By Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu
By the time the British invaders came across the River Niger in 1927, they were astounded by the civilization, development and aggressiveness among the Igbos. They could hear pidgin English here and there; and the people came back to their shops everyday whether they made sales the previous day or not.
This was far more civilized than what they witnessed in the North even at Lagos at their entrance. The three major tribes in Nigeria are: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba but there are hundreds of ethnic groups in the same country. If there is anything like strength, entrepreneurial, enterprising, resilience, communal and industrious; tribe it is the Igbos. Some have mimicked this by saying that any part of the world you did not find an Igbo is usually dangerous tribe or may not be safe.
Therefore, we may have to talk about the Igbo Agenda more strictly and peculiarly after an Igbo man vied for presidency in the February 2023 General elections and lost out after the massive support and projections by the ‘Obi-dients’.
It is also pertinent since the revered leader of Igbo socio-political organization – Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was abducted from Kenya in August 2021 and has been in DSS dungeon despite several legal battle to grant him bail. Certainly, there may not be anything like an “Igbo Agenda” but the Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba political affiliation since 1970, excluding the Igbos completely from every political decision in Nigeria has made it contrived that the Igbos have an agenda.
Painfully, millions of Igbo youths trooped out en masse in I967 with the declaration of Republic of Biafra by Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to fight the British-backed Nigerian Government with just machetes, den guns. Millions of lives of young people were lost just by a mere camera surveillance and a command issued for the release of High Machine Guns (HMG).
In 1945, Charles Onyeama had prophesied that one day the Igbos might not be in control of affairs in Nigeria. This notwithstanding, the Igbos do not have a match, an equal nor a challenge whether in the pre-colonial, colonial, post-civil war achievements and remarkable limelight feats.
Interestingly, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, sent as many Igbo sons as he could to Lincoln University but human character, political interests, diverse personalities tore the Igbo race apart and made unity in Nigeria very difficult. Some of the political leaders Nigeria have had, do not believe in the amalgamation, unity and peace of Nigeria, rather they went upfront playing tribal politics and underdeveloped the country.
Presently, Nigeria is a failed state waiting to collapse but held together by the sacrifices, crushing, squeezing, pummeling, over-taxation of poor Nigerians. Since 1970, the Igbo man has never qualified to take sensitive posts in the political structure of Nigeria like Comptroller-General of Customs, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Vice-President or even the President.
Emphatically, the Igbo Agenda is the development of Nigeria but some greedy Igbo politicians had often sabotaged every Igbo initiative just for crumbs from the enemies of Igbo Tribe. Every Igbo man in the likes of Professor Chike Obi, Chinua Achebe, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sam Okwaraji, etc. do not have a match in the whole of Nigeria.
The Igbos are not hated and there may not be anything like Igbophobia rather the hegemony and tribal bigots in Nigeria do not want poor Nigerians to smile. The owners of Nigeria do not imagine a transformation, growth and development of Nigeria and this is why some Igbo politicians are always involved in looting, conspiracy and marginalization of the masses.
Providentially, the remaining Igbos that survived the war and the young people who were given birth to after the Biafran war have a dream and a freedom chant. They believe that whether Nigeria likes it or not, read it or rue it, they would get to their Canaan land someday.
You may call it Biafra, Igbo Land, land of freedom, emancipation but it would surface someday. Equally, every well-meaning citizen in the country believe too that with the spate of looting, corruption, greed and negligence, Nigeria as a nation would collapse, break up or resurrect. USSR broke up, Sudan divided and so would other nations whose leaders are greedy, wicked and unsympathetic. More than 3 million Igbos lost their lives during the Nigeria-Biafran war and the Nigerian Government, after the surrender, declared: reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. Where have they taken place and who is fooling who?
Incidentally, the Hausa-Fulani considers the Igbo man a great threat to her dominance but the violence and Boko Haram insurgency is never an Igbo Agenda. Despite the insecurity, banditry, terrorism and kidnappings in the North, the whole of South east is militarized, under physical and mental siege with weekly sit-at-home.
What has the Igbo man done if we may ask? Every market in the South west controlled by the Igbos is under military siege. The Yoruba and Hausa Muslims claim to have unmasked the authentic self with their poverty mentality and lifestyle yet every resource sharing, allocation in Nigeria is controlled from the North. The Igbo man wants to be rich by all means and all other tribes in Nigeria are poor?
Furthermore, this write-up is not meant to instigate violence but to expose the challenges and prospects for a more inclusive Nigeria. The ‘Aburi Accord’ could have prevented a lot of squabbles if there was understanding and amity. Ethnic tension and historical grievances are high in Nigeria leading to killings, destruction and marginalization.
For more than 50 years, the Igbos have lived and existed in Nigeria without any struggle or political significance and this portrays that there is nothing like an Igbo agenda. The Igbos are enterprising and industrious group of people scattered all over Nigeria, dwelling below the Niger River. Several uprising and ethnic cleansing in Nigeria had targeted the Igbos but their resilience, rich cultural heritage and communal spirit had always kept them together.
In conclusion, there is inequality everywhere but it is what counts for an Igbo man. The voices of the Igbos do not rotate around marginalization but a perspective on how to build a great country and attract the Diasporas back to their home.
Beyond the headlines, majority of the Igbo egg-heads have emigrated to Europe and America which signifies that justice to the Igbos is the betterment of Nigeria. The exclusion of the Igbos is the sidelining of equity and fairness in the governance and leadership of the country.
Finally, we do not have to be afraid no matter where we are. In a world overflowing with threats and dangers all around us, we all need something else to arrest our attention. Not just a mere mental distraction, we mostly need to fasten our minds upon a reality more powerful than all our fears. Hope is a positive expectation that something good is going to happen because of who we are, where we are and what we have. It is not a wishy-washy, wait-and-see attitude, but a mindset we must choose on purpose each day.
Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Awgbu – Nigeria
