Ndigbo are one again
Chuks Iloegbunam

There was a time when Ndigbo spoke with one voice. It now looks like centuries ago. But it was actually in the decades that led up to Nigeria’s political independence in 1960, and during the First Republic which the military terminated in January 1966. During that memorable stretch, the Igbo State Union (ISU) was the instrument that bound Ndigbo together. It was the people’s mouthpiece. It gave directions on the paths to tread and Ndigbo never hesitated to follow as directed. The Igbo State Union did all these because its leadership was committed; the leaders were the ones that deployed their personal resources and their time, their organizational skills, energy and political savvy into serving the best interests of the ethnic group. Ndigbo were a united people as a result, a better aggregation for the pursuance of the dream of a united Nigeria, where neither man nor woman was oppressed.
All these came apart in 1966 when the Igbo State Union was proscribed by the military junta of General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, the Head of State, and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Ironsi’s regime didn’t isolate and proscribe the ISU in order to punish Ndigbo; it equally banned other existing tribal unions of the time, believing that by so doing, the goal of a united Nigeria would be more readily realized. Ten years would pass before Ohaeneze Ndigbo, envisioned as the apex Igbo organization, would be established. Another 20 years would elapse before the organization started enjoying something close to its conception as an umbrella body for the Igbo. These were 30 years of thralldom in the hands of Nigeria.
But, it isn’t as though Ndigbo had a common union from primeval times. It was colonialism that got the ethnic group together into a unified fold, if only because the entire territory that later became known as Nigeria had been put under the suzerainty of an imperial power. Prior to that, the links between them were their differing but largely mutually intelligible dialects, their similar customs and traditions, and their religious monotheism. The situation was different for the Edo, for instance, because their Oba was King of the ethnic group, not of any of its component parts alone. Elsewhere religion was the principal instrument of cohesion. Neither by monarchy nor religion did Ndigbo cohere for political reasons. It was therefore thanks to their political acumen that they managed to get their act together and present a common front in Nigerian affairs until 1966.
The civil war came and went and, although General Gowon declared that there was no victor and no vanquished, we all knew better. The post-civil war era meant, in Federal Nigeria’s arrangement, that Ndigbo couldn’t aspire to the country’s presidency. Once this injustice held, second-class citizenship was guaranteed Ndigbo in all spheres of national life. Their property got seized in some parts of the country and pronounced abandoned. Their military officers rose to the rank of colonel or its equivalent at the pain of compulsory retirement. Oil in the bowels of their land was ceded to other states or declared reserved and not to be mined. Statutory appropriations didn’t take into account their large population.
It led Ndigbo themselves into a kind of self-criticism that was understandable before the turn of this century but clearly untenable in today’s Nigeria. Observed Professor Michael J. C. Echeruo in his 1979 Ahiajioku Lecture entitled Aha m efula (A Matter of Identity): "Our history strongly suggests that we need to moderate strength and power with discretion and diplomacy, not only among our leaders but also among the generality of our people. It is not weakness to recognize the value of discretion. It is foolhardiness to choose death (or something close to it) in place of life." Six years later, Professor Ben Nwabueze used the same Ahajioku platform to speak on The Igbos in the context of Modern Government and Politics in Nigeria: A Call for Self-Examination and Self-Correction. He reinforced Echeruo’s point in this vein: "There is need therefore for us to rethink our tactics for co-existing with other Nigerians. There is need in particular to abandon the inclination to despise or look down on others not as successful or clever as ourselves. We must learn less abrasiveness, more shrewdness and tact and a willingness to grant the validity of less boisterous values."
