Igbo Hurt By Not Having One Voice –Okafouzu Ugochukwu

 

BY HENRY AKUBUIRO

SUN NEWS ONLINE

Okafouzu Ugochukwu is the founder of Mbido Igbo Association and one of the facilitators of the Iri Ji Ndi Igbo National New Yam Festival. He works in the famous Igboukwu Ancestral Land Palace as its Secretary. A market leader and traditional title holder of Ugochinechendo Omogho na Oku Uzu Owerezukala both in Orumba North and South LGA of Anambra State, he spoke to Sunday Sun on the travails of Igbo culture and how UNESCO has been short changing the people.

What is the difference between Mbido Igbo Association and other groups?

Mbido Igbo Association came to be because the Igbo arts, culture and tourism were highly neglected and relegated to the background. The Igbo are no longer in touch with their very highly esteemed culture. From their language, mode of dressing, cuisine, dance, cosmetics, etcetera, very few want to do them the Igbo way or improve on the ones handed down to us by our ancestors. So we came together in 2003 and asked ourselves where we were going. We looked at the achievements of our great ancestors at Igboukwu, fully documented in their arts, which survived till date, and is adjudged one of the best in the world. We came to the conclusion that we should go back to the source and origin, and imbibe the spirit of our great ancestors that made them achieve those lofty goals. That quest to return to the origin and the source gave birth to the name and movement called Mbido Igbo Association. We want to go back to the ancient times and be like them.

One wonders why there are no UNESCO heritage sites in Igboland. Are there such befitting sites to be recognised by the world body?

Our major mandate is to research, promote and showcase Igbo Race arts, culture and tourism to the nation and world. We have gone far in achieving this mandate. We have done deep research on Igbo arts and culture. We chose to use Igboukwu arts, which is one of the best ever produced by Igbo men in time. We took it and are now promoting it by involving the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, especially the National Gallery of Art.

Today, they organise an annual art exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Igboukwu Outstation, where all schools in the country that offer arts as a discipline are called to exhibit their artworks. Many works of art have been exhibited at this annual art exhibition. Schools like Federal Polytechnic, Oko; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and a host of others have exhibited their works at this programme from 2004 till date. Many tourists have appreciated these works of art. Today, no Igbo man can say that he doesn’t have an avenue to exhibit his artworks, and it has encouraged many to go back to arts, because it pays. All the different art media are encouraged. It was an Igboukwu man, Simon Okeke of Umudege, who designed the famous Biafran currency — get a Biafran currency note and see the intricate design it had!

On culture and tourism, we found out that the best we have is the yam culture, which is found everywhere Igbo reside. We researched it, and found out how yam and its festivals started. We looked into the history of New Yam Festival by going through the different communities’ method of celebrating New Yam Festival, and we adopted Igboukwu because of its richness and the folklore of how yam was discovered in their community, which they preserved in the ancient festival they called Igwa Nsi, which literally mean to remove the poison in yam to make it edible.

To us, New Yam Festival is the chief of all Igbo Race festivals, and we hinged on it and made it the hub of the festivities. We got the Federal Government involved in showcasing this important festival, and it paid off, because the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Abuja head office, and Isuofia outstations, are indeed helping us to package and promote the festival to meet national and international standards. Therefore, in October, 2007, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture made it a national festival akin to Argungu Fishing and Osun Osogbo Groove festivals of the North and West respectively.

We showcase this festival, in conjunction with Ndi Eze Ndi Igbo na Uzo Ije worldwide. This group is very important in showcasing this festival. We are in constant touch with its leadership, because they are our important stakeholders in this job.

It appears the Igbo culture is not so much reckoned with and celebrated worldwide like the Orisa of Yoruba abroad?

We came to find out that the Igbo are short-changed in terms of recognition of their historical sites by the Federal Government and UNESCO. We set out to work on this, and were able to find out that the first three sites recognised by the Federal Government were in Abia State, especially in Arochukwu area, and there it ended. Out of the 67 sites recognised by the government, only three were from the southeast, and nothing more.

