothing to show for Ndigbo’s unalloyed support for Jonathan, absolutely nothing. It is even said that Igbo sons and daughters in that government, mindlessly helped themselves with funds meant for infrastructural development in Igbo land. Pathetic. In that case, the venerable Prof Nebo is absolutely correct. He must know what he is talking about, as he was an insider, as minister in Jonathan’s government.

What have been the challenges IYM has faced these past 20 years?

Many, but I prefer not to talk about them. I don’t want to talk about shameless agents of the oppressor, sabotaging IYM for crumbs they are usually given. I pray that God grants them long life to witness the 50th anniversary of the IYM, 30 years from now. It is well with Ndigbo. IYM believes Nigeria will be restructured by and by.

Has the IYM achieved its aim?

Only time and the public can judge that. IYM was designed to water the ground, sort of open the eyes of Igbo youths and wake them up to the fact that they just have to wake up and fight for justice as nobody is going to fight for them. It’s not a 100 metres dash; rather, it’s a marathon long distance race. We need to be prepared for the task ahead.

But many of the Igbo youths are fighting for another nation?
Nigeria pushed them out, by refusing to listen to their cries long before now, by refusing to restructure Nigeria long before now, by refusing to engage them before now. It is wrong to ignore their cries of injustice. Ignoring them simply means you are asking them to go to hell or do their worst. The shoe has been hurting them for long, for decades they cried. Till date, the Nigerian state has never bothered to engage them to find out why they are crying. The Nigerian state encourages their agitations by refusing to engage them.

Voices from across the six geopolitical zones seem to agree that 2023 should be granted to the Southeast to produce Nigeria’s president. What are your views on this?
Everybody agrees Ndigbo has been ill treated since 1970. Nzeogwu, Adegboyega, Ifeajuna and co didn’t conspire with the thousands of Igbo men, women and children slaughtered in the well organised three-wave pogrom of May 30 to June 3; July29 to August 3 and September 29 to October 3 1966, which triggered the loss of faith that led to the Aburi, Ghana summit, and the eventual declaration of Biafra.

Regrettably, the very bloody war cost Nigeria Bakassi Peninsular, control of our oil resources and stable economic and political growth ever since, and it has been borne by Ndigbo alone. Envy and fear of Ndigbo unwittingly established an anti Igbo political culture that seems to suit everyone just fine. Nigeria did not know when to apply the breaks on the punishment meted out to Ndigbo over the years.

Denying Ndigbo their dues and rights over January 1966 coup and the attendant civil war does not make sense really. Like I said elsewhere, the younger generation of Ndigbo will never accept to be part of Nigeria where they won’t have a say.

The two major political parties agreeing to zone the presidency to the Southeast for the 2023 presidential election won’t be a bad idea, but I am yet to see any sign that the two big parties are seriously considering that. Moreover, the political thinking trending in all the political engine rooms doesn’t support that line of thought now.

There’s a possibility though, that those deliberately flying this kite are hoping to use it to blackmail Ndigbo in the hope that Igbo political class will swallow the bait, jump into the fray in droves, quarrel amongst themselves, thereby giving the anti Igbo forces the opportunity to blame Ndigbo for their inability to put their house in order.

All those are possibilities and permutations. An Igbo man as president of Nigeria would serve as a soothing balm and a unifying gambit to heal the land, but that still won’t solve Nigeria’s structural problems. There’s no alternative to the necessary political structural changes needed to save Nigeria. Changes like, power devolution and whittling of central government’s powers. Handing the presidency to any section of the country, whilst this unitary structure remains, simply amounts to a Greek gift. Yes, giving an Igboman, opportunity to govern Nigeria for a season, is all right, but restructuring our polity in order to save Nigeria is more important.

Do Igbo youths believe in Igbo president?
Igbo youths are not excited about Nigeria. It’s worrisome, but it is true. They see the Nigerian state as a huge joke, at best as an insincere, unfriendly establishment, out to hurt and harm them.

