5 Evil People Whose Past May Surprise You
9 years ago
- How jealous king isolated victims because maiden rejected his amorous advances
For over 200 years, the people of Amachukwu and Anioma villages in Ugbene Ajima Community, Uzo-uwani LGA, Enugu State lived in isolation and bondage, forced on them by a jealous king, whose sexual advances were rejected by a village maiden.
Trouble began for the people when a beautiful maiden from Anioma village rebuffed the sexual advances of an old traditional ruler. The jilted lover reportedly took a vengeful action, barring the maiden and her people from marrying from the community or sleeping in other people’s houses. That ancient decree remained irreversible and was subsequently transmitted to future generations, plunging everyone born in both villages in perpetual slavery.Successive rulers kept this obnoxious decree sacred. Not even the cry for justice by the younger generation of children born in these villages would bend the rule. By mere geographical accident of birthplace, those born in Anioma or Amachukwu were like damned souls cursed by the gods, as they inherited the pariah status of their parentage right from their mother’s womb.
But their agony ended on Saturday, August 9, when the new traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Bartholomew Aluma, Okwu na Oke 1 of Ugbene Ajima, led his cabinet members and elders of the town to denounce this unjust tradition and revoke the communal ban on the affected villages.
The event was a memorable day for the elders, women, youths and children of the isolated villages. Some of the elderly men among them, who had lived like lepers all their years, broke down in tears of joy. Their excited wives and daughters danced freely in the village square, singing songs of freedom for a dream come through. Even children lost in the euphoria of the historic celebration jumped about in wild celebration that had eluded them in the community for decades.
Our reporter gathered that the struggle for freedom began many years ago, but none of the efforts was successful. A renewed effort commenced in November last year with secret meetings of Pastor Anayo Odimkpa, ASP Paul Ogbonna and Pastor Anthony Onodi. Their negotiation with notable personalities in the community to revisit their case seemed like fetching water with a basket, yet they never gave up the agitation. And when the matter was brought before Igwe Aluma’s cabinet, he gave a listening ear to their cry for justice. Although the names of these key players may not ring out loud in the world like that of the famous icon, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, generations of children in Amachukwu and Anioma villages would venerate them as true heroes that pulled down the prison gates.
Investigation by our reporter revealed that the two villages were formerly called Amaiseke, a name derived from a local python, Isieke, venerated in the community by pagans. But a Christian revolution led by Anayo Odimkpa, in collaboration with members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria, in October 1996 demolished the Isieke shrine, and subsequently led to the renaming of the two villages to Amachukwu (City of God) and Anioma (Good Land). The revolution also opened the enclosed life of the isolated villagers and watered the seed for the liberation struggle.
While declaring the two villages free, Igwe Aluma said his cabinet and leaders of thought in the community, after much consultation, unanimously decided to revisit the historical injustice suffered by the two villages. He said it took him a long time to investigate the matter. He explained that during his investigation, he wanted to find out whether any member of Ugbene community bought a slave in the olden days and left him in any of the two villages, but sadly that was not the case. Rather, he confirmed that the isolation suffered by the two villages started hundreds of years ago when a certain traditional ruler in Ugbene Ajima lusted after a beautiful maiden from Anioma and wanted to sleep with her. But the luscious lady, indentified as Nwagbogoeze Ejigioku, reportedly turned down the amoral advance, an act that was adjudged sacrilege in days when traditional rulers were revered as the mouthpiece of the gods.
The king’s wrath burned like hell, and he later spilled it on the entire village where the woman came from, with the declaration that the lady and her people would henceforth become slaves for ages to ages, never to marry anybody from the area. And when the people of Amachukwu cried foul over the unjust punishment of their relations, the traditional ruler decreed isolation on them for questioning the gods.
Even the gods wept for the injustice against the two villages but nothing could change the decision of the king. Investigation by our reporter revealed that the gulf of separation between them and other members of Ugbene community widened with years, such that subsequent generations regarded them as slaves. Although some young men in Ugbene, in their youthful adventure, secretly dated beautiful ladies of the two villages, the romance never exceeded the fun of the bedroom. Ladies from the two villages were never considered worthy of marriage. In fact, such relationships were hidden from other members of the community, lest the culprits incur the wrath of elders.