We worked tirelessly on this, and, in 2014, towards the buildup of the programme for the Nigerian Centenary celebrations, we added another five slots, including: Owerezukala Wonderful Caves and Waterfalls in Orumba South LGA of Anambra State; Dike Ukpor Tower at Mmadueke compound, Umudike village, Ukpor, Nnewi South LGA of Anambra State; Biafra Exchange House at Atuchukwu Compound, Amichi (the house where Biafran forces handed over to Nigerian Army, represented by General Olusegun Obasanjo); Nnamdi Azikiwe Mausoleum in Onitsha; Ogbunike Caves in Oyi LGA of Anambra State. In all, we recommended 10 sites, and only five survived, and were declared by the federal government in 2014 as part of the centenary programme.

As for good sites to be declared World Heritage Sites, we have these which we are currently pursuing: Owerezukala Waterfalls and caves; Amacho Caves in Ebonyi State; Igboukwu Archaeological Sites; Iri Ji Ndi Igbo National New Yam Festival; Olokoro Wooden Caves in Umuahia Abia State.

Today, we have Sukur in Adamawa State and Osun Osogbo Groove declared as World Heritage Sites, while Kano City walls and Idanre Hills are listed too on UNESCO list, but none from the southeast and south-south of the country.

The New Yam Festival has endured in Igboland over centuries, what makes this yam culture unique?

The Yoruba is strong, because Ife and Ibadan were given their rightful places by the government of the colonial masters. Till date, majority of Yoruba recognise Ife as their source and Orisa Festival of Oyo State as its major festival. Olubadan of Ibadan plays a major role in showcasing Orisa Festival of the west. Everywhere Yoruba are, especially those sold into slavery, they still observe Orisa Festival, especially those in the West Indies and Latin American people.

The New Yam Festival is equally celebrated world over by Igbo and their families and friends. One can see that Igbo in Ghana celebrated their New Yam Festival in September 2021, while others are celebrating theirs, too. What is lacking is publicity, and we encourage Igbo communities outside Igboland who celebrate this festival to give the much desired publicity. So the celebration of the New Yam Festival is now worldwide.

Unlike the Yoruba or Hausa societies, there is a leadership deficit among the Igbo, leading to the Igbo speaking in discordant voices; it’s hard to find one person whose voice carries weight that could rally everybody politically. Is there any solution to this anomaly?

Igbo are copycats, and adaptability is one of their character traits. The Igbo man can adapt and live anywhere. In fact, it is a general saying here in Nigeria that any community where you go and there is no Igbo living there, that community won’t support Iife, and there is no need living there. Igbo are itinerant by nature, and they travel far and wide. They easily adopt the lifestyle of their host community in order to belong and indigenise. They wouldn’t like to be seen as foreigners so that their host will be docile to them and accommodate them without much ado and harm. In order for one to profit from any given society, one needs not be in hostility with his host; otherwise, it would be counterproductive and won’t augur well for the visitor, in which case is an Igbo man. This makes the Igbo man to easily lose his Identity to that of his host, and, whenever he goes home to Igbo Homeland, he travels with it. Igbo copy a lot in order to make both ends meet and to survive.

Culture is a variable tool towards redirecting the minds of the Igbo youths. Igbo are republican in nature, and it is part of our culture. Nzuko Umunna na Umunne among the Igbo is as old as man. Therefore, Nzuko Umunna na Umunne. Nzuko Ogbe na nke Obodo has a lot to do towards building better youths of tomorrow and a better society tomorrow.

Some critics say the Igbo are incapable of producing the next Nigerian president because everybody would likely come out to run, is there a compelling case for Igbo Presidency?

One cannot be politically correct without being culturally correct, too. This is because politics is sharing of values, and these values are products of culture. If one is culturally sound, he will be politically sound, too. Both of them are children of the same parents. One cannot live or survive without the other. Therefore, it follows that if you want to exterminate a people, first of all deal with their culture, and, if their culture is dead, the people are politically dead, too. It is culture that awakens the politics, without which politics is dead. How can Igbos speak with one voice and go one direction?

In Igbo land today, our culture is competing for supremacy, and no one agrees with each other. Nri/Eri is saying that they are the head of Igbo culture and their culture is supreme.