All their lives, the Nigerian state has been far away from them. Every thing is skewed against him. From the cut-off marks for both unity schools entrance exams and JAMB are designed against him, he wonders why he has to score triple the entry points granted other sections of Nigeria, before he would be admitted to study. He wonders why those who post bogus and over bloated census figures think anybody believes their overblown figures. He knows he is shut out from a lot of positions in Nigeria. He sees unqualified characters manning several government agencies and making a total mess of it. He sees elections brazenly rigged in broad daylight, with unpopular candidates imposed on the hapless nation.

He looses faith in the country. He believes there’s no point voting in elections, as your vote clearly doesn’t count. Why queue under the hot sun to register for PVC and another rigorous exercise to queue to vote, when at the end of the day, your votes do not matter, as the political class announces whatever result, they want announced.

They have completely lost faith in Nigeria. Interestingly, the Nigerian state also does not seem to care how Igbo youths feel about Nigeria. So, over the years, Igbo youths have convinced themselves that Nigeria is not our home.

Only about 30 per cent of Igbo youths ever bother to register and only about a quarter of this 30 per cent actually come out to vote. So actually less than 10 per cent of Igbo eligible voters ever participate in elections in Nigeria. The political class knows all too well about this grave apathy, but they don’t bother, as long as they are duly elected by the small marginal voters. They also inflate figures during the rigging process. So, the problem simply continues to get worse.

The Igbo have been so badly treated in Nigeria, that they seem to have lost interest in Nigeria. Maybe, offering the Igbo the presidency might rekindle their interest in Nigerian elections, I doubt. I know their soul and spirit is long gone. They believe Nigeria hates them. It’s sad, but that is the situation.

Who’s to blame for all this resentment?

Everybody is guilty. We need to try and bring back their souls by giving everyone a sense of belonging.

How?

Through power devolution, and restructuring the polity. There’s no other way. I’ve been intensely dealing with Igbo youths for decades now and I can tell you this. They will never be part of Nigeria, where they will have no say. Never.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

ANA ENUGU 2019: Writers Trade Tackles Over Aborted ANA Election

Image: ANA

BY SUN NEWS

It was meant to be a remarkable homecoming for Nigeria’s writers’ guild, as it was tagged, but things, fell apart when it mattered most, and the centre wobbled out of control. Twenty-eight years after the first ANA Convention was held in Enugu, the 38th national convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors returned to the Coal City where it was founded by Chinua Achebe with great expectations, but it took a turn for the worse.

The first telltale sign that things were not going according to plan was when, days before the beginning of the convention on October 31st, 2019, the much expected funds from the Enugu State Government never came, to the embarrassment of the LOC led by the state Chairman, Mr. Zulu Ofoelue, who tried all it could to reach out to Governor IfeanyI Ugwuanyi. But the immediate past president of the association, Mallam Denja Abdullahi, rallied round to salvage some pride for the association by raising some funds to get the convention underway.

The Festival of Life on the Day One, Friday, November 1st, 2019, saw poets and artistes performing to rev up the convention. Denja Abdullahi’s drama, Death and the King’s Grey Hair, was enacted by students of the Theatre Arts Department. The keynote speech, the next day, by Professor Egya Emman Sule, on “Poetics of Integration” was a major attraction at opening ceremony. But those were about the glimmering shafts of a fading light.

The AGM, which kicked off at noon on Saturday, was characterised by ruckus, culminating in an anticlimax as the election, which was supposed to usher in a new national executive council, as done every two years, was aborted, later in the day, marred by alleged voters list manipulation, accusations of thuggery, vote buying, etecetera.

It was meant to be a day of glory for one of the four presidential aspirants –Camillus Ukah (the Immediate past ANA Vice President from ANA Imo), Ahmed Maiwada (former ANA Legal Adviser from ANA Abuja), Ofonome Inyang (immediate past ANA General Secretary from ANA Akwa Ibom) and Chike Ofili (former Chairman of ANA Lagos from ANA Lagos).

But, on that ill-fated day in the Coal City, chickens never came to roost, as decorum was thrown to the winds. Thus, writers, who were regarded as the conscience of the nation, became the laughing stock of a nation, as they whimpered long into the night at IMT International Conference Centre, Enugu Conference, inconsolable, like some despondent, nondescript characters they often depict in their fiction.

