Politics Of Kalu’s Inconclusive Polls, Graft Prosecution And Incarceration

Orji Uzor Kalu

BY LEO SOBECHI

The recent ruling by Nigeria’s Supreme Court upturning the incarceration of Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, by Hon. Justice M. B. Idris of the Federal High Court, Abuja, underscores the country’s undulating national politics that began in 2015.

A quick rehash: With a lofty electioneering promise to change the way government business was carried out in Nigeria, notably fighting official corruption, defeating Boko Haram insurgents and diversifying the economy, the newly minted All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated erstwhile invincible political armada, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

What made the 2015 presidential poll very momentous was not only because APC fielded a serial presidential aspirant and former military head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), but also that the PDP had as its standard-bearer, an incumbent in Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

While Nigerians looked forward to the promised change, despair quickly set in when the president found it hard to put together a federal cabinet of aides, even as the suspense left a debilitating impact on the economy.

In the absence of a federal cabinet, two huge national happenstances riled the citizenry: The man elected President of the 8th Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was arraigned at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), for political reasons, but on the guise of some discrepancies in the Asset Declaration forms he filed 12 years prior when he served Kwara State as governor.

Secondly, the first election to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after its well-received outing in 2015 presidential poll threw up what has settled in Nigeria’s political lexicon as inconclusive elections.

Kalu’s defection politics/defective trial

NOT long after the 2015 loss of the presidential power by PDP, Kalu, who served Abia State as its governor from 1999 through 2007, started singing a dirge about opposition politics. He lamented what he called former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s reprisal against him for standing alongside other ‘progressives’ to defeat a tenure elongation plan devised by the former president’s insiders.

Signs that the former Abia State governor had resolved to jump ship to APC emerged when he sent his mother, Chief (Mrs.) Eunice Kalu, and brother, Mascot Kalu, to 40 Balantyre Street, where they were received by the then APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

That was also despite the fact of his incomplete metamorphosis from his Peoples Progressives Alliance (PPA), upon which he contested the 2015 Abia North Senatorial seat poll to PDP, whose presidential candidate he supported.

By the time the various election petitions and re-runs were concluded, Kalu announced his membership of APC at his ward in Igbere. Not long after his eventual voyage to the party in power than words started making the rounds in Umuahia and Abuja that the former governor was seeking shelter for case No: FHC/ABJ/CR/56/07, a corruption criminal charge filed in 2007 shortly after he left office.

Having joined the governing party and buoyed by the much sought-after federal might that is a huge fillip to politics in the Southeast, Kalu regaled Nigerians through the media with sad tales of how he lost his major investments in banking, shipping and aviation to the highhanded vendetta machinations from former President Obasanjo.

While he accused PDP of being peopled by ingrates, especially given the quantum of financial support he rendered to build the party, Kalu did not spare the umbrella socio-cultural organization of Igbo, Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, stressing that everybody should bear his burden even as he claimed that he was made by northern political actors in business and commerce.

Yet, as the restless former governor continued to stand in the gap for APC and the presidency, the perception grew that he was sure to bluff his way out of the corruption trial, particularly after he was honoured in Daura, President Buhari’s hometown, with a traditional title. But, while the maverick continued his political exuberance, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amended the charges against him, a developmental that stunned Kanu and his supporters.

Coming barely nine months to the 2019 general elections, for which he had expressed the intention to recontest Abia North Senatorial seat, observers claimed that the amended charges were proof that President Buhari’s anti-corruption battle was no respecter of persons.

Others, however, dismissed the development as part of the antics of EFCC to continue to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians, that the commission was not looking at graft cases through partisan binoculars.

As it turned out, the amended charges, which came after an adjourned sitting on May 11, 2018, brought the counts to 39, upon which the accused persons promptly filed no-case submissions and played up the air of suspense surrounding the former governor’s alleged N3.2 billion fraud alongside his former director of finance, Jones Udeogu and Slok Nigeria Limited.

Not long after the Federal High Court dismissed his no-case submission, Kalu traveled to Germany, where he was said to have undergone a surgical procedure for an undisclosed ailment. Although pictures of the embattled former governor in a hospital with a bandaged leg were circulated on social media platforms, it was widely speculated that the first accused person had escaped overseas pending Buhari’s loss of the 2019 presidential poll.

But putting a lie to the summations of conspiracy theorists, Kalu returned to Nigeria at a time posters announcing his presidential ambition adorned the entire stretch of Airport Road through Lugbe to Abuja city centre. As a political actor that craves headlines and controversies, Kalu made a song and dance of his denunciation of presidential aspiration, explaining that “President Buhari was doing well and deserves a second term” in office.

On June 26, 2018 the office of the President of Court of Appeal (PCA), Abuja, received an application from Kalu’s counsel, Gordy Uche, asking PCA that Justice Mohammed B. Idris, who had been elevated to the Court of Appeal, be allowed to conclude the trial of the criminal corruption case.

Titled, “Application for Hon. Justice M. B. Idris to conclude the part-heard trial in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/56/07, Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Orji Uzor Kalu & 2 others,” the counsel to Kalu stated: “We are counsel to the 1st defendant (Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia State) in the above corruption criminal charge, currently pending at the FHC, Lagos and which was being handled by His Lordship, Hon. Justice M. B. Idris, who was last week sworn-in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal…

“However, the above charge was filed since the year 2007, about 11 years ago, and is now almost at its concluding stages after a protracted trial in which the Prosecution filed 7 additional Proofs of Evidence, fielded 19 witnesses and had closed its case. The defence has since filed their respective No-Case-Submissions, which would have been ruled upon by His Lordship save for his recent elevation to the Court of Appeal.

“We are therefore constrained to humbly request that Hon. Justice M. B. Idris JCA be allowed to conclude the trial of the part-heard corruption trial at the Federal High Court, Lagos.

“Our application is hinged on the provisions of Section 396 (7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which provides that: “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, a Judge of the High Court, who has been elevated to the Court of Appeal, shall have dispensation to continue to sit as a High Court Judge only for the purpose of concluding any part-heard criminal matter pending before him at the time of his elevation and shall conclude the same within a reasonable time; provided that this subsection shall not prevent him from assuming duty as a Justice of the Court of Appeal.””

From Senate to prison

WITHIN the period of the prolonged trial, Kalu stood election on three consecutive times for the Abia North Senatorial District, only to be elected on the third attempt after his defection to the governing party.

One of his rivals in the senatorial contest, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa of PDP, cried foul over the return of Kalu as the winner of the February 23, 2019, National Assembly, complaining that the APC candidate employed soldiers and INEC officials to swing the votes in his favour.

Although the National Assembly Election Petition sitting in Umuahia invalidated the senatorial contest and Kalu’s victory, the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri upheld the election, thereby rendering the order for a re-run unnecessary.

Meanwhile, as he battled with the election dispute, Kalu schemed his way to emerge as Senate Majority Whip, after stepping aside from his contrived aspiration for the post of Deputy President of Senate.

But, not long after he won his case against the tribunal ruling, which nullified his election into the senate at the Appeal Court, the application by his counsel to have Justice Idris, conclude action on the 12-year old corruption trial received positive response.

On December 12, 2019, Kalu and his fellow respondent, Udeogu, were handed 12 and 10 years jail terms apiece, just as the court ordered the winding down of Slok group owned by the former governor.

Nullification of judgment

FIVE months after the Senate Majority Whip took up residence, first in Ikoyi and later at Kuje prison, the apex court declared his incarceration null and void, explaining that Justice Idris lost the jurisdiction to jail the former Abia State governor.

The apex court, however, ordered a retrial of the accused persons. No matter which way the retrial ends, whenever it takes off, public perception would harbour doubts about justice and the merit of the outcome.

It would be recalled that barely two weeks before the committal of the Senate Whip to prison, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, warned presiding judges of the nation’s courts of superior jurisdictions to ward against using technicalities to obfuscate justice delivery in the country.

The CJN, who spoke at the opening of 2019 All Nigeria’s judges’ conference of superior courts at the National Judicial Institute (NJI), regretted that reliance on technicalities in the dispensation of justice contributes to the delay of justice delivery.

Speaking on the theme of the conference, which was “Sustaining Democracy through Effective and Efficient Administration of Justice,” Justice Tanko stated: “In order to sustain public confidence in the judiciary, judges must continue to be proactive by not allowing technicalities to stand in the way of substantive justice.”

But against Friday, May 8, 2020, nullification of Kalu’s conviction and committal, it is open to conjecture whether the CJN’s position on technicalities received proper attention or was seen as a mere feel-good public relations message to the citizens.

In their unanimous judgment read by Justice Ejembi Eko, the seven-man panel of Justices ruled Justice Idris out of order, pointing out that the fiat he got from the PCA in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) did not give him the constitutional enablement to descend from the court above to deliver judgment on a matter in an inferior court, having become a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA).

The ruling has thrown up a lot of legal issues, but the entire weight of the pros and cons, merits and demerits of the inconclusive prosecution echoes the politics of the governing APC, which promise of change continues to engage public debate. Did the desire to make a statement about the efficacy of the anti-corruption fight prompt the judiciary under CJN Tanko to rush the defective ruling given that the matter had endured three electoral cycles?

