|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Notwithstanding the sustained agitation for the actualisation of an independent state of Biafra – by the Ralph Uwazuruike’s Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and, recently, Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) – many Igbo people have never been at a loss as to where their bread is truly buttered.
Prominent Igbo political, intellectual and business elite, though they agree that the present structure of the country provides justifiable grounds for the agitation, have remained emphatic in their submission that the Igbo would fare better in a properly restructured Nigerian federation. They have, therefore, continued to demand a new structure where each state or region will be relatively autonomous with powers to largely develop and control its resources.
Ozichukwu Chukwu, a chieftain of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former national vice chairman (South-East) of the party, while explaining that historically the Igbo have always been committed to the concept of one Nigeria, said it was not a matter of choice between Biafra and a restructured Nigeria, adding, “There is simply no escape from restructuring for now.”
“Anyone who is conversant with the history of this country will realize that even in the 1950s when Chief Obafemi Awolowo proposed that secession should be included as part of the constitution and was also supported by Sir Ahmadu Bello, it was Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who insisted that Nigeria should remain one united and indivisible entity,” Chukwu said in a telephone chat with BDSUNDAY on Wednesday.
Whatever happened during the civil war, he said, happened because the Igbo were being forced out for a crime they neither contemplated nor committed; it was the pogrom that forced the Igbo to withdraw themselves in order to secure their lives and property.
To demonstrate their dedication and commitment to one Nigeria, Chukwu said the Igbo immediately after the war did not resort to guerrilla warfare or anything reprisals, not because they did not have the capacity but because they did not have the incentive.
“Because of their love for one Nigeria, they took everything in their stride, forgave everybody and everything and went back trying to build a one united Nigeria. So whatever that has happened is a consequence of the daily experiences of not being wanted, but it is not the design of the Igbo. The Igbo are everywhere; they are more committed to one Nigeria that any other ethnic nationality,” he said.
“MASSOB and IPOB are products of experiences. The young men don’t seem to find accommodation and don’t seem to have any explanation as to what has been happening to them and around them. So they are seeking explanation and until and unless something rational is brought forward, everyone will be at a crossroads,” he said.
Grounds for agitation
Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, a renowned industrialist, in an article in BusinessDay last Tuesday highlighted the numerous ways in which marginalisation of the South-East region manifests itself.
These according to him, include that out of the six geo-political zones in the country, the South-East has the least number of states (five) whereas others have six states each with the North-West having seven states.
“What that means is that the South-East receives the least amount of allocation from the Federation Account and, therefore, has the least share of national resources. This anomaly has been recognized by the 2005 and the 2014 National Conferences which in their desire to correct this marginalization recommended an additional state for the South-East to bring it in line with most of the other zones that have six states,” Ohuabunwa said in the article entitled “Marginalization of the South-East is much more than just ‘appoint me’”.
In addition, he said, the South-East has the lowest number of local government areas in the country. Whereas the North-West has 186, South-West 137, South-South 125, North-East 113, and North-Central 112, the South-East has only 95 LGAs, which is about half of the number of LGAs in the North-West, in a system where national resources are allocated to LGAs directly.
Other areas of marginalisation, according to Ohuabunwa, include that the South-East has the least representation in elected and appointed political offices; poor representation in the federal public service; non-representation in the National Security Council; unbearably poor state of federal roads; shuttering or abandonment of the gateways to the South-East – seaports, inland ports, international airports, dry ports – by official policy; exclusion from the modern railway infrastructure; discrimination against the youths of the region in school admission; refusal to reconstruct the South-East, among others.
“We have the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to deal with ravages of oil exploration in the Niger Delta and to reverse the long neglect of the region and rightly added the Ministry of Niger Delta. Recently, we have created the North-East Development Agency to help rebuild the North-East following the ravages of the Boko Haram insurgency. But since the Nigerian civil war ended with all the destruction that took place in the South-East, no development agency has been created. Even the recent effort by the South-East legislators to create a South-East Economic Development Agency that will not even be funded by the Federal Government was thrown out in the House of Representatives,” he said.
But despite these clear cases of marginalisation, some of which he said may be present in other zones to some degree or the other, Ohuabunwa suggests that the best thing for the country would be for its leaders to focus on how to remove these acts of marginalisation through fundamental constitutional reviews or preferably the writing of a new one.
‘Ndigbo will fare better in a united Nigeria’
In the wake of the quit notice by youths of Northern Nigeria to Igbo people living in all parts of the North, which came basically as a reaction to the successful sit-at-home protest observed in the South-East on May 30, and the tension it generated, many prominent Igbo personalities had argued that what Ndigbo needed was not an independent Biafra but a better deal – equity, justice and fairness – in a restructured Nigeria.
Owing to their widespread and far-reaching commercial and other business activities, many are of the view that the South-East region would be too small for the Igbo, whereas the Nigerian space and population provide ample market.
