By Ochereoma Nnanna

IN December 2012, the Item community in Abia North honoured Arumma Oteh, then Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC. I attended that ceremony in the company of the then CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Alex Otti, Diamond Bank GMD and other friends. Then-Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, flew in with a helicopter.

The highlight of the event, for me, was when Item High Chief, Prof. Joe Irukwu, took the microphone to personally honour and introduce Amaechi when it was his turn to say a few nice words for Arumma. Irukwu described Amaechi correctly as the “high-performing” Governor of Rivers and a “true Igbo son”. But when Amaechi took the mike he “corrected” Irukwu and emphasised: “I am an Ikwerre man!” That really ruffled feathers.

Fast-forward to the 2015 electioneering activities. Amaechi’s preferred traditional attire had changed from the Bonny/Opobo regalia to the core Igbo one of “Isi Agu” and red cap. It has remained so to date. Amaechi, one of the founding fathers of the All Progressives Congress, APC, brought Muhammadu Buhari, the party’s presidential candidate, to Aba.

They were rousingly received by the Aba paramount ruler, Eze Isaac Ikonne, who bestowed the title of “Ogbu Agu” on Buhari. Ikonne at that time was under ostracism by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government in Abia State. The honour he gave Buhari was seen as a “message” to his jilters. Till today, the Ikonne family remains close to Buhari because they embraced him when the Igbo nation shunned him.

Amaechi addressed the APC Aba rally in pure, “central” Igbo. His hometown, Ubima, is on the border with Imo State. Amaechi, in fact, claimed that if it was an issue of ethnicity, he was Igbo and should be entrusted with Igbo votes for Buhari, unlike Jonathan who was not even Igbo. On different occasions, Amaechi said yes and no. Which do we take?

Amaechi is from Ikwerre. Therefore, he is Igbo, just as I am from Abiriba and, therefore, Igbo. Whether I accept it or not is neither here nor there. Former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, used to shout on rooftops that he was a “Rivers man”. But when he started running for president in 2006, Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, reminded him that as a Ndoni man, he was Igbo and not an “authentic” Southern Minority to benefit from their agitation for the presidency.

The same thing will happen to any person from the Igbo dialect groups in the South-South who claims not to be Igbo today. The day will come when they will either voluntarily “come home” or be forcefully “sent home” where they really belong. Your cultural identity is beyond your choice. It is a providential endowment or heritage.

You cannot run from your shadow or bath to change your skin colour. Chibuike Amaechi, as an Ikwerre, is Igbo; just as other eminent Ikwerre personalities like Senator Obi Wali, Francis Ellah, HRH Eze S.N. Woluchem (the late Rebisi of Port Harcourt), HRH Eze Chukwuemela Nnam-Obi, High Chief Okogbule Wonodi, Barr. Uche Okwukwu and other Ikwerre sons who were/are hardcore pro-Igbo activists.


The question today is: if the political permutations in the APC favour Amaechi for the presidency in 2023 and he seeks the support of the Igbo nation, should they accept him? My answer is a resounding “Yes”! He is eminently qualified in terms of ethnic affinity, regional consanguinity and a proven record of competence.

Ordinarily, competence should stand above the rest, but are we there yet? How I wish we were! If the consideration is ethnic, I have made the point that the Ikwerre is a dialectal group of the Igbo nation. Their Igbo is even easier than my Abiriba because we (Abiribas) migrated late into Igbo land.

I strongly believe that the Igbo nation should think beyond the South East geopolitical zone when it comes to the pursuit of their strategic political interests. The South East is a copy of the defunct East Central State which was imposed on Ndi Igbo after the war to abnegate the true size of the Igbo nation. Clinging to it is like deifying what your enemy gave you as your portion. An Igbo person anywhere, irrespective of the circumstances of history, is still Igbo.

I also believe that ethnicity as an ideology is neither the original Igbo political template nor is it in the strategic political interest of the Igbo nation. It may work for some, but it will never get much for the Igbo people. Igbo need allies (just as the allies need Igbo), and they must go out and acquire them. Whether as Nigerians or Biafrans, Igbo must work with their immediate neighbours in order to command the full reckoning of the rest of Nigeria.

In 1999, retired Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe founded the Council of South-East and South-South, COSESS, with other leaders from the former Eastern Region to eschew tribalism and forge a united political front. It produced a regional alliance now popularly known as South-East and South-South, SESS. Before COSESS, the Igbo and their neighbours were fighting one another like crabs in a basket.

The SESS alliance was firmly fronted by the Igbo nation for the benefit of former President Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw. Till date, the Igbo remain Jonathan’s most avid sympathisers, perhaps even more than his kinsmen. This has built invaluable bridges between the Igbo, Ijaw and the Southern Minorities, even within the Biafra movements.

The Igbo should emulate the North which always subsume their individual ethnic identities and present a common political front even within their various political camps. The North is strong because of this factor. The political East (SESS) is weak and exploited because of the splinter mentality of its peoples. The South-East and South-South share almost everything in common except language and dialects. They are more of one people than even the North.