Was there back-channel consultation to grant some reprieve to the Senate Whip so as to push back on the growing perception that the former Abia State governor was imprisoned to disable the Southeast’s contention for the 2023 presidency?

The Secretary-General, Movement for National Restructuring (MNR), Mr. Fred Nzeako, said the bulk of the blame for the disjointed judicial process should go to the electorate in Nigeria, who he said elected low-quality federal legislators bereft of intellectual depth for balanced legislation.

Nzeako, who is a lawyer and administrator, declared that even if Kalu’s lawyers do not brag to be the masters of the law, they could brag to be the masters of its loopholes.

According to him: “Who then can be blamed for what the society considers a judgmental loss? Was it the fault of the National Assembly, which made the laws and the Acts? No; they were eager to cure a very bad situation where hitherto cases had dragged for decades, including this one that lasted for over 11 years.

“The members of NASS, in their wisdom, gave what they felt was their best. Does one give what he has not? No. They gave what they had, based on the limits of their knowledge and intellectual capacities. After all, the constitution provides that they needed only attempted School Certificate or its equivalent to be in the Senate and House of Representatives.

“Blame the electorate for electing apex legislators with doubtful competencies.”

--------------THE GUARDIAN

Ohanaeze Calls For Airlifting Of Stranded Nigerians In China

BY CHIJINDU EMERUWA

The Igbo youth socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Youth Council(OYC), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to subsidize flight tickets for stranded Nigerians in China

Ohanaeze disclosed that about two thousand five hundred Nigerians are currently trapped in China amidst the spread of Coronavirus pandemic which has led to the lockdown of economic and social activities across the world.

The Igbo group made the call in a press statement forwarded to DAILY POST on Wednesday.

The group also appealed to the South-East Governors Forum and well-meaning philanthropists to assist in helping stranded Nigerians in China to return home.

Ohanaeze also commended the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Nigeria Diaspora Commission for their approval to evacuate stranded Nigerians abroad.

It urged all Igbos stranded in China or any other country to report to the nearest Nigerian Embassy for evacuation.

On its stimulus package to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown, Ohanaeze said it has approved to pay for 20 tickets to stranded Nigerians especially poor students, who are faced with a lot of difficulties in China.

Fate Of NDI Igbo Stranded And Molested In China, When Silence Is Goldenly Evil

BY IGBO RENAISSANCE FORUM 

Firstly, we of the IGBO RENAISSANCE FORUM would want to salute the courage and resilience of our frontline health workers in this fight against this ravaging and rampaging COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria today. We pray that you stay protected by nature as you save lives.

We want to advise everyone to ensure that safety precautions are followed and that citizens should endeavor to stay at home and help stop the spread of this virus.

We received with amazement and shock the inhuman and demeaning treatment currently being meted out on Ndi Igbo and other Nigerians in China. A few days ago, videos of molestation and intimidation of Ndi Igbo and other Nigerians living in China went viral online. We have taken time to investigate the matter and have confirmed the videos that we received in relation to the incidents recorded as factual.

We want to use this medium to speak directly to the South East political leaders, and specifically to the South East Governors. That your deafening silence in the face of obvious life-threatening circumstances facing your people in China is disdainful and insensitive to put it mildly.

It is sad that these people stranded in China and being subjected to inhuman treatments by the Chinese were quarantined for 15 days and subsequently thrown into the streets and asked to leave, without any consideration whatsoever. From information received from reliable sources, we gathered that hotels have been instructed not to take them in, even as some are being evicted from their living places.

It is even more sad that while our people are being treated like animals in China, our leaders, who were always screaming on podiums during campaigns, vowing and pledging to protect and preserve our lives and rights have decided to be VERY SILENT and are acting as if they are deaf, dumb and blind!

We are waiting for Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to address this matter with the urgency it deserves. It is disheartening for us as Ndi Igbo to observe the kind of efforts that goes into rescuing citizens from regions other than ours from unsavory situations, only to see a snail speed action when any bad situation seems to affect Ndi Igbo more.

However, we shall not dwell on the lacklustre attitude of the federal government to issues concerning Ndi Igbo as our focus is on our elected leaders in the South East who have become even more fatally lethargic at taking charge and defending Ndi Igbo in recent times.

Our people are going through unimaginable pain and anguish for no other reason but XENOPHOBIA, and yet we have our own brother, Geoffrey Jideofor K. Onyeama as Nigeria's Minister for Foreign Affairs in GOLDEN SILENCE MODE.

WHAT AN IRONY! Some people in some quarters have insinuated that most of the people affected are either not legally resident in China or have criminal records that might affect their exit from the country. For us as an Organization, it is absurd to start attributing and conjuring such ideas without any data of the individuals affected, or even a thorough investigation of the matter to ascertain the legal immigration status of these individuals.

OUR RESOLVE 1. We demand that the South East Governors by Friday 10th of April 2010 should tell Ndi Igbo in definite terms, the course of action on how to engage the federal government to evacuate our people facing homelessness, anxiety, vagaries of the weather and ultimately COVID-19 in China at this moment.

2. That the South East Governors constitute adiaspora interface organization at the shortest possible time, made up of credible individuals to get to work and to quickly come up with a comprehensive welfare report on Ndi Igbo across the globe. This is very pertinent for us, as we battle this pandemic and beyond, for R&D purposes.

3. We demand that a database of Ndi Igbo stranded in China be raised immediately. That is the only way we can work out an efficient plan for a successful action.

4. We demand that the South East Governors, the South East Parliamentary Caucus and Ohaneze Ndigbo convene an emergency meeting on or before the 15th of April, 2020 to holistically look at the Igbo nation and its survival through this COVID-19 pandemic and beyond as we are tired of the silence in the face of serious threats to our existence by the effects of the measures to combat COVID-19 globally.

We want to state very clearly that Ndi Igbo are fast losing patience with a leadership that has not inspired any hope in those they lead.

We shall be left with no option but to invoke the PEOPLE POWER in the situation where it becomes obvious that the lives of those who took pains to put our leaders in office does not matter anymore.

Finally, we want to give our people who are caught in this unfortunate situation in China hope, that they are certainly not alone, and that we shall not rest until they are safely evacuated back to Nigeria. We ask that they maintain the peace and be of good conduct as great ambassadors.

We shall no more fold our arms and watch! SIGNED: Nze Ugo-Akpe Onwuka (Oyi) International Coordinator - Igbo Renaissance Forum A results-driven, self-motivated, multi-talented, visionary professional with over 25 years of solid experience in the Media, Marketing Communications and lifestyle industries.

He has worked at management levels in reputable establishments, both within Nigeria and in the West African sun-region, and currently runs his own organization, Pulp Grove Consult.

He is also a writer and a motivational speaker. He stepped into the shoes of the late former Senate President of Nigeria, Dr Chuba Okadigbo who was the 1st Oyi of Oyi on the 4th of January, 2014 in his native home of Ogbunike in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State in the South East of Nigeria.

AHIA MGBEDE: 40 Years After, Ekeji Recalls Why He Missed AFCON 1980 Finals

Pat Ekeji

BY DURO IKHAZUAGBE

As Nigerians are celebrating 40 years of Green Eagles first Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) victory in 1980, Dr. Patrick Ekeji who was an integral part of the squad few months before the final, recalls events that led to his exit from the team.

Speaking with THIS DAY yesterday, Dr. Ekeji who rose to become the country’s chief sports officer as Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), attributed his exit from the Green Eagles as ordained by God.

“I was an integral part of the team and was always in the ‘possibles’ line up. It never crossed my mind that I will not be in the team to play in the 1980 Nations’ Cup for Nigeria,” recalled Ekeji.

As a fresh graduate from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ekeji was hot for both Enugu Rangers and the senior national team. He was shuttling between Enugu and Lagos for Rangers and the Green Eagles respectively.

He recalled that after Rangers lost the 1978/79 league title chase and were beaten 3-0 in the final of the 1979 Challenge Cup in Lagos by Bendel Insurance FC of Benin, Coach P.O.C Achebe got eased out of the Rangers job.

“I thus became a Coach/Player for Rangers. It was during this period that I met one of the young Brazilian coaches then NFA Chairman, Sunday Dankaro recruited for Nigeria. Carlos Alberto Parreira along with Head Coach, Otto Gloria and a Fitness Trainer, Carlesso were brought into the Green Eagles team to compliment the jobs of Nigerian coaches like Isiaka Yakubu and John Zagbai.

“But along the line, Carlos was seconded to Rangers to help organize the teams ahead of the West African Football Union Cup semi final clash with Police of Senegal team. While working with Carlos, I just discovered that he brought a refreshingly different aura to the team. It was even better than what we were getting at the Green Eagles camp.

“ This was what made me, as one of the senior players in the Eagles to report my observations of Carlos’s technical competence to both Isaac Akioye who was NSC director and Eleyae Awoture the NIS boss at the time. I wanted Carlos drafted to the Green Eagles,” Ekeji also recalled.