Even among them, Agu Ukwu Nri, Enugwu Ukwu and Agulueri are saying that they are the head of Umunri. Even in Nri Eri hegemony, there is a supremacy issue.

Arochukwu Oke Igbo is saying that they are the ancestral land of all Igbo and that their culture is supreme. Yes, the Aros are united under Arochukwu as its head.

Moreover, Igboukwu is saying that they are the origin of Igbo. They have their archaeological sites and other cultural materials to prove it like Nze na Ozo, ancient Igbo market, and their name says a lot on it being the ancestral land of all Igbo.

Then the Amaigbo in Imo State is also claiming to be the ancestral land of Igbo, using the fame of King Jaja of Opobo who, incidentally, is a slave from Amaigbo in Imo State. It was this and others that made the colonial masters in 1925 to appoint The HP Mathew Commission to study all the Igbo culture available to them and see which culture is central and could be used to galvanise all the Igbo into one. By 1926, HP Matthew submitted its report without recommending one, and there the matter ended. Arochukwu thought that they would be appointed, but it eluded them. While other similar commissions in the north and west made recommendations, the one of the southeast couldn’t recommend any of the cultures, and that is our problem till date. It is now to your tent oh Israel, and every culture is on its own!

Yes, Arochukwu contributed a lot in Igbo race, especially military culture. Nri Eri contributed a lot in theocracy and divinity, while Igboukwu contributed a lot in trade and commerce. Who will call the Igbo together is very hard. Igbo will be together again the day Nri Eri, Arochukwu, Amaigbo, Okotu and Igboukwu will be together under one umbrella na ofu nzuko and agree to work together, respecting each other’s contributions in the making of Igbo race.

We all know our ancestors and their routes, only that ego has blinded our eyes, but the reality is there. Each of these cultures has something to say about Igbo, and the majority of these cultures are in Anambra State. So let’s come together and agree to work together.

Arewa has a clearing House in the Sultan of Sokoto and Emir of Kano, while Yoruba have their clearing House in the Ooni of Ife and Olubadan of Ibadan. The South-south has the Oba of Bini and Obong of Calabar. What stops the Igbo from having their own clearing house which could be Igboukwu and Arochukwu or Nri Eri and Amaigbo? The Sun Newspaper can even organise a conference for these cultures and work to bring them together.

Once these communities unite, na ofu nzuko, and harmonise themselves, things will work for the Igbo, and we will be politically correct again. North obeys Arewa, while Yoruba obey Afenifere. Do the Igbo obey Ohaneze? Your guess is as good as mine. There is hope for the Igbo. Let’s unite culturally, and every other thing will follow, including politics and its interests.

Igbo presidency is possible, but will the Igbo allow the person to succeed? That’s another issue. You see when we got the President of the Senate all the south eastern states tasted it, because we had no clearing House, and those who had cleared for us. The Hausa had as well as Yoruba. If the clearing house rejects your Senate Presidency, the occupier will be impeached, and so on.

The Ohanaeze is trying it’s best to be the clearing house but politics cannot give birth to culture because it is culture that gives birth to politics. It is a man who impregnates a lady, not a lady impregnating a man. There is hope for us the day the ancestors of these cultures will decide to come together under one umbrella, the politics will be given birth, and nobody can kill it or quench its fire, because it will rage widely and fiercely. Until then, we keep our hands crossed, waiting in joyful hope on time.

Igbo Landing Legacy To Get Historical Recognition On Island

 

The Coastal Georgia Historical Society

BY LARRY HOBBS

THE BRUNSWICK NEWS

An African-American legend grounded in fact tells how members of the Igbo tribe drowned themselves in the inland waters off St. Simons Island more than two centuries ago rather than face a life of enslavement.

This tale of redemption in the face of bondage survived in the oral tradition for generations before historians lent it credence, but soon the Igbo Landing legacy will hold a place of permanence on St. Simons Island.

The Coastal Georgia Historical Society announced this week that a roadside marker will go up to commemorate that historic moment in 1803 near Dunbar Creek.

The Georgia Historical Society marker will go up near the intersection of Frederica Road and Sea Island Causeway at the Old Stables Corner lot preserved by the St. Simons Land Trust.