Chidi Amuta, chairman and CEO, Wilson & Weizmann Associates Ltd, said it was not in the best interest of the Igbo to play a brand of politics that marks them out and makes them easy targets, such as agitating for Biafra. Rather, the Igbo, whose enterprising spirit is legendary, should grab with both hands the leverage Nigeria’s large populations affords.
“The correct strategy now for the Igbo, and this is what I think, is to loose ourselves in the larger Nigerian federation because the Nigerian federation is good for business; it’s a large market and if you are an entrepreneur you need a large market,” said Amuta, who is also a former director of the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) in the old Imo State.
“Why is it that Japan is not growing at the same rate or growing faster than China? It’s because of population. The Chinese are so many that even if they concentrated on their domestic market alone, they will still be the second most powerful economy in the world. So, Nigeria has that population and it is given to us on a platter of gold and we happen to be the most entrepreneurial; let’s not spoil it by talking about Biafra because Biafra marks you out, both territorially and geographically, and it is easy to target you. We don’t want a repeat of the civil war. There is no group in history that has survived two genocides or two civil wars that they didn’t prepare for,” he said in a July 2016 interview with BDSUNDAY.
Amuta said since the Igbo desire to create wealth out of the Nigerian totality, the best and only way was to loose themselves within the Nigerian large market; lose their identity but penetrate and take hold.
“Once you do that, you have all the ingredients, and then you become indispensable in the future politics and economy of Nigeria so we can easily migrate from visible to invisible business, investment in the stock market, in insurance, the media and so and so forth. Some of this has been lost on our people,” he said.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, at a closed-door meeting of South-East leaders held in Enugu onJuly 2 to douse the tension created by the quit order given to the Igbo living in the North by an agglomeration of Northern youth groups, said that having invested across the country, the best option for the Igbo was “a restructured federation”.
“Ndigbo need a bigger space to operate. In fact, Nigeria as a country is even a small space for the enterprising spirit of the Igbo, hence our people are scattered all over Africa and are capable of dominating the economic space,” Ekweremadu said.
He suggested that rather than talk about Biafra, the Igbo should continue to harp on restructuring which is currently enjoying acceptance by the South-south, South-west, North-central, and well-meaning people from other parts of the North.
Governor Willie Obiano, in an address in January 2015 in Awka, Anambra State capital, said despite bearing the brunt of most attacks in the country, the Igbo were still better off in one united and indivisible Nigeria.
“Our natural disposition to seek wealth-creating opportunities in known and unknown places across the world and support the local economy with our famed energy has made us imminent targets of conflicts that we had no hand in fomenting,” Obiano said in the address titled ‘Ozoemezina, Memory and the Quest for Igbo Renaissance’ presented during the ‘formal’ funeral ceremony of victims of Nigeria Civil War, World War and riots in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
“In my inaugural address, I informed Ndigbo that the time had come for us to climb over the recriminations of the past and build new bridges of understanding across Nigeria. I argued that if our ancestors sacrificed so much to create Nigeria, we must not sacrifice any less to rebuild this country. I also re-emphasised my belief that our future as a people is better guaranteed in a united, indivisible Nigeria,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Monday Onyekachi Ubani, chairman, The Igbo Conscience (TIC), said in a statement on behalf of the group that “Ndigbo are better off and will do better in a united and prosperous Nigeria”.
Stating that the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and his followers do not have the mandate of the Igbo people and appear to be tools in the hands of failed politicians, Ubani described their agitation for Biafra as “dubious”, “fraudulent”, “selfish and does not command the support of most Igbo”, “a non-event, inconsequential, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
“It is beyond doubt that a bulk of Igbo investment is domiciled outside the so-called Biafra; it is certain that more Igbo live outside the so-called Biafra and it is beyond doubt that these senseless agitators and their sponsors are exposing both the massive Igbo properties, wealth and majority of Igbo people to danger by the present politically-induced, needless agitation. TIC believes that Nigeria provides a big space for Igbo to thrive. When you have an Atlantic Ocean to swim in, you do not need a pond in Okigwe to do the same,” he said.
Prominent Igbo personalities gathered at the launch of ‘The Audacity of Power and the Nigeria Presidency – Exclusion of the South East in Nigeria’s Power Politics and the Spectre of Biafra’, a book by Godwin Ifeanyi Udibe and Law Mefor, in Abuja last April also agreed that what the Igbo needed was the restructuring of the Nigerian State to pave way for each of the federating units to grow at their own pace.
“Our people stand to gain from restructuring rather than agitation. By July 6th, it would be 50 years we went to war. I participated in Biafra war. Some other places that didn’t go to war are not doing better than us. If you take a look at Abuja, particularly hotels, about two-thirds of them are owned by people of the South-East or the South in general,” said former Senate President Ken Nnamani.
“The Yoruba are talking about restructuring, not exiting the union. I am here to encourage our people that the idea of having our young ones who ought to be in the classrooms parade the streets, demonstrating and trying to kill themselves or get shot at, will not help us. The Igbo can still do it; we are known for our ingenuity, our industry…We have to be at the place where decisions are being made. Igbo are better off in Nigeria if there is restructuring and we are not afraid to compete. We are asking for a level playing field and we are prepared to compete. This is better than agitation. Go and read and get good certificates,” he said at the book launch.