However, his suggestion leaked to Otto Gloria as Head Coach who didn’t take kindly to it.

“I just noticed that Otto Gloria was no longer using me among the ‘Possibles’ anymore. He started to sideline me as punishment for dare to suggest bringing Carlos Alberto Parrieira to Green Eagles for his competence,” alleged the ex international.

Ekeji said when he could not stomach it any longer, “ I just walked up to Otto Gloria to tell him I wanted to decamp and he obliged me with a handshake.”

Ekeji said he had to reactivate a scholarship for a Master degree programme in Germany that was barely a month to expiration.

He said he had no regrets for his reports about the competence of Carlos Alberto Parreira because the coach proved his worth later by leading Brazil to win the World Cup in 1994.

“Looking back now, I think my not playing in the AFCON 1980 and getting all the largesse handed out to my teammates by the Federal Government was ordained by God.

“Though I missed those benefits but I gained more through the Masters degree programme as it prepared me more for some of the roles I later played in the nation’s sports.”

Ekeji who rose to the exalted position of Director General of the National Sports Commission, believes that that AFCON 1980 victory opened doors for subsequent honours Nigeria picked up in the game at both continental and global levels.

SOURCE: THIS DAY LIVE

CINEMA: Why Nigerians Living Abroad Love To Watch Nollywood Movies

A man passes by Nigerian movie billboards at a cinema in Lagos. Image: Cristina Aldehuela/AFP/Getty 

BY FRANCOISE UGOCHUKWU

The Nollywood industry – which came to life in the early 1990s – is often seen as a natural heir to the Nigerian TV series which had already produced roughly 14,000 feature films in the previous decade. These video-films of the early years have now become full feature films, and an integral part of popular life in Nigeria. Local audiences appreciate these homegrown productions relating to daily life in the country.

The films – about 1,000 are produced a year – offer a mix of urban scenes and village encounters. They appeal to both young people and to families, reaching out to local audiences in several Nigerian languages. The films are mainly produced in the big cities in the south of the country such as Lagos, Onitsha, Enugu, Aba, Ibadan or Calabar, though they are usually set in Lagos or Abuja and involve crews and actors from various ethnic backgrounds.

While Yoruba and Hausa filmmakers have opted for productions foregrounding their respective languages, statistics show that the number of films in Igbo, the language most commonly spoken in Eastern Nigeria, has been infinitesimal. Most of the films emanating from Igboland are in Nigerian English, a choice which has allowed them to reach out to wider audiences in other parts of the country and abroad. This has made them an instant hit and projected Nollywood on the international scene.

The number of films produced in other Nigerian languages such as Esan, Edo (Bini), Urhobo, Ijo, Hausa and Ogba has equally gained momentum.

Over less than three decades, Nollywood has gained an international reputation and inspired new film industries across Africa. The industry is widely considered as a showcase of the country. Interestingly, although a growing number of these films are now set in locations abroad, most remain firmly grounded in Nigerian cultures.

Over the years, the African public has come to discover and appreciate Nollywood. Nevertheless, outside Nigeria, its main public remains the Nigerian diaspora. Research carried out in London and Paris nine years ago sought out the opinions of Nigerians living abroad about the films.

The research showed that respondents spend a significant portion of their leisure time together with other Nigerians or other Africans, viewing Nigerian videofilms. They overwhelmingly preferred them to foreign films. These observations have since been enriched by follow-up interviews, confirming that these results remain relevant.

Scripting and scene-setting

By and large, protagonists in Nollywood films adhere to ancestral beliefs and carry on with most rural traditions.

The ancestral village that nurtured these beliefs never disappears entirely. It is nearly always the scene of at least a few family encounters. The acknowledgements that follow the film give precious few details about the places used, such as community centres, hospitals or churches. The village is usually signalled by narrow paths, mud houses, grassy compounds and farmlands, people in wrappers, bare-chested men or chiefs in traditional attire and oja music.

The set is far less important than the content; it is just there to provide a background to the protagonists’ actions and to reinforce the message that the individuals’ behaviour is partly determined by their family background.

Both the ‘old’ Nollywood and its ‘new’ version that has developed within the past 20 years have highlighted the premium value still given to the concept of extended family, the bedrock on which most scenarios are constructed. Yet storylines point to the flaws of the traditional family system and reflect on the malaise experienced by a country in the throes of rapid changes, leaving traditions behind and often incapable of replacing them with new values.

Subjects woven into the plots include polygamy turned sour, marital infidelity and couples drifting apart, obsession with male heirs and problems associated with childlessness, and strained relationships with in-laws and with rural folks.

Films also denounce other social ills. These include the traditional maltreatment of widows, political corruption and some of the troubles associated with urban life.

All these topics appeal to a broad African audience and have helped to lead to African co-productions.

The crucial role of Nollywood in Diaspora
Nearly half of those interviewed in my research said they preferred watching Nigerian films in English. A quarter preferred Yoruba while 16% preferred Igbo. Even so, over 58% of those interviewed considered that Nigerian languages played a role in the pleasure they derived from viewing films. They clearly perceived those languages as part of their cultural heritage and identity, a legacy to be cherished and protected.

Respondents equally considered their Nigerian language as a vital tool to communicate with older relatives in Nigeria and keep in touch with their roots. One of them says it beautifully:

It makes me feel more at home once I speak my language.
Unsurprisingly, language featured prominently in the list of what attracts viewers to Nollywood, second (50%) after the storyline (71.7%). Factors such as landscape and clothes, body language, houses and dances trailed behind.

Viewing Nigerian movies can therefore be seen and experienced as a trip down memory lane, a virtual journey back home and group therapy. A number of respondents also insisted on the educational value of the films, saying that “they have a moral tale to tell”.

Looking forward

Given the growing number of Nigerians migrating abroad in the current political climate, and given the proven benefits gained from regular watching as proven by my research and interviews, one cannot but encourage the current trend, which has seen a number of London and Paris cinema houses screening films belonging to the new Nollywood co-productions. Their recorded success will no doubt help Nigerians adjust to their diasporic situation while enriching the cultural scene of host countries.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

Clement Onyemelukwe: From Uli To Nanka Airlift

Clement Onyemelukwe (1933-2020). Image: Catherine Onyemelukwe via Facebook

BY EMEKA OBASI

All roads lead to Nanka in the Aguata area of Anambra State to honour Dr Clement Chukwukadibia Onyemelukwe, a man who earned respect for Africa, lit up Nigeria and kept Biafra alive during the civil war.

Onyemelukwe, an Engineer who also bagged a degree in economics was known in America more than Britain where he attended university. That was just the beginning. By 1968, he had become the pride of Africa and a hero globally.

With a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Leeds University [1956] and higher qualification in economics from London University, Onyemelukwe joined the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria [ECN] in 1960. By 1962 he rose to the position of chief engineer. 

The engineer initiated and worked on the 330KV electricity grid which is still used in the country today. He is thus dubbed the ‘Father of Electricity in Nigeria.’ 

When war broke out in 1967, Onyemelukwe relocated to Biafra. And that was where he performed more wonders, from the Biafra Coal Corporation to the Biafra Airport Board. 

One could describe Uli Airport as the eighth wonder of the world. When Biafra was cut off from the rest of humanity, Onyemelukwe and his team made sure relief flights landed and took off under the cover of darkness. 

That turned out to be the largest civilian airlift operation in the globe and at a time the airport, code-named ‘Anabelle’ was the busiest in Africa. This was a structure that did not exist until 1968. 

It was a risky venture because Nigerian Air Force jets hovered above the airport. The brave pilot that made the first flight to Uli in 1968 was Swedish philanthropist, Carl Gustaf von Rosen.

As Chairman of the Biafra Airport Board, Onyemulekwe gave the people two major airports, Uli and Uga, and built five other smaller airports. The Biafrans were not only vigilant, but ingenuity was also at work. 

Onyemulukwe showed he was special and different when he married Catherine Zastrow, an American Peace Corps Volunteer in 1964. She was serving in Nigeria and they met in 1963. 

Zastrow came from a loaded background. Her father, Peter, was an Engineer. Maternal grandfather, Herman Danforth, was the first President of America’s Federal Land Bank. He got that job in 1917, from President Woodrow Wilson. 

Miss Zastrow could have been named after her aunt, Catherine Danforth, who died at 13 months on November 11, 1916. Her death at St. Luke’s Hospital Chicago, was attributed to ‘heat-induced heart trouble’. 

When Catherine fell in love with Onyemelukwe, she was a Kentucky girl. It was illegal for a black to marry a white woman in that part of the United States. 

The Zastrows backed their daughter and attended the wedding at Our Saviour’s Church, Lagos in 1964. The intercontinental wedding was talk of the globe and reported in Ebony and Life magazines. 

Onyemelukwe used to love to conquer. On October 13, 1961, American Peace Volunteer, Margery Mitchelmore, had caused a stir through a postcard she sent from Nigeria to a friend at home in which she highlighted the host country’s ‘squalor and absolutely primitive living conditions’. 