It is curious that perpetrators of injustice turned out to be the ones with acceptable ethnic dispositions while, for Ndigbo, victimage became synonymous with aggression. Contemporary Nigerian politics have, however, negated this standpoint. The story that Ndigbo aggress and spite all comers has turned out to be more mythical than real. Given reactions to the nullification of the June 12, 1983 presidential election by the Babangida junta, and given also the recent reactions to the politics of oil and derivation, aggression now appears like a vocation that appeals to be all ethnic nationalities in the country. Besides it isn’t in the Igbo country that contemporaneity has witnessed incessant ethnic riots, massacres and cleansings. The notion that Ndigbo required to embrace unwarranted and unjustifiable meekness had its own disastrous results, of course. It created avoidable confusion and made the articulation of a central union a near impossibility. Consequently, upstarts and turncoats from the ethnic group relocated to Abuja where tin-god owners of the city compromised, commandeered and conscripted them into the traitorous role of undermining their own stock. Treachery was indeed in ascent, the kind of behavior unimaginable when patriots like Chief Z. C. Obi ran the Igbo State Union.
Tell us not to valorize timidity! There was a time the Yoruba were accused of filth and loquacity. There was also a time the Hausa were charged with laziness and idleness. The Yoruba didn’t react by bleaching themselves. The Hausa didn’t respond by banishing sleep and leisure. The lesson from these labels is that myth is a veritable instrument of political domination. We have come a long way from these labels. The age-old and tenable argument that nationals of the same country must have the same rights and privileges is back to relevance in Nigeria. No one section of any society should be asked to devalue its essence in order to be accommodated by the rest. Ndigbo did not and do not need to beg for acceptance. Their only option was always to assert their right to general acceptance. It is intolerable, for instance, that construction work on the Onitsha-Owerri Federal road – a mere 80 kilometres – has remained uncompleted for 12 years now. Those who declaim this injustice do not deserve to be charged and convicted of aggression in kangaroo courts. Their clamour is simply and solely for justice.
It is this same longing for justice that has ultimately strengthened the resolve of Ndigbo to concentrate on forging a truly common front. The Ohanaeze Nidgbo has come a long way. Its founders include Dr. Akanu Ibiam, the pioneer chairman who hosted the maiden Ohanaeze meeting in his Enugu residence, and Chief Jerome Oputa Udoji, the first Secretary General. Others are Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, Chief Dennis Osadebe, Dr. Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, and Dr. Pius Nwabufo Okigbo. Not to forget Professor Ben Obi Nwabueze, Dr. Sylvester Uzor Ugoh, Senator Francis Ajie Ellah, Chief Bob Ewuolonu c]Ogbuagu and Ezeogo Anagha Ezikpe. There are many others and we salute them all for bringing Ndigbo back together again. After decades in the wilderness of disunity, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is today more primes than ever before to play the honourable role of manager of the Igbo destiny. This is happening under the leadership of Chief Raph Chukwu Uwechue, a great thinker and dedicated Nigerian diplomat with generally acknowledged leadership qualities. It means that Ndigbo are storming back to speaking with one voice. At the last word, Ohanaeze’s relevance and sustenance will be tested on the crucible of the personal example of its leadership, and its independence from external manipulation. Ohanaeze Ndigbo cannot afford to be any ventriloquist’s dummy, as happened when someone recently jostled for an unconstitutional Third Term in office! We hail a united Ndigbo because it can only enhance Nigerian unity.