The marker came about through the efforts of high school students from Glynn Academy’s Ethnology Club, according to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. Intrigued by Igbo (pronounced Ebo) Landing’s enduring legacy of freedom at all costs, the Glynn Academy students researched the tale’s history and applied to the state historical society for the marker.

Numerous historical markers line the island’s roadways, marking everything from the 1742 Battle of Gullyhole Creek to the military trail that is now Demere Road.

“We’re proud that the students of Glynn Academy chose to apply for a historical marker and that they chose such an important event in history to highlight,” said Sandy White, education director for the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. “The club’s detailed research and well written application that accurately reflected the written record and the cultural traditions of the Gullah Geechee peoples led to a successful outcome, including a matching grant of $2,500 from the Georgia Historical Society.”

In May 1803, captured members from the Igbo tribe in present-day Nigeria were bound from Savannah to St. Simons Island aboard the Morovia for a life of enslavement. They revolted, and three crewmen of the ship went overboard to their deaths.

The Morovia came ashore somewhere near Dunbar Creek. There, it is said, anywhere from 10 to 13 members of the tribe walked in chains as one into the water and drowned themselves rather than face a life of slavery.

Roswell King, a white overseer at the Butler Plantation, told of witnessing the tribal members as they “took to the swamp” and drowned, according to New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Retold in African American communities throughout the region for generations, the sacrifice for freedom became a tale of salvation over death. As tradition holds, they walked into the water chanting, “The water spirit brought us, the water spirit will take us home.”

In other retellings of Igbo Landing, their souls took flight and returned home.

Many scholars point to Igbo Landing as the historical source for the “Flying African” stories, mystical tales of human flight that represented rising above brutal oppression and bondage.

Traditionally, African Americans recognize the event as taking place on Dunbar Creek near privately-held land on Atlantic Avenue. The Old Stables location provided a more public location for the marker.

In July 2017, Igbo tribal leaders from Atlanta to Nigeria gathered on the banks of Dunbar Creek at the Atlantic Avenue site for a ceremony to consecrate the grounds and break bread with old family members.

“It is with great elation and gratitude that the entire Igbo community worldwide receives the news of the announcement of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society that it will recognize the brave, courageous and ultimate sacrifice of our Igbo ancestors,” said Bobby Aniekwu, an Atlanta area attorney and Igbo chieftain. “The courageous action of those brave Igbo ancestors is now generally recognized as the first documented slavery resistance in United States.”

Amy Roberts, executive director of the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition, also took part in that ceremony. She has long championed public recognition for Igbo Landing, a story revered within the coastal Gullah Geechee community.

“We’re excited to be a part of the Igbo Landing marker,” Roberts said.

The marker’s message is being drafted by the Georgia Historical Society with assistance and oversight from the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society and Glynn Academy’s Ethnology Club. The marker will be sent to a foundry for casting.

“We had never done this before so we were learning as we went along,” said Glynn Academy senior and Ethnology Club President Rachael Walters. “I am so happy the club is part of the first marker application in Glynn Academy history.”

Igbo Can't Be President

 Former Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuka has picked holes on the power rotation principle of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), saying it was designed to keep the Igbo out of power. Chukwuka, a medical doctor and politician of note, who is now based in the United States of America, also spoke on his political antecedents among other issues.

 

BY CHIDI NNADI

SUN NEWS ONLINE AUGUST 31, 2011

Political Tutelage:

When General Ibrahim Babangida dissolved the 13 political parties formed then, and established the National Republican Convention(NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), being a progressive, I quickly registered in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), where I contested and won the state publicity secretary of the SDP in the old Anambra State. Discharging that position with dexterity and unparallel amiability, I became popular with all governments and served in various capacities both in political parties and the government of my state.

At the Jos convention that produced the late Chief MKO Abiola, I won the post of Assistant National Publicity Secretary, but when the convention was cancelled and the re-run election ordered at Abuja Sheraton Hotel, I lost that opportunity to national limelight to the political organogram of the late Alhaji Shehu Yar’Adua. Not deterred by this, I went back to Anambra State, and was later appointed by Dr. Ezeife as cabinet consultant on Health Matters.