In my opinion, if the political calculations favour anyone from these areas, once the competence factor is established, they should be supported. If Amaechi runs for president in 2023 and seeks Igbo support, he is eminently qualified. Let the requisite memo of understanding be agreed. It will further unite the family. Igbo is certainly bigger than the South East!


https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2020/07/chibuike-amaechi-ndi-igbo-and-2023/amp/

If Amaechi has any Presidential ambition in 2023, what he should focus on for now is how to win his parties ticket. If he cannot get the APC ticket then his presidential ambition is dead already

Very funny op
Amaechi: I'm an ikwerre man
Iboes : You're Ibo you're Ibo.
Amaehi has reiterated times without numbers that he isn't Igbo.
Ikwerre are distinct ethnic nationality with little attachment to Igbo nationality.
What's ibos obsession with niger delta oil.

Ocherome Nnana always on the beat.

NoIgboSoundTueh:

Very funny op
Amaechi: I'm an ikwerre man
Iboes : You're Ibo you're Ibo.
Amaehi has reiterated times without numbers that he isn't Igbo.
Ikwerre are distinct ethnic nationality with little attachment to Igbo nationality.
What's ibos obsession with niger delta oil.

Thunder fire that Niger Delta oil. What is the quantity of oil in Ikwerre land compared to the oil in Ohaji/Egbema? Only lazy people brag with oil, Igbos are resourceful people and can never wait for handouts to survive.
And for your information, go tell your friends that over our dead body shall Ikwerre/Bini represent us. Let them wait for the turn of the south-south and maybe in the spirit of Bini brotherhood, the Binis may concede their slot to them.
Igbos know themselves and would never seek brotherhood with nonentities.

NoIgboSoundTueh:

Very funny op
Amaechi: I'm an ikwerre man
Iboes : You're Ibo you're Ibo.
Amaehi has reiterated times without numbers that he isn't Igbo.
Ikwerre are distinct ethnic nationality with little attachment to Igbo nationality.
What's ibos obsession with niger delta oil.

they never talk about igbos in benue rather they keep attaching themselves to us Niger deltans. And for that man that claim that we have an alliance with SE, he is just talking out of the fact that our son , GEJ won in their region during election.

sageb:
they never talk about igbos in benue rather they keep attaching themselves to us Niger deltans. And for that man that claim that we have an alliance with SE, he is just talking out of the fact that our son , GEJ won in their region during election.

Maybe the Igbo should henceforth disassociate themselves from anyone bearing Igbo name caught for crime, and label him/her as Ikwerre.In that way, the Ikwerre will be forced to change their names to sound like Bini. You cannot be Igbo when you commit crime and be Ikwerre when it come to oil politics.

This I.diotic op, stop disturbing us on every space in nairaland over Amaechi this and Amaechi that.

You m.o.Ron's will not stop stupidity over politician token. Leave us Igbo alone. We have our brain to think and do not care all these ur political nonsense.

I am happy he mentioned the SE/SS alliance and its importance to the political aspirations of SE/SS citizens.

It worked wonders during Jonathan's era. It will work wonders for any future political colossus from the alliance region.

From my calculations, I do know for a fact that at the moment, the SE/SS alliance is the most potent political bloc. The SE/SS people don't know it yet, but over the next few years, this fact will become clear.

The ethnic groups that belong to the SE/SS alliance e.g Ogoni, Igbo, Ibibio, Ijaw, Efik e.t.c. will eventually get to find out that this alliance is the best thing that has ever happened to the old Eastern region politically.

Now coming back to Chibuike Amaechi, I didn't even know that he had personally, in the past, denied his Igbo heritage. I thank the writer for bringing this fact to light. It is this two-faced tendencies that make the rest of the Igbos very wary of Ikwerre representation of Igbos.
One thing everyone knows about Igbos is that Igbos do what they say, and say what they do. It is a major characteristic of Ndigbo,

When we told GEJ we will support him, we Igbos did not go back on our word. Not when things were rosy, and not when things were gloomy. We stuck to our guns, as honour means much to a typical Igbo man. Of course I understand that Ikwerres have lived under psychological threats for many decades which made them automatically to seek psychological safety whenever issues that relate to their origins are raised.
It is becoming dangerously counterproductive in this day and age, and they risk not being taken seriously or ever trusted by the generality of Ndigbo.
I am sure by now, intelligent Ikwerre elders would have started thinking about re-strategising for this modern day and age, before they are left behind.

The Ikwerre tactic of yesteryears is no longer compatible with the modern day and age.
You cannot undermine a unit (Ndigbo) and in the same breath, be seeking cooperation and help from the same unit you just undermined.

The Ikwerre people cannot undermine Ndigbo with unproven Bini links, nor Chibuike Amaechi undermine the SE/SS alliance's interest (GEJ's presidency), but at the sight of the slightest difficulty, you come crawling back to Ndigbo, the unit you have done so much to undermine and betray.
Why not first seek the political help of Binis and Fulanis, the blocs you have been trying to please and leave Igbos alone?

Anyway, a word is enough for the wise

NoIgboSoundTueh:

Very funny op
Amaechi: I'm an ikwerre man
Iboes : You're Ibo you're Ibo.
Amaehi has reiterated times without numbers that he isn't Igbo.
Ikwerre are distinct ethnic nationality with little attachment to Igbo nationality.
What's ibos obsession with niger delta oil.

Does ikwere have oil ? ..how many oil do they have ...only obigbo that truly accept that they are Igbo produce over twice ikwerre oil

Ikwere is not close to the sea ..some part of abia are closer to the ocean than ikwere land

Let the ikwerre ethnic group leaders ...come out and declare that they are igbos and pledge loyalty to ohaneze indigbo ...they we can support them ...

Outside that ..let them go and meet oba of bini