Toying With Igbo Destiny-A Reply To My Critics By C. Don Adinuba

Quite a number of Igbo elements have in the last few weeks taken umbrage at my article on the relationship between Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and the Igbo-speaking people, with some calling me on the phone to express their sentiments. So much heat, but little light.  It is a familiar path. A couple of years ago when I published an article in The Guardian on Sunday, in response to an opinion piece by Akin Osuntokun , I pointed out that much as Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s brilliance, foresight, hard work and management acumen were well established, the great politician was imbued with what Ali Mazrui would call a long memory of hate.
I cited the instance of Awolowo saying at a campaign rally in1979 that Samuel Akintola “deserved to die the way he did”, that is, at the hands of military coup plotters in January, 1966; Awolowo was to describe the erstwhile secretary general of his Action Group, Sam G. Ikoku, who had emerged the best student in both the undergraduate and post graduate programmes at the London School of Economics under the great Harold Laski and whose father, Alvan Ikoku, had obtained advanced degrees in philosophy from the University of London in the 1940s, as someone he “picked up from the gutter”, vowing that “SG will suffer for his ingratitude”. Following in  Awo’s footsteps, his political disciples were conspicuous by their absence at the funeral of Adeniran Ogunsanya, a political giant in his own right, simply because he was “omo ale” (bastard) for not joining the Awo group.  Rather than try to disprove my thesis, some self-styled Yoruba ultra nationalists chose to rain invective on me.
 
Shortly after, Reuben Abati, then The Guardian editorial board chair, wrote rather approvingly of the notion that that the Igbo penchant for domination in the military and elsewhere led to the January, 1966, coup d’etat.  I challenged the assertion, demonstrating with facts and logic that the Igbo conspicuous presence in the officer corps of the Nigerian army right from colonial days was based on merit. I observed that even in the very issue of The Guardian on Sunday where Abati wrote his column in question that out of three Nigerians honoured in London the preceding week for internationally acknowledged achievements two were Igbo, that is, 66% of the recipients, the very percentage of the Nigerian army officers corps of Igbo extraction as of 1966. Recalling the views of Mazrui, who is the most published African scholar, that the Igbo are the Jews of Africa, I noted that in sports and other fields where merit is the sole criterion the Igbo would always have what may be considered “a disproportionate share”. The Igbo reacted hilariously to the piece while the Yoruba denounced it.
 
Now, there is a reversal of roles. Igbo activists are not amused at my article showing that Governor Fashola has gone out of his way to integrate the Igbo in his state more than any governor in Nigeria’s history. But Yoruba internet warriors are delighted, circulating the article with gusto all over the place; some have gone overboard by changing the title from “Fashola and Ndigbo” to “Fashola and Igbo hypocrisy”.  I typically should be having a good laugh at human folly, but I am rather worried at the proclivity of educated Nigerians to remain in Francis Fukuyama’s “ primitive age of mankind”. Of particular concern is the growing inability of the present generation of the Igbo elite to demonstrate courage, fidelity to truth, acute knowledge and strategic thinking. Instead of leading from the front, they have chosen the convenient and cheap option of conformity and groupthink. They have allowed rabble rousers and politicians enthusiastic to manipulate primordial differences  and  capitalize on a culture of persecution complex to dictate the pace. But we must see the recent decision by the Lagos State government to relocate 14  Igbo destitute people to Anambra State as a wake-up call. We must learn from our recent history.
 