While some of the presidential aspirants and writers have heaped the blame on Denja Abdullahi for masterminding the crisis that rocked the convention, others have blamed the presidential candidates themselves and their supportrers for fanning the embers of discord and resorting to thuggery.

The Sun Literary Review spoke to two of the major presidential aspirants, Camillus Ukah and Ahmed Maiwada, perceived as the strongest contenders and also in the eye of the storm for their opinions on what went down in Enugu.

Camillus Ukah
“The idea of creating crisis by Denja Abdullahi to pave way by Denja for a candidate already well endeared to the ANA electorate is completely out of place in my own case with respect to the disrupted ANA 2019 election. Furthermore, no man in his right senses would want to set fire on his own house. The Denja Abdullahi-led ANA administration had built a formidable house in terms of achievements before the 2019 ANA Convention. That convention was expected to be the event for parting ovation and for the celebration of a work well done. Denja Abdullahi or his admirers could not have been party to any form of crisis in that convention. The crisis in the 2019 convention was rather from the direction of those who defiantly refused to see anything good in the glaring giant strides of the 2015-2019 ANA National EXCO. They were free to make their points and hold their opinions, not bringing down the house. They did not allow members to peacefully decide their next set of leaders.

“By ANA’s constitution, no one is a candidate until he or she is duly nominated on the floor of the Congress. We only campaigned as members interested in running for offices. But none of us had been nominated and none of us was a candidate in a constitutional sense. But the leadership of the association listened to us and treated us with respect. The EXCO followed the constitution and house rules until some persons, bent on derailing the process, insisted that the EXCO should not nominate members of the electoral committee.

“To achieve a peaceful process, the EXCO yielded and allowed each of the persons (interested in) running for the post of the president to dominate someone of their choice to the electoral committee. It was unprecedented, but it was done to build confidence in the process. The EXCO was dissolved and the electoral committee took over proceedings. The committee called all the four members who were interested in the presidency to a meeting. The electoral committee and the ‘aspirants’ agreed on the modalities and ground rules (which were consistent with the constitution, house rules, and previous electoral practices). There was no disagreement.

So the electoral committee began the accreditation process. ‘Aspirants’ who had complaints were at liberty to speak to the electoral committee as a whole or to their own nominee in the electoral committee. Some ‘aspirants’ spoke to the committee; and the committee noted their complaints and promised to address them before the nominations. But those ‘aspirants’ could not trust and respect the judgment and integrity of the persons representing them in the electoral committee. Those ‘aspirants’ chose rather to disrupt the process to the shock and embarrassment of their own representatives in the electoral committee.

“Now, let us take about exclusion specifically. We all agreed on the terms of the accreditation. If we work by the house rules of excluding first timers from voting, the number of candidates eligible to vote during conventions is cumulative. States that regularly attend conventions in their numbers over the years would naturally produce more eligible voters than those who show scanty irregular presence.

“The 2019 ANA Convention was particularly remarkable with the bloating of the overall attendance. State branches that were known for one regular attendee (or at most two attendees), registered tens of unknown faces for the convention. Proper accreditation ought to prevent those first-timers from voting. That was constitutional, and we all the ‘aspirants’ agreed it should be done. One wonders why they turned around to unleash thugs on the convention. One wonders whether accreditation has become a strange process in elections.

“The violent fellows should have had the courage to state their true intentions from the beginning: to set the constitution aside, to allow all first-timers and non-members to vote, and to, ultimately, destroy the election.

“2019 ANA Convention was not the first time security men were invited to protect writers and to help maintain order during convention. Since the 2015 election in Kaduna, there has been security presence during ANA National elections, which, of course, has been necessitated by the state of insecurity in the country and the increasing desperation for ANA’s top offices. Unfortunately, the security operatives invited this year were simply impotent in the face of crisis. There were candidates who boasted openly that they had bought over the security agencies two weeks before the convention.

“It appears they compromised the security agents in order to set their thugs free on the convention. I was shocked to see the importation of thugs. I got the shock of my life when I saw some writers transform themselves into thugs and motor park touts…to say nothing about the non-members they recruited to cause violence. Some of the said violent writers were aspirants to the highest elective position of the association. They were desperate and they scuttled the election process, even though their own nominees were part of the umpire. What a disgrace! I still wish it was a bad dream. There is no justification for the action of the ‘aspirants’ and their thugs. They were a violent minority that upset a peaceful house.”