To say the least, an impenetrable wall separated the two villages with their kinsmen with whom they earlier shared common paternity before the unfortunate incident. Communal brotherhood was totally ruined by one man’s lust for the flesh, stamping a mark of rejection on many families and generations of innocent children.
Reversing the curse turned out to be historic moment in the annals of the community. In the public square of Anioma, Igwe Aluma shared kolanuts among the elders, Ozo title holders in the Ugbene community, who made a uniform declaration that the people of Anioma and Amachukwu villages will no longer live in isolation or be regarded as slaves. Each of the elders also picked a stone from the village square to bear witness that the pronouncement was binding on all members of the community.
While overruling the earlier decree, Igwe Aluma said, “From today henceforth, you are free to marry or have an intimate relationship with any man or woman in Ugbene community. You are free to mingle and sleep anywhere in the town. Nobody should be treated or regarded as outcasts again in our community.”
The former Attorney general of Enugu State, Dr Michael Ajogwu (SAN), who witnessed the event, commended the bold step taken by the community. He explained that the proclamation by Igwe Aluma and his cabinet has restored the people of Amachukwu and Anioma to their rightful position as true sons and daughters of the community and cancelled permanently whatever that was done in the past.
The former attorney recalled that the people of Efuru Idoha in Nsukka suffered a similar fate many years ago, when beautiful maidens were claimed forcefully by the local deity to serve as slaves in its shrine. He said he offered legal assistance during the battle to destroy the deity, adding that the destruction of the deity liberated the people held in bondage, allowing them to relate freely with other members of Ukehe town.
Ajogwu, who hailed from Abbi community in Uzo-Uwani LGA, also recounted another case in his hometown, where some people were ostracised for the past 100 years. He said he mediated in the process that led to the liberation of these people, allowing them the liberty to relate freely and acquire traditional title (Onyishi Ekaya) as other families in the community.
One of the victims, Paul Ogbonna, described the feeling of alienation by other members of the community as worse than hell. According to him, he suffered rejection, humiliation and mockery in the hands of other people in the community.
“This started even before I was born. During my own time, I experienced this rejection in so many ways that left me surprised and shocked. We suffered discrimination and neglect. We were denied so many things as free born of this Ugbene Ajima community because of the stigma. Both the elders and children, women and youths suffered alike,” he said.
Ogbonna, 47, said his forefathers suffered the same cruel fate, noting that reversing the ancient curse seemed like an impossible missions in past years. He expressed joy that Igwe Aluma and respected elders of the community took the bold decision of revoking the ban on his people and accept them as free born of the community.
“We are moving into a new era, where we are now free to associate with our brothers without any barrier. To be honest with you, during those years, I do not feel proud as a member of this community when I remember the situation we have found ourselves. At a time, I asked my father what happened to us. Did Ugbene people buy our forefathers as slaves? But he told me it was because a beautiful lady rejected the traditional ruler. Most often, we were rejected at social gatherings. Even in schools, we enjoy partial acceptance because we suffer isolation from our peers. But I believe that the Igwe, the Ozo tiltle holders and the entire cabinet members are sincere in what they did here today. The God of heaven and earth is our witness that this has been achieved. We have many witnesses at the event, including the former Attorney General of Enugu State, Dr Michael Ajogwu (SAN). So, if the community decides to act otherwise, you will agree with me that they will not succeed,” he said.
Another victim, Pastor Anayo Odimkpa, said the two villages suffered indescribable humiliation, as other members of the community, cut them off in marriage, social relationships, among others.
“These two villages lost the liberty of sleeping together as brothers, passing night together or getting married. They were in the midst of their brothers, yet they lived in a lonely world for a very long time, spanning to 400 to 500 years,” he said.
Our reporter gathered that the granting freedom to the villages came with a prize. But when our reporter asked Odimkpa what it cost him and his people to be free, he said, “When I think about the value of this freedom, it erases the prize from my mind. I couldn’t remember the sacrifice it took, the prize we collectively paid as individuals or as a community to make this feat possible. The value of freedom is priceless. It comes with the pride of feeling the same like any other person, having a sense of belonging in the midst of your brothers.”
Odimkpa said the psychological effect of long years of isolation would take time to heal in the mind of the victims. He noted that it wouldn’t be quite easy to erase the memories of the ugly years soon, but noted that members of the villagers would gradually integrate themselves fully into the community.