Students of the University of Ibadan hit the street in protest. Onyemelukwe was at the ECN. He was also at Ibadan before a British Scholarship took him away from the University College to Leeds. 

Two years later, the former University of Ibadan student met another American Peace Volunteer. In far away, Colombia, a Volunteer married the Mayor of Cali. 

Nigeria was alluring to the Peace Corps Volunteers. When Onyemelukwe and Zastrow got married, there were more Volunteers in the country, 606, than anywhere else, from Afghanistan to Malaysia, Turkey, Tunisia and Uruguay. 

Zastrow followed her husband to Biafra. Some former Peace Corps Volunteers flew to Biafra to help the relief efforts. One of them, David Koren, spent all his time at the Uli Airport and put down his experience in a book, ‘Far Away in The Sky; A Memoir of the Biafran Airlift.’ 

Mrs Onyemelukwe left Biafra with their children in 1968 to join her parents in Madeira, Portugal but has remained a Biafran in spirit. She speaks Igbo and even wrote a book, ‘Breaking Kola’, in 2018. She also kept memoirs. 

Onyemelukwe’s wife kept records for her husband and posterity. Through them, we have come to know that in June 1969, there were 250 relief flights to Anabelle. The flights came in majorly from Sao Tome, then Libreville, Cotonou, Santa Isabel, Lisbon and Abidjan. 

Those relief planes belonged to the World Council of Churches [WCC], Caritas, French Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross and Joint Church Aid [JCA]. The JCA flight was known as Jesus Christ Airlines. 

The churches were wonderful. Father Tony Byrne made things happen in Canada. Two Members of Parliament, Tory David MacDonald and Andrew Brewin, arrived Uli aboard Canairelief. Nord Church Aid, a group from Northern Europe joined. 

Onyemelukwe was not all about Uli. He was involved everywhere. That coal could be used to produce fuel was innovative. When Port Harcourt fell, refineries emerged in Uzuakoli and later Amandugba. 

However, through Uli, Biafra lived longer than expected. When a Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, the Saint Andre Refugee Centre, was set up in Gabon to treat kwashiorkor ravaged kids, Dr Theodore Okeahialam and his group relied so much on the Airport. 

Children were flown out and given a mixture which restored their health. They all shouted: ‘De Dieu Biafrae’ [God of Biafra]. Captain Manuel Reis managed the Airlift from Angola. Squadron Leader Artur Alves went after Nigerian fighter jets to protect Uli. 

Onyemelukwe returned to ECN after the war but quit for private business. He died, January 18, 2020, in West Port, Connecticut USA. Burial has been fixed for April 2020. 

Nanka is preparing for the funeral. I confirmed that from an old school mate, Okechukwu Ndeche, a former INEC top shot, from Umudunu-Agbiligba. 

The world will be involved. The Federal Government must bury this man, the ‘Father of Light’. As I work on a Memorial for Biafra, it is the duty of all lovers of history to join. 

The story of Biafra must continue to be told. Nigeria should learn from history. Onyemulukwe is History in motion.

Nyekachi Douglas As Forbes Africa Leading Woman

Nyekachi Douglas. Image: Youtube

BY FERDINAND EKECHUKWU

JOHANNESBURG (THIS DAY LIVE)--The 2019 MBGN Queen and reigning Miss World Africa, Nyekachi Douglas, was the star at the Forbes Africa Leading Women Summit in Johannesburg, as part of the International Women's Day.

Winning a crown at a beauty pageant has and will remain the dream of many young ladies who have grown up with dreams and aspirations of becoming a queen. For Nyekachi Douglas, the 21 year old Nigerian Miss World Africa, hers was not totally a different ball game growing up. She saw as her idol the first black Miss World from Nigeria, Agbani Darego, and many beautiful queens. Nyekachi is proud of how far she has come.

The beauty queen defeated 36 other contestants to emerge winner of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant. The 2019 MBGN represented Nigeria at the Miss World pageant last December in London where she placed top five and was crowned Miss Word Africa and Miss World Top Model. She trended worldwide for her joyful reaction to Miss Jamaica, Toni-Ann Singh's win.

Nyekachi Douglas was a guest at the recently concluded Forbes Woman Africa Leading Women Summit in South Africa, and she shone in the spotlight, talking about her journey from a dreamy little girl to becoming Miss World Africa. The Rivers State native from Port Harcout exuded grace and glamor in a lovely dress as she sat with CNBC Africa's Fifi Peters for a one-on-one interview to talk about her her role and vision as Miss World Africa.

Giggling in between the chat, gesticulating at some points, the Public Health major at the University of South Florida also spoke glowingly about her primary project in Makoko slum, the largest floating slum in the world and how she is planning to extend it to other communities in Africa.

On her reaction to Jamaica's Toni-Ann Singh's win, she said: "I think it was just excitement. You know I'm a very expressive person. At that point, I was really just expressing what I was feeling inside. And I don't know if you watched all the other queens there, you would see that they were all very excited and I feel like I was acting out what everyone else was feeling inside their heart because I'm just that expressive."

On growing up, Nyekachi said: "I grew up in a home. I am from Port Harcourt it's in Rivers State in Nigeria. It's my home. And I would say that I grew up as child in a place where I saw a lot of people beg and I wanted to... the first Miss World from Nigeria, Agbani Darego. She was crowned when I was three years old and she lived down the street from me and she went to the same primary school as me. So I grew up always seeing her and thinking 'my God this is the way that I want to impact, this is the way that I want to be seen'.

"And honestly envisioning myself as a queen. I would wear my mummy's clothes and shoes and walk around the house and paint lipstick on my face all the times. And I say 'yeah I'm Agbani (giggling) and little did I know that I would actually be there. And I think I grew up in a place where I saw many beautiful queens and I saw many beautiful people but I had little. I grew up in a place where my community, we weren't exactly the most what I would say 'fancy'. I went to school wearing my sister's uniform that she has passed on because that's what my mum wanted that's what they could afford at that time."

On her job as Miss World Africa, the MBGN 2019 queen said: "Oh my job is to sit down and look pretty (jokes). I think that for me, Miss World Africa is really for me to be able to reach out to the communities. First of all, to start with from where I'm working with I am trying to improve the communities known as the largest floating slum in the world and it's in Nigeria; it is called Makoko in Lagos. They really have very poor waste management system there and that's something that I'm really trying to work on infection prevention and control.

"So, my job pretty much is to meet these people, improve the way they live, get funding. We just finished building a school there and now we are going to start teaching these kids not just to learn biology. In Nigeria, most people focus on the book, book, book; you have to be very, very book smart, you have to be an engineer, a lawyer. And I want them to explore this part and also to explore their creative sides like the fashion designers, the hairdressers, the makeup artists, the artistes and all of these things. So that's what I want.

"I really want to teach these kids about their personal hygiene in a way that they would learn it and teach it. Just a generational thing and they would just keep going and keep growing. So I would say my job is to teach and to learn at the same time.

"I'm hoping that with what I'm doing obviously with personal hygiene in Makoko is tied to my education. I am a Public Health major at the University of South Florida right now. And I'm hoping that when I am done with my education, I will be able to go into infection prevention and control. I really want people in the community that I'm working with and in general around the world to be more aware of personal hygiene. Things like coronavirus now really would have been curbed if we do stay safe and practicing persona hygiene like we are washing our hands daily with hand sanitizers and a lot of these.

"And really what I dream for (when I'm probably on the Forbes list) is to be making impact where people are practicing better personal hygiene from a young age so that they have grown into it and its now part of them to be a way they believe."

SOURCE: THIS DAY LIVE

Ugwuanyi: Redefining Governance At 56

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

BY LOUIS AMOKE

As we celebrate with the people’s governor, it is our collective responsibility to continue to appreciate God‘s abundant blessings upon him and his family’s life, reflect and pray fervently for continued peace and good governance, and encourage him to hold on tightly to his sound vision to take Enugu State to the next level.


He is no less a child of providence. Attaining 56 years of age on March 20, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State is certainly the man of the moment for so many obvious reasons. With his unique disposition to life, the governor has come a long way navigating with peacefulness, humility, caring, compassion, vision, hard-work and the fear of his beloved God. He has carved a niche for himself as an outstanding leader whose approach to handling issues remains unbeatable and enduring.

The governor’s birthday is the first after his inauguration for a second term in office following his overwhelming reelection by the people of Enugu State. He won with an unprecedented 95.54 per cent of the votes cast, the highest in the history of the country and this is symbolic and yet another opportunity to appreciate God, through acts of charity, for his mercy and kindness.

To this great man of faith and goodwill, compassionate in uplifting the downtrodden and resolute in entrenching peace and good governance in the state, the anniversary, is as always, people-centered and a boost to continue to serve with the fear of God and render selfless service to the state and humanity.

It is on record that Governor Ugwuanyi’s penchant for the wellbeing of the people, especially the needy and downtrodden in the society, has been unequalled and a great source of strength.

In ensuring peace and good governance in Enugu State, the governor in spite of the nation’s security and economic challenges, has continued to make sacrifices and work round the clock to sustain the state’s enviable peaceful atmosphere and enhance the delivery of service to the people at every level of the state.