Ahmed Maiwada

“Where could I have imported the thugs from, anyway? I never did. .Nonetheless, there are several pictures of me with my supporters at the convention, which my supporters and I have shared all over Facebook. Kindly show those pictures to the person who accessed me of importing thugs and ask him or her to point out any thug there with me. From what I know, several of my teeming supporters were going writers from all over Nigeria, each of them duly registered through his or her chapter chairman to participate in the convention. And thus assertion remains until proof to the contrary is established.

“Accusing me of masterminding the failure of the elections by vote buying doesn’t agree with reason and what actually transpired at the convention. How did vote buying (assuming there was any) influence Mallam Denja Abdullahi’s infamous list of voters in which duly registered delegates were disenfranchised: the real cause of the failure of the elections? Any supporter of any candidate who told you vote buying was the cause of the failure of the election was either not at the convention or a pathological liar.

“In any case, how did I buy the votes, when there were no ballot papers distributed by the time the disruption of the accreditation process took place? I was sitting in the chair inside the hall that evening, after being called into the hall by members of the Electoral Committee. I was busy collating visible malpractices ranging from student delegates from a chapter or two, first timers, disqualified delegates, etc, when I heard the noises of protest at the entrance.

“I went over only to see that delegates from a particular state chapter were not taking being kept outside the hall lightly. Soon, every delegate not allowed into the hall pushed his way in by force. The hall was in pitch darkness then. I didn’t go and give anybody money to force himself in. I didn’t even have any cash on me, after being too busy at the venue to go to the ATM. How could I have bought any votes under that circumstance? Could I have done it earlier on? Well, I’d been in that hall since I arrived soon after the start of plenary, only going out briefly to consult with my team members. So where and when did anybody see me buying votes, assuming there were ballot papers held in the hands of delegates?

“To my thinking, the supporters of the opposition candidates were jealous of the way my teeming supporters had received me at the convention venue and felt sorry for their candidates regarding the votes I had coming in my favour. They should be told that politics isn’t for crying babies.

“The allegation of imposing the former Vice President on ANA by the former President was not only made by my supports, I also made the same allegation. A number of people had informed me that the former President had asked them to support the former Vice President, but many had told him that, based on their honesty and personal assessments, that person lacked what they thought ANA Presidents should have.

“This sad even started right from the convention in Lagos last year. I got to hear of it in November last year, in a chat I had with the first person who asked me to consider running for the Presidency, based on the total rejection of the planned imposition by the former President by a whole section of ANA in Nigeria. The former President had fought with a few of his close associates chiefly on account of their supporting me for the Presidency rather than the candidate he had directed them to support.

“Someone lost his job as ANA Project Manager because of that. Many were harassed or intimidated by the said former President. Were there such indications in Enugu? I can say there was, and there is no better evidence than the infamous list prepared by the former President, of registered dejected, which accredited all delegates from Chapters supporting the former Vice President to vote and disqualified most of delegates from all other Chapters assumed to be supporters of the other Presidential candidates.

“I think credible elections are very feasible as long as the causes of the disruption – Mallam Denja Abdullahi, the former President, and his manipulated list of eligible delegates, are out of the way. The list was kept very secret by the former President, who singlehandedly prepared it, in total isolation of the General Secretary, whose constitutional duty it was to keep the said register. By the time we saw the said list, the Electoral Committee members had run through it for us to discover the alarming reality of several eligible delegates being completely excluded, for no other reason than they hailed from Chapters considered as strong Chapters for the Presidential candidates other than his anointed one.

“I should hope the Electoral Committee would do a proper list of delegates duly registered for the Enugu and permit for verification by the various chapter chairmen, who must exhibit receipts of convention fees they are alleged to have paid ANA National on behalf of their delegates. Once that is done, then we’re back on track.”

Sun News Interview With Oscar Onwudiwe: 2023 Presidency Not In Igbo's Interest

Oscar Onwudiwe, National President of Aka Ikenga.

