2015: Igbo Presidency best for Nigeria- Igbo Regent… Says Igbos Gifted Enough to Lead Nigeria

Igbo Regent Onowu Dr MN Ozua-Okoye is a fore most Igbo protagonist who has made tangible contributions for the unity, development and progress of the Igbo Nation. In this interview with our correspondent, the Onowu who is the traditional prime minister of Igbo land takes a look at the situation of things in Igbo land at the moment, the flood, the new yam festival and its impact on the Igbo culture and 2015 among other things.
-
Excerpts
-
Flood is the trouble of the moment and it is wrecking havoc in your senatorial zone of Anambra North. What do have to say about it?
The flood is a terrible experience. But I am grateful to God because our people have risen up to the occasion of sustaining those people displaced by the flood. The kind of support accorded them is tremendous. Honestly I am impressed with the kind of massive support given them by the people and without wasting more time I wish thank Mr. President. Dr Good luck Jonathan the Governors of the state affected by the flood, particularly Governor Peter Obi, the men and women of Goodwill and various religious bodies, NGOS and corporate organizations who have given them something to eat, drink and pass through the night with hope and happiness. With the kind of support being given to them I don’t think they have much to regret. Let me appeal to Mr. President, the Governors and those who have helped them in one way or another to still remember to help them settle down after the flood dry up. I am sure most of them have lost properties, farm lands and cash crops, so they need help to restart life and we have to help them out.
As Igbo Regent how have you been able to impact on the people?
As I speak with, I can say that all is getting better for Ndigbo except this flood problem. Since Ojukwu died I have been tirelessly praying for God’s intervention on the lives of Ndigbo. One I pray for emergence of Ojukwu’s replacement the person who can perfectly replace Ojukwu as Igbo leader. Secondly, I pray for Igbo unity and thirdly long life and prosperity of all Ndigbo where ever they live and work. I believe that God is at work and like I said earlier all is well except the flood. As I speak a lot of people are worried about disunity among Ndigbo and I believe that something good would soon be achieved following the people’s concern against disunity.
There have been media report linking some people as new Igbo leaders as Ojukwu’s successor, are you not aware of the report?
I am not aware of the report, and nobody has come to me to notify me of his intention to lead Ndigbo with a comprehensive vision to that effects. I deputized Ojukwu all through and it is unfounded and unacceptable for his successor to emerge without the structure that Ojukwu left behind so I have to be aware of any arrangement with regard to succeeding him. Moreover the issue of Igbo leadership is not about some one parading himself or issuing press statement or interview, it is about vision for Ndigbo and ability to carry out that vision for the over all interest the Igbo nation.
Furthermore, there is a process through which one can be crowned the Igbo leader. Ojukwu passed through that process, my self passed through that process as the traditional prime and deputy to Ojukwu. When Ojukwu was due to be crowned Eze Igbo gburugburu he said I must have to come along to take the title as the prime minister and deputize him and I perfectly deputized him until he passed on that’s why I am now the Igbo Regent.
Talking about the process, who are those involved I mean those who are in position to decide and crown Eze Igbo?
Adama Nri is the chief priest and king maker of Igbo land. He is the one who crowned Ojukwu Ezeigbo Gburugburu in 1996, I have the documents. He is the one that is in position to crown Igbo leader not a traditional ruler. In Igbo land a king does not make a king it is the priest that makes king just as it is in the Bible where prophets anointed kings. Any other process outside Adama Nri is unlikely to stand the test of time.
Some people have spoken against your position as Igbo Regent saying that Regent is not recognized in Igbo leadership hierarchy?
…cuts in such critics are completely ignorant of what Regent stand for because it is well known in Igbo land that when a traditional ruler passes on the prime minister popularly known as Onowu take over automatically as the Regent until after one year or when ever somebody emerges to replace the dead ruler.
I am the traditional prime Minister of Igbo land and second in command to Ojukwu so what on this earth stops me from emerging the Igbo Regent. For God sake my emergence as Igbo Regent is purely on merit and on due process and nobody can dispute it except the ignorant.
There is impression that Igbo culture including Igbo language is gradually fading away and nothing is being done to remedy the situation?
The truth of the matter is that modern civilization is progressing massively in Igbo land and we have no means to resist it unlike the Yoruba and the Hausa our contemporaries. The Yoruba use their culture to resist it while the Hausa use religion but here we have no such strong means. Take dressing for instance the Hausa women have their unique way of dressing which protect them against in decent dressing nowadays. If you attend occasion like Ofala and New Yam Festival the traditional rulers read their address in English so tell me which other means we can use to promote our language if not things like Ofala and New Yam Festival.
As the Regent I am in full support of Subakwa Igbo Movement being championed by Professor Ejiofor. In like manner for us to us to revive our culture we have to device means like Subakwa Igbo Movement with a view to enlighten the people on the need to keep to the norms and values of our culture.
Let me use this opportunity to inform you that on 28^th of this month I will mark the Igbo New Yam Festival as the Regent of Igbo land. On that day the Igbo culture will be promoted to the highest level at my palace in Awkuzu, I will use the occasion to pray more in a special way for the over all peace, unity and progress of Ndi Igbo.
What is your hope on 2015 do you think Igbo presidency is possible?
Presidency in a democratic dispensation is the property of Nigerian and they give to whom God wishes to have it. But in my own verdict as experienced politician turned Regent, Igbo president is the best thing that will ever happen to this political entity called Nigeria. Igbo are the most gifted in ideas and other wise to lead this country and I can tell you that from the days of Tafawa Balewa down to Shagari, Obasanjo and the present administration of Goodluck Jonathan it is the Igbos that root out the ideas that make things happen.
This is one, secondly an Igbo man as President will have to make impact in all parts of the country because he knows that his people live every where in the country. So he won’t be biased or tribalistic on discharge of his duties. Thirdly, Igbo president will work for history and posterity knowing how Ndigbo have laboured for this country and lastly an Igbo president, will render all it takes to make Nigeria realize its greatness and put the country in a stronger position to compete with west and lead Africa to the next level. And the earlier Nigerians realize this the better for us.
You haven’t answered my question is Igbo Presidency possible in 2015