As an unassuming leader, Governor Ugwuanyi is at peace with everybody; he relates and interacts with both the high and the low; he listens, tolerates, accommodates and cares; and most importantly, fears and serves God, faithfully. He has no enemy and always pays the ultimate price for peace to reign. The governor is one who delights in the joy of his people and shares in their grief as well.

Governor Ugwuanyi also delights in addressing grey issues that are paramount to the wellbeing of the people, especially the lowly and long neglected who had hitherto been denied the dividends of democracy.

His administration’s widely cherished rural development policy, which has provided the veritable platform to address the hydra-headed imbalance between urban and rural dwellers in terms of distribution of amenities, indeed, caused a spontaneous revolution that brought about massive infrastructural development in the rural areas.

The state government’s grassroots-development initiative has, therefore, ensured a systematic concentration of infrastructural developments more in the rural areas that were hitherto in dearth of amenities, helplessly. The special attention to rural areas, where the majority of the people reside, was borne out of the governor’s vision to give every citizen of the state a sense of belonging.



It is on record that Ugwuanyi’s administration has profusely invested huge resources in developing the rural communities, concentrating development projects in the remote villages to create more urban centres for socio-economic growth.

In this regard, communities such as Amurri and Ogonogoeji in Nkanu West LGA, Eha-Amufu in Isi-Uzo LGA, Ukpabi-Nimbo-Ugbene Ajima-Eziani in Uzo-Uwani LGA and Akpugoeze in Oji River LGA, that had not experienced state government presence for many decades, have been remembered with one development project or the other.

The sum of N3.4 billion was appropriated in the 2020 budget, for the establishment of a small/medium-sized Industry in each of the seventeen (17) local government areas of the State, at an average sum of N200 million per LGA.

While all these were going on, the Ugwuanyi administration through its urban renewal drive has equally ensured provision of critical infrastructure, beautification and upgrade of facilities in the urban areas, while restoring Enugu city to its original master-plan. The state government in its 2020 budget also captured the construction of the Enugu first ever flyover and completion of the International Conference Centre (ICC), among other legacy projects, to enhance the status and socio-economic potentials of the state capital.

On the whole, about 600 kilometres of road across the state have been covered so far by Ugwuanyi’s administration.

This is in addition to remarkable achievements in other sectors of development such as security, state workers’ welfare, education, health, empowerment, investment promotion, agriculture, Judiciary infrastructural transformation, among others.

Only recently, the state workers trooped out in their numbers and marched through the streets of Enugu to the Government House, in jubilation, to thank Ugwuanyi for being the first governor of the state, since the inception of democracy in 1999, to pay them the minimum wage without rancour.

The jubilant workers, who were led by the state leadership of the organised labour sang solidarity songs and displayed banners/placards with inscriptions such as: “Enugu State workers say Thank You His Excellency for the new minimum wage”, “Gburus, Enugu workers say Thank You for regular payment of salaries”, “Gburus, thank you for giving us new minimum wage without stress”, “Thank you for regular payment of monthly pensions”, “Gburus, you are a pacesetter”, “Gburus is our man”.

They told the people’s governor that the workers were surprised and elated to receive their salary alerts during the weekend reflecting the new minimum wage in line with the agreed consequential adjustment chart.

According to them, “today is a special day in the history of Enugu State. This is because there is no worker in Enugu State that did not benefit from Ugwuanyi’s alert, and that is why we are singing now”.

Narrating other numerous interventions of the governor towards the welfare of the state workers, such as the 100 units of one-bedroom flats for civil servants between grade levels 01-10, regular payment of salaries and pensions and the payment of 13th month salary, the workers pointed out that “It’s instructive that Governor Ugwuanyi was recording such feats at a time when many states could not pay their workers’ salaries”.

Speaking at the event, the state chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, Comrade Benneth Asogwa maintained that the state workers marched to the Government House to let the world know that “it is because you have been able to turn the history positively as far as minimum wage is concerned in Enugu State”.

According to him, “we want to also tell them (the world) that what we are doing today is significant because in the past, whenever minimum wage was being expected, it was always negative. Then, we would mourn from, maybe, New Haven to our Secretariat crying and shouting. Then, you would see all Enugu in pains. But today, we have come to Government House, smiling”.

Comrade Asogwa, who maintained that this was the first time the workers had a salary chart that was a product of collective bargaining, told Gov. Ugwuanyi that “the greatest political party you have identified with is the public service and you are a full registered member and we can tell you that you have our mandate, anytime.”

His words: “Your Excellency, I want to summarize by saying that history will never forget your regime. We stand here to say that in Enugu State, we have worked for years without salary chart until somebody called Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a.k.a Gburugburu, came and the dignity of workers was restored. We stand here today to say, Your Excellency, we are very grateful”.

On the significance of the governor’s 56th birthday, the time-honoured occasion, symbolically reinvigorates his commitment to charity and almsgiving – a constant moral obligation in appreciation of God’s goodness and amazing grace to him as “Nwaogbenye”.

The anniversary offers him and his family, friends, well-wishers, and teeming supporters, who have remained steadfast in prayers, yet another opportunity to give to the poor and less privileged in the society with all sense of divinity and benevolence.

Consequently, the pet project of the governor’s wife, Ugo’s Touch of Life Foundation, is at the moment offering one week free medical outreach across the 17 LGAs of the state, in collaboration with Dr. Chukwudi Abraham Nneji Hospital Organization, Germany, to celebrate the governor’s birthday.

This humanitarian exercise is in keeping with the governor’s long-held appeal that those who intended to offer him birthday gifts should deploy them to charity in appreciation of God’s mercy and kindness as well as in the spirit of the Lenten Season.

As we celebrate with the people’s governor, it is our collective responsibility to continue to appreciate God‘s abundant blessings upon him and his family’s life, reflect and pray fervently for continued peace and good governance, and encourage him to hold on tightly to his sound vision to take Enugu State to the next level. Happy Birthday, His Excellency. Enugu State is truly in the hands of God!

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES

Chinua Achebe And The World's Disintegration

Chinua Achebe

BY DAN JONSSON

The title of Chinua Achebe's novel "Everything Disrupts" became an overly apt description of reality. Dan Jönsson reflects on the Nigerian author's literature and significance.

There is no society. There is no god. There are no genders, no classes of society, no races and nations, there are no differences at all between people - we are all born equal and everything human is fiction, that is, a kind of superstition, and because it is, it must also be our duty to put us over them. Ever since the seventeenth century, the historical task of modern man has been to step out of his self-inflicted authority, as Kant wrote, and it is probably said that our time has driven that task to its forefront. There is not even a modernity. And yet, it turns out time and again that among the worst that can happen to a human community is that it is deprived of its fictions. Without them, there is not even humanity in the end. Society, religion, ideology - all of them, of course they are.

Ended in Chinua Achebe's novel"Arrow of God", "God's arrow", is relentless as a Greek tragedy. Ezeulu, the old high priest of Umuaro village society in eastern Nigeria, has lost his mind and has been abandoned by his god. We find ourselves somewhere in the 1920s; the white man's and the Christian religion's first perplexing intrusion into the traditional Igbo society lies a few decades back and Ezeulu has since defended the god of his fathers, Ulu, against the divinities of the white god, partly against lesser gods and their priests as in the conflict with white civilization sees its chance to stand up and then split. Ezeulu sees himself as Ulu's humble tool, "the arrow in the bow of God," and his patient proposition seems to have finally won: after a successful shadow wrestling with the representatives of the colonial power, the domestic enemies have also been silenced. But Ulu is not satisfied: in one last act of foolish arrogance, his priest forces the villagers to postpone the vital harvest of yams, which has catastrophic consequences and ends with a majority of the people turning to the God of Christians instead. The arrow of God turns out to hit, not Ulu's enemies, but his servant and thus Ulu himself.

An important detail of Achebe's storyis that Ulu is a constructed deity: several times it is told how the elders of Umuaro's various villages once long ago, after a long period of war and disintegration, joined forces to create a common god, which could hold them together. Ulu is thus recognized by everyone in society as a fictitious force - but for that matter no less real, and even necessary to keep the community together. When this power disappears, everything falls. The world, as you know it, goes down. "God of Arrow" is the last, and arguably best, of the three novels Chinua Achebe wrote over the years about Nigeria's independence in 1960, a loosely coherent trilogy that began with the classic "Things Fall Apart" - in Swedish "Everything breaks apart" - and that really revolves around this single theme: the downfall of the old world.