Voice of dissent
But Elvis Agukwe, a former Commissioner of Information in Imo State, disagreed with Nnamani, asking what had become of the education of the Igbo people in the political power game.
“We must continue to agitate, for if the North is using Boko Haram to press home their interest, we will use agitation to press for power. Despite the level of our education, we have been left empty-handed,” Agukwe said.
‘On restructuring we stand’
George Obiozor, a former Nigerian ambassador to the United States of America, had said in May that though majority of the Igbo may prefer a united Nigeria, they do not wish for unity of slaves and masters.
At the “Big Ideas Podium” held at the African Heritage Institute, Enugu, Obiozor asked the Federal Government to heed the clamour for restructuring of the country to guarantee the rights of all the citizens regardless of ethnic, regional or religious affiliation so as to prevent eventual breakup.
“It is clear that unless the leaders learn the lesson of history and act soon, the call for restructuring will be followed by calls for national referendum (on the way forward). Indeed, the referendum option is already here with us and looms high as national and international agenda to settle the Nigeria national question,” he said.
“And those who think they can stop it must take a second look at the present international system. All over, the world is rejecting unity without justice and peace without justice. I know for instance that majority of Igbo prefer a united Nigeria but not unity of slaves and masters and also want peace but not peace of the graveyard. Nigeria is in jeopardy but the problems are not insurmountable,” he added.
Recall that in a closed-door meeting on July 2, leaders of the South-East zone, including governors, National Assembly members and leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had restated the zone’s commitment to a united Nigeria and formally declared their support for the restructuring of the country on the basis of fairness and equality.
In a seven-point communiqué read by David Umahi, Ebonyi State governor and chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum, the Igbo leaders called on the Federal Government and all Nigerian leaders to immediately commence a process of dialogue among Nigerians on the modalities of restructuring the country within a reasonable timeframe.
They also threw their weight behind the report of the 2014 National Conference and asked the Federal Government to set up structures that will enable its implementation within a reasonable time.
NASS rejects restructuring
But despite these unanimous declarations, the National Assembly on July 26 rejected the Bill seeking the devolution of powers that would have moved some items from the Exclusive List in the 1999 Constitution to the Concurrent List, which would have given more powers to the states. The Devolution of Powers Bill, which sought to alter the Second Schedule, Part I & II of the Constitution, was defeated with 48 no votes against 46 yes votes and one abstention.
This, for Ozichukwu Chukwu, is highly regrettable.
“The National Assembly, unfortunately, has misunderstood the signs and is not sensitive to the voices. They are simply speaking to themselves and listening to themselves,” Chukwu said.
He, however, expressed hope that the matter may be revisited by the National Assembly when the legislators return from recess.
“One is encouraged to hear that even within the National Assembly, words are filtering out that they are going to revisit the request for a restructured Nigeria. We simply have no choice but to restructure this country for joint dynamic co-evolution and peaceful co-existence,” he said.
Referendum or nothing
But just as Governor Umahi of Ebonyi State had earlier rejected both restructuring and Biafra on the grounds that his state was not yet ripe for any of them, MASSOB and IPOB have rejected restructuring, insisting that anything short of a referendum for the realisation of Biafra Republic would not be acceptable.
Uchenna Madu, leader of MASSOB, in a statement in Enugu said his group had insisted on several occasions that it was opposed to the restructuring of Nigeria because the foundation and intention of establishing Nigeria as a state do not favour restructuring.
“There is no shortcut to our aspirations of achieving Biafra sovereignty; we cannot support restructuring or Igbo presidency. We believe in outright self-determination for Biafra independence from this British yoke entity called Nigeria,” Madu said.
“A Biafra referendum is inevitable now that the Pro-Biafra groups have mutually and intimately formed a common ground and platform that is based on oneness, unity and general interest of Biafrans. We shall consistently, unrelentingly and continuously press and demand a referendum that will determine the fate and choice of the identity of the people of Biafra,” he said.
South-East in urgent need of development
While the calls for restructuring of the Nigerian federation continue to resonate, Amuta said there was also an urgent need for the South-East to look inward and see how to develop the region.
“Why haven’t we developed our homeland? We claim to be a special breed. If you look at the Jews, they are not more than five million. We have the Jews in the Diaspora all over the world, very influential and wealthy. They go out there and take the wealth and their knowhow back home; they created Israel as a showpiece. Israel is a small country, but in terms of military power, technology, intelligence and all, they are mighty and strong. That justifies the claim of the Jews as a special people,” he said in the interview with BDSUNDAY.
“So, I am saying, if we claim that we are special as the Igbo nation, how come we are the worst in terms of governance, in terms of infrastructure? Since 1999, do you know the quantum of money that has been allocated to the five states of the South-East from the federation account? And what do we have to show?” he added.
CHUKS OLUIGBO
