Celebrating Black History Month: Remembering The Igbo Landing

BY SHELBI JEFFREY

As we celebrate Black History Month, we want to pay our respect in remembrance of Igbo Landings, which is a historic site at Dunbar Creek on St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia. In 1803 one of the largest mass suicides of enslaved people took place when Igbo captives from what is now Nigeria were taken to the Georgia coast.

The Ibo or Igbo people were found in Southeastern Nigeria and have many interesting customs and traditions. The Igbo were found to be fiercely independent and more resistant to chattel slavery than slave owners in the American South were used to.

In May of 1803, the Igbo and other West African captives arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on the slave ship the Wanderer. The group of 75-85 Igbo’s were then purchased by John Couper and Thomas Spalding, slave merchants, for plantation work on St. Simon’s Island and transferred to another vessel named The York.

On their way to St. Simons, they were stripped and put in chains. They discovered that they would be chattel servants and when the boat docked the slaves realized that this was some type of cruel trick, because it looked like they were back home in Africa. The Igbo slaves said, “ How could you bring me here, and this reminds me of home but it’s not my home.”

The slaves rebelled against their captors, drowned them and grounded The York in Dunbar Creek. The slaves then, walked into the water as a grand rebellion saying, “the water brought me here, so the water is going to take me back before I be a slave, I’ll be dead and buried in my grave.” The actual sequence of events are unclear, but a white overseer from a nearby plantation by the name of Roswell King wrote the first account of the event and possibly helped recover some of the bodies from the water.

By most accounts, only a small subset of the group actually drowned. Others were captured by bounty hunters and even still, some were never recovered giving hope that the spirit of the Igbo people lives on in our coastal community.

The attendees designated the site as a holy ground and called for the souls to be permanently at rest. The Igbo Landing is now part of the curriculum for coastal Georgia schools.

SOURCE: SAVANNAH TRIBUNE

Nigerians In Region Lead Community Development Efforts Back Home

Adaora Adibe (Left) and Claudia Okonkwo (Right) at the Lost Hope Restoration Center for Motherless Babies in Ojoto, Anambra State Nigeria.

BY LAURA ONYENEHO

NIGERIA (BOSTON HERALD) — Common myths and stereotypes about Africa center on poverty, lack of innovation, and a shortage of access to modern technology. But those perceptions are shifting.

Africa has gone from a place of deficits to a land of opportunities and investments, with a growing number of the African diaspora — particularly those now in Boston — choosing to invest their talents, knowledge and resources back into their countries of origin.

Nigeria is the largest source of African immigration in the United States — with an estimated population of 376,000 immigrants, including first- and second-generation children, according to reports by the Migration Policy Institute. Massachusetts is one of 10 states that has a high Nigerian-born population, according to the American Community Survey.

I traveled to the southeast region of Nigeria with local ambassadors from Umu Igbo Unite (UIU), a U.S. based nonprofit organization that promotes cultural preservation, professional development, and civic engagement, among Igbos in this diaspora. One of their missions is to create solutions that will bring long-term sustainable developments in Igboland.

Beside learning about this nationwide initiative, I felt it was my personal duty as a first-generation American — with Nigerian roots — to give back, specifically in Igboland, where my parents are from. Considering the African diaspora isn’t monolithic, I wanted to focus on the country I consider my second home.

The Igbo tribe is one of three major ethnic groups, covering most of southeast Nigeria — a key contributing factor to the country’s vast cultural diversity and economy. However, the Igbo people are some of the most dispersed ethnic communities in Nigeria — the key factor that makes bridging the gap between Africans and those in the diaspora very crucial.

The Nigerian diaspora ranks among the most educated ethnic groups in the country, employed at higher rates than the general U.S. labor force in specialized fields facing unprecedented levels of demand — including health care, engineering, science and finance.

“Nigerians and their talents are scattered all over the world and are dominating many career sectors, but the lack of human capital needed to sustain Nigeria is caused by several factors that involve lack of security, poor health care and educational infrastructures, unemployment and corruption,” said Dr. Sylvester Okere, President of the United People for African Congress (UPAC) in Washington, D.C.

“The country has the potential to be great, but we must be doing more to become the ‘African giants’ we say we are.”

That’s why Northeastern alum (’15) Claudia Okonkwo, 25, who was born and raised in Nigeria, led community development efforts in Anambra State, Nigeria, with UIU.

“In Nigeria, there is a shortage of clean water and a lot of underserved communities in Igboland are not provided with this fundamental necessity,” Okonkwo said.

“We raised about 15 to 18 thousand dollars to build three boreholes (water wells), so families don’t have to walk miles to fetch water. We also will continue our yearly donations to orphanages in Igboland and provide food, medical supplies and household supplies each year.”

Okonkwo and the ambassadors worked closely with underprivileged youth — who spend the majority of their days selling snacks and bags of pure water on the sides of the roads at just 50-100 Naira (15 to 30 cents in the U.S.) to help provide for their families. The harsh reality contributes to the African nation’s “brain drain.”

“The brain drain is a big threat to the nation’s economy, causing many people to leave the country and in some cases they don’t return. If all our good talent leave Nigeria what will become of future generations?” asked Dr. Okere.

Former 2019 UIU Boston chapter president and Hyde Park native Ifeoma Kamalu, 27, says participating in these initiatives are crucial to solving Nigeria’s most pressing issues.

“It’s important for people here in Boston to understand how much of an asset the African diaspora is. Boston is the hub of academia, medicine and technology, and many of us are excelling in those spaces and in leadership positions where we are committed to a greater cause outside of ourselves and careers.”

Kamalu says it’s important for local students and graduates to consider leveraging their networks to develop initiatives that will impact lives outside of the world of academia.

Adaora Adibe, 31, a fellow ambassador who has worked with Okonkwo for three years, says her experiences with the organization inspired her family to also contribute.

Adibe’s father is an engineer, and used his career knowledge to build a hostel complex at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in Anambra State.

The hostel, or dormitories, were built on 70 plots of land. The building supplies water, 24/7 power, vocational training space and security personnel. It provides close to 300 furnished rooms, a computer lab, gymnasium and a multipurpose hall.

“Visiting the orphanages made me realize what I needed to do to ensure the future of these children are secure. Having a safe space (like the hostel) will help them reach their fullest potential,” Adibe said.

“My role includes making sure the students are cared for and ensure all staff meet building compliance.”

For both Okonkwo and Adibe, 2020 is the year to “level up.” Okonkwo hopes the ambassador’s efforts will inspire others to invest in Africa.

“The most important message that I want to tell people in the diaspora is to get out of your comfort zone. We cannot afford to take our talents for granted.”

INTERVIEW: I Never Knew I'd Be Alive To Celebrate 60 Years On Stage

Emeka Morocco Maduka image via Ambassador Magazine

BY FRANKARROW CHIKE OBINWA

King of Ekpili music, Emeka Morocco Maduka, is in celebratory mood. On March 6, 2020, a historic event to mark his 60 years on stage will kick off in Awka and climax the following day with a concert in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Organized by Morocco Maduka Global Fans Club, under the leadership of Godwin Isebor, a London-based promoter, the event is themed: ‘60 Years of Chief Morocco Maduka on Stage’.

In this chat, Morocco narrates the untold story of his life as well as opens up on his forthcoming 60th anniversary. Enjoy it.

What message do you have for your fans this New Year?

I pray God to give my fans good health this year and that they fulfill their plans in Jesus name.

Do you have any plan to go on retirement soon?

I will retire when I clock 80. I am now 76 years old, so when I clock 80, I will celebrate my birthday and then retire. That’s one of the plans I have.

Are you working to release an album this year?
Yes, for weeks now, we have been working in the studios, recording some songs, and when the works are completed, the album will be released. But we have not chosen titles for the songs neither have we fixed date for the album release.

Another programme that we have is that on March 6 and 7, 2020, my friends all over the world, under the umbrella of Chief (Dr.) Morocco Maduka Global Fans Club, with head office in London, UK and under the leadership of Chief Godwin Isebor, will be holding a two-day event here in Nigeria to celebrate my 60 years on stage.

What’s the theme of the event and are you the one sponsoring it?

The theme is “60 Years of Chief Morocco Maduka on Stage,” and I am not the one sponsoring it. What I did was that, when they approached me, I agreed to their ideas and gave them my blessing. For now, they are seeking sponsors, and from what I learnt, many companies and individuals have indicated interest to be part of the event, the same thing with many notable musicians in Nigeria.

Where will the event take place?

The event will take place on March 6. There will be a public lecture in Awka, the Anambra State capital. Then on March 7, all roads will lead to Onitsha for the historic musical concert. In fact, many great musicians have promised to support me on the event.

By March this year, you will be marking your 60 years on stage. It’s like you started playing music so early in life?

Yes, I started playing music at the age of 12. I mean serious music, and since that time, I have not relented. I thank God who made it to be like that. I am 76-years- old now. What a blessing from God! Remember that our highlife music king, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe died at the age of 72; Chief Oliver De Coque died at 60 something so, I thank God for the grace he has given me, keeping me alive and strong till now. In fact, it’s a miracle because I never knew I would still be alive today.

Tell us the most challenging moment in your life?
One of the most challenging moments in my life was in 1960 when I made up my mind to go into full-time music. I mean taking music as a career. My father discovered what I was about to do and he was against it. In fact, he came up with all manner of fight to thwart my plans to become a musician. I think he even went spiritual to stop me, but all was in vain. So, one day, he pounced on me and gave me the beating of my life. He nearly killed me that day, but with people’s intervention, I was saved. That’s how I ran away from home.

I cannot blame my dad because in those days, musicians were nothing to write home about, hooliganism was their way of life. I mean majority of them spent their life with harlots. But I swore that my life would not be like that if I eventually became a musician. I promised my father the same thing when he later granted me permission to become a musician. Today, my secret pain is that my father didn’t live long to see how successful I have become as a musician. He never lived long to see my music career booming and see me making good money from it. When he was alive, I was singing but was not making money. In fact, I was very poor then. I was so poor that I couldn’t afford to drink beer but local gin. But still I never allowed my state of poverty to discourage me from performing with my band.

But you promised your father never to go the way of other musicians, so what happened?
At a point, people were going to my father to ask how come that he allowed me to go into music after he had spent so much money to educate me. They said: “he’s not even making money from music, he’s a poor musician for that matter.” That time, I was nearly a drunk.

Was that before the civil war?

Yes, that was before the war broke out. But when God remembered me and said my time has come, I made up my mind to stop drinking local gin, and I took to beer and wine. But now, I don’t drink those stuff again, even soft drinks I no longer take. Now I drink only water before going on stage (laughs). But in those days, I must drink and drink to get high before going on stage. Today, I can perform for hours without taking alcohol.

What’s the title of your first album?

It was titled Aya Nigeria (Nigerian War). It was released in 1971, but in 1974, I recorded another one, which was released under Tabansi Records.

How many albums do you have in the market?

I have up to 120 albums.

Many musicians have wives, concubines and several children outside wedlock but you have only one wife. By the way, do you have kids from other women?

(Laughter) Right from my childhood, I never liked the idea of a man having more than one wife. I vowed that I would never marry more than one wife. I don’t see the reason for a man to marry two wives. Already, I have four male children and four female children, am I not blessed by God?

How many wives did your father have?

He married only my mother and my mother died early.

Do you have children outside wedlock?

Why should I have children outside wedlock? Like I told you earlier, long before I became popular as a musician, I had sworn to marry only one wife.

When did you get married?

I got married after the civil war; that was in 1971.How were you able to cope because at that period, you were not making enough money from music?It’s because of the love we have for each other that made it possible for my wife and I to stay together till date. 

How were you able to overcome competition in the music industry?

In fact, God ordained everything that I passed through in life. God made it possible for me to overcome all. God created me and he’s given me the grace to overcome all the challenges that I encountered. In fact, with God everything is possible and I know that he has created me especially for a purpose.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS ONLINE

Eastern Region Unites On Kanu's Parents' Burial

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

BY CHIMAOBI NWAIWU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-----VANGUARD

The Igbo Must Not Lose This Social Media War

Rees Chikwendu

BY REES CHIKWENDU

For decades after the Nigerian Civil War, the caliphate and the Yoruba media elites used the traditional media to batter the image of the Igbo. It is a fact that the Igbos lost the war – but it is not a fact that they lost to Nigeria – who were no match to the Biafran war ingenuity. The Biafrans lost the war to Britain and Russia, who provided Nigeria with the technology and personnel that ‘won’ the war. Therefore, if that history has to be written or told correctly, it is right to say that the Igbos were not defeated by Nigeria, but the British and Russia did.

After that gruesome war, the Nigerian state deployed everything in its power to demonize and destroy the psyche of the Igbo people. The goal was to make them see themselves as conquered people. This Nigerian contrivance can be summed up thus: to scar the pride of the Igbo and make them loathe themselves. In fact, to some extent, it did succeed. Some Igbo people today live in denial of their true identity and prefer to go with some artificialness called south-south and Niger Delta.

One of the instruments massively deployed by the Nigerian state to damage the perception and reputation of the Igbo people was its institution of traditional media. It has always constructed the Igbo as the villain of everything evil in the existence of the contraption created by Britain. Nigerian who asks questions on the Nigerian project and has no clue of the answers would automatically blame it on the Igbo. In the default setting of their minds, the Igbo became the cause of their litany of problems, while the real enemy stealthily continues to loot dry their treasury and future. While they keep blaming the Igbo, the sons of the caliphate, prepare and arm themselves for the final push of conquest of dipping the Koran in the Atlantic Ocean. The Igbo was the distraction created to keep them fighting the wrong group.

In all these, the Igbo man has carried himself with dignity and has refused to bow to the caliphate. The Igbo as a group remains the southern fortification keeping the enemy from advancing further south to dip their Koran in the Atlantic.

Forward to the 21st Century, social media now play an increasing role in the construction of Igbo narratives. Likewise, it is playing a significant role in the deconstruction of the Igbo narratives created by the caliphate and their stooges, and it is ‘repairing’ the damage on the Igbo reputation and preventing the Nigerian state from deepening their control on how the people perceive the Igbo people. The Igbo actors in this new form of war are not relenting – and they are using social media in building relations where necessary. With its dialogical potentials, Igbo actors are engaging in interactive ways and enlightening minds more than the classic media, thereby countering the organized hate-filled and demonizing narratives of the Nigerian state media institutions.

With this tool now in our hands, it behooves all concerned actors to use it to disrupt the Nigerian maligning social order, to affect stakeholders that matter in repositioning the Igbo nation, and to puncture the reputation and false legitimacy of the Nigerian state. This effort has to be intentional and not left to chance because social media is the new battleground which the Igbo cannot afford to lose.

Today the narrative has shifted, and the world is becoming aware of who the real aggressors are. We are using social media to tell our stories and to make the world see how the Fulani Jihadists are raping and killing our women in their homes and farmlands. Today we are showing to the world how Christians are beheaded by Nigerian state-sponsored terrorists. Who would have believed 10 years ago that Fulani would become the new Nigerian common enemy? That would have sounded impossible. Of course, the Igbos are still not in the clear of the over 50 years of damage done to them. Each day, they inch closer to turning the narratives, beaming the light towards the real aggressors and enemy – the caliphate and its marauding Jihadists who day-in-day-out are killing Nigerians.

It is not time to rest on your oars because the caliphate is doing everything in its power with the wealth it has stolen for decades to collude with world actors who are willing to keep blind eyes to their atrocities in that contraption. I repeat: The Igbo must not lose this social media war.

SOURCE: OPINION NIGERIA

INTERVIEW: Factors Troubling Nigeria--Prof. ABC Nwosu

Prof. ABC Nwosu

BY ANAYO OKOLI

PROFESSOR ABC Nwosu is an astute politician, a former Minister of Health and a chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview; he speaks on the failing security architecture in the country. He insists that the security chiefs have no reason to remain in office in view of their performance. He also speaks on the clamour for regional security outfits and the opposition role by his party, among other things. 

ENUGU- The issue of insecurity has remained a major concern to many Nigerians. Already there is Amotekun security outfit in the South West while some groups in the North have launched what they called Shege KaFasa in the North. What do you think South East should do?

Nidigbo have had a very bitter experience with regards to loss of lives and property in Nigeria. In this their long ordeal they have developed capabilities starting from Igbo state union for the defense of Igbo lives and property in the homeland and in the wider Nigeria.

The present situation presents new challenges especially with the infiltration into our farmlands and forests. The Enugu State Government took the initiative and launched the Forest Guards. These and other ideas are being fine-tuned and Igbo elders will work hand in gloves with governments of South Eastern states as Ndigbo to deal with the new challenges. The overall objective is to teach any infiltrator that we know our homelands, forests and farmland better than they do and when Ndigbo are pushed you can be sure they will react appropriately. 

The issues of Anti-Grazing Bills, state security outfits and zonal security arrangement, have legal implications and are matters of state governments and state legislatures but Igbo experts have already done their homework on draft laws to deal with these new challenges without copying anybody. After all when Bakassi Boys acted to curb insecurity and kidnapping their effectiveness was clearly seen. 

How do you think we should tackle the insecurity problem at the pan Nigeria level, whether Boko Haram, banditry, organized kidnapping etc? 

The duty of securing Nigeria is the responsibility of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigeria Police Force under the Commander-in-Chief, simple. This is why all the criticism is on the Commander-in-Chief and the various Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police. It is neither personal nor political, nor partisan, nor religious; it is simply that when the system established by the nation state Nigeria for the protection of the lives and property of its citizens is failing to the extent that it is failing now, it is natural to call for resignation of the leaders of the Armed Forces. 

Put differently, the answer to system failure is complete overhaul and change of the system management. Those who attempt to make it ethnic or religious or political simply miss the point. The point is that those charged with the responsibility of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians should do their jobs, period. Too many people have died and are still dying and internally displaced persons cannot return to their villages to resume their normal lives. So questions are being appropriately directed. 

You are one of the many Nigerians who have called for change of Service Chiefs. Even the House of Representatives has called for resignation of Service Chiefs. But their calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears. What will suggest the next line of action?

We have done our duty, which is simply to demand that the service chiefs, having failed to give Nigerians adequate protection should relinquish their positions. Let us not forget that these service chiefs are already on extra time and how do we know that those under them cannot secure Nigeria better? After all they were appointed because service chiefs were retired when their times were due. It is now the duty of the appointing authority to listen to the call or close his eyes and ears to the situation. 

From your position, based on your answer on the pan Nigeria security situation, does it mean you are scared about the future of the country? 

Very much so; failed states of which Somalia is the best example, are those states where the security situation has failed irretrievably. When the various zones of Nigeria are as concerned to the extent that they are now over insecurity, every citizen should worry. For me who fled the University of Ibadan to University of Nigeria in 1966 because of insecurity, I am doubly worried because decades of reflecting on this showed clearly that if I were Yoruba or Tiv or Fulani I would not have fled the University of Ibadan. I know that the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, an Ogoni, fled the University of Ibadan with us to the University of Nigeria before he later left for Port Harcourt. 

This is of serious concern to me because security transcends our diversity and every Nigeria citizen must feel secured in any part of Nigeria. 

Are you saying that the present government is not managing our diversity well? 

I am saying so and very loudly too. When appointments of service chiefs become skewed to one part of the country, when a zone comprising five states is excluded, when appointments are annoyingly made from one zone to the irritation of others as this government has done, it is a complete mismanagement of Nigeria’s diversity.

How do you think therefore, giving the plural nature of the Nigerian as a nation that we can give everybody and every group a sense of belonging in the Nigerian project? 

The simple recipe is inclusiveness and strict observance of the Federal Character principle. In addition, there are nation-building institutions such as the Armed Forces and the Police, that is why their parochialisation is dangerous. There are Federal Government Colleges and there is the National Youth Service Corps, which should be used in a creative and imaginative way to forester national unity. Government should also revitalize National Sports Festivals etc for the same purpose. 

Let’s go to your home state, Anambra, where elections are due next year. It would appear that some people are already beating the gun? Of course, it is Anambra where people will always try to beat the gun and bend the rules. I am not surprised because the last count revealed that there are about 23 Anambra State governorship aspirants even when the election is more than a year ahead. We, the Anambra senior politicians are watching the situation as it develops to make sure that Anambra state returns to that period of good governance which it enjoyed under Peter Obi.

But the Peter Obi government you are referring to was an All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA Government? 

Yes, because Peter Obi was under the watchful eyes of Ikemba Ojukwu and he respected senior politicians, traditional rulers and the church. By the way, Peter Obi is now in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and was indeed the PDP vice Presidential candidate at the last general elections. I hope you get my point that Mr. Obi must have seen something in the PDP to have made him change from APGA to PDP. 

How does the PDP intend to achieve this core objective of producing the governor of Anambra State which it has not managed to achieve since 2003? 

Anambra State from 1999 has always been a PDP state and even when we did not produce the governor we produced the majority of National Assembly members. We know the hiccups that stopped us in 2017 even when we still had two Senators and majority of House of Representatives members. This time we shall make assurance double sure that there are no hiccups. So many people in Anambra are talking about zoning and it will appear that APGA has already zoned its candidacy. 

You are a member of the Board of Trustees of PDP, may we know the position of your party on this issue of zoning? 

To the best of my knowledge my party (PDP) has not taken any position on zoning. What we are all working very hard on is to ensure that Anambra State becomes a PDP state completely by having a PDP governor after 16 years. Many of us from Anambra in the party would want to return to the national grid politically, by having a governor that belongs to PDP, which has a national spread. We are not comfortable that of the 36 states in Nigeria 35 belong to either PDP or the APC and Anambra stands alone like a sore thumb. The situation where the National Chairman of APGA is from Anambra, the Leader of the party is the Anambra state governor, the financing of the party is by Anambra, requires complete reconsideration, especially in the absence of the towering wisdom of the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Against this background, what the PDP is looking for is to bring back Anambra state as a complete PDP state. 

In other words, for Anambra state PDP winning is the core objective not zoning. The 23 aspirants come from the three zones and when it is time we will ensure that the candidate most likely to win will emerge. One of our major worries is that one year after presidential election; the amended electoral bill is yet to be signed into law by Mr. President. As we prepare for Anambra governorship election, we shall be conscious of that fact. 

It would appear from your answer that your party is unhappy with the President having not signed the Electoral Law and that you arefactoring this matter into how the party shall deal with the Anambra issue? 

Yes and yes. Before the 2019 general elections the excuse for the non-signing of the bill was that the time was too close to the elections. Now, one year after, a bill that was ready to be signed in 2019 is not yet signed. So my party has reason to be worried and as the late Chinua Achebe would write, my party, the PDP, has reason to suspect that “cunning has entered into the matter”. 

The PDP does not appear to take its duty of opposition very seriously and seems to be reacting to APC actions? 

That is the general impression people have but let us give due credit to the party for reinventing itself after the catastrophic 2015 general elections. In case we have forgotten, the party lost the presidency; the party lost some of the state governorship seats and lost its clear majority in the National Assembly. On top of it the party suffered the self-inflicted injury of Governor Amodu Sheriff as its Chairman. 

So to come back from such a position to where the party is convinced that it won the 2019 general elections is no mean feat. Let us also not forget that the party has never been in opposition before and to compound matters, the frequency of APC government’s missteps require constant reactions by the PDP so as to protect Nigeria’s democracy. 

How then do you rate this APC government? 

Badly, the most troubling is that our debt burden has exceeded what any government of the past has borrowed and most of the debts go into the budgets, which is about 80 percent of the recurrent expenditure. 

The second most troubling issue is that so soon after the end of the Abacha regime for which so much credit belong to PDP, we are rapidly travelling back on the road to un-freedom and insecurity. These are the most troubling factors. When you add the limping economy, the exchange rate of the Naira etc., it is clear that my rating is based on facts. 

Why are you certain that the PDP will be better having governed for 16 years before 2015? 

The PDP can beat its chest that in 16 years it nurtured democracy successfully and ensured that succession from PDP government to PDP government and from PDP government to APC opposition took place democratically and without disequilibrium to the polity. 

There was freedom of speech and there was freedom of association. The social media was unfettered and Nigerians breathed the air of freedom to the maximum. This, to me is the greatest achievement of PDP. The PDP also nurtured the economy to six percent annual growth rate especially after the phenomenal debt relief effort. And then everybody is now enjoying mobile phone, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp etc, forgetting that these happened under PDP government. Let us attempt listing what the APC government has achieved in the five years which is the one-third of the time that PDP was there and you will see the reason for my optimism that PDP is the party for national harmony, freedom and economic development

DOURCE: VANGUARD

Umuchu As The Cradle Of Confederation

Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

BY UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

Umuchu, my hometown, offers the world a fundamental legacy of unity in confederation. A large and populous town of about 50 square kilometres and 300,000 people, Umuchu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State thrives on the business done in the famed Nkwo Uchu market patronized by all the neighbouring communities such as the border towns of Achina and Enugwu-Umuoyia to the north, Akokwa and Arondizuogu in Imo State to the south, Umunze and Umualaoma to the east, and Amesi and Uga to the west. History makes Umuchu tick.

There was no aboriginal Umuchu town. The legendary progenitor of the land, Ezedike, was blessed with six male children. There used to be three sovereign communities known as Ihite, Amanasaa and Okpu-na-Achalla. Each of the three independent units suffered from sporadic violent attacks from oppressive brigands such as the slave-catchers from Arochukwu. Knowing that a single broomstick could easily be broken, the leaders of the three communities decided that there was the need for all of them to be bound together like an unbreakable broom bundle.

The amalgamation was forged by the assembling of crack indigenous doctors to prepare a charm as an antidote to the invading army of their enemies. It was thus binding on the three consenting units to always act as one. The charm made to ward off the attacking marauders was known as Ichu and it was buried both at the Uchu lake-cum-stream and at the place known as Nkwo Uchu today which was the meeting point of the three communities.

After the enactment of the Ichu (warding off) antidote the sons and daughters of the commonwealth became known as Umu-Ichu, that is, the children of Ichu. In the course of time the name turned to Umuchu, thus yielding the ichu antidote to uchu because the people were a hardworking breed, and uchu meant endeavour.

The goddess of the town guarded the union from her Uchu grove in Nkwo Uchu. The mystical Uchu lake-cum-stream with its source at Nne-Nkwo nourished the town from the upland of Ihite and Amanasaa to the lowlands of Okpu-na-Achalla – not unlike the gift of the River Nile to Egypt.

The confederating bond of Umuchu into a lasting political union is an object lesson to countries in Africa, especially Nigeria. Unity can be forged once the political will is there. The example of Umuchu is that the federating units can retain their pristine qualities while gaining strength from the larger union.

In the order of Umuchu affairs, Ihite, comprising of three villages – Ugwuakwu, Umugama and Akukwa – is at the head of the stream, with Ugwuakwu village at the apex. The Amanasaa section is made up of seven villages, namely Ogu, Osete, Umumilo, Umubogu, Umuojogwo, Umuojum and Amihie. The two villages that make up Okpu-na-Achalla are Ibughubu and Achalla.

The advent of the six sons of the ancestor, Ezedike, alongside the coming together of the three confederating units serve as the fulcrum of The History of Umuchu written by Simon Alagbogu Nnolim. The booklet got into controversial limelight when Professor Charles Ekwusiaga Nnolim in a 1977 26-page essay entitled A Source for Arrow of God, published in the journal Research in African Literatures (RAL), charged that Chinua Achebe lifted everything in The History of Umuchu and simply transferred it to Arrow of God without embellishment.

Professor C.L. Inness published A Response to Prof Nnolims article in another edition of Research in African Literatures in 1978 where she defended Achebe by stating that The History of Umuchu and Achebes Arrow of God varied significantly in detail, structure, length, and phraseology.

Its not my meat here to dwell on the controversy. It just suffices to stress that Umuchu has a rich history and story worthy of abundant retelling in aid of Nigeria and the wider world.

Remarkably Umuchu was never overrun by the federal troops during the Nigeria-Biafra war, and the sacredness of the land made the then Archbishop of Onitsha, Dr. Francis Arinze (now Cardinal) to christen Umuchu as Alanso. Unity and camaraderie permeate the age grade groupings and the masquerade fests such as Uku in Amanasaa and Ogwugwueke in Umugama. People are at liberty to eat and drink in all the open places without any fear of being poisoned.

The practice in Umuchu is democracy of the mouth with a healthy dose of taunting known as “Njakiri”. The fear of “Umuchu Press” is the beginning of wisdom. Anybody who misbehaves is quickly reminded that Ndi Press had made broadcast his offences. Nobody knows the editor or the reporters of “Umuchu Press.”

The coming together of Umuchu in unity is exemplified by the communal doings in the capacious Uzoatu family compound where everybody eats out of the same pot in the village of Umugama village that shares a boundary with Akokwa town in Imo State.

In the lore of the land of Umuchu, the people of Umugama are the descendants of Ugama, one of the six sons of Ezedike. Warlike Umugama warriors of yore were reputed as the arch defenders of the Umuchu confederation, and the story has lasted from age to age of how the village defeated the evil spirits and poltergeists that attacked the town!

Being away from Umuchu can be suicidal for me and many. I once made the mistake of spending my Christmas in the United States. I nearly ran mad in New Jersey, USA. It was cold. I had no companions to play with. I went to the library to read on Christmas day, and I had to run out because I found no meaning.

In my anguish I had to perforce appreciate Christmas in our Umugama home in Umuchu back in Nigeria where I would have been at absolute liberty to eat and drink all I wanted and more in the Uzoatu compound without contributing a kobo from my pocket! Among Uzoatu sons and daughters, it is a classic case of the Marxian term from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

To end, Nigeria needs to learn from Umuchu. Confederation does not kill; it unites. The world cannot but rise up to the example of Umuchu in bonding. I have written this piece as homage to the rootedness of the teenage years in Umuchu when my father handed me over to the dreaded masked ancestral spirit, Nwogbaka, who said to me, gutturally: You are the child to tell our story.


Uzoatu writes from Lagos.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby Explores Memory...Visits Baylor

Njideka Aknunyili-Crosby in her Los Angeles Studio. Image: John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation

BY CARL HOOVER

Los Angeles artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby explores the cultural collage of memory, particularly for those who straddle two or more cultures, on her canvases for good reason: It’s her story.

Akunyili Crosby, born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1983, came to America to study medicine only to find a different calling in art — a calling that has led to a host of international prizes, a MacArthur Fellowship and pieces that have sold for more than a million dollars.

She visits Baylor University Wednesday night as the subject of this year’s biennial Allbritton Artist Conversation, featuring art critic Jason Kaufman and an accompanying slide show of her work.

The illustrated conversation, sponsored by Baylor’s Allbritton Art Institute, takes place at 5:30 p.m. at McClinton Auditorium in the Paul L. Foster Center for Business and Innovation. Admission is free.

Akunyili Crosby was unavailable for an interview, but Kaufman, who led similar Allbritton discussions with artists Frank Stella and twins Doug and Mike Starn, was more than willing to talk about her and her art. “Her work is stunningly beautiful, made with great clarity and sensibility,” he said from his home in New York. “She has a sophisticated sense of self. She alters our notions on Africanness.” He went on to describe her as radiant, erudite, articulate and “very low key.”

Akunyili Crosby’s best known pieces are large paintings of people in domestic interiors whose walls and surfaces often are overlaid with a collage of images from Nigerian pop culture and history. It’s as if the mental space of her subjects is projected on the physical space where they live. “It’s like mental wallpaper . . . a memory palimpsest,” he said.

It’s not hard to see where that perspective may have come from. One of six siblings, Akunyili Crosby came to the United States from Nigeria as an 18-year-old to study medicine as others in her family had done. Art classes while at Swarthmore College, however, caused her to switch from medicine after graduation. She earned a post-baccalaureate certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2006, then a master’s in fine arts from Yale University.

Relocating to Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband Justin Crosby, also an artist, Akunyili Crosby saw the market for her work rise steadily, then soar in value, Kaufman said. Awards have accompanied that rise, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize in 2014, a 2015 Next Generation honor from New Museum, one of Financial Times’ Women of the Year in 2016, and a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship.

Her latest work concerns portals, with spaces punctuated by doors and windows in such a way that invites the viewer in, Kaufman said.

The artist’s Baylor visit brings her back to Texas, where she’s shown her works in shows at Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum, Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art and Rice University’s Moody Center in Houston.

Kaufman, who writes frequently of art and cultural tourism for Luxury Magazine, said Akunyili Crosby’s treatment of cross-cultural boundaries strikes a chord with many. “There’s a universality of her work in that people are constantly living in places they weren’t born in,” he said. “Americans are all immigrants. Any one of us could take Njideka’s approach and make their own past.”

SOURCE: WACO TRIBUNE

NEWSROOM: S’East Leaders To FG: Declare Herdsmen Terrorists

Map of South East

Plans ‘Operation Ogbunigwe’ to fight insecurity
Govs adopt community policing
It’s the way to go, says IGP

BY KENNETH OFOMA

ENUGU (NEW TELEGRAPH)--South-East leaders, comprising members of apex Igbo body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, traditional and religious leaders, yesterday, called on the Federal Government to declare killer herdsmen terrorists and tinker with the constitution to allow digbo to establish a regional security outfit to be known as “Operation Ogbunigwe.”

The Igbo leaders made the call during a security summit, with the theme: “Strategic partnership for defective community policing in the South-East,” organised by the Nigeria Police in partnership with governors of the five states of the zone.

The event was attended by police hierarchy led by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu; Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), David Umahi (Ebonyi), Willie Obiano (Anambra), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and the deputy governor of Imo State, Prof. Placid Njoku, who represented Governor Hope Uzodinma.

Also in attendance were a cross section of Igbo leaders, including Ohanaeze President General, Chief Nnia Nwodo; religious leaders and prominent traditional rulers.

Nwodo, who decried rising insecurity across the country, called on the Federal Government to allow the South-East to establish a security outfit to be named “Operation Ogbunigwe” to tackle the menace.

“Section 14 of the Constitution gives the governors as chief security officers, the power to provide security for their people. If the governors are not fully integrated in the processes of community policing, including recruitment of the special constables among other things, then it is dead on arrival. What our people want is to own our domestic security. There must be a way our law will allow us to have our own Ogbunigwe,” he said.

Also decrying a situation where no police commissioner of Igbo speaking state was posted to any state of the region and posting of one State Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) of Igbo extraction to one state in the zone, the Ohanaeze President General wondered how people with a different language, religion and culture can effectively police other people with opposing features.

He consequently called for dismantling of excessive and oppressive security check points within the region, saying that he personally counted 17 of such roadblocks along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway and they all serve as toll gates for financial extortion.

The Archbishop of Enugu Anglican Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, who spoke on behalf of other religious leaders, called on the Federal Government to declare killer herdsmen as terrorists.

“The Federal Government should declare Fulani herdsmen as terrorists. Our men and women don’t go to their farms any longer. Government should reduce the number of roadblocks in the South-East and reduce the number of policemen attached to politicians. Some politicians have 20 policemen, while we don’t have enough,” he said.

However, governors of the South-East in their submission resolved to adopt the Community Policing Programme of the Nigerian Police Force to solve security challenges in the zone.

Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and governor of Ebonyi State, Umahi, who stated the position of the governors at the summit, said they were satisfied with the Inspector-General of Police strategies for the implementation of the community policing programme in the zone.

Umahi, who noted that the governors had earlier had a closed door meeting with the police boss at Enugu Government House before coming to the Base Event Center, Enugu, venue of the summit, stated: “We reached satisfactory and acceptable decisions and agreement. We can assure you that all the concerns of security challenges we have here in the South-East as presented here by the President of Ohanaeze, our religious leaders and of course our traditional fathers was not different from what was handed to us and we went through that with the IGP without letting you know the details. We assure you that all the challenges are being addressed.”

The governors noted that explanation and details provided to them by the IGP gave them the confidence to assure the people of the zone that community policing is not different from the neighbourhood watch, vigilante operation and forests guards as well as the herdsmen and farmers peace committees.

Umahi further said that the governors resolved as follows: “We decided as your governors to embrace the initiative of community policing, which is an official endorsement in line with the Police Act as part of what we are doing to safeguard the lives and property of our people. We commend the IGP so much, he is a man that is committed to professionalism. Even the roadblocks, we have discussed it and you will begin to see a lot of changes from today.

“Taking into cognisance the existing security initiative instituted by governors of the states in the South-East geo-political zone at the various local level such as vigilante group, the neighbourhood watch, forest guards among others which are in conformity with the community policing strategy, the state governors have accepted and adopted community policing as an effective tool in bringing policing to the grassroots.

“Community policing committees made up of traditional rulers, community leaders, town union leaders, religious leaders etc., within the locality will be charged with the responsibility of selecting and recruiting community policing officers that will work within the communities.

“The governors of states within the South-East geo-political zone are to reinforce and provide improved capacity for the police and other security agencies in their respective states in support of the community policing programme. This is as the states within the South-East zone will individually and periodically undertake operation against crimes and criminality in synergy with the police and other security agencies.

The Chairman of Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, HRH Amb. Lawrence Agubuzu, who spoke on behalf of traditional rulers in the zone, said the royal fathers stand with the position of the governors.

The IGP had earlier stated that the community policing model being envisioned for Nigeria under the current dispensation is one that will draw on the legal opportunities provided by the Police Act for the engagement of special constables, who in this instance, will be engaged as community policing officers under the coordination of the Nigeria Police towards evolving a community-focused policing architecture.

His words: “Provisions for the establishment and utilization of Special Constables is provided for under Section 49 of the Police Act and they are appointed in accordance with the provisions of Section 50(1) of the Police Act.

“In view of these provisions which approve them to serve particular purposes and which also confer upon them, the powers, privileges and immunities of police officer within their localities, special constables will be trained and used as Voluntary Community Police Officers to drive the Community Policing initiative at the grassroots level.

“This event is convened within the framework of our community policing initiative and as part of the strategies of the Nigeria Police to employ an all-inclusive strategy toward aiding us in the achievement of our internal security mandate, particularly in the South-East states.

The IGP said the summit was the sixth in the series and that all ended with very successful outcomes and the strategies jointly developed as well as partnerships built have so far been effective in addressing the security threats that are peculiar to each zone.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Wants To Represent Best Of Both Worlds

Ciannis Antetokounmpo. Image: NBA

BY MARC J. SPEARS

Reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to show he’s more than just the “Greek Freak.”

As an All-Star captain this year, the Milwaukee Bucks forward displayed his pride in his African heritage during the All-Star draft.

“With my first pick I’m going to go with my African brother,” Antetokounmpo said during the telecast. “I’m going to go with Joel Embiid.”

And with his second pick, he took his “second African brother,” Pascal Siakam.

The draft selections were surprising to some, including TNT’s Inside the NBA crew, but not to those who know Antetokounmpo.

“He’s having a good time and enjoying the moment,” Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry said, “and he should.”

Antetokounmpo was born in Greece after his parents moved from Lagos, Nigeria, in 1991, but the four-time All-Star said he grew up in “a Nigerian home,” hearing his mother’s native language Igbo and enjoying Nigerian food, culture and music.

Last year, Antetokounmpo opened up to The Undefeated about wanting to learn more about his Nigerian roots. Since then, he said, a lot more Nigerians have embraced him.

“I was really, really happy about that,” Antetokounmpo said recently. “They call me ‘The Greek Freak’ and a lot of people support me and all that [in Greece]. A lot of people don’t know that I love my Nigerian side. The minute I go back home and walk in — my mom is Nigerian, I don’t have Greek in my house, so a lot of Nigerian people reaching out to me — was amazing. It made me feel welcome, so that was nice.”

While Antetokounmpo feels pressure from his fans to choose between Nigeria and Greece, he prefers to represent both.

​“It’s not a competition. I kind of hate that. I really do hate that,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’ve spoken about it. I kind of hate that a lot of people say, ‘He’s not Greek, he’s Nigerian.’ ‘No, he’s not Nigerian, he’s Greek.’ I’m both. I’m both. The same way a lot of people are both, I’m both.

“My parents are Nigerian. When I go back home, it’s Nigerian. Nigeria is in my blood. But I was raised [in Greece] and I was born in Greece. I’m both. … Just to be arguing about it, that’s silly and that’s dumb. In my opinion, it has to be accepted that a guy can be both. He can feel both.”

Lasry, who was born in Morocco, can relate to Antetokounmpo. His family moved to the United States when he was 7. His mother believed their family would have a better life here.

“Giannis just views himself as a person,” Lasry said. “He loves the fact that his parents came from Nigeria to Greece. He loves his heritage. He doesn’t view himself as one person. I was born in Morocco. It was great that I was born there. I don’t look at myself as Moroccan-American. I look at myself as I am who I am. I think Giannis looks at himself the exact same way.

“We’ve talked about the fact that we both weren’t born here. … It’s hard coming to a country and you’re trying to assimilate. At the same time, how lucky we are to be in the United States, because it’s the best country in the world.”

Antetokounmpo is now arguably the best player in the world. The 6-foot-11-inch forward visited his hometown of Athens last summer and starred on Greece’s World Cup team. He also plans to finally visit Nigeria this offseason.

“We got things we got to do as a family with [my brothers] and my mom,” said Antetokounmpo, who announced the birth of his son, Liam Charles Antetokounmpo, on Monday. (Charles is the name of Antetokounmpo’s late father.) “We going to go out there, go through our village and kind of [tape] a small documentary of us going there and seeing where my dad grew up, where my mom grew up. We have a lot of family back home. …

“We know where we are going to stay. We know what we are going to do. It’s going to be family. Let’s go do it. So I’m happy.”

SOURCE: THE UNDEFEATED

STYLE FASHION: Olivia Anakwe

Olivia Anakwe On Balancing School And Modeling, And Not Being Afraid To Speak Up

BY TAHIRAH HAIRSTON

Olivia Anakwe image by Jacqueline Harriet via Teen Vogue

For Teen Vogue, fashion is all about giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the industry, thinking deeply about why we wear the things we do, and, of course, finding inspirations for our closets. To kick off NYFW, we are doing just that. In this story, we talk to model Olivia Anakwe about balancing and using her voice.

It has been said that millennials and Gen Z are the multitasking generations, describing themselves as not “either/or” but “and.” Model (and college student and philanthropist and monthly dinner party host) Olivia Anakwe is the perfect example. The 22-year-old is currently finishing up her senior year at Pace University, where she is studying psychology with the goal of becoming a dermatologist; she’s signed to Elite Models and walked 40 shows her first season, including for Miu Miu, Thom Browne, Jacquemus, Marc Jacobs, and Kate Spade; and she’s a part of Edible Schoolyard, a New York City nonprofit that focuses on food literacy. So yes, one could say Olivia is quite the multitasker.

“I found this book when I was home for winter break where I wrote stuff every single year, and one of the questions asked was ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And I said, ‘A doctor and a model,’” the Nigerian-American model tells Teen Vogue. “It's funny seeing my six-year-old self say that and then how it's come to fruition.”

Growing up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Olivia gained an interest in skin through her mother, who she says was always on top of her routine and would take Olivia and her sister to get facials when she was in high school. Her siblings and friends who suffered from acne got Olivia thinking about the impact the skin condition could have on mental health.

“I would love for people to just love their skin and [have it] not then affect them or the way that they're interacting with other people,” says Olivia. “It really affects your confidence when your skin isn’t on point, and that messes with your mental health if you don't feel confident about how you look internally.”

While skincare was a big deal in her family, Olivia wasn’t a huge fan of fashion, though she did look up to Naomi Campbell. Instead, her mom put her in musical theater and dance, which could explain her love (and ultimate future) of being in front of the camera.

It was three years ago, when Olivia was visiting New York City for her older sister’s graduation, and while eating at Westville with her family, that she was asked by her soon-to-be-agent, Marina Fairfax, if she’d ever thought about modeling. It turned out she had, but she didn’t think she could do it while being in school. “It just happened to be perfect timing because I was already attending a summer camp at Columbia [University], so I was going to be in the city anyway. And then I was able to go into the agency for a couple of meetings and then sign with them,” says Olivia. Eventually, she transferred from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was studying, to Pace so that she could juggle both her new modeling career and her studies.

And for Olivia that meant walking during Paris and New York Fashion Week, shooting for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Allure, and starring in a Miu Miu campaign while also taking early-morning, late-night, or online classes and sometimes writing essays on the subway with the aim of reaching her dream of becoming a dermatologist. “My biggest motivator is just knowing that I could do it — something I've always wanted to do,” she says.

Another characteristic of Olivia’s generation: speaking up. Last year in February, one of Olivia’s Instagram posts went viral. In the post, she called out hairstylists who couldn’t do black or textured hair, detailing her experience during Paris Fashion Week, which was that the only person backstage at a fashion show able to braid her hair was the nail artist. “"No matter how small your team is, make sure you have one person that is competent at doing afro texture hair care OR just hire a black hairstylist," Olivia wrote.

It was a real eye-opener as currently the fashion industry lauds itself for becoming more visibly diverse (on the runways, in editorials, and sometimes even on the mastheads), yet what’s going on behind the scenes tells a different story.

However, it’s not a new story and has been a problem in the fashion industry for years. In 2016, model Naomi Campbell told Teen Vogue that she’s encountered the issue since she first started modeling: “I would be backstage at shows and there would be stylists who didn’t have any experience working with black models. It’s disappointing to hear that models of color are still encountering these same issues all these years later.” Other models have called out the fashion industry’s black-hair problem too, sharing stories of having to bring their own products, find another model to properly do their hair, or make do with having their hair completely untouched.

Olivia says the absolute turning point for her was when a German model backstage with her expressed disbelief that a hairstylist refused to do her hair. Olivia wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this happening, and that it continues to happen to black models, so she went to Instagram to detail her experience. “It was very important for me to not just come at it from a really angry and hurt standpoint, but like what we do to move through this?” she says, admitting she went to her older sister for editing (“She's my fairy godmother. I wouldn't survive Fashion Week without her”).

There wasn’t a moment where Olivia was worried about backlash for speaking up and using her voice. “It's always important to voice your opinion if you're in an uncomfortable situation — speak up,” the model says. “I think getting into modeling when I was older, at 18, allowed me to have that voice and backbone for me to speak up if I were to land in any situation that made me feel uncomfortable.”

She also credits her Nigerian upbringing for her strong backbone. Her parents, Olivia says, taught her to “stand her ground no matter what.” “It wasn't as though you needed to talk out of place, or all the time about things, but if somebody is coming at you, you need to be able to defend yourself,” she says. She recalls the Igbo philosophy of igwe bu ike, which means there’s strength in numbers and in community. “So it's like if you voiced yourself and you have a community, and then everybody voices themselves, then you can really change.”

Olivia didn’t know what kind of response she would get from the post, but she did want to start a conversation. Multiple news outlets, including Teen Vogue, wrote about the post. Black actors began sharing their experiences. But the most surprising response? “A hairstylist contacted me saying that they were going to start offering classes for people to learn more about black hair products,” says Olivia. “Also, another model reached out to me about getting a list down of black hair products that they should have backstage.” And since then, she says, she’s been lucky to work with hairstylists that are knowledgeable about black hair.

Olivia says her own relationship with her hair has been hot and cold, mostly because she didn’t always know what to do. She’d try relaxers, then cut all of her hair off, then try to wear an Afro. It was working as a model that taught her how to work with her hair. “Once I started to embrace my natural hair, which didn't come until quite recently, I started to embrace it. Then I could actually take care of it more. But before, I always wanted to leave somebody else to take care of it,” she says. “It's definitely been a learning process, and modeling has completed that. I'm more attentive to my hair, and I'm taking care of myself.”

It’s been almost a year since the viral post, and the 22-year-old is getting ready for what’s next. In May, she’ll graduate from Pace University. She just restarted her secret dinner series, in which she partners with a friend for pop-up dinners with different chefs and conversation. She’s been an advocate and volunteer for Edible Schoolyard and helped the nonprofit organization raise over $20,000. Last December, she traveled to Lago, Nigeria, to help establish a similar food literacy program there; she has plans to go back this year.

Olivia knows that her juggling lifestyle of being a student and a model, as well as seeing a black girl in the fashion industry walking in big designer shows and not afraid to speak her mind, is something more people need to see. “I want to be a part of continuing to represent for everyone. Whether it’s people trying to balance work with life and school or something else, I think it’s important to have examples of those out there who are doing it,” she says.

SOURCE: TEEN VOGUE

Raising Children With Values In Greenwich

Sean Obi

BY BOBBI EGGERS

Raising children in an affluent society has many challenges that are unpredictable as your kids grow up. Where you send your children to school, who your friends are and what happens along the way is a journey full of surprises. The choices you make are incredibly important for their future. Bringing a child from another country and culture and helping raise that individual in an affluent society such as Greenwich is even more unpredictable. This year we are celebrating ten years since our Greenwich family stood at JFK and welcomed a 6’ 9” 15 year old, black African into our family, Sean Obi. Our family made the decision together, excited to give this very special kid an opportunity in the United States and in our home in Greenwich, CT, changing his life and ours forever.

We had done our homework. My husband, Steve, had been doing business in Nigeria and played pickup basketball games in his free time there. He developed a group of basketball obsessed friends who talked about NBA or college games most of their business meetings. One of these friends contacted Steve and told him about “a smart, very respectful basketball loving kid who deserves better coaching in the United States and a better education than he will get here.” My son, Hunter, enthusiastically volunteered to have a brother. Hunter will always be my hero for stepping aside and generously sharing his life, not always as simple as it seems. I spoke to Sean’s parents in Nigeria, teachers, coaches, and almost anyone who ever knew him. We decided it was the right thing to do.

Sean’s background in Nigeria was something entirely different from the lives of my “natural” children, who now have a brother whose house was burnt down in religious riots when he was six years old. Not your typical Greenwich family experience. “We lost everything,” Sean said. His family is of the Christian Igbo tribe and they opted to move to a safer community. Sean spent his early education in a Catholic school with 100 students in a room, no laptops, and a teacher who wrote the lessons on a chalkboard. Students were not allowed to ask questions and the teacher didn’t know their names. It was learning by rote. Students like Sean did not read books, except for text books, and did not write papers. Teachers taught students how to write letters- a more useful tool for everyday lives.

Then, Sean was suddenly plunked into Greenwich in what seemed to be a Kardashian life, viewed only on TV. The beautiful homes, luxury cars and the brightly lit grocery stores packed to the ceilings with such a wide variety of fresh food and colorful packages, overwhelming and exciting all at once. Greens Farms Academy in Westport welcomed Sean to school with open arms. Hunter was already a student there and was excited to introduce his new brother to his friends, his basketball team and the teachers. Imagine going from being an anonymous student in a large classroom in Africa to learning, seated at a round Harkness table, with eight students at a private school in Westport, where you are expected to speak, discuss the book you are reading, and ask questions. This was a completely different educational culture to what he had known. Sean came to America with no background on George Washington, the Civil War, or drop down menus. His first book was Oedipus Rex, followed by Shakespeare. Although English was his first language, our cadence is different.

Our pronunciations and rhythm took time for him to figure out, but Sean was completely determined to be successful. He would sleep for two hours and then study for 3, then back to sleep and up by 6:00 am. He became his own advocate and, witnessing his will to learn, teachers at Greens Farm were enthusiastic to help. His hard work and determination helped launched him to Rice University and later to Duke University where he was recruited to play basketball. Some knee surgery slowed him down a bit, but he was never ambitious to play in the NBA and opted, instead, to get his master’s degree and go into business. His volunteer assistant basketball coach in high school, Peter Deutsch, took Sean under his wing, coached him on basketball moves and became a close friend of our family. “We are kindred spirits,” Peter says. Admiring his hard work ethic, Sean now works for Peter in his thriving business, Deutsch Family Wine Importers, in Stamford. The connections our Greenwich children make along the way often become monumental. It is part of the joy of living here.

Sean is not the only lucky one. My natural Greenwich children have a broader global understanding and empathy since Sean came into our lives. “Sean was my brother and my parent’s son right from the start,” Hunter says. “We are family.” One of my daughters, Madison, remembers Sean coming into our lives with great enthusiasm. “People always ask why we did it. He fit right in. It just happened naturally and it feels like he’s always been a part of our family.” People have been respectful and often curious. Sean and I are very close and when we are out and about, I can see other moms, puzzled, trying to figure us out- a 6’ 9,” 260 pound athlete, helping a much shorter me, with groceries, or trying to find a shirt at Lord and Taylor that has arms that are long enough for him. I have had friends say to me, “Oh how nice of you to do that. I could never do it.” I understand. We also have several friends who have brought international children into their families. It’s not for everyone, to be sure.

What is for everyone is trying to figure out how to give back or pay it forward, in your own significant way. Role modeling and guidance are the most important jobs you have as a parent. Help others in a way that works for you and your family. Show your children how to give back, especially when we have so much in our lives. It builds character and generosity of spirit. Family matters and our family is broader and richer with Sean as a member.

Together, with the Reverend Cheryl McFadden, we have started free Family Matters gatherings, open to all, at the Christ Church Greenwich bookstore, Dogwood, on some Sundays at 10:00 am. We will be discussing how to raise children with values in an affluent society, answering questions kids have about God, and on February 9, the topic is “Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?” Join us. For more info, email the Rev. Dr. Cheryl McFadden: cmcfadden@christchurchgreenwich.org

SOURCE: GREENWICH SENTINEL

BOOK SHELF INTERVIEW: Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

BY ARUN KABAR

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia’s debut novel both reflects current Nigerian life and hints at how it should progress, she tells Arun Kakar

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia is a lawyer, academic and – after the publication of her debut novel The Son of the House in January 2019 – one of Nigeria’s brightest literary talents.

The novel won the Best International Fiction Book award at the Sharjah International Book Fair in October, a prize that counts bestsellers such as David Baldacci and Sorayya Khan among its winners. A sweeping novel spanning four decades, The Son of the House follows Nwabulu, a housemaid since the age of ten who dreams of becoming a typist, and Julie, a privileged modern woman. In a striking series of events, the two find themselves alone in a dank room years later, where they relate to their disparate lives in an intensely human drama that weaves together politics, gender and history.

Spear’s recently caught up with Onyemelukwe about the state of the publishing industry in Africa and the themes in the novel, which is currently available in South Africa and Nigeria (a North American release is due soon)…

How did you arrive at the idea for the book?

The ideas behind it have stuck with me for a very long time. The more I talk in interviews about it, the more I realise that these are things I have, that I witnessed as a child in the past. Just looking at women in Nigerian society, Igboan [south-eastern Nigeria] women in particular struck me in more direct way.

I would say that the nexus of the story came from something that my mother talked to me about in 2011, something that happened that actually made me quite angry, that made me think: ‘OK, this might be something to write about.’ So in a sense the core of it is based on a true life story, but of course it’s very much fictionalised.

Many Igbo people have said to me: ‘This seems so real, the characters are so real to me.’ It’s because we’ve grown up around people like that and events like that.

Can you describe the literary culture in Nigeria when you started writing the novel?
When I first started writing it I was in Canada, but I have kept in very close touch with Nigerian literature over the years. At that time it was becoming quite vibrant, so we had Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who had just finished her second book [Half of a Yellow Sun] and won the Orange Prize for it. We had Teju Cole, a photographer and writer. His debut book in the English language, Open City, just burst on the scene.

Outside Nigeria, Nigerians who were looking to the international scene were starting to write for papers like the New York Times. In a sense we’ve always had an active literary scene. During the military regime it kind of went down, but there’s been some kind of revival.

How have things changed?
In the earlier years, people were doing much more political writing, and then you had the military interregnum and people went back to writing about the way married people live and all that. Right now, some of the challenges we have are around publishing.

Most people who want to be published get their work not just out in Nigerian society but out into the world, because I guess you could say that’s where most of the reward is. You have the broader reading public, and they can put you on the face of Vogue!

One of the challenges we’ve found is with publishing within the country, that even if we are not first published by the West, Africa can thrive on its own with African audiences buying them, with African festivals and so on.

We’re beginning to see a bit of that and lots of publishers within the continent, within Nigeria itself, that then eventually go outside. My book is probably a prime example.

When I finished it, I shopped it around and had lots of rejections. It was eventually picked up by a Nigerian publisher [Parressia], and then eventually by Penguin Random House South Africa.

It’s a home-grown book, and it’s going to be published by a Canadian publisher that bought the North American rights. So it’s going to go out into the world. That is so exciting for me to see us go not just from the outside in, but from inside to the rest of the world. Hopefully we’ll see more of that exchange going on.

Your book spans four decades and centres around the changing role of women in Igbo society. How did those themes resonate with what you’ve seen in Nigeria?

I would say that things are changing but not as fast as I would want. People can still recognise my characters in their own lives and in the lives of others, so I guess you would say we have some way to go.

In my book I talk about the importance of marriage for women, the importance of male children in particular and having a son. It’s not as simple as saying you need equality and all that, but to see how our cultures interact with these sorts of narratives. It’s a bit challenging, but you probably need to think how we change but maybe do not completely sweep away the things we consider important to us as a people.

So you find in my book, trying to subvert some of the social constructs that you had at the time. Perhaps we could do that a little more openly, we could do that a little bit more with a view to humanising while challenging, so that in essence we’re carrying people along. In my culture, Igbo culture, it’s important to have a son carry on the name of a family – some families can go back years and tell you where they came from.

That in a sense is a good thing: it’s a sense of history, the sense of knowing where we come from, and knowing that we are retreading more than today. But it places that burden of carrying until you have to and then giving back

The sons are encouraged to go on and create, and the women are not able [to have] more children, the marriages fall apart. How do you keep a culture that is patrilineal, when you take away that son as the very important piece of it?

The interesting thing is they flow into other things, they flow into other aspects of society. If we say it is the son that carries on the name, then it’s of course the son that gets to make sacrifices to the gods. Eventually, it’s the son that gets to be the priest and it is the son that gets to become president of Nigeria.

It’s more a question, and I would say things have changed quite a bit. We’re having the conversations, but we’ve also been having the conversations for quite a while; we need to push a bit more. There is change happening, but obviously there’s always room for more.

What has the reaction to the book been like since its release?

It’s been received quite well. As a writer, you always want to know how your book will be received, but it’s been received quite well.

I find that women – especially women of a certain age – tend to say to me that this is a really important conversation that we should be having and this is just right. I find that the men also really find it interesting.

They describe to me how traumatised they were over some of the things that some of the characters went through, but the women come to me with more of a recognition, so we’re having these conversations. I work quite a bit in the gender area, and we are still asking about change.

In Accra, the rates of female genital mutilation have decreased, but it is a continuing practice, it is something that people still practise, including people who are educated.

That does tell you something. The conversations have been reasonable. Have they changed the world? It would be very presumptuous to say!

SOURCE: SPEARS

ND'IGBO: Insecurity - South-East To Name Joint Security Outfit Soon

Dave Umahi, Chairman of SEG Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State. Image: Facebook

BY ANNAYO OKOLI, DENNIS AGBO, CHINEDU ADONU

With the various regions of the country forming their security outfits as a result of rising insecurity, the South East governors, yesterday, disclosed that they would soon name their region's security outfit which was proposed last year.

They also disclosed that the state houses of assembly in the zone were on the verge of passing laws that will give the outfit legal backing.

The governors disclosed this on a day Ohanaeze Ndigbo warned that due to the worsening insecurity situation in the country, Ndigbo will henceforth embark on self-defence.

The apex pan-Igbo organization said Ndigbo could no longer fold their arms and watch their citizens slaughtered helplessly as though the country was in a hopeless state.

S/East to name joint security outfit soon
Rising from a meeting in Enugu last light, the Governors said they had notified the Federal Government about their plans and would follow it up with details of the mandate of the security outfit.

In a communique read by Chairman of South East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Dave Umahi, the governors' said the forum had been inundated with questions on the region's plans after the South West unveiled Amotokun, stating that the South East was not in competition with other regions.

Umahi, however, recalled: "The South East Governors had formed their South East joint security on July 28, 2019, and inaugurated her committee on joint security on August 31, 2019.

"Forum took briefing from chairman of the South East joint security committee and is satisfied with all the arrangement that will lead to South East State Houses of Assembly to enact a law to back up the South East Security programme with a name to the outfit."

The governors also reiterated March 31, 2020, as date for reopening of Akanu Ibaim International Airport, Enugu to commercial activities.

They expressed satisfaction and commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his attention and release of funds for the airport rehabilitation, Second Niger bridge construction and rehabilitation of other federal highways in the zone.

The South-East governors also agreed to commence construction of a ring road to connect South East and South South zones, in view of the progress being made in Enyimba Economic City.

Ndigbo 'll embark on self defence --Ohanaeze
Meanwhile, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, rising from its Imeobi meeting of the year, in Enugu, yesterday, said it exhaustively considered and deliberated on the lone agenda of the meeting, which was security, and with deep trepidation, noted the deteriorating security situation in the South East and Nigeria in general, saying Ndigbo would henceforth embark on self-defence.

Among those in attendance at the meeting were the President-General, Nnia Nwodo; Peter Obi, Jim Nwobodo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Mbazulike Amaechi, Achike Udenwa, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Adolphous Wabara, Anyim Udeh, Frank Ogbuewu, Azu Agboti, among many others.

In a communique by the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, the group said: "Ohanaeze, hereby, states categorically that Ndigbo will not stand by and watch their people slaughtered and that Ohanaeze will defend every soul in Igbo land.

"Ohanaeze, hereby nominates, activates and directs the council of elders, made up of reputable Igbo personalities and leaders, to engage Ohanaeze and state governors immediately on prevailing security challenges.

"Finally, Ohanaeze reminds Ndigbo that there have been difficulties in security in our history in Nigeria. In all these, our determination to protect our homeland and families against aggressors has never wavered and we have always relied on our ingenuity and vigilance to ensure our survival. Let nobody take us for granted."

The meeting dispersed to join the South East Governors Forum meeting held at Government House, Enugu.

SOURCE: VANGUARD