“There is need to create participatory events in the community, which will bring members of the community together. Sleeping over in other people’s houses in the community would also instil in them the confidence that the old things have passed away. They will try their hands in marriage, which is not be force but by mutual consent of those involved. Through marriage, the sense of complete freedom would take root in people’s mind,” he explained.
Another victim, Pastor Anthony Onodi forced back tears as he bemoaned the long years of injustice suffered by his people. He said the incident took place in 1803 adding that he personally took up the struggle for the liberation of the people in 1982, and was asked to present three cows to appease the land and cook for the entire community. According to him, he fulfilled these requirements, yet to no avail.
Onodi said he felt uneasy in the midst of other members of the community, knowing that he was considered an outcast. He said the situation denied him social relationship with other members of Ugbene community, knowing that he has a pariah status stamped on him by wicked tradition.
“I chose to visit people in the community in the afternoon, knowing that they will ask me out of their house before 12.00am. None of my friends, no matter how close, would ever allow me to stay in his house beyond that time. It might seem small in people’s eyes but it was quite shameful,” he said.
Onodi said he wept silently whenever his children reported to him how other children in the community school mocked them. The isolation also deprived young men from the two villages from picking a bride from neighbouring communities, as their stigma traveled faster than the wind.
“By our liberation, something new is going to happen in this community. Nothing will hinder the progress of this community any longer. Let brotherly love continue,” he prayed.
Also speaking, the spiritual father of the community, Fr John Bosco Okechukwu, described the isolation and rejection of the two villages as a scandal to the church bearing in mind that Christ came to set the captives free.
“Remember that the love of God is expressed in the love for your neighbours. Everybody is important to God because we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. So, there is no need for this social injustice or segregation. In fact, it is a scandal to the body of Christ,” he argued.
Okechukwu said the gospel of Jesus Christ revolves around freedom and liberty, promising that the people of God would embrace the Amachukwu and Anioma people as brothers in Christ, without any discrimination whatsoever.
Also speaking, a Catholic priest from Ugbene community, Rev Fr Paulinus Ike Ogara, gave his blessings for the liberation of the enslaved brethren. He said the desire for freedom resonates in the mind of every creature of God, describing the humiliation suffered by the two villages as a historical injustice.
“Injustice in one corner of the world is injustice everywhere. What happens to one person affects everybody around him and reverberates everywhere. The victims cultivate certain habits towards other people based on the injustice they are suffering,” he said.
Ogara said some people mistook the isolation of Anioma and Amachukwu people as an irreversible norm in the community simply because the system was allowed to survive for a very long time. He described freedom as a native desire in humans, stressing that every man or woman has dignity as a subject of right.
“What we did here today is the culmination of a long battle for freedom. It is the victory of truth, justice and liberty. Although the struggle has been long and painstaking, we feel the joy of these people who have achieved their hearts’ desire,” he said.
Ogara said the liberation of the two villages would also translate to the growth of the community, as the isolated people would be free to contribute their quota intellectually and otherwise.
“They will now see the development efforts of the community as theirs. I see a new era and a new spirit of Ugbene emerging in our town. This is a new era that has permanently closed the gates of injustice suffered by these people,” he maintained.
A leader of thought in the community, Simon Oliji, explained that the liberation of the two villages goes beyond eating, drinking and feasting. He advised the affected villagers to launch themselves into the mainstream of community activities, from where they would be gradually assimilated into the life of the town.
Oliji, a retired school principal, encouraged the victims to come out of their shells and make their faces visible in marriage ceremonies, burials, church programmes and schools. He lamented that the two villages had been educationally disadvantaged by the situation they found themselves and urged them to leverage on their newly found freedom to acquire formal education for self development.
By advising the people to invest in knowledge, Oliji re-echoed the message of famous Raggae master, Bob Marley, who said, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!” No doubt, Igwe Aruma, a retired headmaster reputed for his discipline and scholarship, has proved to Amachukwu and Anioma people that the power of knowledge makes a man difficult to be enslaved.
Culled: SUN News
Culled: SUN News
Who takes over from Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State when he leaves office on May 29, 2015? This is the question that has been agitating the people’s mind since Chime announced that his successor would come from the Nsukka zone without mentioning who he would support.
Chime made this known during a Town Hall meeting with stakeholders in Enugu in May 2013.
