By Emmanuel Ighodalo
 Published
October 16th, 2008
The major cry of all ethnic nationalities in the country
today is marginalization. According to reports, they all
feel shortchanged by the central government of the basic
amenities of life. The most stringent of these cries is the
one coming from the Igbo-speaking people of the South
Eastern part of the country. Crisscrossing the country
through land will throw up a scenario that tends to allude
to the fact that the South East is worst hit by the plethora
of decaying or lack of basic infrastructures especially bad
roads. One pertinent question being asked by students of
history and followers of the Nigerian problem is: How did
the Ibos come to this dismal state that has seen their
region become the least developed of the three original
regions that metamorphosed from an amalgamated Northern and
Southern Protectorate?
In the beginning, the Igbo nation held sway as the numero
uno among all other ethnic groups in post-colonial
Nigeria. They controlled the politics, military, other
strategic federal organs and the economy of the nation. What
they have however failed to grab is the cohesive force to
anoint a de facto leader that the entire Igbo nation will
look unto as a unifier. A cursory peep into history will
reveal that from the days of the great Zik of Africa to
present day, where Maurice Iwu remains the most highly
placed and influential Nigerian of Igbo extraction, the Igbo
people have repeatedly offered their leaders to other ethnic
groups as sacrificial lambs. The great Nnamdi Azikiwe
bestrode the political firmament of the African continent as
a shining star, widely celebrated on the continent and
beyond but hardly recognized as a hero among his kinsmen
from the South east. The records are there that the Igbo
never embraced Zik the way the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani
embraced their sons- Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello.
The emergence of Chukwuemeka Odumegu Ojukwu, in the annals
of the Igbo polity marked the end of a semblance of a
unifier for the Igbo race. After the bloody war of 1967-1970
which he led unsuccessfully, the problem of the race was
further heightened. The Igbos became like a sheep without
shepherd. The Nigerian state did not help issues as it saw
to it that a man of Igbo extraction never rose to political
prominence in the country. However, in the political
calculation of the country, the Igbo nation can not be
ignored, due basically to their numerical strength that sees
them as one of the three largest ethnic groups in the
country. This is besides their sense of industry and
courage. When Ojukwu wanted to test his popularity among his
“new found friends from the North” and sought to go to the
Senate, he was unequivocally told a big “NO” by “his own
people” who threw up a rather unknown Igboman, Onwudiwe, who
defeated the great Ikemba squarely. The same man Onwudiwe
has since remained in political oblivion after that much
celebrated and well orchestrated “feat”.
During the last Republic, the Igbo demonstrated their
penchant for divisiveness as they produced five Senate
Presidents in eight years. They have fought dirty, trying to
see how they can paint their fellow Igboman as bad and not
capable of occupying the exulted position, not realizing
that it made the whole Igbo nation to look bad before other
Nigerians. As it stands, they have been schemed out in the
political equation in the country. They do not occupy the
first four positions in the land. The highest man of
political relevance among the Igbo presently is Professor
Maurice Iwu, (though some persons might wish to disagree)
the incumbent Chairman of the INEC.
I am not an Igbo, but both friends and foes know me as
somebody that will never stand truth on its head but would
rather prefer to state it the way it is. The INEC boss
remains the first man in the country to have successfully
conducted elections that heralded the transition from one
civilian government to another. Some Nigerians have cried
foul about the elections the erudite scholar presided over
in April 2007, describing it as marred by irregularities.
The man at different fora has made it known that the
problems of elections in Nigeria have nothing to do with the
system but with the politicians who do everything in their
powers to win elections at all costs. He once likened the
2007 elections to an aircraft that had a turbulent takeoff
but had a successful landing.
It is most unfortunate that this celebrated Igbo receives
the hardest knocks from people of his Igbo extraction. Only
recently, a group of persons from Iwu’s native Imo state
sponsored anti-Iwu articles and paid advertorials on the
laudable constituency delineation exercise presently been
carried out by the Iwu-led INEC. These set of people, who
are bent on removing Iwu from office, refuse to recognize
that the delineation exercise, a constitutional role of INEC
is coming two years behind schedule. While majority of
Nigerians have applauded INEC for embarking on this project,
his people from the South-East are most vociferous in their
condemnation of Iwu and INEC. The import of the delineation
exercise is that, it affords every federal constituency in
the federation an opportunity to have almost the same number
of people for equal representation.
That Prof. Maurice Iwu is today the most highly connected
Igbo in the land is stating the obvious. He has the ears of
the President. This fact can not be far from the fact that
INEC represents a veritable organ for the sustenance of an
enduring democracy in the land and every stakeholder must
jealously monitor the activities of such an important organ
especially the president himself been the custodian of the
mandate of the people. But Iwu’s fellow Igbos refuse to see
beyond their noses, that with the influence Iwu wields and
the delineation exercise he is presently overseeing, the man
can leverage on his national connections to ensure that the
additional state been craved by the Igbo becomes a reality
in the near term. After all, he can use his goodwill among
members of the National/State Assemblies to do things in
favour of his Igbo people.
The Igbo are a people, noted generally for their wisdom and
according to that popular saying—“Wisdom is that thing that
enables us to know what to do with knowledge”. They need to
rally round Iwu, since he is in the good books of powers
that be. Igbos should take a cue from other ethnic groups in
the country who readily come to the defense of their leaders
when other parts of the country ask for their heads.
“A leader is one who has the courage to dream, the ability
to organize and the strength to execute the action
necessary. A leader is simply one who knows where he/she
wants to go, gets up and goes.” Maurice Iwu has shown that
he has the courage, which earned him the secret admiration
of many Nigerians. This is Iwu’s time; but it seems his
fellow Igbos don’t know it yet.
Emmanuel Ighodalo writes from Abuja
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