Well, if Jonathan runs again under PDP in 2015 Igbo presidency will be difficult that’s the truth of the matter. So it depends on the PDP ticket I doubt if there are other parties with the capacities to win presidency in election.

Prologue: Achebe, Gowon, Awo and the Nigerian civil war controversy

By NDUBUISI ORJI
For a long time to come, the issue of the Nigerian civil war would continue to generate serious discourse in the country. Nigeria had waged a bitter war against the defunct Peoples Republic of Biafra between 1966 and 1970.
The defunct Eastern Region under the leadership of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu had planned a secession from Nigeria and christened itself the Peoples Republic of Biafra. Thereafter, the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon declared a police action to crush what he termed Ojukwu’s rebellion. The police action eventually snowballed into a civil war that lasted for 30 months. It was a very fierce war.
While the federal government fought hard to stop the defunct Eastern region from breaking away, the Biafrans fought harder to maintain their newly found independence.  In the process all kind of weapons were deplored in the war. When the war was taking more time than anticipated, the   federal government allegedly decided to blockade Biafra. Consequently, the new republic could not get food from the outside world to feed the populace.
The aim of that alleged blockade broke the will and fighting spirit of the Igbos and brought them back into the federation. Following the blockade, there was hunger, anguish and a cocktail of diseases triggered off by malnutrition. Eventually, this led to death for millions of Igbos especially women and children. It was indeed the pictures of malnourished Biafran children with bloated stomachs and tiny legs that drew the attention of the world to enormity of the suffering of the citizens of the young republic.
There were alleged cases of bombardment of   civilians in markets, hospitals and refugee camps within the Biafran enclave by the federal troops. When the centre could no longer hold for Biafra, General Philip Effiong, Ojukwu’s deputy, who was in charge of the secessionist republic following the latter’s trip in search of peace  surrendered  to the Federal Government and the war ended. At the end of the war, Easterners particularly Igbos were confronted with a new challenge. Most of their properties outside Biafra before the outbreak of war were declared abandoned property. That was not all.
All Easterners who had money in various banks before the war started three years earlier were given a paltry sum of 20 pounds irrespective of whether they had millions or billions of pounds in the banks.  The economic woes of the people  were exacerbated by the indigenization policy of the Federal Government which came on stream in 1974, four years after the end of the civil war. For a  people just recovering from the ruins of war, it was near impossible for a vast majority of Igbos to participate in the exercise which was designed to transfer ownership of some foreign companies in the country to Nigerians.
The events of the civil war and others immediately after it are the thrust of Professor Chinua Achebe’s memoirs, “There was a country: a personal history of Biafra.” Since the release of the book, all hell has been let loose. Public commentators have risen up in arms, some in commendation, others in condemnation of Achebe depending on which part of the country the commentators hail from. In the book, apart from accusing former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon of genocide against the Igbos during the war, the author also accused former Premier of Western Region, and war time Minister of Finance, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo of  spearheading a policy aimed at annihilating the Igbos during the war in order to advance his political cause and that of Yorubas in Nigeria.
Awolowo was Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the war. Achebe, a man who is never afraid to call a spade by its real name pointedly said in the book  that “it is my impression that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power for himself in particular and  for the advancement  of his Yoruba in general. And let it be said there is, on the surface, at least  nothing wrong with those aspirations.