Later Colonel Mike Attah appointed me the director general of Bureau of Information and Culture; then Dr. Mbadinuju as Special Adviser on Lands, Survey and Urban Planning, Media and Publicity and Managing Director of ANSEPA. Later, the then President, Chief Obasanjo appointed me the Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA) when Professor Jerry Gana was the supervising minister. Finally, I worked with Dr. Chris Ngige as Senior Special Assistant on Mobilization and State Orientation.


Passion For Politics;

Regrettably, politics has not at all times presented a bed of roses for me. My worst period in politics was when I was dropped as the DG of NOA in Abuja. No sooner was I appointed to the job of orientation than that appointment was lost in a mysterious circumstance which till today remains inexplicable to me. All I know was that my Personal Assistant continued to warn me to hide my intelligence, that Abuja politics is not Anambra politics. Of course, I ignored him to my own detriment.

Yes, Abuja politics is dirty. If you are smart, you will be schemed out of the system. They need idiots, half-baked fools, embryonic politicians that are initiative barren. They hate those who are inherently endowed with visions and dreams to move this nation forward. This is the political quagmire that has for many years stagnated the progress of this nation. Realizing that the orientator has to be orientated in Abuja politics, my PA bought me a book called “The 48 Laws of Power”, which opened my eyes to the fact that my intelligence will soon have a negative impact and cause me to lose my job.

Categorically, he opined that if he was the president of the country, and witnessed what I did at the podium, he would simply drop whoever was the Minister of Information and immediately appoint me in his place. All my pleas to him to take it easy with me fell on deaf ears. He promised to call my minister to remove me as I was after his job. Surprisingly, two days after that encounter, I lost my job in the most mysterious circumstance. No reason was given. That is Abuja politics and I do not regret the impact I made as DG of NOA. If you go to NOA today, I am well respected. My stay in office was barely a year, but the impact was reverberating and the echo and ripple effect were felt in all nooks and crannies of this nation.

So, At What Point Did You Leave The Country And Why?

Since Dr. Ngige lost his governorship seat in the court in 2006, I travelled to America to study their system, and also disappear from the scene. Having worked in their hospitals, taught in their nursing schools and taught mathematics in their higher schools, I have come to the conclusion that Nigeria is a country endowed with individuals with high acumen. Our children are by far more intelligent than an average American child in secondary school.

Unfortunately, the country is still dangerously verged on a perilous pathway heading to absolute collapse and decay, if something is not done soon. In 2010, I visited my country from USA where I boasted that Nigeria has more agreeable, sagacious and astute politicians who can’t compromise on issues of nation building than the GOP and Democrats in America. But the level of infrastructural deterioration and decay in almost all sectors of the nation is not only humiliating, but an outrageous insensibility on the part of the government to the plights of the common man of this nation that voted them into power.

Impressions About "Nigeria";

Let me begin with the road infrastructure. From Shagamu to Benin, Lagos to Ibadan, Enugu to Abuja, Enugu to Onitsha, Enugu to Port-Harcourt, Enugu to Nsukka, Ore to Ondo to Ife to Ibadan, the roads have been ignored by successive governments of this nation is not only criminal, but wicked. I wonder what is in resurfacing a road. Billions of taxpayers’ money are every year appropriated for these roads and yet nothing tangible is done. It is indeed shameful for anyone to call himself a senator or member of House of Representatives, or president, or governor in this nation when these roads are crying and begging for reconstruction. Obviously, our highways have posed terrible nightmares to commuters and road carnages have assumed an unprecedented dimension in the history of this nation. Consequently, I make bold to suggest that all senators, governors and presidents of this nation should as a matter of criminal negligence to their duties resign their positions if they cannot cater for the people and provide adequate amenities for the citizenry.

When Chief Obasanjo came to power he promised that power outage will be a thing of the past within six months of his being in office. Eight years later, he left the country in a comatose state. Power outage became worse than before. As a matter of fact, no nation can develop technologically when electric supply is not predictable. No industries can be sited or built in this nation when power is on and off. The use of computers for global networking and indeed information processing cannot prosper in a paralyzed energy sector.