BY TUNDE THOMAS

National President, Aka Ikenga, an association of Igbo professionals, Oscar Onwudiwe has said that the clamour for a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 is not in the interest of Ndigbo. Speaking with TUNDE THOMAS in this interview, the Igbo leader urged political leaders in the country to support the agitation for restructuring of the country if the nation is to move forward.

How do you see the rising insecurity, the economy, border closure and some other national issues that have become subjects of discourse among Nigerians?
The present state of the nation is not what any Nigerian would wish for. No Nigerian will want to say this is how they want to live. No Nigerian is safe. No Nigerian feels safe, and we are gradually watching how security, law and order are gradually going down.

Sadly, we have a police force that the federal government has not bothered to ask how do we get the best after the enforcement of law and order. We don’t have a government that abides with the dictum that law and order is the soil on which everything good grows, and as long as we don’t get law and order right, nothing can grow. What law and order means again is that everybody is under that law, and mustsubmit to that law. It is not what we have in the country now which is double standard and selective morality. We have selective morality and double standard, and once you do that, the society can’t grow.

What we have in Nigeria is a situation where people can belong to a cabal that can break the law and get away with it. Now, a Nigerian is privileged because somebody somewhere believes that he is loyal to him, and not that he is privileged because he is behaving well in a way every Nigerian will be proud of, and this is a big problem for us in Nigeria.

Insecurity will not stop except you have a different mindset from the government in power. No economy can grow in an atmosphere of disorder. No economy grows in an atmosphere of discontent. No economy grows in an atmosphere of divide and rule. The situation in Nigeria today is very ugly. But what is however interesting is that those who create the present situation don’t know any other way, they sincerely think that there is nothing wrong in what they are doing. They believe Nigeria is going on very well, and that some people just like to criticize.

To these people Nigeria is working perfectly well but contrary is the case. Our present leaders are far removed from the reality on the ground. Part of the reason for what is going on in the country today has its root in the cultural belief of our present leaders that some people are supposed to be poor, that Allah has made it that way, but now they’ve created more poor people.

This is a government that has promised to alleviate poverty but they’ve created poverty more than any government in the history of Nigeria since 1960, and there is only one human being that can do it and get away with it, ………

cuts in … Who is that?

It is Nigeria’s current President. The reason for this is because of Buhari’s destiny. His destiny is such that so many things are waived for him. Can you tell me of any president you know that Nigerians have been tolerant of than Muhammadu Buhari? None. That’s Buhari’s luck and destiny. Things are waived for him. He gets away with anything. This doesn’t start when he became President of Nigeria in 2015. It started from the time he wanted to join the Army several decades ago. They just keep on waiving things for him, and that’s his own destiny. Buhari is a child of destiny and I admire him.

Why do you admire him?

I admire him because it is left for us as Nigerians to understand what is his destiny. What is the destiny that Muhammadu Buhari has come to fulfill? Is it a good one or a bad one that will end up bringing a good one?

But which one do you think of?

I think it is a bad one that will end up bringing a good one. I see beautiful light at the end of the day. I see the silver lining the cloud for Nigeria. Nigerians should not despair. Buhari described Nigerians as being lazy, and of course he is very right in his assertions. If we are not lazy, there are so many things we should have been conscious of so many years ago that we are just being conscious of now.

Like what and what?

Nigeria is not one by fiat, it can’t be one by fiat, and you can’t make Nigeria one by fiat. Nigeria can only be one by negotiations. We must learn how to adjust our compromises. That’s the only way Nigeria can be one. When the British amalgamated Nigeria in 1914, their aim was to exploit us. As far as the British were concerned they were just lumping together a group of black people and exploit them, and that’s what they exactly did.

I will continue to talk about this, former Nigeria Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, may his soul rest in peace said in one of his famous speeches that the Nigeria the British were trying to create is only a figment of their own imagination, that they from the North would not be part of it, and he ended that speech with the reason that the people that made up Nigeria are different in so many ways. He delivered that speech at Northern Nigeria House of Assembly. Now if you ignore your prophets, it will be at your peril. Unfortunately, Nigerians ignored that statement, but the fact remains that Nigerians are really different in so many ways.

