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Ijaw Nation And South-south-east Politics by zuchyblink(m): 10:52pm On Aug 20, 2015 |
n Igbo parlance, It is said that
someone's neighbour could be more
of a brother. The saying is hinged on
the fact that the proximity associated
with neighbourliness promotes
mutual understanding and empathy. The
Ijaw and her neighbours, including the
Igbo, have known one another for
thousands of years pre-dating the famous
Hausa-Fulani relationship.
The pre-Nigerian history of the Ijaw and the
Igbo in particular, was indeed a peaceful
one, filled with significant legacies. One of
them was the formidable rise of an Igbo
slave boy, who later became one of the
most respected African kings. King Jaja as
he was known, was equally revered during
his reign by the British Royal House of
Windsor. He was shrewd in business, as well
as savvy in politics. The slave boy from
Amaigbo, in the present Imo state, later
founded Opobo Kingdom and established
the Jaja dynasty that runs till date.
The history of the Ijaw and the Igbo in
respect of the origins of Opobo and Bonny
(Umu-Ubani), vis avis the intermingling of
the two peoples, have actually produced a
hybrid race. The two communities today are
bi-lingual. The Igbo dialect of Opobo known
as "Igbani", was favourably chosen as one
of the Igbo dialects by the colonial Bible
translation committee. This was In total
exclusion of Nri/Awka and Onitsha dialects
for that matter. It could rightly be said that
the Igbo version of the Holy Bible is a
testimony of the real Igboworld. It is not
uncommon to hear Igbo family names such
as 'Ubani', referring to the town of Bonny.
But the post civil war politics has twisted
Bonny and Opobo, and made them sound
far distant lands from the rest of the Igbo.
Events preceding the Nigerian civil war, and
the part played by some Ijaw leaders at the
time, and immediately after the war,
especially in Port-Harcourt, have come to
define the modern Ijaw political philosophy.
A propaganda philosophy that could be said
to be rooted in the fear of Igbo vendetta.
Fear, which this writer and many Igbos
thought was un-called for. The systematic
indoctrination of innocent new generation
of the Ijaws with such Igbophobia was
strategically of no value.
advertisement I should stress that there was a leaf to be
borrowed from the Late Chief Ken Saro-
Wiwa's uninvited appearance at one
Ohaneze meeting 1994. There and then,
Chief Saro-Wiwa to the amazement of
everyone, asked his fellow Igbo neighbours
to lend their voices in his struggle for the
self-determination of his Ogoni people. It
was indeed a milestone. To many Igbos, he
was simply a "saboteur". And moreover, a
man who used his newspaper column in the
70s to humiliate them on a weekly basis. To
see him come to them on a mission to
revive an agitation that he actually helped
to stifle was all too amazing. However, his
appearance at that Ohaneze meeting would
mark the first time any Southern minority
leader, would sit in an Ohaneze meeting
with their Igbo brothers after the civil war.
It is instructive to mention that It was at the
same meeting, that the Late elder statesman
Chief Sam Mbakwe reminded the audience
of something else. For the first time, most of
the attendees learnt from Chief Mbakwe that
while Easterners were searching for a name
to be given to the new nation which was
about to emerge, It was an Ijaw, the late
Frank Opugo, that suggested the name
Biafra. A name synonymous with the Igbo
today, and whose youths are proudly dying
for. On the other hand, Ken Saro Wiwa,
however, was warmly received at the
meeting in a true brotherly re-union. It was
really an emotional situation.
Currently, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark is the
Ijaw national "leader". He equally serves as
the intermediary of the Ijaw rebels and
Nigeria's federal government. In recent
years, the name Edwin Clark has been
synonymous with all what Ijaw stands for--
freedom, self-determination, fiscal
federalism, political federalism, states
creation, resource control, separate Ijaw
region and so on and so forth. If this is an
aversion of the ignoble roles played by this
man in the period preceding the civil war, it
is yet to be seen.
One of his contemporaries Chief Anthony
Enahoro has since turned a new political
leaf. Though at the dawn of his political life,
Chief Enahoro has thrown away the
material lures of Nigerian politics in place of
ideology. He is apparently keen on how he
would be remembered by the ever-growing
assertive Southern politics. He is a regular
face at the Ethnic-Nationalities Forum
meetings, which sometimes are held under
the auspices of Chief Emeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu, a former political adversary. It will
be recalled that Chief Anthony Enahoro was
the Nigerian Government's 'Joseph Goebels'
during the war years.
On the other hand, Chief Edwin Clark appear
not to have been politically redeemed. He
was one of the arrow-heads that
engineered the Nigerian government to
reject the Aburi Accord of 1967. An
agreement that granted Eastern Nigeria
(including part of his Ijaw nation)
confederate status within the Nigerian
nation. His anti-Igbo rhetoric, plans and
actions have rather increased in recent
times. Clark's legacies visavis his "Ijaw-
nation" were not more than his selfish
interests. Such was manifest when he
accepted a ministerial position at the
expense of the confederate status granted
to Eastern Nigeria. Which he is today
fighting for crumbs of the same agreement
under different terminologies--13%, 17%,
25% derivation etc..