•Iloegbunam is the author of Ironside, the biography of General Aguiyi-Ironsi.

http://www.champion.com.ng/displaycontent.asp?pid=1508

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

Thanks to Amb Ralph Chukwu Uwaechue led Ohanaeze, Ndigbo are finally uniting.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ChinenyeN:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

u are the man

Spot on bro Andre don't mind the hates and sell outs.

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

^^^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it1v00jLPj4

chyz:

^^^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it1v00jLPj4

chyz, you are one crazy dude!!! LOL

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQCS3Pzjiqw&feature=fvst
Who let the dogs out? Who! Who!! Who!!! Who!!!!

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7qdiL1VlpA

Ndigbo are far from being united for now but are on that path. Thanks to Ralph Uwechue's sagacity and vision. The Naysayers will thank him later.

ChinenyeN:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You make me wonder if it was an aboki man impregnanted your mother.

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

, and so what?, dirty hawk.

oturugo:

You make me wonder if it was an aboki man impregnanted your mother.

, and so what?, dirty hawk.

LoL

houvest:

Ndigbo are far from being united for now but are on that path. Thanks to Ralph Uwechue's sagacity and vision. The Naysayers will thank him later.

You have spoken well, but there is hope.

Why is it that this woman called kobojunkie always like igbo threads Uwaechue is doing great,ndi igbo never had it better,though there is still a lot to be done before ndi igbo becomes one.

Good development, actually.

Hausa-Fulanis are already one.

Yorubas need to get it together [we're in the process].

Trust me, with the unification of each tribe, Nigeria will hopefully "faya" within the next 10 garbage years to come.

@andrew,
if u say ndigbo is one now, i will say yes because among ndigbo, we have ppl who are contesting for presidency, we have those hoping for vice president, we have those praying for senate president and then we have those fighting for biafra. in fact, this is oneness at its best.
it will interest you to know that our almighty ohanaeze ndigbo as an organisation is divided among itself.
u are this uninformed that u bring non existing facts to the public.
ndigbo with one voice and different interests.
if u know the party called apga, it is made in igboland and how does this igbo party relate with ur ohanaeze and the rest of the igbos interests?

1025:

@andrew,
if u say ndigbo is one now, i will say yes because among ndigbo, we have ppl who are contesting for presidency, we have those hoping for vice president, we have those praying for senate president and then we have those fighting for biafra. in fact, this is oneness at its best.
it will interest you to know that our almighty ohanaeze ndigbo as an organisation is divided among itself.
u are this uninformed that u bring non existing facts to the public.
ndigbo with one voice and different interests.
if u know the party called apga, it is made in igboland and how does this igbo party relate with your ohanaeze and the rest of the igbos interests?

Ndigbo are One!Go and unite your own people and if they are already united then focus on keeping them united. I really don't see what Igbo unity has to do with you.

^^^^ Funny enuff dude is Igbo, I dont know why he cant come to terms that Igbos are one

One 4 wat?? No point in singing rubbish from the same hymn book. To these people oneness does not signify unity bt rather a union of fools (without divergent ideas).

1025:

@andrew,
if u say ndigbo is one now, i will say yes because among ndigbo, we have ppl who are contesting for presidency, we have those hoping for vice president, we have those praying for senate president and then we have those fighting for biafra. in fact, this is oneness at its best.
it will interest you to know that our almighty ohanaeze ndigbo as an organisation is divided among itself.
u are this uninformed that u bring non existing facts to the public.
ndigbo with one voice and different interests.
if u know the party called apga, it is made in igboland and how does this igbo party relate with your ohanaeze and the rest of the igbos interests?

Ohanaeze is not my father's property. Once you are born Igbo, you automatically belong to Ohanaeze. No matter how you tarnish the image of the Igbo apex body, you are part of it.
The APGA gov-Peter Obi was one of the Igbo men that resolved the factional crises in Ohanaeze between Ikedife and Achuzia some years back. You are the most uninformed Igbo nairalander as you have never heard of Ohanaeze, Uwaechue, Aka Ikenga before until recently. Are you not ahamed of your self?.

I wonder wants wrong with 1025,someone once suggested that he should concentrate on sports section, where he is an expert rather than expose his naivety in politics section,especially igbo threads.

Andre Uweh:

Ohanaeze is not my father's property. Once you are born Igbo, you automatically belong to Ohanaeze. No matter how you tarnish the image of the Igbo apex body, you are part of it.

I think you're using all the wrong words, here.

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

Stop posting to this thread if u do not know what to post

@ topic
Igbos are not united, we Igbo will never be united of we cannot accept an Igbo like me
The yorubas accepted the brazilians (aworis) and also edo and itsekieri people
The hausas accepted the fulanis
But me half kanuri half Igbo, , my brothers on this forum are just rejecting me

Now how do u think we are all united,,,,,,,,,,,,how

@@@@

why does igbo unity worries some Nigerians

some people in the thread nko

cheeky loosers

Kobojunkie:

[size=13pt]ROFLMAO!![/size]

Is this early april fool or what? lol

Udele, common get out of here.

ChinenyeN:

I think you're using all the wrong words, here.

No worries, more than one thousand Ndigbo here do not believe I used the wrong words, but only your bloody self.