Today, Nigeria has the most backward police force the world over. Created to control crime and protect the citizens, our police force unlike what I saw in America, is a caricature of crime control mechanics. With shameful roadblocks mounted here and there, sometimes in every kilometer, the police have reduced their status to mere illegal tollgate collectors, and yet everyone ignores this corruptive tendency. As a matter of fact, the road blocks have achieved nothing in crime control.

The Police Force in this nation is begging for reorganization and should be made lucrative. Government should abolish police barracks and allow police to live in neighborhoods for ease of busting and controlling crime. Since the roads are bad and may not be repaired anytime soon, police should now use power bikes to control crime. They should patrol rather than mount road blocks to collect illegal tolls and cause untold hardship to road users. Government should pay police salaries that are commensurate to the job of crime control and the risk involved. This is common sense. Give the police the necessary equipment and tools to perform their duties and reap the imponderable benefits. We can do it. Yes we can, if we have the will and zeal.

Igbo President Project In 2015:

The Igbo are finished politically in this nation. It will be difficult in the present political dispensation for an Igbo man to be the president of this country. The present political computation and permutation as arranged by Chief Obasanjo of the PDP does not favour the Igbo who have been marginalized by Obasanjo’s crafty political equation of South South plus South West plus North Central plus North West equal to a win-win for him. That is why in the PDP National Working Committee, no Igbo man is even appointed a sweeper or a messenger. However, all hope is not lost since the Igbo man is as incompressible as water. We surely will rebound at the appropriate time. We have the capacity, capabilities, ingenuity, sagacity and political maneuver to scale this political man-made hurdle and reintegrate ourselves into the national political stream. We refuse to be condemned and confined to the present political incarceration. Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo should wake up and lead appropriately.

Nigeria’s Northern Elders Forum: Keeping The Igbo Is Not Worth A Civil War

BY JOHN CAMPBELL

On June 9, following a closed-door meeting, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) issued a public statement that the Igbo-dominated southeast should be allowed to secede from the Federal Republic of Nigeria if it was necessary to avoid a civil war. NEF spokesman Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said “the Forum has arrived at the difficult conclusion that if support for secession among the Igbo is as widespread as it is being made to look, and Igbo leadership appears to be in support of it, then the country should be advised not to stand in the way.” His statement continued that secession was not in the best interest of the Igbos or of Nigerians. Rather, all should work to rebuild Nigeria. But, blocking secession “will not help a country already burdened with failures on its knees to fight another war to keep the Igbo in Nigeria.” The statement also suggested that northerners subject to harassment in the southeast should return to the north. There was no reference to secessionist sentiment in Yorubaland, in southwest Nigeria, to which former President Olusegun Obasanjo has referred. The former president said that Yoruba secession, too, would be unwise, but that maintaining unity should not come “at any cost.”

Though there is no specific reference to it, clearly animating the NEF statement is the memory of Nigeria’s 1967-70 civil war, successfully fought by Nigerian nationalists to keep Igbo-dominated Biafra in the federation; it left up to two million dead. It, too, involved massive population movements, with Igbos fleeing to the south a northern pogrom and fewer northerners leaving the southeast. In the civil war, northern elites strongly supported the nationalists. Current Igbo disgruntlement has its roots in defeat in the civil war and the belief that they are marginalized from the upper reaches of the Nigerian state. (There has never been an Igbo president of Nigeria.) Such feelings of marginalization are exacerbated by Nigeria’s nationwide epidemic of violence and economic malaise. The NEF, for its part, has responded to rising insecurity in Nigeria by calling for President Buhari to resign or to be impeached. Resignation or impeachment is a reversal of the NEF’s support of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential candidacy in 2015.

It should be noted that the NEF statement in support of allowing secession had two caveats: that there be widespread support for it among the Igbo but also among their “leadership” (not further defined). While secessionist advocates will argue to the contrary, prima facie evidence for both either way is thin.

Do the views of the NEF matter? How representative is it of northern elite opinion? Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media Femi Adesina responded to its June 9 statement by dismissing the NEF as “a mere irritant” that hardly exists beyond its convener, Ango Abdullahi—a distinguished, former vice chancellor (president) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. According to Adesina, the former vice chancellor is a general with no troops. Indeed, the influence of the NEF is hard to judge. But, its public statements attract widespread media attention. As with former President Obasanjo’s comments on Yoruba separatism, at the very least the NEF statements is an indication that rising insecurity is leading at least some of Nigeria’s elites to rethink the basis of the Nigerian state—and of the consequences of its civil war.