However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbos at the time as obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose-the Nigeria-Biafra War- his ambition drove him into a frenzy to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafra case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation-eliminating over two million, mainly members of future generations”. Achebe said the policies and others before them were geared towards obliterating the economy of a people.
He holds Gowon and Awolowo and other members of the Gowon regime responsible. In his view, the duo spear headed “boatload of infamous and regrettable policies” against the Igbos during and immediately after the civil war. This is not the first book on the Nigeria Civil war. But none of the other books before it has generated  so much tension and  emotions as it is doing.   But in writing about Awolowo, Achebe touched a raw nerve in the Yoruba nation.
And since the review of the book was published by the Guardian of London, it has been controversy all the way. But ironically, both Gowon and the late former Premier of Defunct Western Region had defended the blockade of Biafra, the 20 pounds policy and the indigenization policy, saying that they had no regret over the roles in the war and their policies after it. Gowon, in a recent interview denied that his administration engaged in the mass killing of Igbos during the war. He also said that the federal government did not also use hunger as a weapon to dislodge the dissidents.
“It was the Igbo that objected to the creation of corridor for movements of  medical  aid  and food supplies  to the civilian population at the period; on this,  I am ready to face the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for prosecution over  the role played by me during the war,” he said. While Awolowo had stated in a town hall meeting in 1983 that he was actually sending food to the civilians in Biafra during the way but had to stop when he discovered that it was being hijacked by the soldiers.
“So, I decided to stop sending food there. In the process, the civilians will suffer but the soldiers will suffer most,” he explained. The explanation of both men notwithstanding, there has been no let up in the controversy. Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode said the blockade Biafra during the war was a natural thing to do in war situation. He is peeved that author of Things Fall Apart is linking  Awolowo with the blockade of Biafra which led to hunger, diseases and death. Fani-Kayode said it is therefore “unfair, unreasonable, it is irrational and it is responsible” for Achebe to lay the blames on Awolowo.
He added that “There was a war and in that war there was a blockade which the Nigerian government placed against the Eastern Nigeria. They did so because it was a standard practice in any war.” But Professor ABC Nwosu sees the stance of Awolowo towards Biafra during the war as a betrayal of friendship. According to him, “Achebe and Ndigbo do not hate Pa Awolowo as a person. It is noteworthy that Ndigbo and Biafrans do not attack Pa Awolowo for the swift change of the Nigerian currency.
What they quarrel with is Chief Awolowo’s robust defence of the Federal Military Government’s inhuman policy of mass starvation as a result of which millions of Biafran children died. He added that “Ndigbo also quarrel with Pa Awolowo and the Federal Government’s policy in 1970 of expropriating Igbo funds lodged in Nigerian banks (after the war of unity had been won and lost) in exchange for the “ex-gratia” award of 20 pounds for each Igbo person who could authenticate his account, no matter the sum in that account.
I must emphasize that this “ex-gratia award” was not for every Igbo person who survived but only for those who had bank accounts.” However, Mr Brady Chijoke Nwosu, acting National Publicity Secretary of Njiko Igbo, a political pressure group in the South east  says the controversy arising from this Achebe’s book is not necessary now. According to him, all that Achebe wrote in his memoirs are known facts.
He added “The issue of 20 pounds for all the money you have is an open wound. It is a known fact. Since the book was published, I have read the counter reaction of Ebenezer Babatope, I have that of Fani Kayode. I look at all these write ups, they even mentioned where Awolowo concurred based on that policy. In warfare now, America will throw bomb at you on one hand and give you food on the other hand.
They want you to eat while you are alive, when you are dead you are dead.” Though a few analysts have even argued that it would have been better if Achebe has allowed sleeping dogs to lie, but is imperative that story of that era be documented by both observers and key participants so that future generations  can read and judge for themselves.