When the Great Zik of Africa returned from the United States in the 1940s with a string of degrees in diverse disciplines, he saw that the Igbo were lagging behind the Yoruba because Igboland is in the hinterland, far removed from the sea through which modernity came to our country. He did not induce in the Igbo a persecution or inferiority complex or demonise the Yoruba, but rather took far-sighted steps to make them leapfrog developmentally. He sent to the United States 9 promising Igbo young men, including K. O. Mbadiwe, Nwafor Orizu, Mbonu Ojike and Okechukwu Ikejiani, for further studies, and the “Argonauts”, in turn, sent their family members and relatives to the U.S.. This is the genesis of the Igbo dominance of the Nigerian community in the U.S. A gifted anthropologist, Zik recognized Igbo society thrives on village and town competition. He used the instrumentality of the Igbo State Union to promote the establishment of educational institutions by communities. Thus, “in one fantastic burst of energy”, as Chinua Achebe put it, “the Igbo wiped out their educational handicap”. By 1965, they had begun to compete with the Yoruba educationally. Meanwhile, Zik had recruited many village primary school teachers with a flair for writing and trained them as journalists on his West Africa Pilot. That’s how the Igbo came into journalism. Emmanuel Obiechina, the eminent professor of sociology of literature, did show in a compelling manner how this development led to the emergence of the first generation of intellectual novels and how the Igbo were in the forefront.
 
As Eastern Nigerian premier, Zik operated far the lowest budget in the country because palm produce, the region’s economic mainstay, was attracting much lower prices than cocoa and groundnut, which were the main revenue earners for the other two regions. Yet, he was able to establish the Eastern Nigerian Development Commission, able to set up Nigeria’s first indigenous bank, Nigeria’s first full-fledged university,  Nigeria’s first cement company, Nigeria’s first gas company, Nigeria’s first steel company, Nigeria’s first industrial estates in Enugu and Port Harcourt, etc. No wonder, Eastern Nigeria had the world’s fastest economy by 1966. But where are the Zik’s legacies today? It is a shame that instead of building on the Zik foundation so that the Southeast will no longer remain an economic wasteland, the Igbo elite, unconscionably manipulated by one or two politicians, have been satisfied to engage in excoriating criticism of Gov Fashola over the relocation of destitute Igbo persons in Lagos to Igboland. Some Igbo elements have, without any sense of embarrassment, demanded Fashola to bring back these individuals and rehabilitate them. Has  Igboland become such a dreaded place that even Igbo beggars from Lagos, whom some activists insist were Lagos street hawkers, cannot stay there and be rehabilitated by the various state ministries in charge of social welfare? Must Fashola perform all basic responsibilities, including ones expected of our governors?
 
 Why are we not worried about the present state of the industrial towns of Aba and Nnewi? Where is Onwuka Hi-Tek, for one? Ayo Teriba, the economist, reported a few days ago on inter-regional disparities in Nigeria: “Southeast and Northeast (ravaged by Boko Haram) not only had the  smallest economies in 2012, they also recorded the least  absolute and percentage growths”. Why are we not alarmed at this trend? Why are we not demanding accountability and solid performance from Southeast governors and legislators so that our homeland can regain its place of pride? Why have our elite been cold to the takeoff of the Southeast Economic Development Commission, for which Chris Okoye has for years been shouting himself hoarse? How did we come about the lazy thinking that uttering unflattering things about Fashola is the way to demonstrate Igbo nationalism? Frankly,  the low road which Igbo think tanks have taken since the brouhaha over the return of indigent Igbo elements in Lagos to their homeland is most graceless. The think tanks have been driven by emotion, and not reason. Nigerian intellectuals validate, through their utterances and actions, the notion in some quarters that educated  Africans often fail to think deeply. “Emotion is African, reason is Greek”, lamented Leopold Sedar Senghor, statesman, poet and negritude philosopher who led Senegal to independence in 1960.
 
Finally, I would like to repeat the kernel of the argument in my previous article. The relocation of destitute persons by the Lagos State government has nothing to do with their being Igbo. Removal of beggars from Lagos streets began no sooner than Fashola assumed office six years ago. And he began with urchins better known as area boys who are mostly indigenes of Lagos Island, his ancestral home. It is a component of the Lagos Megacity project. Under this project, thousands of northerners and Yoruba people have been relocated to their home states. About 80 were sent to Oyo State on November 19, 2009. Indeed, no governor compares with Fashola in demonstrating solidarity with the Igbo people. The evidence is overpowering.   
 