JuneTeenth and the American Civil War

 

Clea Hollis. Image via Tribune-Democrat

BY CLEA HOLLIS

Juneteenth, June 19, has been called Freedom Day, Emancipation Day and Black Independence Day. The significance of the different titles for the same holiday could be unraveled in the history of the American Civil War.

The title, Emancipation Day is associated with President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, issued as a document to free American slaves.

However, that document was a misnomer, because all slaves were not freed. Only 11 southern states, that upheld the practice of slave owners, were part of the Confederate Army.

Other southern states not included in the confederation were exempt from freeing their slaves.

Therefore, the Emancipation Proclamation freed 3 million Confederate slaves and excluded slaves in other states.

With the slow horseback express media of 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered to Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1885.

During the delivery time – two years and six months – Texas slaves were not emancipated, until Major General Gordan Granger’s enforcement.

General orders No. 3, headquarters district of Texas, June 19, 1865: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance and with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves all absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

“The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.” – By order of Major General Granger.

For solidarity, African Americans have chosen to acknowledge Juneteenth as Emancipation Day. Juneteenth was first celebrated as a state holiday in 1980 in Texas. Gov. Tom Wolf officially legislated Juneteenth as a Pennsylvania state holiday in 2019.

Forty-six states now celebrate Juneteenth.

The Spanish introduced slavery to the colonies in the early 16th Century. The subjects were probably captured, mostly from the Igbo Kingdom. A small group of about 20 Africans was brought to the colonies as indentured slaves and could earn their freedom. However, with the arrival of the 17th century, slaves had become property.

Therefore, when the founding fathers wrote, “all men are created equal,” they did not include women or slaves.

The 1800 census tabulated 893,600 slaves; however, by 1860, the census recorded 3.9 million slaves.

Slavery was adopted by taking advantage of people of color, with many different languages, from different cultures, who could not communicate with each other. To control the slaves the masters forbade them to learn to read or write.

Therefore, despite the restriction, many slaves were brave and intelligent to overcome barriers shaking the chains of slavery.

During my grade school, high school education, and even college, examples of African Americans being intellectually inferior and not expected to compete in the classroom after they were given the “privilege” to attend school have generated unconscious bias about the descendants of slaves.

However. research today identifies the descendants of the Igbo Tribe from Nigeria, as one of the most intelligent groups who are living among us in Johnstown and the United States.

The Igbo villages were raided and the people were captured and put on slave ships, mostly to America. During the Atlantic slave trade, between 1650 and 1900, 1.4 million slaves were shipped to America, from the Bight of Biafra Kingdom. An estimated 60% of Black Americans can be linked to the Igbo Kingdom.

The National Juneteenth Observation Foundation creates upgraded curricula for schools to present an accurate presentation of slavery and the achievements of Black Americans.

The Johnstown Branch, NAACP will celebrate Juneteenth with a week-long celebration, of activities in downtown Johnstown. The celebration is open to the Johnstown community June 12-19.

Alan Cashaw, president of the Johnstown Branch, NAACP announced the theme of 2021 Juneteenth as “Get Right Ready.” Jim Crow, policies of segregation, discrimination and exclusion post-slavery, have systemically caused the Black population of the U.S. not to advance themselves in this society. Systemic racism has impeded wealth building, education, health care, religious freedom, employment – business ownership – equal protection under the law and access to voting.

The shackles of slavery will forever be a weighted tragedy in the hearts of people of color. As we celebrate 2021 Juneteenth, let us go forth as a community appreciating all citizens.

Clea P. Hollis is secretary of African American Heritage Society Inc.

Clea P. Hollis is secretary of African American Heritage Society Inc.

SOURCE: THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT

Ohaneze, IPOB Reconcile, Agrees To Work Together

Nnamdi Kanu and John Nia Nwodo. Image via Youtube

BY JOE CHUKINDI
Pan Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo and the separatist Igbo group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have mended fences, with a promise to work together for the common good of Igbo people.