Additional state in S’East non-negotiable–Sen Okonkwo

The South-east has been agitating for an extra state to correct the imbalance in the South-East region. Some are of the opinion that, why would they canvass for another state even when the existing states in the country appear not have the capacity to self-develop. There is no doubt that the South-east has been marginalised. There is no justification where some zones will have six and seven states but one will have only five. By doing that, you are depriving them of funding to develop their zone, local government and all that. It is good to be fair. I think we need to continue to say it that we must be given another state.-Senator Annie Okonkwo

Biafra: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURI...

Biafra: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURI...: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] -a civil society group committed to the promotion of democracy and development has...

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] -a civil society group committed to the promotion of democracy and development has upbraided the hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force [NPF] for forcefully dispersing and arresting over four hundred peaceful agitators in Enugu, Enugu State who were democratically and peacefully canvassing for self determination.
In a statement authorized by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Chief of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NiGERIA, the pro-democracy group faulted the arrest in the most primitive and fascist fashion of the Enugu-based pro-Biafra agitators and demanded their unconditional release from the brutal detention facilities of the Nigeria Police.
Specifically, in the thinking of HURIWA, peaceful and strictly non-violent agitation for self determination by any Nigerian group is lawful locally and internationally under the Universal Declarations of Human Rights of 10th December 1948 and the International Covenant on civil and political Rights of which Nigeria is a major signatory.
HURIWA stated that; ”We totally and absolutely condemn the brutality and inhumane treatment meted out to innocent citizens who have democratically decided to openly canvass for the creation of a separate political entity because they believe that Nigeria as currently constituted has failed to advance their fundamental and inherent human rights which include right to self determination. We appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to direct the Nigeria Police Force to either release the four hundred political detainees or order their prosecution if Government is convinced that agitation for self determination is unlawful and unconstitutonal”

