Elliott Ugochukwu-Uko
I humbly conclude these twenty-series post by presenting five eternal truths that cannot be refuted. I challenge anyone, anywhere who can refute these truthful facts to do so. The ignorance and mismanagement of these basic facts metastasized a very easily resolvable agitation, into a deadly hurricane.
Lack of knowledge, or knowledge barrier, know-it-all attitude of men in power, misdiagnoses of the origin and inspiration of the agitation, craving and desire to hold down others, hubris, paranoia and fear of the potentials of others, all brought us to this quite avoidable impasse.
Another factor is the obvious lack of understanding about the world view of the people of the East. Their genes, internal make up and convictions.
Deliberate twisting of the fact that they loathe and reject subservience and dominance of any kind, also helped in misunderstanding the agitation. They have never been conquered, subsumed or ruled by others in centuries. They live in clusters of homesteads and clans, and have never paid tributes or accept the domination or supremacy of foreigners for over a thousand years.
They do not know anything about and have never experienced the concept of conquest and domination by others and will never accept it. They thrive as free souls, love trade and commerce, visit, build and settle anywhere and everywhere. But they deeply resent and reject with all their strength and energy, any attempt to permanently reduce him to a spectator or eternal onlooker, especially by folks he believes aren’t better talented or endowed.
Oppression and exclusion hurts him to the bone. He’ll even quit attending any meeting where he is perpetually not allowed to air his opinion, after raising his hand severally to be allowed to speak.
He is just not used to being relegated to a foot mat, serf or lower caste. He will certainly fight for his honour and dignity.
His world view doesn’t accept that another fellow would be designated his perpetual lord and master, whilst he is permanently condemned as the door keeper to the other fellow in infinitum. He will fight for freedom. Justice, equity and fair play, drives his egalitarian world view.
His progenitors bequeathed him a merit-based and merit-driven society, before the invasion of the white man. His biri kam biri and egbe bere ugo bere ancient philosophy, creates in his soul, a genuine fear of the wellbeing of his progeny in an unjust and oppressive society.
He will fight for justice, to ensure his progeny are not subjected to the humiliation he is made to swallow because he lost a war.
This is simply the genesis to revelation of this agitation for freedom from oppression. Period.
Over two decades ago, in the mid 1990s, I was being lectured by the wise, dependable and consistent Chief C C Onoh, at his Ngwo residence, as he graciously and regularly did, anytime I visited him. He shared with me a very interesting story about the day his cousin, right in the middle of the civil war, the well known Dr Sam Orji, angrily informed him that he was going to confront the Biafran head of state, over certain issues, bothering mostly on his penchant for taking decisions without carrying every one along.
Chief C C Onoh said he drove around Okigwe for hours, pleading with his armed kinsman, to rescind his decision and consider what may happen to them all, if he carries out his threat.
Just as he was ending the story, the very Dr Sam Orji arrived in his noisy Transam sportscar and corroborated Chief Onoh’s story. Dr Orji, regarded as a genius scientist, told me he meant his threat on that day.
This relates with the answer Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu, gave me years earlier, when I enquired why he detained so many people who disagreed with him during the war. He said the Igbo man, by his very nature, expects to be consulted over every decision affecting him.
The Igbo man’s image problems actually began centuries earlier in North America, where every difficult slave, was tagged eboe, from Bonny and Calabar creeks. Every rebellion in the plantations, were rightly or wrongly attributed to the alleged stubborn attitude of the eboes of West Africa, who are usually accused of inspiring the rebellion and escape attempts.
Over two hundred years ago, the successful rebellion of the African slaves of St Domingue in central America, shattered forever the long held erroneous image of the African as not only inferior being, but as only two thirds human, altered the price of sugar, as the sugar cane plantations of St Domingue were now in the hands of African slaves, who changed the name to Haiti and wrote their own constitution.
Aside the story that white witches of Europe placed a curse on the land from their ship, for humiliating Napoleon Bonaparte, the next big story about the Haitian revolution, spread abroad by Spanish, French and English colonialists, was that the leaders of the revolution, especially Dessaline and Tousant L’Overture, were of eboe descent, even though ship manifests of the period, showed that majority of the African population were brought from the Wollof, Ashanti, Yoruba and the Congo.
The image of the Igbo as a natural rebel, affected the tone and outcome of the civil war, as a certain powerful nation, opposed the emergence of a free Igbo nation, using their influence in the international arena.
From declassified records of the colonial administration and the confession of Harold Smith, it can be seen that the image given the Igbo, by the colonial master, especially after the eboe landing march into the sea, in obvious rejection of slavery at Dunbar creek, St. Simon’s island, Glynn County, Georgia in 1803, was deliberately woven to blackmail him as a troublemaker and a difficult breed.