Both groups met on Tuesday at the home of the First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazuluike Amechi in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

Both groups have been at daggers drawn in recent times, with the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu calling on his members to attack the leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Nnia Nwodo, anywhere he is seen.

But Amechi who met with the group described the rivalry as unnecessary as they were both working for the good of Igbo people.


“I summoned the two bodies to express my displeasure with what I have been reading in the newspapers about Kanu giving orders for the stoning of Chief Nwodo.

“I’m happy that even before this peace meeting, Kanu has retracted the statement. We, therefore, appeal to Nwodo to accept the retraction and get it off his mind as IPOB has agreed to work with them.

“The two bodies must realize that it is the same battle they are fighting, which is marginalization, killings and denial of the Federal Government to develop South East and Igbo land in general.

IPOB, represented by Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to Nnamdi Kanu said he was at the meeting with the blessings and instructions of his client, just as he thanked Amaechi who he said was not a stranger to what he was doing having been once declared a terrorist.

Also, speaking on behalf of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Anambra State President of the body, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, said the body endorsed all that was contained in the communique.

He said, “Those who thought our fences are fallen will know that the fences are much stronger than they thought.”

Trailblazing As A Brown Girl At Brown University

Ugoji Nwanaji-Enwerem image via Brown Daily Herald

BY UGOJI NWANAJI-ENWEREM

I remember being wide-eyed and nervous. My stomach was in knots, yet my heart was warm and full of anticipation. My parents and I had decided to take a road trip from my home in North Carolina to Providence, Rhode Island for my college move-in. At the time, I was 17 years old, and I knew that this 785-mile journey was going to be life changing. I can still remember the traditional Nigerian music that my dad played from artists like Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and the Oriental Brothers International Band. I began to wonder how so many of my norms, such as listening and jamming aloud to Nigerian music and speaking Igbo — my native language — would be viewed as “not so normal” with my transition into college. For this reason, the music we played during that car ride still resonates in my ears today whenever I think about my journey to move into Brown.

When I arrived on campus, I participated in the pre-orientation program Excellence at Brown. While doing research for one of the program’s writing assignments, I found the following quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Emerson’s words served as a guiding mantra for my next four years as an undergraduate student. As a first-generation Nigerian American concentrator in STEM, I recognized quite early in my journey that my identity at this Ivy League institution, already fulfilled the notion of forging a new path on College Hill. I can recall being in many spaces, such as my organic chemistry lectures or my research assistantships, where I was one of few — if not the only — faces of color in these spaces.

Despite the loneliness I felt in certain spaces at Brown, I found community through organizations such as the Modern African Dance Club, a collective that curates and performs dance pieces in public spaces to Nigerian music. These groups allowed me to raise awareness of and remain connected to my heritage while I pursued my biology concentration and scientific research. In doing so, I established a trail tailored to my identity at Brown. In addition, I contributed to a collective effort and a historic, ongoing story of students creating spaces for themselves and their culture on campus. By creating this space, we became trailblazers. As I approach my own graduation, I have come to appreciate all of the “not so normal” aspects of my life. The parts of our stories that appear rare at Brown create diversity, texture and beauty to who we are and to the world.

To me, trailblazing is an art form. It is how we discover paths to thrive in new spaces where only wilderness existed before. As we journey forward, we often have to move aside branches, or trim them back. We tramp down and push aside long grasses, we venture across rivers and streams and explore inner and outer landscapes. The uniqueness and diversity of all of our identities create room for us all to be trailblazers, which to me is a defining hallmark and strength of the class of 2020.

Each year I spent at Brown was full of unexpected surprises, but my senior year was particularly unconventional. I always viewed the moment of receiving my degree as a foreseen destination. But no one could have predicted the moment unfolding in such an unexpected climate, like a global pandemic. With the arrival of COVID-19, we cannot take the final steps of walking through the Van Wickle Gates and across the stage, shaking hands and exchanging hugs with our professors and loved ones in the May heat. Instead, our degrees will be mailed to our doorsteps. But this does not take away from the triumphs and progress we’ve accomplished throughout our time on campus, nor does this erase the beauty and completeness of the trails we forged at Brown.

----------------BROWN DAILY HERALD

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.