The Igbo elite have toyed with the Igbo destiny enough. This is the time to start the difficult but rewarding process of resuscitating  and modernizing the economy of the Igboland. All this hot air about the defence of Igbo dignity through sentimental and reckless showmanship in the media must now come to a close. This is not what Zik, Alex Ekwueme and other high-minded individuals taught us. Low road leads to perdition. The Igbo must save their homeland themselves.
 
Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

Hope they will listen and start demanding accountability and good governance from their leaders.

Great leaders always have a ruthless streak.
I will use Roosevelt as an example.
Roosevelt at one point, sents out us soldiers to defend workers right .
The same Roosevelt despite being a liberal ,did not think twice about carpet bombing German cities .
if a leader does not draw a line and make examples once in a while,
What You get nigeria .
An absolutely lawless place with everybody running their own show because the leaders are not fit for purpose .

I did my NYSC in the east and I can tell you that most of the governors are akala grade.
Onitsha and Aba are two cities punching below their weight.
I am actually surprise that the politicians are crying for a Niger bridge (which they can easily build themselves and toll to recover the money invested) rather than asking for the reactivation of the coal mines in Enugu with allied industries like power plants etc.
You know, things that can spark a renaissance .
.

I think Ndigbo -like me- feel that all the dust raised over this 'deportation' issue wouldn't have gone this far or become this intense if Fashola had apologised from the onset at the way the 'deportees' were dumped unceremoniously at Upper Iweka in the dead of the night......their being held against their will in holding centres is another issue altogether and would require a few of the victims to corroborate! I feel his staff went overboard in their haste to send a couple of Igbos packing from Lagos, and the impropriety of their actions were lost on them.

I think leadership in Igboland (and other regions as well) needs to go back to the cerebral/intellectual/vision-led way it used to be in the good old days of Zik, and this is why i'm rooting for Soludo to be the next Governor of Anambra state.

IGBO-SON:
I think Ndigbo -like me- feel that all the dust raised over this 'deportation' issue wouldn't have gone this far or become this intense if Fashola had apologised from the onset at the way the 'deportees' were dumped unceremoniously at Upper Iweka in the dead of the night......their being held against their will in holding centres is another issue altogether and would require a few of the victims to corroborate! I feel his staff went overboard in their haste to send a couple of Igbos packing from Lagos, and the impropriety of their actions were lost on them.

I think leadership in Igboland (and other regions as well) needs to go back to the cerebral/intellectual/vision-led way it used to be in the good old days of Zik, and this is why i'm rooting for Soludo to be the next Governor of Anambra state.

Fashola should apologise for reuniting people with their families, where was the governor of Anambra state to accept his people, even if it was at 1am, was it too much for Obi to have some social workers wait for them?

hercules07:

Fashola should apologise for reuniting people with their families, where was the governor of Anambra state to accept his people, even if it was at 1am, was it too much for Obi to have some social workers wait for them?

Fashola should actually do more than apologizing. He has to close down the concentration camp where he warehouses innocent Nigerians captured in their own country illegally.
Secondly, he has to account for those people who died while in that holding camp. The deportees alleged that some people died there, and that they were held there for 2 years. He has to account for that.
Finally, he should pay compensation to those whose constitutional rights he violated with impunity.

Failing to do these will destroy him politically in Nigeria, making him a political leper at the center; unless he has no presidential ambitions.
If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.
A word is enough for the wise.

Onlytruth:

Fashola should actually do more than apologizing

Or else? Ibo people won't vote for him in some election he's yet to declare any kind of interest in.

I know you peole are full of emotions and emotinal blackmail, but no need to enter dance floor before DJ spin album..

He has to close down the concentration camp where he warehouses innocent Nigerians captured in their own country illegally.

Courts decides what's illegal or not illegal so slow down with the layman NL layering.