This unhelpful image, stuck overtime, probably as a result of the fact that his hatred of injustice and standing up to the oppressor as he insists on fairplay and equity, clearly offended the colonial master, who then concluded he was cheeky, impetuous and cocky.
It may be correct, to say that his refusal to be enslaved, seems to corroborate his alleged impudent, haughty and over confident nature, that has brought him so much attack, sorrow and hatred.
The Igbo man’s inability to convincingly separate the thin line between the allegation and blackmail of being haughty and impudent and the reality that he always fights for justice, equity and fairness, is largely responsible for his miseries.
The deliberate refusal to properly define the difference between the two, out of envy of the Igbo man’s gifts and endowment, and because it is convenient to demarket him, within the context of the struggle for dominance, amply describes the Igbo question within the Nigerian project.
The Igbo have not helped the matter. The ignorance ruling the leadership class, the brass uncoordinated disposition of the elite club and the independent minded attitude of the agitators, all help them play into the hands of their opponents.
The self evident truth about the unpleasant situation in the land, is this:
1 The agitation, which wasn’t designed, programmed or instigated by anyone, would have been easily resolved years ago, had the authorities invited, engaged, listened to and noted the grievances of the agitators and quickly began to address them one by one, giving them a sense of belonging and reassuring them that all are equal in the land.
2005 and 2006 when Ralph’s MASSOB broke down Onitsha prisons, rejected census head counts and invested in Radio broadcasting, government would have known that the agitation would naturally grow, if nothing was done to bring them to the table. Ignoring them for 22 years, was a terribly flawed strategy. The agitation only grew, deepened and strengthened over the years.
2. The application of military force, the attendant fatalities and the worrisome silence of those who should talk, only earned the agitators, the sympathy and support of the masses, Sympathy and support they didn’t have initially. This sympathy and support which grew as a result of many funerals of the agitators all over the region.
The video that went viral in 2016, of the attack at a school compound in Aba, whilst the agitators were singing and praising God, horrified the masses of the region, earning huge sympathy for the agitators. Mr President refused to see the video even as Aljazeera interviewer Dennise Martins played the video for him.
This particular incident changed the mindset of the people of the zone, who place human life as most sacred and highly valued. Many who earlier didn’t like the agitators, changed their position out of sympathy.
3. Every effort I made to warn people in power that the agitation would grow beyond control, was disregarded. They refused to appreciate the fact that I had been organising programmes for Igbo youths for decades and may know a thing or two about their temperament, agenda and disposition.
They saw insistence on engaging the aggrieved youngsters as a personal agenda of mine and shunned all my entreaties over the years to engage the angry youths. Moreover, some people lied to the authorities, that the agitators were sponsored by disgruntled politicians. Again, there were people who had the mindset of militarily crushing the agitation, regardless of whatever issues that were driving it. Those ones resented any suggestion of dialogue.
4. I shared publicly, and even screamed from the mountain top, my surprise and experience in the 1980s and 1990, both here and overseas, that at every gathering of Igbo youths organised to deliberate on the situation and condition of Ndigbo, that majority would not only vote to leave Nigeria, but willingly contribute and donate immediately towards any move that would restore their dignity. I shared this discovery with prominent Igbo leaders in the 1990s.
The hunger for equal treatment, level playing field and fairness, would drive them to any limit, to regain their honour. Aside their disagreement with violence, they believe that the stiff opposition to restructuring the country, only means they are merely forced to explore other options.
5. That the unwieldy unitary structure and the resultant economic and political crises, emanating therefrom, fuels disenchantment, bitterness and loss of faith in the system. That those fiercely opposed to peaceful and consensual restructuring of the country, may not know that they are the ones actually growing the agitation for secession.
That the impunity and ruthlessness of armed herdsmen, the panic created by their suspected land grabbing agenda, (true or false), their above the law image (again true or false), the exclusion, sectionalism, nepotism and sectarianism, ruling the land, and the staunch refusal to restructure the polity, all created fear of the future and the apprehension reigning within some regions. Finally, aside dislike towards any form of armed struggle, the younger generation of my region, are willing to do anything to ensure their progeny live a life of dignity, treated equally as others, with all the rights and privileges.
The agitators may have made many mistakes, the people of my region, aside those in government, who live like Hollywood movie stars and others who fear falling off their comfort zones, the people of my region insist on being carried along justly, being treated right and given their dues, rights and privileges. Their children and unborn grand children, would always demand level playing field for all.
That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