"Everything is Breaking Down" has taken its English title, "Things Fall Apart", from a famous poem by William Butler Yeats. "In particular, things fall, the midpoint fails, the world has been given the wild in violence," says Erik Blomberg's translation of this sorrow song over the old order that went down during the First World War; words that have been quoted time and time again in recent years when the world as we know it again seems to burst and transform. Perhaps these cracks and transformations are what human history is basically about; it is one of the eternal subjects of literature in any case. "Everything breaks down" is by far the most important and most read modern African novel by far, and a milestone in postcolonial literature at all. With its seemingly simple,

"Everything breaks down" takes place right at the beginning of the process depicted in "God's arrow", just before the turn of the century, in the fictional village community of Umuofia where the clan leader Okonkwo for a fight very similar to the priest Ezeulus - against a colonial power he believes be able to master but in fact do not understand at all. Okonkwo's story is equally tragically fatal; his own son betrays the faith of his fathers and joins the Christian missionaries. In the dramatic, but ambiguous finale, Okonkwo takes his own life, where the perspective shifts to one of the colonial powers' emissaries, who with some cynical scattered reflections, can figure out how the death struggle of traditional culture is hardly more than a little picturesque but insignificant grin in the vast colonial power machinery.

"Everything breaks down" is thus very consciously written with a cultural double look. Chinua Achebe grew up in a privileged Igbo family, his parents had belonged to those who early converted to Christianity, and as a pupil of some of colonial Nigeria's most prestigious schools, he became thoroughly acquainted with Western culture and literature. He himself described in many contexts the ambivalence that emerged from this upbringing, a sense of simultaneous admiration and resistance, especially against the tradition of colonial African depictions that had its emblematic expression in Joseph Conrad's classic "Heart of Darkness". "Everything breaks down" can be read as a tight and traditionally aware counter-script, where the wrath is most marked as a restrained, sad insight about one's own powerlessness. The white man "has put a knife in what held us together,"

It is probably this delicate balancewhich explains the enormous significance of the novel. Because even though "Everything breaks down" today is considered groundbreaking, it was hardly the first modern Nigerian novel. Literary scientist Terry Ochiaga has described in a study how Achebe was, in fact, one of a group of Nigerian writers who emerged at the same time, and from the same circle, and how the impact of "Everything breaks down" first appeared in a little bit, in time with the country's independence process and the publication of the following parts of the African trilogy. In the second, "No Longer at Ease" - "No longer at home" in Swedish - which came out the same year as Independence, 1960, Okonkwo's tragedy is repeated as a dark father when his grandson Obi, who at the expense of the village received a fine education in London, returns to be confronted with the corrupt reality of the soon-to-be-independent homeland, and is forced to realize what remains to be believed when all the old truths are taken apart, one by one. Namely - of course - the money.

And soon not even that. Chinua Achebe's literary production is essentially a short decade; then the Biafra war broke out, and from that disaster he never really recovered. "Everything breaks down": the title of Achebe's breakthrough novel turned out to be a prophecy. And when there is no humanity - how can you write?

Dan Jönsson, author and essayist

Chinua Achebe in Swedish

God's arrow, translation by Hans Berggren. Book publisher Tranan, 2015.

No longer at home, translation by Hans Berggren. Book publisher Tranan, 2014.

A People's Man, translation by Ebbe Linde. Albert Bonnier's proposal, 1967. New edition at Book publisher Tranan, August 2020.

Everything breaks down, translation by Ebbe Linde. Albert Bonnier's proposal, 1967. New edition at Book publisher Tranan, 2014.

SOURCE: SVERIGAS RADIO

An Open Letter To South East Governors’ Forum: Freedom Comes In Many Ways

BY EMEKA ASINUGO

Dear SE Governors,

I was constrained to write you this letter after carefully watching Nigeria’s political developments over the years as they daily unfolded.

Many of us, Igbo sons and daughters who were forced by situations in Nigeria to migrate to Europe, America and elsewhere are worried sore that the security of life and property, especially in the northern parts and by extension the entire country, has continued to pose serious challenges to our political leaders that seem to defy solution.

We are worried about the inability of our political leaders to fix the national economy and appreciate naira value.

We are concerned about the seeming unwillingness of our political leaders to fully integrate Nigerians socially, for instance, by making the study of the three major languages, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba compulsory at the primary school level in all schools across the country. In such a way, the bridge would have been built across tribal sentiments and in less than two generations, Nigeria would be on its way to achieving true nationalism.

We are concerned that general uneasiness in the country is being manifested in several ways, despite government’s intervention efforts, and it is worrying.

As the political leaders of the Igbo nation, I do not need to remind you that all Igbo at home and in the Diaspora are looking up to you to salvage them from the circumstances that have sandwiched and trapped them in the enclave they call their country. Progressively going forward in the spirit of one united and prosperous nation has become a herculean task for them because the low or no value some people in the northern parts of the country have determined to place on human life, the lives of fellow Nigerians, is at great variance with the values and aspirations of the Igbo, and going back is just impossible. They are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Sadly, some of the simple ways the federal government should have addressed these issues were lost to tribal politics and our people have continued to suffer as a result. These issues are captured in the first and second volumes of my book “The Presidential Years: From Dr. Jonathan to Gen. Buhari”, published by Austin Macauley of London, and can be purchased online from Amazon, eBay and other major online bookshops.

As the political leaders of the South East Zone of Nigeria, I hasten to remind you that when the founding members of the South East Governors’ Forum, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra, Achike Udenwa of Imo, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia sat for the first time, they pledged to work together, irrespective of their political leanings, for the interest of the larger segment of South East communities.

At that time, critics of the Forum alleged that the governors were not doing enough to develop the zone. They failed to attract the attention of the federal government to the deplorable condition of infrastructure in the zone, especially the roads. Even as we speak, most of the federal roads in the South East have remained nothing but death traps and many people are worried about why their South East governors have not deemed it necessary to go beyond rhetoric to, at least, embark on the repair or modernization of these roads themselves and get a refund from the federal government if there are provisions in the law to that effect.

Even judging from the now moribund joint economic ventures in the South East zone, such as the Cooperative and Commerce Bank (CCB), the African Continental Bank (ACB), the Nkalagu Cement Factory, the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMCO) and the Emene Floor Mills, among others, most Igbo at home and in the Diaspora are of the opinion that their governors need to be more proactive in their quest to improve the lot of the South Easterners they represent by reactivating some of these unifying ventures or building new ones.

What they expect is that a strong debate on the review of the Nigerian constitution of 1999 which was drafted by the military purely for the benefit of the north should keep resurfacing until something tangible is done to abrogate it completely and a working constitution drafted by civilians, the elected representatives of the people, is in place.

It has indeed become necessary for the leaderships of the Nigerian government to consider returning to the letters of the constitutional document which Nigerian leaders negotiated with the British government between 1957 and 1959 that granted Nigeria independence.

It was on the basis of that constitution that the three regions agreed to acquire independence as one united country. It was the foundation of what came to be known as a united Nigeria. It was a negotiated constitution. If the three regions had disagreed on the contents of the constitution, there would have been no Nigeria as it was at independence.

In 1966, the military invaded the political growth of Nigeria and aborted its democratic evolution. They discarded the negotiated constitution and introduced one that was not only un-negotiated but one they insisted was un-negotiable, and still expected Nigeria to remain united – possibly by force because they had the gun, and that was important or so it seemed at the time!

The negotiated constitution gave considerable autonomy to each of the three regions. Each region collected its own revenue and contributed an agreed percentage of its gross earnings to the central government. Each region was in charge of its roads, education, medical services and rural infrastructure.

But when the military came into the political arena, they turned the table upside down, weakened the regions economically and strengthened the centre. Like the one party system that the army is, all authority flowed from Abuja, in terms of finance and in terms of security.

The imposition of its constitution on Nigerians by the military would have been unacceptable to the leaders of the three regions at the time – Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo – and many well meaning Nigerians would agree with this.

The current constitution was drafted by the military under General Abacha and was skewed to favour the north. Before then, the regions were federating units. There were four different constitutions – the federal constitution, the eastern constitution, the northern constitution and the western constitution. That was to the extent the regions were autonomous at independence.

Each region had its own ambassador in London. He was known as the Agent-General while the federal ambassador was known as the High Commissioner. M. T. Mbu was Nigeria’s High Commissioner in London at independence. The ambassador for Eastern Nigeria was Mr. Jonah Achara. That of Western Nigeria was Mr. Omolodun. And for Northern Nigeria, it was Alhaji Abdulmalik. These were the four men who were regarded as ambassadors of Nigeria in the UK by the time the country had independence in 1960.

But now states have been created in place of regions. And even though that seems to have complicated issues more, the creation of zones by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida provides an escape route from that stranglehold that was the 1999 constitution.

My take is that we can still manage to come by something close to the regions. Each of the zones General Babangida created during his tenure as military president can now be regarded as a region so that instead of the four regions the country had at independence there will now be six regions. The same level of autonomy can be given to them as was given to the regions before and after independence in 1960.

The north can then carry on with their northernisation or Arewanization policy. The East can embark on their Eastern or is it Biafranization policy and the West on their Westernization or Oduduwanization policy. They meet at the centre. They meet at the centre to agree on their democratic norms and values in the knowledge that true democracy must be negotiated by the federating units. Anything short of that is military imposition and it is not generally acceptable to many knowledgeable Africans.

What the Igbo expect is that the second Niger Bridge should be in place before the termination of the Buhari tenure.

What they expect is that their SE governors can liaise with foreign investors to get light railway trains shuttling between and connecting the major cities of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.

What they expect is that when the Igbo say they are the best in business they should prove themselves right. If the Igbo are known to develop other communities, other countries, why are they unable to develop theirs? That is not something to be proud of, and it is down to the political leaderships of the SE to turn around the vision and focus of the Igbo to begin to look inwards.

I am being emphatic here about railway transportation between Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo and the intra-links between their cities like Owerri, Okigwe and Orlu in Imo, for example. Our SE governors should map this in their head and see what the zone would look like with these facilities in place.

All eyes of Igbo elites at home and in the Diaspora are on you governors. They expect you to buttress the role the National Assembly would play especially in the struggle to decentralize authority from Abuja and give zones a financial autonomy that would synchronize with the original documents that gave independence to Nigeria.

It is against this background that the governors of the South East zone should decide to pursue issues affecting their people through regional integration. This calls for an honest pooling together of resources. You can arrange for any country or business enterprise to partner with you on transportation. Our people need a network of railways that would connect major cities in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo with their state capitals, even if they are light railways.

It is unnecessary to keep agitating for a break-up of Nigeria if our people can develop their communities on their own. They would have literally broken up without breaking up – which is the best policy for South East in their circumstances since the end of the Nigerian civil war.

Take a look at Great Britain today. There are four nations that make Britain great: England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Each of them has complete autonomy. They have their currencies. They have their parliaments. They have their flags. They run their systems on their own. And they all subscribe to a central government and that is what makes them great. South East governors can insist on that pattern of relationship in Nigeria. Then, the Igbo will not see themselves as living in bondage any more. Freedom comes in many ways.

Emeka Asinugo is a London-based journalist, author of “The Presidential Years: From Dr. Jonathan to Gen. Buhari” and Publisher of Imo State Business Link Magazine

Salma Okonkwo Honored At 5th Ghana Women Of Excellence Awards

Salma Okonkwo. Image: Salma Okonkwo

BY MICHAEL ANSAH

ACCRA (GHANAWEB)--Puma Energy Board Chairperson, Mrs Salma Okonkwo, has made headlines again for being recognized at the fifth Ghana Women of Excellence Awards.

Mrs Okonkwo’s recognition is in honour of her outstanding contribution to the country’s energy sector.

She was honoured together with some 23 other women at the event held in Accra recently for contributing in diverse ways to the development of Ghana.

It is the second time in less than four months that Mrs Okonkwo has been honoured at the Ghana Energy Awards in 2019 as a professional who has defied all odds to succeed in the male-dominated industry – the oil sector.

Salma Okonkwo is one of the most highly respected business executives in West Africa’s oil and gas sector, a citation presented to the Puma Energy boss read in part.

Who would have thought, me a former tomboy, often scolded for one mischief or another, would be nominated by my peers as a woman of excellence, truly, we serve a miracle-working God, an almost-emotional Mrs Salma Okonkwo said.

As an advocate for women being able to pursue their dreams and ambition, she said in today’s world where the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs were women on the continent of Africa, it was only right that they created what was needed to achieve success.

Mrs Okonkwo said she was working with young women to bridge the gap to resources and alternative capital to help them forge ahead and take their rightful positions in the market place.

As women adorned with the title of women of excellence, it is our duty to unite and pave the way for Ghanaian women to become empowered to successfully function in the national development of our beautiful country, she said.

We must motivate, encourage and provide a roadmap for navigating, she added.
Mrs Okonkwo earned a license to operate as an official oil marketing company in 2008.

Since then, she has expanded her holdings and created the UBI Group, an integrated energy solution provider with five subsidiaries. In 2014, Salma sold 49 per cent of the UBI Group to Puma Energy which provides the company, technical and operational infrastructure.

In 2016, UBI Petroleum became Puma Energy Ghana. She remains the Chairman of both Puma Energy Ghana and the UBI Group of Companies,” the citation explained, among other things.

A leader in energy development, Mrs Okonkwo is one of the most highly respected business executives in West Africa’s oil and gas sector.

She is also the co-founder and board member of Blue Star Exploration and sits on the Board of Directors of Makmera Upstream, an upstream exploration company and Nahid’s Properties, a real estate development company.

She is currently developing plans for a massive solar farm in the country and has received a mandate from the government to distribute that energy when ready, through the national grid.

She is an entrepreneur and a philanthropist who believes in excellence, hard work, the potential of Africa and aims to be a driver of prosperity in Ghana.

Isi Nri Museum Opens To The Public

Image via ABS Radio.

SAM EKWE, EDITOR

ENUGWU-UKWU (THIS DAY LIVE)--On March 13 2020, all roads led to Enugwu-Ukwu, the paternal head of Umunri clan for the official opening of Isi Nri Museum. The Museum is located at Obu Okpalanakana in Uruekwo village, Enugwu-Ukwu. The opening of the Museum was performed by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State and it attracted the cream of Nigerian Society from far and near.

Some historians have traced the origin of Umunri clan to Israel many centuries ago, to a man called Eri, who was the fifth son of Gad, who, in turn, was the seventh son of the biblical Jacob. Nri Kingdom is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. It was founded around 900 AD, by the progenitor Eri, the son of Gad. According to biblical accounts, Jacob had Leah as his wife, who begot four sons for him. When Leah noticed that she had passed child bearing age, she gave her maid, Zilpah to Jacob to wife and through Zilpah, Jacob had a son (among others) named Gad. Gad then begot Eri, who later formed a Clan known as Erites, as recorded in Genesis chapter thirty, verse nine and chapter forty-six verse sixteen (30:9 and chapter 46:16), as well as in Numbers chapter twenty-six from verse fifteen to eighteen (26:15-18). Eri was therefore among the twelve (12) tribes of Israel through Gad.

During their stay in Egypt, Eri became the high priest and spiritual adviser to Pharaoh Teti, the 5th dynastic king of Egypt around 2400 BC. During the Exodus, which marked the beginning of mass movement of the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Eri was among the tribes that left Egypt following the injunction from God to the Israelites as recorded in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-eight from verse fifty eight to sixty eight (Deut. 28:58-68).

Some of these tribes founded settlements in the Southern part of Sudan where they established the “NOK” culture which is similar to that of other cultures like Nri, Samoa and Jukun in Northern part of Nigeria. Others who could not remain in Southern Sudan travelled further south till they arrived at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra rivers and settled there. When Eri arrived at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra rivers, he had two wives first wife begot him five sons with Nri as the first son.

When Nri, one of the sons of Eri came of age and discovered that he was endowed with enormous spiritual powers, he decided to migrate to establish his own domain and moved from where his father, Eri lived at Obu Gad in Otutunzu Aguleri at the confluence of Ezu and Anambra Rivers and followed the Ezu River bank until he got to Amanuke in the present Awka North Local Government Area. He spent some time in Anamuke before he moved further and arrived at Nkpume Onyilienyi, a massive progenitor rock at the present UgwuAwovu Village in Enugwu-Ukwu, where one mast of Anambra Broadcasting Station’s transmitting station is currently located. It is also in this vicinity that Nri had his five sons, with Okpalanakana-UkabiaNri, the father of Enugwu-Ukwu as the first son, followed by Okpalariam, the father of Nawfia; Okpala Aguiyi, the father of Enugwu-Agidi, Oruora who died without a son during inter communal war and then Ifikuanim, the father of Agukwu-Nri and Akankpisi.

Nri also had one daughter Iguedo who got married and gave birth to many children including Awkuzu, Nando, Umueri, Ogbunike etc., generally referred to as UmuIguedo. In search of more conducive area of settlement, Nri located a lake at Diodo at the present Agukwu-Nri. He then moved with his last son, Ifukuanim, close to the lake while his first son Okpalanakana and his other brothers remained at Nkpume Onyilenyi in Enugwu-Ukwu. It was from here that the two other brothers of Okpalanakana migrated, first Okpala Aguiyi moved and founded the present Enugwu-Agidi and Okpalariam founded the present Nawfia.

Inspite of this migration and dispersal, the Nri children had continued to maintain cultural affinity. For instance, in those days, the death and burial of any Nze title holder in Umunri would attract all the Nri children who would gather to perform the burial rites.
Again, the present Nkwo Enugwu-Ukwu which was then called Nkwo Nshi was named by Nri himself, provided designated sections for each linage at Umunri where they did their enterprise on Nkwo market days.

It will be recalled that in those days, major rituals activities in Umunri clan were conducted at Obu Okpalanakana. Some erudite scholars like Professor M.A Onwuejogwu, IK. Ogbukagu, Dr Ifeanyi Okafor, Rev. Fr. R.A Arazu and others in their research work on the history of Nri kingdom have acclaimed Okpalanakana, the progenitor Enugwu-Ukwu, as Okpala Umunri.

