IMO STATE: Ihedioha And The Demand Of History

Emeka Ihedioha. Image: Twitter

BY OKEY IKECHUKWU

Today, the Supreme Court stands on what may well be the precipice of a probably unprecedented judicial challenge. This is with reference to the planned review of its own judgment regarding the last governorship elections in Imo State. So we must urge their Lordships to remember the words of Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, who said: “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.” The type of special moment Churchill had in mind stands before the Nigerian judiciary and judicial system today. To make this their finest hour is the demand of history.

All hell broke loose when, a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the governor of Imo State, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, be stripped of the Certificate of Return given to him as the duly elected governor and that Chief Hope Uzodinma, the person who came fourth in the said election, be given the Certificate of Return and summarily sworn in as the duly elected governor.

Eminent lawyers, political party faithful, sundry commentators and even freelance grumblers joined issues – even if repetitively so. Protest marches decorated the national landscape. Then, quite unexpectedly, the apex court indicated its willingness to review the judgment. This commendable move remains a decent, dignified and mature stepping forth to take a second look at a case on which it had already made what would ordinarily pass for a final pronouncement.

The Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the learned justices of the apex court should be understood here to be saying to Nigerians that infallibility resides with Divinity alone, as an inherent and inalienable attribute. It does not inhere in human beings, does not reside with men and cannot be successfully simulated by men. Thus their Lordships must, first, be seen to have moved up the ladder of judicial propriety. By so doing, they have also given many people a much-needed emotional respite. The decision to review the case has also tempered the distemper of many whose strident criticism of the apex court verges on the hysterical.

Regarding the criticisms, and this is a slight diversion from our main concern today, it must be said that some of the criticisms have become so tiresome, threadbare and coarsely inelegant that one is sometimes not patient enough to wade through the vituperations to find the substance. Matters have not been helped by the plethora of political cases all over the place. We may recall, for instance, that the PDP cried until it ran out of tears, when its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, lost at the Supreme Court. The court was (rightly or wrongly) accused of bias and of being a stooge of the ruling party. But the same PDP had celebrated when the APC lost its struggle to field candidates in Zamfara State, all the way to the Supreme Court. The court was not denigrated at all as beholden to the PDP. The story was the same when the APC and Rotimi Amechi, a politician who is largely responsible for over 105% of his political and personal problems, were worsted by the courts. It was inauspicious then to speak of partisanship.

Coming back to the matter at hand, there are currently diverse views on what the Supreme Court should do, or not do. My hope and prayer is that the court comes out with a decision their Lordships can proudly recommend to their children, their grandchildren, to students of law and to posterity. This is a critical case; and for a nation in critical times, standing on slippery slopes of morality in leadership and facing very critical challenges on all fronts. The hunger and anger in the land have fuelled comprehensive distrust of all institutions of state. Ours has become a nation wherein citizens live silently with the quiet certainty and conviction that the average (not every) public office holder is either an outright looter, or at least a person of dishonest means who has escaped the long arms of the law. We live in such trying times, wherein misconduct is made to look very attractive by those who ought to take the lead in guiding society unto the path of moral rectitude. It is against the background of the foregoing considerations that the Supreme Court must exercise the greatest circumspection in the matter at hand. This is the demand of our history today.

I am not from Imo State, but I have said enough about that state on these pages for any observer to note my interests and concerns for good governance in that endowed state. Yes, I confess to having had a healthy contempt for the immediate past government of the state before Ihedioha. Yes, I saw and still see, the great gains of the short, and interrupted, tenure of Emeka as the first real attempt to bring Imo people together, with genuine, people-based, Ikwu-na-ibe notions of leadership and development. I make no apologies about my perception of Ihedioha as having begun to dispel the odour of unsanctity surrounding leadership, governance and service delivery in Imo State before the court judgment. I suggest, and insist, that he brought something that had been largely missing since the days of the late Sam Mbakwe and the likes of Peter Obi as governors in the South-east.

Part of what Emeka brought, and which is in danger of being blown away by Ndi Omekome, is the idea of leadership as service to the people. Not the award of contracts to the elite for kickbacks, in addition to the promotion of never-do-wells into prominence, no. It was service, “for the good of the people, according to their known and accepted norms, and in the promotion of their short, medium and long term interests.”

In those few months, Ndi Imo had the heartwarming experience of seeing a governor who went about conducting government business with calm clear-headedness and unaffected diligence. They beheld someone who came to lead and to offer succor by placing all the cards on the table and asking them to join him so that they could collectively regain and restore their pride as a people. By inviting, deploying and making the best of the state’s rich human capital he was already creating a new reference for the teeming youths, before the Supreme Court judgment.

The contrast between his short stint and the eight years of tomfoolery that preceded him explains why everyone was ready to work with him. The people simply heaved a sigh of relief. This includes the repentant, and perhaps not so repentant, participants in the eight-year leadership dance of shame that preceded his assumption of office. But one thing stood out: he removed the debauchery that had taken violent possession of that endowed state. It is true that the conduct of some Members of the Imo State House of Assembly after the court judgment leaves a big smear on the celebrated rebirth. Yes indeed, it does. But that only shows that some people are still what they were. To take that too hard, or make it a basis for the permanent stigmatisation of the political turncoats, is to overlook the fact that not all are initially guided by deep conviction in all that they do.

