NDIGBO: Our Case, A Ticking Time Bomb
Some days
ago in the most peaceful and celebrated contest for the leadership of Ohaneze
Ndigbo, I was elected as President General of Ohaneze along with sixteen other
members of the National Executive Committee to lead our organization for the
next four years.
JOHN NNIA
NWODO
Nnia Nwodo
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
Nnia Nwodo
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
Our mandate was profound and humbling. We are grateful to
Ndigbo for the enormous trust and confidence which they have reposed in us.
Nigerians of all ethnic nationalities have joined us to celebrate the outcome
of this election. They have congratulated us for holding a peaceful election
and for voting-in an improved quality of representation from all Igbo-speaking
areas. Let me therefore congratulate the last National Executive Committee of
Ohaneze led by Chief Gary Igariwey for putting together this successful
exercise. In particular, I will like to place on record our gratitude to the
Electoral Committee led by Prof. Anya O. Anya and Prof ABC Nwosu for a
transparent and credible election. Equally commendable is the complete
unanimity of all the Governors in all Igbo speaking areas in supporting the
just concluded elections and ensuring effective representation of their various
States at the General Assembly.
I acknowledge with thanks the messages of
congratulations we received from other socio-cultural organizations and
prominent Nigerians including but not limited to Afenifere, Arewa Consultative
Forum, PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clarke, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, Governor Liyel Imoke, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop
Mathew Kukah and Governor Obong Victor Attah. Of notable mention is the
unanimous solidarity of the South East caucus of the National Assembly led by
the Deputy Senate President Distinguished Senator Ike Ekweremadu, we thank them
most sincerely.
More importantly, I cannot fail to acknowledge the timely and
cheering congratulations of His Excellency, The President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari. Mr. President in his message
of congratulations expressed his readiness to work with the new Ohaneze
leadership. We salute the President for his kind hand of fellowship at a time
Ndigbo have great concern about their participation and treatment in the
Nigerian State. This hand of fellowship offered by Mr. President, I believe,
will enable us to engage him meaningfully and find an early resolution of our
extant misgivings. Nnia Nwodo Ndigbo in today’s Nigeria face so many problems.
Under the current Federal government, Igbo representation is abysmal and falls
extremely short of the constitutional provisions for the reflection of federal
character in the appointment into important government positions. No arm of
Government namely, the Executive, Judiciary or Legislature is headed by an
Igbo. No Section of the Armed forces or paramilitary organization is headed by
an Igbo. Neither the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal nor the Federal High Court
is headed by an Igbo. We know in the history of this country when a lieutenant
colonel was appointed to the position of Chief of General Staff over and above
his superiors just to ensure ethnic balance.
We know when a Minister of Justice
and Attorney General of the Federation was appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria
just to ensure ethnic balance. We know when a former Military Head of State was
drafted to run for President just to douse ethnic tensions. What is very
perturbing is the public declaration of Mr. President that his appointments
must favour the States that voted overwhelmingly for him and those he trusts
even against the provisions of our constitution relating to federal character!
One is at sea why Ndigbo who campaigned and voted for him appear not to be
trusted. No wonder he defied the zoning structure of his party and appointed a
non- Igbo man as Secretary to Government. No wonder the ministries with lean
capital votes are the ones assigned to Ndigbo! No wonder he nominated
Ambassadors for confirmation to the National Assembly naming three ambassadors
for some states and only one ambassador for each of the Igbo States! No wonder
one year and eight months into his tenure as President he has not visited any
Igbo State! While we bemoan this patently discriminatory treatment of Ndigbo in
appointment into political positions, addressing of capital projects is perhaps
more pathetic. No railway construction is going on in Igbo land. The Enugu/Port
Harcourt and Enugu/Onitsha Expressways have become national embarrassment.
State Governors in Igbo States now rehabilitate federal roads in Igbo land from
their lean budgets so as to keep alive mobility of factors of production.
Whereas 70% of power generated in China is from coal and 40% of America’s power
is from coal the coal in Enugu which is a federal resource continues to lie
unexploited. Ebonyi State continues to bring up the rear in federally allocated
resources in spite of its mineral endowments of salt and lead. To make matters
worse, on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 the President presented a $29.9 billion 3
year External Borrowing plan to the National Assembly which will potentially
raise our total external debt to $41 Billion in three years and raise our debt
to GDP ratio from 13.2% to 20.7% without considering it fit to allocate a
single project in this external borrowing plan to the South East.
The economic
strangulation of Ndigbo has overtime been perpetuated by the confining of
mainland Ndigbo to five states. Every other geo- political zone has six and
seven states respectively. Of the 774 local governments in the federation just
three Northern States have more local governments than the whole of the South
East put together. Under this lopsided structure of the Nigerian State, the
common wealth of the country continues to be distributed using states and local
governments as parameters whilst any talk about restructuring of the Federation
is clearly not on the agenda.
The peaceful coexistence between previously
peace-loving Fulani herdsmen who herded their cattle with long canes and our
local farmers has been replaced by an era of AK-47 totting and rampaging
herdsmen who kill, maim, rape our people and destroy our farms. Not one of them
is ever arrested for illegal possession of firearms. Even those arrested in
Nimbo for mercilessly killing our people remain unprosecuted by the Northern
dominated law enforcement agents.
A picture of the Orwellian animal farm where
all animals are equal but some-how some animals are more equal than others is
painted. In Lagos State, after the threat of throwing our people into the
lagoon during the last national elections, it has become habitual for the Lagos
State government, hiding under the pretext of urban renewal and development, to
wantonly demolish shops and business premises of Ndigbo all around Lagos.
This
happens notwithstanding the fact that a sizeable percentage of the economy of
Lagos State was built on the free will investment of Ndigbo. I must at this
juncture salute two eminent traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria who have
spoken up for Ndigbo. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto whilst calling for the
release of Nnamdi Kanu last year praised the contributions of Ndigbo in Sokoto
and described them as law abiding.
His Highness the Emir of Kano in a
celebrated speech spoke of the unwritten agreement between the North and the
West to keep the Ndigbo down as a result of the first coup and the war and
warned that this agreement must be reviewed as the Ndigbo who are now being
punished are largely those who did not participate in the war.
MASSOB AND IPOB
This brings me to the rise of MASSOB and IPOB. Both organizations no matter how
divided they appear in public are basically motivated by the same sense of
outrage and bitterness.
Our young men and women can no longer tolerate a second
class status in their own country. They can no longer forgive the President for
arguing before he came into office that Niger Delta militants were meekly
treated and tolerated by President Yar Adua while Boko Haram was harshly
treated by President Jonathan when his law enforcement agents literally open
fire and maim and kill unarmed MASSOB and IPOB members. They see how returnee
Boko Haram members are absolved and rehabilited while leaders of MASSOB and
IPOB are incarcerated or mercilessly murdered. In their rage they are becoming
uncontrollable as they pass a vote of no confidence on us, their parents,
describing us as cowards and compromised.
Because the older Ndigbo have seen
civil war and its devastating consequences, they naturally hesitate to support
any military action against the Nigerian State that might waste their children.
Because Ndigbo business class is heavily invested in Nigeria outside Igboland,
they fervently believe in a united Nigeria even if marginalized politically. Consequently a polarization of Ndigbo between proponents of Biafra and
proponents of restructuring of Nigeria exists. Both sides
agonise in futility given the lukewarmness of the Nigerian leadership to either
of their wishes. This is a ticking time bomb!!. As President General of Ohaneze
I intend to extend my warm hand of paternity to IPOB and MASSOB.
They are
my children. I shall never desert them. Their struggle is my struggle even if
we do not completely agree with their methods. In warfare there are two types
of approaches:- coercion and diplomacy. I completely favour diplomacy. The hand
of fellowship which Mr. President has extended to Ohaneze gives me immense
confidence that we can tame rising tempers. No one is
listening to the other. Somehow we believe that our present situation can only
be explained by marginalization and hatred. My people, the time for lamentation
is over.
Our
continued cry of marginalization has become stale. No one is listening to us
anymore. I take up the challenge of this onerous assignment confident in the
fact that I know the Ndigbo that I will be serving.
I am aware
that in the DNA of the average Igbo person are bold strands of ingenuity,
resourcefulness, intelligence and the ability to survive and thrive in the face
of various odds and challenges. This is
our gift from the Almighty God which has served us well, again and again.
Ndigbo constitute the arteries and veins upon which the Nigerian economy runs.
The Head of the Political Division of the American Embassy, Abuja once said
that Ndigbo constitute the largest block of highly educated black population in
the United States and that they are all in significant professional occupations.
He stated
that if Ndigbo in America save 40% of their earnings, it would be more than
half of the total annual oil revenue of Nigeria. As an economist, I know that
at this point in our quest for development, it is paramount to change the Igbo
psyche from our propensity for heavy investments primarily in real estate to
setting up industries and factories with the potentials for wealth creation.
Such
production units will offer jobs and incomes to our youths and grow the Igbo
economy. The
factories I must point out should of course be sited in Igbo land and not
elsewhere. My people, this is not rocket science as we have done it before. We built
the second cement factory in Nigeria – NIGERCEM, Nkalagu; the second brewery in
Nigeria – Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia; first Building material
Industry in Nigeria – Turners Asbestos and Iron and Steel plants in Emene; the
Port Harcourt MICHELIN Tyres and legally speaking, the first indigenous
university in Nigeria, UNN. During this time, the World Bank recognized South
Eastern Nigeria as the fastest growing economy in Africa.
We can do
it again. As you go away from this inaugural meeting of Ohaneze National
Executive Committee, I want Ndigbo to go with confidence that you have
inaugurated the beginning of new era for Ohaneze,a new era of transparency and
accountability, an era for the repatriation of Igbo capital for the building of
a new economic infrastructure for our people, an era of a sustained and active
fight for the restructuring of our federation, an era of a strong and all –
involving OHANEZE. On my part I promise that I shall stand up for you, I will
fight for you, I am ready to sacrifice for you and if necessary DIE for you. I
pray for your support. I ask for your prayers. May the Almighty God help us.
Thank you
for kind attention.
JOHN NNIA
NWODO
Some days ago in the
most peaceful and celebrated contest for the leadership of Ohaneze
Ndigbo, I was elected as President General of Ohaneze along with sixteen
other members of the National Executive Committee to lead our
organization for the next four years. Our mandate was profound and
humbling. We are grateful to Ndigbo for the enormous trust and
confidence which they have reposed in us.
Nigerians of all ethnic nationalities have joined us to celebrate the
outcome of this election. They have congratulated us for holding a
peaceful election and for voting-in an improved quality of
representation from all Igbo-speaking areas. Let me therefore
congratulate the last National Executive Committee of Ohaneze led by
Chief Gary Igariwey for putting together this successful exercise. In
particular, I will like to place on record our gratitude to the
Electoral Committee led by Prof. Anya O. Anya and Prof ABC Nwosu for a
transparent and credible election.
Equally commendable is the complete unanimity of all the Governors in
all Igbo speaking areas in supporting the just concluded elections and
ensuring effective representation of their various States at the General
Assembly.
I acknowledge with thanks the messages of congratulations we received
from other socio-cultural organizations and prominent Nigerians
including but not limited to Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum,
PANDEF, Chief Edwin Clarke, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, Governor Liyel Imoke, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan,
Archbishop Mathew Kukah and Governor Obong Victor Attah. Of notable
mention is the unanimous solidarity of the South East caucus of the
National Assembly led by the Deputy Senate President Distinguished
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, we thank them most sincerely.
More importantly, I cannot fail to acknowledge the timely and cheering
congratulations of His Excellency, The President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, President Mohammadu Buhari. Mr. President in his message of
congratulations expressed his readiness to work with the new Ohaneze
leadership. We salute the President for his kind hand of fellowship at a
time Ndigbo have great concern about their participation and treatment
in the Nigerian State. This hand of fellowship offered by Mr. President,
I believe, will enable us to engage him meaningfully and find an early
resolution of our extant misgivings.
Nnia Nwodo
Ndigbo in today’s Nigeria face so many problems.
Under the current Federal government, Igbo representation is abysmal and
falls extremely short of the constitutional provisions for the
reflection of federal character in the appointment into important
government positions. No arm of Government namely, the Executive,
Judiciary or Legislature is headed by an Igbo. No Section of the Armed
forces or paramilitary organization is headed by an Igbo. Neither the
Supreme Court, Court of Appeal nor the Federal High Court is headed by
an Igbo.
We know in the history of this country when a lieutenant colonel was
appointed to the position of Chief of General Staff over and above his
superiors just to ensure ethnic balance. We know when a Minister of
Justice and Attorney General of the Federation was appointed Chief
Justice of Nigeria just to ensure ethnic balance. We know when a former
Military Head of State was drafted to run for President just to douse
ethnic tensions.
What is very perturbing is the public declaration of Mr. President that
his appointments must favour the States that voted overwhelmingly for
him and those he trusts even against the provisions of our constitution
relating to federal character! One is at sea why Ndigbo who campaigned
and voted for him appear not to be trusted.
No wonder he defied the zoning structure of his party and appointed a
non- Igbo man as Secretary to Government. No wonder the ministries with
lean capital votes are the ones assigned to Ndigbo! No wonder he
nominated Ambassadors for confirmation to the National Assembly naming
three ambassadors for some states and only one ambassador for each of
the Igbo States! No wonder one year and eight months into his tenure as
President he has not visited any Igbo State!
While we bemoan this patently discriminatory treatment of Ndigbo in
appointment into political positions, addressing of capital projects is
perhaps more pathetic.
No railway construction is going on in Igbo land. The Enugu/Port
Harcourt and Enugu/Onitsha Expressways have become national
embarrassment. State Governors in Igbo States now rehabilitate federal
roads in Igbo land from their lean budgets so as to keep alive mobility
of factors of production. Whereas 70% of power generated in China is
from coal and 40% of America’s power is from coal the coal in Enugu
which is a federal resource continues to lie unexploited. Ebonyi State
continues to bring up the rear in federally allocated resources in spite
of its mineral endowments of salt and lead.
To make matters worse, on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 the President
presented a $29.9 billion 3 year External Borrowing plan to the National
Assembly which will potentially raise our total external debt to $41
Billion in three years and raise our debt to GDP ratio from 13.2% to
20.7% without considering it fit to allocate a single project in this
external borrowing plan to the South East.
The economic strangulation of Ndigbo has overtime been perpetuated by
the confining of mainland Ndigbo to five states. Every other geo-
political zone has six and seven states respectively. Of the 774 local
governments in the federation just three Northern States have more local
governments than the whole of the South East put together. Under this
lopsided structure of the Nigerian State, the common wealth of the
country continues to be distributed using states and local governments
as parameters whilst any talk about restructuring of the Federation is
clearly not on the agenda.
The peaceful coexistence between previously peace-loving Fulani herdsmen
who herded their cattle with long canes and our local farmers has been
replaced by an era of AK-47 totting and rampaging herdsmen who kill,
maim, rape our people and destroy our farms. Not one of them is ever
arrested for illegal possession of firearms. Even those arrested in
Nimbo for mercilessly killing our people remain unprosecuted by the
Northern dominated law enforcement agents. A picture of the Orwellian
animal farm where all animals are equal but some-how some animals are
more equal than others is painted.
In Lagos State, after the threat of throwing our people into the lagoon
during the last national elections, it has become habitual for the Lagos
State government, hiding under the pretext of urban renewal and
development, to wantonly demolish shops and business premises of Ndigbo
all around Lagos. This happens notwithstanding the fact that a sizeable
percentage of the economy of Lagos State was built on the free will
investment of Ndigbo.
I must at this juncture salute two eminent traditional rulers in
Northern Nigeria who have spoken up for Ndigbo. His Eminence, the Sultan
of Sokoto whilst calling for the release of Nnamdi Kanu last year
praised the contributions of Ndigbo in Sokoto and described them as law
abiding.
His Highness the Emir of Kano in a celebrated speech spoke of the
unwritten agreement between the North and the West to keep the Ndigbo
down as a result of the first coup and the war and warned that this
agreement must be reviewed as the Ndigbo who are now being punished are
largely those who did not participate in the war.
MASSOB AND IPOB
This brings me to the rise of MASSOB and IPOB. Both organizations no
matter how divided they appear in public are basically motivated by the
same sense of outrage and bitterness. Our young men and women can no
longer tolerate a second class status in their own country. They can no
longer forgive the President for arguing before he came into office that
Niger Delta militants were meekly treated and tolerated by President
Yar Adua while Boko Haram was harshly treated by President Jonathan when
his law enforcement agents literally open fire and maim and kill
unarmed MASSOB and IPOB members.
They see how returnee Boko Haram members are absolved and rehabilited
while leaders of MASSOB and IPOB are incarcerated or mercilessly
murdered. In their rage they are becoming uncontrollable as they pass a
vote of no confidence on us, their parents, describing us as cowards and
compromised. Because the older Ndigbo have seen civil war and its
devastating consequences, they naturally hesitate to support any
military action against the Nigerian State that might waste their
children.
Because Ndigbo business class is heavily invested in Nigeria outside
Igboland, they fervently believe in a united Nigeria even if
marginalized politically. Consequently a polarization of Ndigbo between
proponents of Biafra and proponents of restructuring of Nigeria exists.
Both sides agonise in futility given the lukewarmness of the Nigerian
leadership to either of their wishes. This is a ticking time bomb!!.
As President General of Ohaneze I intend to extend my warm hand of
paternity to IPOB and MASSOB. They are my children. I shall never desert
them. Their struggle is my struggle even if we do not completely agree
with their methods. In warfare there are two types of approaches:-
coercion and diplomacy. I completely favour diplomacy. The hand of
fellowship which Mr. President has extended to Ohaneze gives me immense
confidence that we can tame rising tempers. No one is listening to the
other. Somehow we believe that our present situation can only be
explained by marginalization and hatred.
My people, the time for lamentation is over. Our continued cry of
marginalization has become stale. No one is listening to us anymore. I
take up the challenge of this onerous assignment confident in the fact
that I know the Ndigbo that I will be serving. I am aware that in the
DNA of the average Igbo person are bold strands of ingenuity,
resourcefulness, intelligence and the ability to survive and thrive in
the face of various odds and challenges. This is our gift from the
Almighty God which has served us well, again and again. Ndigbo
constitute the arteries and veins upon which the Nigerian economy runs.
The Head of the Political Division of the American Embassy, Abuja once
said that Ndigbo constitute the largest block of highly educated black
population in the United States and that they are all in significant
professional occupations. He stated that if Ndigbo in America save 40%
of their earnings, it would be more than half of the total annual oil
revenue of Nigeria.
As an economist, I know that at this point in our quest for development,
it is paramount to change the Igbo psyche from our propensity for heavy
investments primarily in real estate to setting up industries and
factories with the potentials for wealth creation. Such production units
will offer jobs and incomes to our youths and grow the Igbo economy.
The factories I must point out should of course be sited in Igbo land
and not elsewhere.
My people, this is not rocket science as we have done it before. We
built the second cement factory in Nigeria – NIGERCEM, Nkalagu; the
second brewery in Nigeria – the Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia;
first Building material Industry in Nigeria – Turners Asbestos and Iron
and Steel plants in Emene; the Port Harcourt MICHELIN Tyres and legally
speaking, the first indigenous university in Nigeria, UNN. During this
time, the World Bank recognized South Eastern Nigeria as the fastest
growing economy in Africa. We can do it again.
As you go away from this inaugural meeting of Ohaneze National Executive
Committee, I want Ndigbo to go with confidence that you have
inaugurated the beginning of new era for Ohaneze,a new era of
transparency and accountability, an era for the repatriation of Igbo
capital for the building of a new economic infrastructure for our
people, an era of a sustained and active fight for the restructuring of
our federation, an era of a strong and all – involving OHANEZE. On my
part I promise that I shall stand up for you, I will fight for you, I am
ready to sacrifice for you and if necessary DIE for you.
I pray for your support. I ask for your prayers. May the Almighty God
help us.
Thank you for kind attention.
JOHN NNIA NWODO
IKE UKEHE
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/01/ndigbo-case-ticking-time-bomb/
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