As a group of different people, we need to sit down together, discuss and talk about how we will stay together in the space thewe found ourselves, otherwise we will run into serious crises, and that’s why we are having series of crises in the country today.

If you call an average Fulani man and ask him the questions you are asking me, he can’t say what I’m saying. He can’t see things the way I’m seeing it. But if you go to an Urhobo man, he may see what I’m seeing or say what I’m saying.

But the beauty of what Buhari has caused in the country today is that all those people who can now see things the same way and all those who have a common sense of justice are now beginning to find themselves to hold hands.

The South-south is now suddenly realizing that Igbo are not their problem because no Igbo man has an oil enclave in their area. Now the Southwest is gradually getting the point where they would realize that Igbo are not their enemies. The Middle Belt who believed that they were part of the North are now beginning to realize that they are not part of the North, and today, they’ve moved away from Arewa saying they are no longer part of Arewa, that they have not been fairly treated by the Arewa – this is the beauty of what this administration is doing in Nigeria today. Buhari’s administration has opened Nigerians’ eyes to injustices and inequalities in Nigeria today.

Now all those who have the same sense of justice are now thinking of coming together. Why? Because they suffer the same fate under Buhari’s administration. What injustice has these people suffered, it is double standard. Because of this, you now have Southern, and Middle Belt leaders holding regular meetings, and this has never happened before. It never happened before. But today, these leaders are sitting down together, and they are talking about way forward for Nigeria.

Is restructuring the way out of all these challenges?

Restructuring can only happen if Southern and Middle Belt leaders don’t relent and keep on insisting on it. We have six geo-political zones in Nigeria, and if four say this is what we want, then restructuring must happen, but if the Northeast, and the Northwest geo-political zones keep on opposing it and say they don’t want it, they can now be told to go and form their own country.

The Southern and Middle Belt leaders can now tell them that we want restructuring in our own country in such a manner that everybody will be accommodated. Now for the first time, the South-south, the Southwest, the Southeast and the Middle Belt have now all realized one thing, and that they all subscribe to the fact that all men are created equal, but this is not the same philosophy from the Northwest and the Northeast geo-political zones. These two zones don’t understand the golden rule, and the golden rule is that do unto others the same way you wish they do to you.

Some prominent Nigerians have been canvassing the need for another national confab to chart the way forward for Nigeria, what’s your position on that?
We don’t need another national confab. The mess that has been created is such that if you hold a confab today it will not go the way Jonathan’s own ended.

Jonathan’s own confab in history has been the most peaceful in the history of Nigeria. Most of the other past confabs experienced deadlocks, walkout, and all sorts of controversies. For us not to want to implement Jonathan’s confab it means something is wrong with us. It is like when the Aburi Accord was signed, and when some people got back to Nigeria, they started saying it was as if they were sleeping when they signed that Accord. They then decided to disown the Aburi Accord.

If you convene another national conference, it will not happen. Although another national confab is helpful, we need it but it will end up in chaos.

Some people will also oppose another confab because the present situation in Nigeria suits them. The Constitution of 1999 suits them, and they would rather defend than jettison it because of personal interests by Northerners. What they believe is that if there is another national confab, it may not favour the North, and that the North will suffer. Buhari is in power, and majority of the people in power today are from the North. Nigeria is poverty capital of the world today because of the same North. But actually it is not the Northerners that are holding Nigeria to ransom but only a few northerners who hold power in their hands, majority of the people in the North are wallowing in poverty. It is only a few privileged in the North that are holding on to power. They have all the wealth, while others are extremely poor.

Buhari has chosen all those he can trust to be in the security architecture from the North but we have more Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in North more than you find elsewhere in the whole of West Africa. You vote large amount of money for security but some people because of personal interests put it in their pockets and the insecurity remains, and for as long as insecurity remains, it means more money for them.

On the calls for scrapping of zoning by Governor El-Rufai and Alhaji Bashir Tofa ….