Igwe Ralph Obumneme Ekpeh, Eze-Enugwu Ukwu na Igwe Umunri since his ascension to the throne ten (10) years ago has been making concerted efforts to quicken the unity of Nri people scattered all over Igbo land and beyond. This will start with the unity of the core Nri people of Enugwu-Ukwu Nawfia, Enugwu Agidi, Agu-Ukwu and Akankpisi. We will then extend our relationship to other Nri descendants including Dunukofia, represented by Ukpo, Amawbia, Enugwu-Ezike, Adazi Enu, Oraeri, Ogboli Ibusa, OgwashiUku, Awka, Nibo, Amesi,Akweze, Umuawulu, Nise, EnugwuAborUfuma, to mention but a few. For example there is in Uruekwo village Enugwu-Ukwu today the OfeEzike section from where the Enugu Ezike people in the present Enugu State migrated.

Recently, the Igwe-in-council and the Enugwu-Ukwu Community Development Union (ECDU) instituted the Umunri colloquium as part of the annual Iguaro of His Majesty Igwe Sir Ralph Ekpeh, Eze Enugwu-Ukwu na Igwe Umunri. The Umunri colloquium, a high powered intellectual and cultural discourse, brings the four sons of Nri clan into the planning, execution and participation of the event. Enugwu-Ukwu, the first son of Nri, has also built a magnificent Museum at Obu Okpalanakana. It is at this Obu, which is located at the present Uruekwo village Enugwu-Ukwuthat he settled and had eighteen male children through whom eighteen villages were established in Enugwu-Ukwu.

The Museum is expected to house artifacts and monuments that will help recreate the unique and mystic nature of Nri, through its hegemony that has spread to many parts of Nigeria. This is in addition to housing a conference centre and a library. It is important to inform Ndigbo that the significance of Enugwu-Ukwu, the first son of Okpalanakana as the head of Umunri Clan has been reflected in the fact that in 1958 late Igwe Ositan Agwuna was crowned Eze Enugwu-Ukwu. Soon after, in 1960 the traditional rulers of Umunri clan: Enugwu-Ukwu, Nawfia Enugwu Agidi and Agu Ukwu gathered at the Umunri Court Hall in Enugwu-Ukwu and unanimously elected Osita Agwuna as the Igwe of Umunri. This ceremony marked the beginning of traditional rulers of communities in Igbo land taking the title of Igwe. There was none before then.

This historic event is recorded in the Archives of the Eastern Region of Nigeria.

As the Isi Nri Museum is formally declared open tGovernor Obiano, another great son of Eri, the Enugwu Ukwu Community, traditional head of Umunri Clan pledges its willingness to avail all visitors to the historic town and Isi Nri Museum the traditional blessings of Nri our progenitor including our enduring rich customs, culture and tradition. The most significant tenet of these is that all men are born free and equal. Individual growth in the society is by personal achievement. There is nothing like slavery or Osu caste system in Umunri clan; whoever and wherever it is practiced elsewhere should come to Umunri Clan and be cleansed.

Written by a committee of Enugwu-Ukwu researchers and edited by Sam Ekpe.

Rep. Sam Onuigbo Donates Examination Materials To Schools In Abia

Sam Onuigbo. Image: Facebook.

BY LINUS EFFIONG

The member representing Umuahia North/Umuahia South/ Ikwuano federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Sam. Onuigbo has donated examination revision materials to students in his constituency. Onuigbo made the donation of examination revision materials to students in his Constituency, at Kolping Event Centre, World Bank Housing Estate, Umuahia.

Speaking at the event, held he said it was in fulfilment of the promise he made to the youths and it was meant to improve their studies. “I have always been interested in the provision of quality education for our young ones. That is why my journey through life has always been highlighted by the offering of several scholarship opportunities to young people from primary, secondary, tertiary, and even post-graduate levels,’’ he said.

The lawmaker said since 1999, he had facilitated the construction of a block of three classrooms at Obuohia Ibere Community Primary School, which was followed by the establishment of a secondary school in his community.

“My conviction is that a conducive learning environment will help our young ones do better and continue to excel and maintain Abia State’s enviable position as the state that has consistently come first in the country in the West African Secondary School Examinations over the years.

According to him, this year, he has procured registration forms for students who wanted to sit for the West African Examination Counci l(WAEC) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB) examinations.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST

The Unforgettable Stanley Macebuh

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Stanley Macebuh (1942-2010)

BY TONY NNACHETTA

I believe that I first encountered, not met, Dr. Stanley Macebuh, as he then was to me, somewhere in Enugu in 1977 or early 1978. He was yet a fresh name and as I read his column, the freshness of his distinct style intrigued me in equal measure with his peculiar surname. To me, here is a puzzle published weekly on the pages of the venerable, stodgy Daily Times, the old and unrepentant medium that I considered too old to bend or so harbour this kind of writer and his views. I had found that the man is supposedly sporting an Igbo heritage too. His reputation was budding and we spoke briefly. His accent was un-Nigerian and he had an aura which appeared natural and invited you to speak your mind. I did perhaps with sparks in my eyes, thrilled on meeting this revolutionary man then unknown to the Enugu crowd, in the flesh. We chatted about his recent writings, the military and their heavy-handed guide of our transition journey.

This must have been in relation to the no go areas of the 1977/78 Constituent Assembly. On reflection, this was no staple conversation for your typical undergraduate keen to impress our brand new intellectual and I guess it surprised him that I was not a Political Science major.

Our paths never crossed again but I recall that the week the Daily Times thundered one of its most famous editorials, “For the Avoidance of Doubt” in 1979, if my memory serves me well, my thought was on Dr. Stanley Macebuh (as he then was to me) for the cultured language and definitiveness of logic I speculated that he may have contributed to that piece of record. It was a stirring response to garrulous members of the ruling class masked as federal legislators. It must be 1983 when my own Eddie Iroh took me along to “some meeting in Ilupeju” where he is discussing a newspaper project and he endeavoured to convince me that he could leave his high profile career in national television to return to his print writing because the man talking to him is called Dr. Stanley Macebuh.

Months later, I, myself, was privileged to join history and write articles and analysis on both the only two business pages of the very maiden edition of The Guardian. Dr. Stanley Macebuh asked for me and I told him it would be difficult to leave my current employment to run the business desk and that I would only write with my inverted surname as nom de plume. He kept chuckling at the “Tony Attecann” byline and much later, “Joe Kadiri from Broad Street” It is a measure of the man that in an era when fax machines had not become standard, one had to handcarry his written contribution and travel, yes travel, from Broad Street and Victoria Island all the way to Rutam House in part homage to the unadulterated chutzpah Dr. Stanley Macebuh brought to the table.

As I looked around The Guardian those days, you could see and feel talent walking and working. I became a regular visitor also partly in solidarity with the several brilliant persons Stanley had brought under that roof some of whom are my dear friends till date. He would lead but make it appear easy and collegial. His impatience with cant was encapsulated in the seminal introduction of the simply Mr. Policy which rocked the Nigerian society for a year or so and the very tight language of the first Guardian years. By the time he was to leave The Guardian and move to his new office closer to me, he had become very close to me and emerged in my lexicon as the Bossman, a usage a few other friends of mine adopted. The Bossman could laugh at himself which I told him was one of his great strengths. I can still see him shaking at the shoulders in his peculiar laughter rhythm.

The others being an eye to talent, his fascinating intellect and his ability to restrain you with the most economical of words from proceeding on a course of action: “Leave it, I say, just leave it” to which he would add a grunt for effect. This pacificist trait has now gone all through his life and times and added to little regard for money as a store of wealth meant that the Bossman, ordinarily a man without guile, was unable to join any conspiracy or club by any other name, to look out for himself in several other ways in a malevolent world. I recall a true and bad example of this in a tripartite transaction for which I held an instrument which minutes before presentation was locked out at the entrance on the day BCCI was closed down in London. The Bossman was unperturbed and the funds never recouped.

Could he have been a sterner person and flourished such that the callow writers in the hours after his passing on would never have described the size of his bank account in the same breath as his towering achievement as a renaissance man? Perhaps, he could have compromised himself at the Obasanjo Presidency or struggled to remind President Yar’Adua that they shared a house and several meals and go way back in an earlier era? No, not the Bossman, a man woven by nature leaving out greed and envy, full of innate dignity without a bulk of ego. He remained true to himself, detached and stoic.

It is most likely the case that in the not too distant future there will be many who will be lost in search of Stanley Macebuh claim to fame. Quite easy to assist them: First, as the Latin would say, circumspice, look around you. Take a quick excursion on the practitioners of print journalism and in particular the purveyors of column and opinion writing today: You can separate them into the school that learnt directly from Stanley Macebuh, the others that successfully imitated him and the rest. He could be said to have been let down by this or that circumstance.

Many are known to have realised very belatedly that they could afford to offer the Good Lord a bottle of aerated bottled, chilled water if only they could decipher it was for the Lord and not just their irritating neighbour as the Good Book told us. That lesson will continue to ring in our ears. Stanley’s passing on is painful in a peculiar sense and but as himself, the Bossman would say in that pitched exception to his tone, “my friend… just leave it”. Fare thee well my friend, God grant you rest and may your kind increase.

First published May 2010.

Nnachetta, erstwhile commissioner for information and strategy Anambra State, served as a visiting member, The Guardian Editorial Board.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN