NEWS BY IN DEPTH AFRICA
“In 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s Igbo leaders did a lot to improve the quality of life of every Igbo person. During this period, Igbo leaders like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. M. I. Okpara, Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Dennis Osadebe, Dr. Nwafor Orizu, Maazi Z. C. Obi to name a few did concrete things that propelled Ndiigbo above every other ethnic group in Nigeria. Azikiwe, Orizu, Osadebe and others saw the value of good education as the ladder to economic progress and pursued the provision of educational opportunities for Ndiigbo with such vigor that in a few decades, Ndiigbo leapfrogged over every ethnic group in Nigeria in educational attainment thereby positioning themselves to take over much of the administrative machinery of the state at independence.
Okpara, Ibiam and some others saw the need for food sufficiency and industrialization and pursued agriculture and food production with such zeal that by 1965, the government of Eastern Nigeria undertook publicity campaign to urge people to eat more meat, chicken and eggs and drink milk. Farm settlements and agricultural extension programs were so successful that Malaysia came to Eastern Nigeria to learn the secret. At the same time major industries were being established at Port Harcourt/Calabar, Enugu/Emene/Nkalagu, Umuahia and Onitsha. These industries were superbly successful and formed the backbone of the industrialization of Eastern Nigeria.” – Quioted
Leadership Series by Ekwe Nche Institute.
Ndi-gboo mma mma nu,
My daughter is at a presentation in school and she was looking forward to her dad being there as every daughter does, but as usual daddy is a no show because he is sitting in front of a computer perking away in reply to some inconsequential accusations. Hopefully as she grows up, she will understand why daddy was always away at the most important times in her young live and learn to forgive dad.
Thanks to our God Yah, Yah-nwe, Yah-nwe-uwa, “Ama Ama Amasi Amasi”, I had no knowledge of what I was getting into or the sacrifices I would have to make not to mention the legions of enemies in this most important struggle for the survival and the way of life of Ndi Igbo, or I would have refused to step forward.
Which would be easier, sit with my hands folded and say nothing while our young men and women throw away their lives when the goal can be achieved without loss of lives? Which would be easier sit back and watch while those who have crowned themselves leaders of Igbo continue to use Igbo as they had done for the past thirty years because I would make enemies by standing on the truth? If my making legions of enemies will save even one of our brethren from throwing away their lives when it can be prevented, bring it on! If we are emotional about the plight of Igbo, who can blame us but emotion must be tampered with cold and calculating strategy where this revolution is concerned or we will definitely loose – God Forbid! In fact where this struggle is concerned emotions must not play a part.
Let those who do not understand the power of this medium, the inter-net, remain blind, for if not for the inter-net this revolution would still remain on first base. Hopefully by the time they wake up this revolution would have reached its desired end and result!
When two brethren sat down and decided to start this revolution based on IGBO PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE AND TRADITION, our calculation was that it would be a two year project. Yes, Yah-nwe-uwa started picking some very special people to move this agenda, not only did he pick Igbo from Nne Ala Igbo Biafra, Yah reached across centuries of pain and suffering to pick Igbo Americans, Igbo Jamaica, …, who had been cleansed by fire. As some dropped off, Yah-nwe brought in others for he had heard the cry of our millions who the abomination of a country Nigeria slaughtered. He had decreed that Biafra was and is a reality.
We knew that this would be a two year project and we could then go back to our lives. Little did we realize that more than six years years into the project; Ndi Igbo in diaspora would be just as confused as ever; just as selfish as ever; just as ego driven as ever; would be thinking only of themselves and how they could position themselves to get the crumbs that fall off the table of the enslavers of Ndi Igbo or more amazing that they would be fighting over positions in a Biafra that was not even a physical reality.
Worst yet, we did not realize the depth of the state of denial of Igbo at home. What we now have are Igbo-Hausa and Igbo-Yoruba, brethren who would see black and label it white and see white and label it black or brethren that have placed themselves above the Collective and expect OHA to worship them. That the most democratic people in the whole world had degenerated to the level where an Igbo could not say his mind, that Igbo was now a feudal nation where men/women where worshipped as gods. A nation that lost all belief in her culture, tradition and philosophy and had turned her back on the values that have worked for thousands of years for our fore-parents, because we had lost a war?
Consider the state of Israel, how many hundreds of years were the Jews in exile, yet they held unto the values of their fore-parents. How many hundreds of years were they persecuted, did they give up hope in Yah?
Less than forty years after losing the Biafra/Nigeria war, Igbo has become a nation of liars, thieves, murders, ego driven maniacs and a nation in total denial. What happened?
One wonders whether Igbo has learnt anything from the failure of old Biafra. But then how can we learn anything from that debacle, where we snatched defeat from the mouth of victory, since we refuse to go back and closely examine the actions of the major players to find out where we went wrong. We are now in such denial that some now state loudly that we never lost the war, and go as far as heaping the blame on the great general Effiong, that he should not have surrendered and it was his fault.
If the Biafra fight for survival was a JUST struggle, did it stop being just after Biafra lost the war? What of the over half a million innocent brethren who were slaughtered in the North? Why is it that for more than thirty years, those who led this JUST war sat on their hands, became buddies with those who massacred millions of their brethren, to the point where they saw nothing wrong with being their errand boys, in fact they could be now regarded as prostitutes – money na hand, back na ground, to all comers be it Hausa-Fulani or Yoruba.
If those who call themselves leaders of Ndi Igbo had sold out so completely, why should we be surprised at the state of total decay of Igbo? Point out one of these leaders who is not beholden to the Hausa-Fulani or Yoruba, be it Abacha, Babangida, Obasanjo, …, are these not their sponsors? Before they do anything do they not first consult their masters?
I am reminded of the “Igbo Week” Ekwe Nche celebrated in both 1997 and 1998 in Chicago. Only a handful of Igbo showed up and that is being very generous. The guest speaker in one of them was Dr. Carruthers, one of the greatest Igbo-Americans alive, a man in great demand. He stood in front of an empty hall and made a speech I will never forget. He told us not to give up hope, as we were covered in shame at the no show of Ndi Igbo, he reminded us that every revolution had a beginning. He encouraged us to hold unto the truth and even went as far as telling us we were on the right path by building this revolution around Igbo tradition, culture and philosophy.
Should I write about Dr. Anderson, Prof. Ausbra Ford or Nicolas Thompson (a great Ghanaian), just to name a few. These brethren have no stake in Biafra, yet have made contributions to this struggle more than any of us ever will. These are the true Igbo. Yet those of us who call ourselves Igbo are so self-centered that we have no compassion to the pain, suffering and death of our brethren and we are only interested in what we can get out of OHA.
Talk about unity? As you can see from “Forget the Past” Ekwe Nche started talking about unity from the inception of this movement. But it is a unity based on truth, and a unity under YAH! Not a unity under any man. Yah is the head of this revolution and it is based on truth – “Eziokwu bu Ndu”, the philosophy, culture and tradition of our fore-parents. Anyone who has no faith or has lost faith in Yah better find some, or he/she will not last in this struggle.
Any who has forgotten what truth is and speaks out of both sides of his/her mouth better relearn what truth is or they will fall by the way side. Any who worships man instead of YAH had better turn around to YAH for man will always fail. I remember when Ndi Igbo burst out in laughter whenever they saw us coming, “Ekwe Nche” they would sneer, ” are you guys trying to get us killed again”, they would snarl. Well they are no longer laughing, from Chicago, the revolution has spread worldwide!
Yes, I am and remain unruffled as long as my total faith and trust is in YAH, after being laughed at by our brethren, becoming the butt of jokes of our brethren, after being called Ekwe Nche as they snickered, being told that we were wasting our time that Biafra was only a fantasy in our crazed minds, after our big Igbo organizations worked so hard to make sure that no one showed up in our meetings even after we had spent the little money we had to buy food, drinks and provide music so that we can listen to each other. Name it, you bet we have seen it, even our own brethren trying to kill us! During Abache era, getting threatening e-mails and being followed all over the place, if I was not ruffled by then, why do you think I would be ruffled now? Am I not amongst Biafrans? If we disagree, is it not about method? In Igbo culture no man is God, and no man is king since YAH is the only king Igbo recognize.
Umu Igbo, I has earned the right to say whatever I want, not that I need permission – being Igbo gives me that right!
I expect every Igbo to defend vigorously whatever position they take, believe in and hold, but lets leave out threats, it is un-Igbo. If Clinton or Bush both presidents of the greatest country in the world can be critisized, how much less people who have not been able to lead Igbo out of bondage but now demand that Igbo crown them King or is it god, forgetting that our fore-parents said “only a madman will demand that he be made king over Igbo”. Is Democracy not a subset of Ohacracy? Did Igbo not give the world democracy? Are Igbo not the most democratic nation in the world? Why should an Igbo not speak his/her mind?
Yes, both those who believe and those who do not believe are coming on board; both those who are ready to help move the Igbo agenda and those looking for ways to profit out of the movement are coming on board; both the honest and the liars, pretenders, and those already negotiating for high table or low table before Biafra is actualized are also coming on board. That is as it should be, all are welcome! When the time is right YAH will separate the tares from the wheat. Biafra is the Lord’s and he has ordained its actualization and we all are mere tools in his hands. We will all play our parts, some as Judas to show Ndi Igbo what they will get if they refuse to hold unto YAH.
But one thing is for sure, we will have Biafra and like it or not it will be based on truth, on the philosophy, tradition and culture of Igbo.
IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN, SO IT SHALL BE – ISEEEE!!!!
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