But no one must lose sight of the fact that the virtues, and even performance of Ihedioha in office are not matters to tender in a court of law, especially the Supreme Court. They are, at best, subject declarations of preferred values and a cheerful display of ones loyalties with regard to what one would like to see in Imo State. So one does not expect that the Supreme Court that withdrew his certificate on technical grounds will re-award same on the bases of some beautiful prose on his leadership qualities. No. Not at all! It is now a matter of law. But not banal law. It must be law taken new levels of jurisprudential excellence, to the much higher calling that beckons on the ultimate spirit of the law (all rational law) to deliver the type of justice that will resonate with our true humanity. Which is why the Ihedioha appeal that was called up and then adjourned to the second day of March imposes some great demands, based on our recent judicial history. It is the demands ancient jurists would say are imposed on every juror of repute, who does not wish to do anything that is “repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.”

Whichever way the matter goes subsequently, and I hope it goes in favour of those who have argued, stridently, that it beats logic to have a man declared winner in an election wherein the total votes cast exceeds the number of those accredited to vote on the election day, the leadership of the judiciary deserves commendation for reopening this vexatious matter. Those who argue a constitutional restraint on the apex court against reviewing its own case overlook one simple and straightforward fact. That fact is that it is the judiciary that is charged with interpreting the constitution, interpreting all made laws and determining whether any made law, or pretense at law making, can pass muster.

In showing a preference for a return to the status quo ante, one has nothing whatsoever against the gentleman who inherited for the time being the title of governor of Imo State, conferred on him by the Supreme Court judgment. I have known him for as long as I have known Ihedioha, but my position on who I would rather see in the Imo State Government House is personal; and borne of personal certainties about what the state – and Ndigbo- will gain with Ihedioha as governor of Imo State.

SOURCE: THIS DAY

OMENALA: BBC’s Searchlight Spots Crumbling Mbari Art In Umunakara

Ime Mbari. Image: Herbert M. Cole, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara.

BY OSA AMADI

Recently, Picasso’s granddaughter sold a trove of his unique and highly coveted ceramic works at Sotheby’s, London. Included were Cubist drawings from the 1910s and a selection of unique ceramics that reflect the artist’s fascination with faces and portraiture whose prices range from £6,000 to £60,000. There is also a work titled “Tete a Tete” estimated to be sold between £799,000 and £1.1 million. 

In Africa, there were numerous Picassos uncelebrated. They carved or sculptured wonderful art objects, both movable and immovable. Sadly, many of those artworks have either been stolen by Western countries or are rotting away here in remote parts Africa. The Mbari Orieamafor is among those ancient artworks, now begging to be salvaged, restored and preserved.

On February 2, 2020, a crew of BBC Igbo Service stormed Umunakara Imerienwe in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State where they found a crumbling Mbari artwork not less than 100 years old. The outcome of the discovery was a story titled “Igbo Culture: Ihe mere e ji kwusi igba mbari n’obodo anyi” (Why making of Mbari art is no longer going on in our land). 

Speaking in the BCC interview, two elders of Umunakara, Mr. Atinetus Ekeh and Felix Ekeh explained why the present generation is no longer following the footsteps of their forefathers and tradition of making Mbari art. The two elders said the making of Mbari artwork was a tradition of the people which they themselves met when they were born, and that there is no one alive today that can tell when it started. 

“As we were told,” the elders said, “the artists that make the Mbari used to come together whenever they want to make Mbari. They usually conceal themselves and their artwork-in-progress with reed fences for about two years. They use red muds and clay, moulding different kinds of objects within those two years. After the work was completed, they unveil it to the public to see the artworks they had created.” 

Because every aspect of life in traditional African society was intertwined with the African traditional religion, some people associate the Mbari art with the worship of the village deity, Orieamafor, “because it kills evildoers,” said Mr Atinetus. 

The two elders observed that it was when Christianity came that the making of Mbari was stopped an began to be used only as an object of art exhibition or spectacle. 

Mbari is a visual art form practised by the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria. According to Chinua Achebe, “Mbari was a celebration through art of the world and of a life lived in it. It was performed by the community on command by its presiding deity, usually, the Earth goddess, Ala, who combined two formidable roles in the Igbo pantheon as a fountain of creativity in the world and custodian of the moral order in human society.” 

In 1961, Ulli Beier, a German editor, writer and scholar who had a pioneering role in developing literature, drama and poetry in Nigeria, in association with others, co-founded the MbariClub as a cultural centre for writers and artists. 

It is ironic that the descendants of the same British colonial masters who were responsible for the rape, looting and destruction of African arts and culture, are now the people championing its restoration and protection against extinction. 

This work and the BBC’s, therefore, serve as wakeup calls for state and federal governments, private organisations and international agencies, to rise to the challenge of restoring and preserving these great monuments scattered across Nigeria. They are indeed repositories of our history, arts and culture which provide contents for the much-talked-about tourism as Nigeria’s new oil deposit.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

ESSAY: Who Are The Returnees In Akwa Ibom?

Akwa Ibom map image via Research Gate.

BY NSIKAK EKANEM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE: NEW TELEGRAPH

A Reason To Separate The Igbo From Nigeria

Image via Nairaland Forum

BY OSITA EBIEM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE: MODERN GHANA

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