Cuts in … El-Rufai is calling for the scrapping of zoning because he is preparing the ground for his own presidential ambition in 2023. He can’t hide the fact that he wants to become the President of Nigeria and he is entitled to it. But I also know that El-Rufai will be worse than Buhari if he becomes president of Nigeria because he has conquest mentality, and he wants the status quo to remain. El-Rufai lacks the capacity and ability to manage crisis, and this is despite the fact that he is a first class brain. He is extremely educated but he can’t manage power in a country like Nigeria.

The simple question to ask El-Rufai is how he is managing Southern Kaduna. What happened between him and his deputy governor, that made the man say he can’t continue. What happened about all the killings in Southern Kaduna and that same person wants to be president of Nigeria.

But I need people like El-Rufai to be president of Nigeria because they are the ones that will unite the real Nigerians against our oppressors. I wish I could stay in front of El-Rufai and tell him why he would fail as Nigeria’s president. He should tell us what he has done in Kaduna. Kaduna is a small place he can’t manage. El-Rufai is always commenting on national affairs, why is he not busy to face governance in Kaduna State? If El-Rufai becomes Nigeria’s president, Fulani from all over West Africa will take over Nigeria.

It is generally believed that it should be the turn of the South-east to have the presidency in 2023 being the only geo-political zone in the South that is yet to have it since 1999,what’s your take on that?

That’s correct. It is correct that it should be the turn of the Southeast. It is also correct that a large number of Southeast people are also hoping and praying that equity will find a place in the hearts of those who determine who becomes president.

But my personal opinion is that please scrap zoning but make sure that a Fulani man becomes president in 2023 – that’s my personal opinion and I’m proud to say this but I know that a lot of people from my area [South-east] will like to stone me for saying this but they should listen to my reason for saying this. The mess that Buhari has created, and the incompetence that has been planted in all the ministries and in the Armed Forces by this administration, nobody from another ethnic group can come and say he will uproot them without having a war in his hands. Only another Fulani man can come and clear the mess and nobody will say it is an ethnic issue. No tribe can try to undo Buhari’s mess, not even Hausa, it has to be another Fulani man. It has to be a Fulani man and a Muslim. Anyone from Southern Nigeria who wants to take over in 2023 will suffer what Buhari can’t suffer. Such a person will inherit a kind of mess he can’t understand. He will inherit incompetence in all the ministries and agencies of government left by Buhari, and how will he uproot them? The type of people this present administration has recruited into Army, Customs, Immigration and other agencies, how do you uproot them? How do you now want to tell them that you want competence and ask them to write exam and that if they pass you retain and if they fail that they will go, how do you tell them that? Such a fellow will now have a tribal war on his hand. The truth is that the North has become too dependent on government as means of livelihood, and Buhari’s government has further consolidated that.

I will never vote for anybody from the Southeast who wants to be president in 2023 for all these reasons I have stated above because I don’t want the person to fail. It is only anybody I don’t love from the Southeast or the South that I can vote for as president in 2023 because I know they will kill the person. The only way such a fellow can survive is that if he gets there and decides to completely forget and ignore the Southeast and continue to dance to the tune of the Fulani. Even if he does that his chance of survival is not guaranteed because General Aguiyi-Ironsi got the shopping list of northerners, and did everything to please them but did they not still kill him? Was Ironsi part of the January 1966 coup? No. He only quelled the coup, but did they still not kill him? Did former President Goodluck Jonathan not do everything to please the North, especially the Fulani, did they still not call him clueless? Did they not abuse him? Did they not throw him out?

So what are we talking about? Any Igbo man that aspires for 2023 will have problem if he eventually gets there. It is either he survives there, and have no name and reputation, and won’t be able to go back to his village again with his reputation intact. But if he wants to do the right thing, they will kill him. If Nigeria will remain one country, we need a Fulani man as president in 2023, but such Fulani man must not only be knowledgeable but he must also be a courageous man, and also have conscience.

I want a Fulani man to take over from Buhari in 2023 but the Fulani man must have knowledge. He must have the knowledge that he is not pleasing the South but that he is protecting himself to change things. I’m being brutally honest in saying this. Such a Fulani man must have courage to face those who are eager to pursue personal interests rather than national interests. He must completely lock them away so that he can do what he wants to do.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS