Elliott Ugochukwu-Uko
I have taken the time to elucidate on the issues clearly to those who may be uninformed on the origin, development and progression of the agitation, for the sake of posterity.
When I formed my first group, the Igbo Youth Council in August 1981, almost 40 years ago, I had no idea a huge agitation would arise from Igboland in my lifetime.
Circumstances and fate placed me in a position of an insider as the wind continued to blow relentlessly this two decades. Circumstances also placed me in a position to appreciate the facts of the case better than most people, not because I happened to be smart and intelligent. Not at all. It so happened that I remained consistent with my Igbo Youth activism over the years, long enough to earn the trust of the Igbo younger generation, who willingly share with me things they ordinarily would not be comfortable enough to tell politicians.
The trust between us was built over many decades of joint activities and collaboration on issues affecting Ndigbo as a people.
Every attempt I made to pass on the right message to the people who matter, was frustrated out of hubris. They didn’t believe I had deeper insight on the crisis.
The unbridled display of arrogance by men in power, has not in any way changed the facts of the matter. It only muddled and complicated the crisis.
At the end of a private dinner for Prof Ben Nwabueze hosted by Lady Beatrice Ekwueme at the Ekwueme’s Enugu residence, about six years ago, which I was privileged to be invited (by the way, it was at that dinner, that both Prof Ben Nwabueze and Dr. Alex Ekwueme agreed that Chief Nnia Nwodo should be drafted to lead Ohanaeze and redeem the image of Ohanaeze, after the quite disastrous leadership of Igariwe and Nwaorgu at the time), the two great men asked me what was my take, on the possibility of the agitation subsiding any time soon, and if Nnamdi would listen to them, after being granted bail, (something everyone was working on at the time).
My response was drawn from Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu’s attitude to the whole thing:
1 That, as long as envy, resentment and fear of Ndigbo rules the hearts of the rulers of Nigeria who prefer conquest and domination, to addressing the root causes of the agitation, they are most likely to remain unwilling to dialogue. As long as other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria look the other way while tactically endorsing the litany of injustices against Ndigbo, the agitation would continue to grow, and as long as the Igbo younger generation rejects the idea of handing over to their progeny, the undesirable situation they find themselves in today’s Nigeria, the agitation would most likely drag on until something gives.
2 Because the rulers of Nigeria believe that every thing must be done to sustain the domination and suppression of the Igbo, in order to contain the much feared Igbo resurgence, suggestions of dialogue of any kind, which they suspect might lead to genuinely addressing the issues of injustice and inequity emanating from the unfair and unsustainable unitary structure, remain unacceptable to them. They prefer blindly holding on to the status quo, in the hope that piecemeal adjustments here and there over time, will quiten the agitation somehow.
3 Dim Ojukwu believed that certain world powers, especially the former colonial master, aren’t really interested in enthroning a just, stable, truly federal constitutional democracy in Nigeria, for political and economic reasons. He also taught us that these world powers have a preferred region in Nigeria. He INSISTED that the most important thing to do, was to make sure the agitators do not go violent. He was of the view the agitation was bound to happen at some point and that only justice and equity will resolve the matter. That the Igbo elite, who seem uninterested in the agitation, do not actually have the capacity to rein in the agitators, making it possible for the agitators to become truly independent and uncontrollable over time.
4 Ojukwu shared with us the hidden fact, that the rulers of Nigeria, had perfected the strategy of intimidating and beating into line, the Igbo political class. He told us that the Igbo political class (who are forced by the stark reality of the political arrangement of post civil war Nigeria, to pledge loyalty to the power base of Nigeria, if any of them hopes to survive and thrive in the political firmament of contemporary Nigeria) are actually helpless and weak politically. And will not risk confronting Abuja with the truth, due to fear of consequences of telling Abuja what Abuja does not want to hear.
Total compliance to the will of owners of Nigeria, remain the governing code to participation in the Nigerian political space which runs like a fraternity. Stiff punishment await any politician who dares to publicly identify with the demand for redress of grave injustices troubling the land. In other words, every one knows, Igbo politicians are hamstrung by certain factors. That this truth isn’t openly admitted, doesn’t change the reality of the facts.
5 The fact that Igbo elite avoid the agitators and go to great length to stay away from being involved even in the search for peaceful resolution, makes it difficult to see how the agitators would respect the elite club, who they already accuse of acquiescence and even complicity to the lethal and brutal response they received from the central government. And because our political leaders aren’t standing on very strong legs, so to speak, they all, out of fear of jeopardizing their individual political careers, are always unwilling to OFFEND Abuja, by presenting to Abuja, the deep truths every one knows: that only justice and equity will resolve the crisis.
6 I told the two great men, that the agitation will likely grow in the months and years ahead, because Ndigbo have come to sympathise with the agitators due to the fatalities amongst them, as the government’s preference for lethal force, offends the sensibilities of our people. I concluded by pleading with them to continue to engage both the agitators and the government.
They thanked me and assured me of their continuous engagement of both sides. They asked me to bring over Nnamdi as soon as he was released. Something I did same week Nnamdi was released from Kuje prison.
The situation hasn’t changed much since 2016.
The only difference now, is that the agitators seem to have grown bigger, angrier and bolder.
My unique experience and position affords me certain information even the people in government may not have access to. That is exactly why I was and still am disappointed with the reluctance of Igbo leaders, including our Governors to nip this in the bud. The grave error of allowing everything to get to this stage out of the erroneous belief that the agitators will be easily crushed, brought us to where we are today.
Severally I pleaded with the Governors to invite and engage the agitators, but they seemed mortally afraid of Abuja, I pleaded with the secretariat of the South East Governors Forum, but Prof Simon Ortuanya probably didn’t believe me, that the situation would soon grow out of hand. Igbo leaders almost jumped out of the window of the hotel in Enugu, venue of the ILT meeting, when I brought together all the agitators and pleaded with our elders to hear them out.
All the seventeen meetings I organised between Nnamdi and Igbo leaders between May and September 2017, including one with the South East Governors on 30th August 2017, couldn’t bear positive fruit, because the image and shadow of a belligerent central government hovering over us all, made commitment to any agreement, haphazard.
A bellicose central government, totally committed to violent conquest and nothing else, and fearful regional leaders, who are scared of offending the almighty central government by suggesting dialogue with the agitators, something they know only too well, that Abuja isn’t interested in one bit, just couldn’t jell.
And the beat goes on.
The reluctance of the powers that be, to genuinely grant oppressed and marginalised sections of the country, a sense of belonging by quickly beginning the reconstruction of the polity, towards the enthronement of true federalism, power devolution and resource control, via a new people’s constitution affirmed at a referendum, suggests that they hope and believe that their chosen and preferred option of piecemeal amendment of the uninspiring 1999 constitution and deployment of military might, will crush the agitation.
Time will tell. Aside the Tupac Amaru resistance group of Peru and the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, no other agitating group have been successfully crushed within the last hundred years.
Tupac Amaru, because communism became obsolete, forcing them to become irrelevant and the Tamil Tigers, because the majority Sinhalese, had the support of regional neighbours.
Recent and contemporary history, suggests we tread softly and carefully.
The deepened division, destruction of infrastructure, and prolonged economic and political instability emanating from the decades-old resistance from Colombia’s FARC, the rebels of the Philippines and the Kurdish resistance, upon their people, and their land over the years, definitely underscores the undesirability of a prolonged agitation here.
The seemingly lack of interest in pursuing genuine reconciliation, suggests that government expects some of us who worry, to keep quiet and mind our business.
There may be lots of things the people in government know that we do not know. They probably expect us to keep quiet. They probably think it’s infra dig to engage agitators from the East. They prefer other methods in handling the situation. Time will tell.
Posterity has it’s verdict on every generation.
CONCLUDED.