Secondly, he has to account for those people who died while in that holding camp. The deportees alleged that some people died there, and that they were held there for 2 years. He has to account for that.

This fake gist must have emanated from the tribal times aka Sun times Gossip Tabloid.

Finally, he should pay compensation to those whose constitutional rights he violated with impunity.

Pay people for violating state laws? Very laughable. How much did Mrs Obi paid the fellow ibo people he deported? How much did the federal government paid the ibo people they deported back to iboland?

Your hypocrisy and fake cries smells like doo doo..

Failing to do these will destroy him politically in Nigeria, making him a political leper at the center; unless he has no presidential ambitions.

Where is this political center? The SW? The North, The SS or the SE? I'm sure in your world, it's the SE/SS which in the grand scheme of things = Irrelevant...

If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.

This is 2013 and Nigeria is no longer under military rule and their boy boy water bottle carriers. wake up and smell the

A word is enough for the wise.

Hooolala!!! I'm scured.

Onlytruth:

Fashola should actually do more than apologizing. He has to close down the concentration camp where he warehouses innocent Nigerians captured in their own country illegally.
Secondly, he has to account for those people who died while in that holding camp. The deportees alleged that some people died there, and that they were held there for 2 years. He has to account for that.
Finally, he should pay compensation to those whose constitutional rights he violated with impunity.

Failing to do these will destroy him politically in Nigeria, making him a political leper at the center; unless he has no presidential ambitions.
If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.
A word is enough for the wise.

You guys just love chest beating, Nzeribe was a tool in the hands of the military, it could have been anybody. Compensation ko, compensation ni, why were you guys not shouting like this when people from other states were sent back to their states. You guys need to learn how to treat your hosts with respect, all of this noise is just making moderate yoruba people see the easterners in bad light, the funny thing is, outside of nairaland and those pesky politicians, everybody has got peeps from the east who are very very good friends.

Onlytruth: Fashola should actually do more than apologizing. He has to close down the concentration camp where he warehouses innocent Nigerians captured in their own country illegally.
Secondly, he has to account for those people who died while in that holding camp. The deportees alleged that some people died there, and that they were held there for 2 years. He has to account for that.
Finally, he should pay compensation to those whose constitutional rights he violated with impunity.

Failing to do these will destroy him politically in Nigeria, making him a political leper at the center; unless he has no presidential ambitions.
If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.
A word is enough for the wise.

He shouldnt stop a that, He should also sacrifice the corpse of Ojukwu to the gods of Idemili.

Onlytruth: .
If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.

I'm not surprised that the likes of the common criminal Nzeribe are ur role models. I would've been surprised if he wasn't. Nzeribe would have sold out Jesus if he was in MKO's shoes. You talk as if Nzeribe's actions were borne out of any (Igbo) principles or convictions when we All know his only motive was,and has always been, money! Unless of course ure trying to tell us the Igbo principle is based solely on who's willing to pu the highest. Abeg, take ur crap somewhere elsw. what ure selling stinks and I don't think anyone is interested in buying.

Onlytruth:

Fashola should actually do more than apologizing. He has to close down the concentration camp where he warehouses innocent Nigerians captured in their own country illegally.
Secondly, he has to account for those people who died while in that holding camp. The deportees alleged that some people died there, and that they were held there for 2 years. He has to account for that.
Finally, he should pay compensation to those whose constitutional rights he violated with impunity.

Failing to do these will destroy him politically in Nigeria, making him a political leper at the center; unless he has no presidential ambitions.
If he doubts the power of a sectional grudge in Nigeria, he should go and ask Abiola.
One Igboman named Arthur Nzeribe made sure that Abiola's dream never materialized.
A word is enough for the wise.

As usual ...like a school kid that is genuinely naive....you go on an emotional roller coaster without a shade of logic....

You comment mainly to appeal to your base sentiments...make you happy in your head and give a feeling of joy to some few Ibos here that love the emotional satisfaction of your usual outburst .