Despite his unmitigated malice to the Igbo,
the latter have not relented in her goodwill
towards the Ijaw people and their
aspirations. Clark is currently a leading voice
in the South-South. A zone that was created
at the instance of the former Vice president,
Dr. Alex Ekwueme. What is happening now
is the use of the South-South people's
assembly (SSPA) platform to subtly discredit
any Igbo-speaking presidential candidate;
and the South-South/South East joint
presidential candidacy. The latest moves
might not be unconnected to recent verbal
attacks on the Rivers state Governor, Dr.
Peter Odili by Prof. Tam David West. West
had on several occasions been confronted
by Nigerian journalists on his anti-Igbo
antecedents.
Some Ijaw leaders have severally accused
the Rivers state Governor of leaning to
Ohaneze, and had on one occasion asked
him to confirm or deny being Igbo. He has
for reason(s) that I thought were not wise
kept mute on this particular issue. Not too
long ago, a group that called themselves
Niger-Delta Coastal Guerrillas said that Gov.
Odili is even from Anambra and won't be
allowed to represent the South-South. To
further press home their message, there
have been paid newspaper campaigns
warning of the perils of an Odili presidency.
One would not fail to question the meaning
to all these bravado. Does the Nigerian
constitution stipulate that an ethnic Igbo
shouldn't vie for the office of the
presidency? Talking to the Vanguard on
Feb.26 on the joint South-East/South-South
presidency, Clark said,
"We will not accept it. If it is our turn to
present a presidential candidate, that
presidential candidate must be from
the South-South, not somebody who
has double loyalty"
He was referring to no other person than
Gov. Odili, or any Igbo speaking South-
South candidate. It is important to mention
that Ijaws from other hamlets outside
Bayelsa state assert their Ijaw purity
without intimidation. The Apoi of Ondo
state are equally regarded as their own,
even though the Apoi have for centuries
past adopted the language and manners of
their Yoruba neighbours. Why should an
ethnic Igbo-speaking Governor's case be
different? More spurious when juxtaposed
with the fact that the Igboid language
group of Rivers state--Umuetche, Obigbo,
Ikwerre, Ahoada, Omoku and Ndoni
constitutes a superor majority over the Ijaw
group.
The Igbo wants the Ijaw to succeed. A
prosperous Ijaw neighbour mindful of her
territorial limits will more than anything else
be in the interest of her Igbo neighbour. To
trivialize the presence of native Igbo-
speaking communities in the Niger-delta is a
travesty of history and an open aggression
on the general psyche of the Igbo-speaking
people.
Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo
couldn't be lying when he talked to CNN
April this year, he said, ".....there are other
groups in the Niger-Delta alongside the
Ijaws, there are the Urhobos, Ogonis, Igbos,
Itshekiris, Efiks and so on"
I would also like to reiterate that Gov. Odili's
current travails in the hands of some Ijaw
leaders and groups, should serve as an eye
opener to some native Igbo communities in
the South-South who are hell bent to
disfigure their identities. For when the chips
are down, those who find it politically
expedient to accept and support their Igbo
denial, will remind them that they are true
Igbos. Odili is currently in that quagmire
now. He was 'Rivers man' all the 15 years
he's been in the Rivers state politics. And
now that he has aspired to be Nigeria's
president, the minority Ijaw leaders have
found out that he is an Igboman. Same will
happen if It were to be a candidate from
any of the communities such as Ukwuani,
Ika, Ikwerre, Ekpeye and so on. And in
Rivers state, the situation will equally not
change If It were people like Prince
Chibudom Nwuche, Austin Opara or
Chibuike Amechi in Odili's situation..
It is a dilemma for the Governor. The politics
have shifted from that of Rivers state to the
gigantic national politics. The Igbos, I
believe will vote for him. But any attempt to
deny his Igbo identity will cost him the over
40 million Igbo population support in
Nigeria. He's smart; he's aware of It. After
the Nigerian civil war, some Igbo
communities in the present South-South
adopted the names of their 'local
governments' and 'clans' as their 'ethnic
nationalities' to escape the deprivations that
visited the Igbo race. Odili's native Ndoni
was not an exception, though forcefully
ceded to Rivers state together with Obigbo
In 1976 by the then Mamman Nasir
Boundary adjustment commission.
There are several Ijaw demands that
includes states creation which this writer
equally supports. States can no longer be
created by military decrees as was done in
the past. We have seen the powers of
democracy from the botched "third term".
As democracy and Its intensive horse-
trading takes root in Nigeria, the Ijaw and
the Igbo will need each other's help.
Definitely the Ijaw will need the Igbo more
than the Igbo will need her, because of the
latter's numerical standing and tripodal
status. .
Alhaji Umaru Dikko had in the Sunday Punch
of 25Th June, threatened the Ijaw rebels to
learn from the hard lessons of their more
experienced, big Igbo neighbours. I am not
saying that he was right in his threat. But a
politically united Southern Nigeria can
quickly wither this kind of arrogant threat
and bravado. It is time the new generation
of the Ijaw sent their untiring, and faceless
retired politicians home. Edwin Clark should
go home with his malicious politics; It is
high time the Ijaw fashioned a new PR. |
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