Genocide: Biafra Group Drags FG To Court Over Starvation, Deaths

Biafra

An Owerri High Court has yesterday commenced proceedings in a suit brought against the Federal Government by a human rights group under the aegis of Bilie Human Rights Initiative in the Suit No. FHC/OW/CS/102/2012 “for the self actualization and self determination of the The People of Biafra”. The suit against the FG and the Attorney-General of the Federation seeks to enforce the rights of indigenous people of Biafra to self-determination and independence which was brought by way of originating summons. They also seek compensation for the deaths, losses suffered by the people of the South-Eastern Nigeria in the hands of the federal forces/government, which they viewed as haranguing, genocidal and economically strangulating of people of that area. The group said they were determined to forge a new nation- Republic of Biafra, with its land, littoral and continental shelves. They dragged Nigeria as represented by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney General of the Federation to Owerri Federal High Court over the inalienable right of the descendants of the ancestors of Biafraland who are the remnants that were not consumed by the 1967-1970 genocidal war in which about three million Biafrans were killed, to self-determination and thus are praying the court to pronounce the territory as it was pre 1967 independent and sovereign in the light of relevant charters on Human and Peoples rights, realities of the incompatibility of those who make-up the geo-space called Nigeria among others. In a press release made available by the spokesperson of BILIE Human Rights Initiative, Comrade Arinzechukwu Awogu in Awka, copy of which was made available to The Guardian, signed by the group’s Secretary General, Elder Eddy Anyanwu, the group made good its threat to take the Nigerian government to court over Biafra’s quest for independence and other unresolved pre and post Nigeria-Biafra war issues, which included the use of starvation as “legitimate instrument of warfare,” the bombing of civilian targets, the 20 Pounds per account holder policy, the abandoned property saga, the hasty indigenization policy enacted and implemented before the recovery of war affected people of Biafra, among other vexed issues. Comrade Arinzechukwu Awogu believes that “Bilie Human Rights Initiative has commenced what would eventually lead to a peaceful and coordinated political and economic freedom for the people of Biafra. We are using legal method in our approach. We are in court to seek legal clarity on our right to self-determination vis-a-vis our inalienable right to decide our political future under Biafra geo-space. I consider that, with this legal action, we in BILIE Human Rights Initiative have decided to fast track our legal effort to compel the Nigerian government to among other things cease arresting anybody answering to or wearing Biafran emblem, insigner or any material that reflect their believe in Biafra. This is to make it possible for law in Nigeria to give clarity on this very important issue and to prevent the Nigerian state from using intimidation and unlawful acts to suppress the agitation for Biafra. “We need to put this thing in law, to test the validity of the claims by Nigeria. We will be asking the Nigerian government in court to tell the world if the word “Biafra” is a crime.” The suit also sought to know whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) were right to seize and confiscate the assets, properties, money, and all treasures belonging to the Claimants (Biafrans) by promulgating the Abandoned Properties Act of 28th September 1979 while the 1963 Constitution was in force, being more than nine years after the war and after the declaration of “One Nigeria” while regarding the Claimants (Biafrans) as Nigerian citizens but depriving them of their properties, money and assets; and if the answer is in the negative, whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) are still justified to withhold the said money, properties and assets belonging to the Claimants (Biafrans). It also sought the Court’s pronouncement on whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) were justified to violate the International Humanitarian Law and the Laws of War known as the Geneva Convention 1949 (to which the Defendants acceded and ratified on 20th June 1961) by bombing the Biafran civilians, killing the Biafran civilians and using starvation to kill the children, women and the elderly of the civilian population of the indigenous people of Biafra in the war of 1967 1970 in order to win the war, as was partly revealed by Prof. Chinua Achebe in his latest book “There Was A Country.” The suit is also asking the court whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) by registering Nigeria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in 1986 and licensing an Islamic Sharia Bank in Nigeria under the 1999 Constitution contrary to Section 10 of the Constitution of Nigeria have violated the Constitution and turned Nigeria into an Islamic country; and if the answer is in the affirmative, whether the Claimants (Biafrans) have the right to dissociate themselves from the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) and refuse to answer the citizens of an Islamic country in the exercise of their right to freedom of worship, freedom of association and self-determination as a people Excerpts of the press statement read thus: BILIE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE is a human rights organization and the only legal entity in Nigeria registered with the United Nations as an Indigenous Peoples Organization (IPO) and also as Incorporated Trustees by the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for the purpose of protecting, defending and advocating for the rights of indigenous people of Biafra and all other indigenous peoples and nationalities within Nigeria whose rights and freedoms are violated by the Nigerian Government contrary to the United Nations Charter on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. The word “Bilie” means “Stand Up” or “Arise” in Igbo Language. We are calling on all Igbo speaking people in Nigeria to stand up for their rights. Bilie is a human rights group advocating for the rights of the descendants of the ancestors of Biafraland who are the remnants that were not consumed by the 1967-1970 genocidal war in which about three million Biafrans were killed. Bilie Human Rights Initiative is a national liberation movement for the purposes of international law with power to represent all indigenous people of Biafra in legal actions against any person or any Government whether in the Nigerian Courts or in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. They noted that the briefing was to let the world know what is happening in Nigeria. The safety of the lives and properties of indigenous people of Biafra living in Nigeria are no longer guaranteed. The Biafrans were forced to surrender their sovereignty and become Nigerian citizens on the promise that their lives and properties would be protected by the Government of Nigeria. Now, it has become clear that the Government of Nigeria is impotent and incompetent to protect the indigenous people of Biafra who were not consumed by the war. In fact, the Nigeria Police and Army Officers have continued to harass, intimidate, arrest, detain and kill the Biafran human rights activists who are agitating for the self-determination and independence of Biafra by peaceful means but spare the militant activists from other tribes agitating for their own tribes. There is a clear policy of discrimination, marginalization, oppression and racism against the remnants of the indigenous people of Biafra living in Nigeria which has caused some of them to deny their identity in order to receive favours from the Federal Government of Nigeria. The situation has compelled Bilie Human Rights Initiative to file multiple suits against the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agents on behalf of the indigenous people of Biafra to protect their human and peoples’ rights. At the moment, the two suits we have filed are as follows: (a) Case for the Self-determination and Independence of Biafra (b) Case for the Eastern Pilot Newspaper against the violation of our freedom of expression