Sen. Ekweremadu
According to the governor, whose speech then was punctuated with thunderous applause from the audience during the meeting of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the arrangement was for the party to pick its next flag bearer from Enugu North (Nsukka).
The governor, from the PDP which has ruled the state since 1999, hails from the Enugu West Senatorial District and would be completing his eight-year tenure of four years each in May next year.
He took over from Dr Chimaroke Nnamani who also completed eight years in office from Enugu East Senatorial District, leaving Nsukka as the only zone which has not produced a governor in the state since 1999. Chime said there is an unwritten rotational arrangement in the selection of its governorship candidates within the PDP in the state.
The state caucus of the party has since endorsed Chime’s position, as emphasised by the former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, in Abuja weeks ago.
Low Level of Political Activities
However, despite the ovation which greeted the governors speech during the town hall meeting supporting the zoning formula, no governorship aspirant from the zone has publicly declared interest in spite of the fact that several names are being touted as aspirants.
Before Chime made his declaration, many aspirants were believed to have been nursing governorship ambition. Those said to be nursing such ambition are Senator Ayogu Eze, who represents the area in the Senate, the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Vita Abba, Speaker of the state House of Assembly in the last eight years, Eugene Odo, a former member of the House of Representatives, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu, the proprietor of Peace Mass Transit Company, Chief Samuel Maduka Onyishi, two members of the House of Representatives, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwanyi and Dr Pat Asadu.
Others include Prince Emeka Mamah, a scion of the Ifesinacchi dynasty, and the former Secretary to the State Government, SSG, under Chimaroke Nnamani’s regime, Dr Dan Shere.
It is believed that Chime’s proclamation that his successor would come from Nsukka zone has instead of enbolding aspirants to come forward with their programmes, doused the tempo.
An aspirant who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that some of the aspirants were showing interest to ensure that they would be remembered during the sharing of positions in the party. ‘’There is nobody in the PDP that does not know the powers of a governor produced by the party in the scheme of things. We are all waiting for whoever the governor would anoint”, he said.
Everybody waiting for Chime’s endorsement
Apart from Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy Senate President, who openly challenged Chime initially for zoning the position to Nsukka, no other politician of note has made his ambition open.
Every other political activity in Enugu is nocturnal.
Politicians would confront journalists at functions for not mentioning their names among those in the governorship race in their analysis but would not want to be quoted directly as saying they nurse such ambition. Political gladiators are watching with keen interest the political atmosphere and the body language of Chime who once said he would prefer somebody who had worked with the PDP political family to succeed him instead of outsiders.
Ebeano family factor
The former governor of the state, Nnamani, introduced the former Ebeano (the place to be) political structure under which he selected those that held positions at the state and federal levels.
It will indeed be correct to say that most political gladiators in the state today passed through the tutelage of the Ebeano god-father and they know the rules of the game.
While Nnamani held sway, it was sacrilegious for any member of the Ebeano family to struggle or aspire to any position as members waited for the leader to allocate positions to them. It was like a military formation where the most senior officer usually ‘’thinks for the rest and nobody thinks when the oga is around.’’
Chime emerged from the Ebeano political family. Others who belonged to the strange family include Ekweremadu and Ayogu Eze as well as all the present members of the National Assembly from the state.
Cracks in Ebeano
However, a lot of water has passed under the Ebeano bridge in the last seven years. The cracks in the family started shortly after Chime won elections in 2007 and reached a climax when “Chimaroke snubbed the governor at the Protea Hotel, Abuja sometime in June of the same year. Chime narrated his story:
Chimaroke invited me and pleaded that I should join his administration. I heeded the call because I wanted to contribute to the building of the state. I worked quite closely with him. At some point when the executive council was dissolved, I was the only commissioner for about a month.
No other commissioner was appointed until later. But unfortunately when it comes to some ideas, I may not always have my way. If the head doesn’t share your view, what do you do?’’
According to Chime, the situation, however, came to a head when Chimaroke invited him to Protea Hotel, Abuja, shortly after returning home after several months outside the country.
Chime stressed that on the occasion, in June 2007, his former boss invited him to his suite at Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja. He went on: “When I got there, I met him and we exchanged pleasantries. He was sitting with some other people. Before I could sit down, he got up, picked his phones and said he didn’t want to see me and that when he was ready to see me he would send for me again. I thought it was a joke. But he went inside his room. We were there still wondering what was happening. When he came out of the room he repeated it that he was not prepared to see me.
And he walked out on me, went downstairs and entered his car. He said he would tell me when I would come to see him when he was ready. So, the other three gentlemen followed me downstairs and we even attempted to see if we could catch up with him, but by the time we got downstairs, he had driven off.
I also entered my car and drove off. That was my first meeting with my predecessor. That was someone I spoke with on phone earlier that day. I didn’t just go there; he invited me over. We agreed that I was coming. So, do you want me to force myself on him? Then, I was still fresh as governor.
He had been there as governor and knows what being a governor means. You invited me as your governor and I came. And the next thing you do is to walk out on me. How do we describe such a behaviour? It is on record that I went to meet with him. That was the treatment I got from him the first time I met him. Can you imagine the treatment, as governor? I am still waiting for him to say `I want to see you!’.
Politicians queue
However, in the last few months, there have been indications that politicians have been lining up behind Chime and Ekweremadu, who is obviously fighting to avoid being prematurely retired from politics.
Chime is said to be interested in contesting the Senate seat for Enugu East which Ekweremadu, a former local government chairman, chief of staff to the governor and Secretary to the State Government, currently occupies and, with the governorship seat already zoned out of Enugu East where he hails from, there is no other higher position for him to contest, hence he is afraid of premature retirement from public glare.
Dark horse
A dark horse may emerge as governor of the state in 2015. Although Chime has kept his preferred candidate close to his chest, whoever he eventually anoints will likely face Ekweremau’s preferred candidate. The Deputy Senate President has been spending most of his days in Enugu State at Nsukka where he is believed to be mobilising support for his candidate.
This was even as the former Minister for Information, Chief Nnia Nwodo, was quoted as asking politicians from other zones to allow Nsukka people chose a governor of their choice for the state. Nwodo spoke at a party hosted for Ekweremadu at Nsukka by one of his supporters, Mr Chinedu Onuh.
However, political developments in the last few months indicate that none of the present crop of aspirants embarking on nocturnal campaigns would occupy the Lion Building as the Enugu Government House is known.
Apart from Ekweremadu, a cold war is currently raging between the governor and those the local PDP supporters refer to as Abuja- based. The governor was alleged to have incurred the wrath of the Abuja politicians when he was quoted as saying most of them who had spent two terms would not be re-elected. Chime was said to have made the declaration in view of the zoning arrangement in most of the constituencies in the state.
If the governor’s threat sails through, it would mean that almost all the members of National Assembly would lose their positions for fresh blood, hence the no-love-lost between them and their leader in the state.
SOURCE VANGUARD
The matter has gone beyond being a mutual disagreement over the council that should produce the next lawmaker to a cold war that requires urgent resolution. For this reason, Concerned Indigenes of Uzo-Uwani, CIU, recently convened a stakeholders’ forum in Enugu, where it was agreed that the rotation principle be followed to sustain the harmonious relations between the LGAs.
The event which attracted notable indigenes of Uzo-Uwani, provided an opportunity for the stakeholders to explain how the rotation agreement came about on February 10, 1998. On hand to tell this story, was the CIU President, Mr. Ignatius Onoduogo, who explained that the forum that gave birth to the zoning arrangement, was held at the residence of Mr. Aka Ogbogbe in Enugu.
“In recognition of the historical affinity and the need to foster peace and unity between Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani L.GAs, some wise men from both areas met on the 10th of February, 1998 and entered into an agreement that the House of Representatives seat shall rotate between the two local governments. They further agreed that Igbo-Etiti would produce the first candidate for the seat and this led to the emergence of Hon. Mathias Ozor in 1998 under the platform of UNCP,’’ he noted.
Onoduogo however regretted that the death of General Sani Abacha in June 1998, shortlived Ozor’s tenure. ‘’His tenure was short lived because of the truncation of the Abacha transition programme due to his demise,’’ he added.
Accordingly, Onoduuogo said, ‘’ again, on January 17, 1999, by a broader representation, another agreement was entered into by political leaders from the areas reiterating the need to foster a harmonious co-existence between the two areas by rotating the seat. It was further agreed that Uzo-Uwani L.G.A shall take the first shot this time around having conceded the position to Igbo-Etiti the previous year but for the truncation of the transition programme.
This agreement led to the emergence of Dr. Romanus Ezike from Uzo-Uwani whose election was upturned by the electoral tribunal . He spent only three months in the office and was replaced by Hon. Chris Nnadi from Igbo-Etiti, who now stayed from September 1999 to 2007.’’
“Perhaps, it was assumed that the tenure enjoyed by Hon. Nnadi was meant for Uzo-Uwani, hence another man from Igbo-Etiti replaced him. However, in line with the agreement, in 2007, Hon. Paul Eze from Uzo-Uwani replaced Dr. Oke and served till 2011.Still in keeping with the agreement,. Hon. Stella Ngwu from Igbo-Etiti who is currently the incumbent was elected in 2011 and she is expected to serve out her tenure by June 2015 to give room for another man from Uzo-Uwani in line with the spirit and letters of the agreement.’’
Restating that subsequent meetings took place in 1999 and 2011 respectively, to ensure that the tenets of the agreement are followed, Onoduogo said, ‘’it is instructive to point out that three meetings on the need to maintain this one term rotational arrangement’ including a ‘thank-you’ meeting held at the residence of the incumbent ,were later held over the issue where stakeholders from both areas including the incumbent promised to keep to the agreement by serving only one term.
SOURCE: VANGUARD
I must start by saying that senator Ahamba has not only insulted the Igbo race but has also undermined the intelligence, Education, Entrepreneurial spirit, Business Wisdom, inventiveness, innovativeness and creativity of the Igbo race in particular and Biafra in general. Most painful is to see that Senator Mike Ahamba has got no faith in the Almighty God whom he claims to serve.
How could a senator of Nigeria representing Imo State senatorial District say that "Ndigbo will suffer if Nigeria breaks up - San. Mike Ahamba 2014" and would not have tomatoes and fish?
Igbo people are able to develop Igboland and make life 300x easier for Biafrans than the hell we are going through all over the world. Has Senator Mike Ahamba forgotten that some Igbo people have lived decades in Western world and have studied, learned, practiced development for the while people who only misuse out talents? Has he forgotten that with Science and Technologies and ICT of the 21st Century, we will be able to develop Igboland within 7 years following the proposed Biafran Uniform Development Systems (BUDS), Kill Corruption strategies and measures, Unconventional trainings, True Government and People's collaboration (spirit of Umunne) and many more Biafran subsystems to trigger the fastest development ever seen in the history of the world.
Well, Sen. Ahamba has just spoken as an analogue Senator which he is. (No insult meant)
On behalf of the Biafran youths all over the world organized in groups and organizations, I dare assure Senator Mike Ahamba that we; the Igbo/Biafran Professionals in Diaspora challenge him to support the agitation for the immediate liberation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. We guarantee Senator mike Ahamba and all Igbo and Biafran people that we will develop Biafra in 7 years according to plans.
The plan is ready and we are only waiting for time as we take over the leaders of Republic of Biafra.
We also want to use this opportunity to...permit me to borrow the words of The Director of Radio Biafra London Nnamdi Okwu Kanu during his Radio Interview with Sahara Reports: He said: "if the Igbo delegates fail to secure Biafran freedom through this National Conference, they should better go on Exile from Abuja and should not even dare come back to Igboland again"
This is our position also and the position of millions of Biafrans scattered all over the world and in Igboland as well as in Nigeria.
Senator Mike Ahamba, eji'kwala ndu gi egwu egwu!!!!!!
No room for Nigerian Politics in Biafra
A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State and a delegate at the ongoing National Conference, Chief Mike Ahamba SAN, has reiterated that he would not canvass or support the breakup of Nigeria at the conference.He made this known while fielding questions from Nigeria Moment recently. He said that the Igbos would suffocate in Igbo land if Nigeria breaks up because it would lead to population explosion, food and housing crisis, job problems, etc, and that he would not support any move that would lead to the division of the country.
He added that the Igbos are the people who actually need free movement in the country because of their spread in the country. He also said that what needed to be done was to create atmosphere that would guarantee the Igbos to realize their futures where ever they are, even as he said the Igbos need to reach out to others for the best interest of their children.
He said: “They have forgotten what happened to those who ran back because of the crisis in the North: that only a week after, their relations asked them out of their homes. So, what do we do? Now, you find that if a trailer blocks the road to the North today, we will starve. We won't have tomatoes, fish and others.
“What are you separating for?
All these things will now be imported and you will have to pay duties on them. Some people don't understand this: we are the people who need free movement in Nigeria; the others don't, we do. So, why splitting the country?
“What we can do is to make it possible for every Igbo man where ever he to realize his future. We want friendship with others; we want to unclench our fist and have a handshake with others in the interest of our children who are elsewhere.
Look at all the universities all around the place! You want our children to be foreign students in those places? Because that would be the implication. The population of every university in the country today is at least 40% Igbo.
“The population of the lecturers is the same thing, and this is what you want to destroy because somebody is fanning your embers here to come back home. We will suffocate in this place. And I don't think I will support that”
He said that those castigating him for his earlier statement that he won't support Nigeria's breakup and described it as self serving, were being childish as he has always held position irrespective of his appointment as a delegate to the national Conference.
“That is a childish opinion, because I have always held that opinion before I was appointed, and I think I will defend it anywhere very successfully. You see, people hold peripheral opinion on issues: “oh! Let us separate, let us do this.” Have you planned how you will separate? You have too many Igbo men outside Igbo land, and when you take decisions you should consider them. If all these in Alaba, in Kano, everywhere in this country lose their citizenship where ever they are, it is bound to affect them economically because they will become foreigners.”
He said that the Igbos would suffer most among all the groups in the country if there is a breakup of the country today as there are not enough job opportunities to absorb the mass of the people that would return.
He said: “And of all the groups in Nigeria, the Igbo group would be the largest sufferer of such situation. Now, those at home enjoying themselves don't know what the effect would be on others, but I know. So, in Nigeria, in every state, you would find that after the indigenes of that state, the next in population is the Igbo. So, where are you going to put these people if they come back home?
“Since (Michael) Opkara, has anyone built industry here? Look at Naze Industrial Area; look at Onitsha Road Industrial Area; how many governors have come here since they were set up? Do you have anything there? And when you talk about governorship nomination people are talking about somebody who has money to give to delegates and not somebody who has a programme to create job for the people.
“That is what we are interested in. If we work to ensure that anybody who lives anywhere in Nigeria should have full citizenship rights in those places, it would be to the advantage of the Igbos instead of losing what we already have.
That is the position I take, and I think that those who oppose me do so out of ignorance. They need to understand. And I know that after my formal presentation of that case and arguing it at the National Conference, I will expose myself to some of the radio stations here and we will dialogue on it, and the person will tell me what he intends to do with those who will come back (if Nigeria divides).”
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has asked all politicians of Igbo extraction not to join the 2015 presidential race if President Goodluck Jonathan decides to seek reelection.
The Chairman of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Anambra State chapter, Mr. Eluemunoh said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Awka.
He said the Igbo people were satisfied with the Jonathan’s administration and would support his reelection bid, if he indicates interest to do so. Eluemunoh said Igbo people had benefited more basic infrastructure and political appointments in Jonathan’s governemnt than any other administration since Independence.
“Any government like Jonathan’s administration that shares national resources equitably needed to be encouraged to stay in office and perfect the administration programme to a logical conclusion.
“It is on this stance that I commend the president and pledge our loyalty to him. I urge any Igbo man nursing the ambition to contest as president to drop it now, for us to speak with one voice.’’
Eluemunoh said: ‘’Any Igbo man who works against the president would be fighting the Igbo race because for now the Igbos have no national political platform under which they should contest.
“How do you present a candidate when our own brother is there? Ohanaeze has said we will pull our support for Jonathan now and in 2015, so, there is no vacancy in Aso Rock.
“Ohanaeze is the voice of the Igbo nation. We cannot fight anybody, we cannot bite anybody but we can embarrass you as an Igbo man if you contest.
“We resolved that we should allow our own brother to go for second tenure. Who else can do better than what Jonathan is doing for the Igbo people.”
He also commiserated with the federal government and the judiciary over the death of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who died on May 4.
This Day.
ABUJA—Even before the proposal for the creation of one more state for the South-East geo-political zone is tabled at plenary for discussion, the North has rejected the plan, saying the zone does not have the required landmass and population to warrant the new state.
The opposition of the North to the creation of more states in the country and particularly for the South-East, is contained in a 46-page document, prepared by the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, for all northern delegates to the ongoing National Conference.
The document, which is entitled “Key Issues before the Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference”, also described Northern Nigeria as the “backbone and strength of Nigeria” and has already been distributed to the northern delegates.
The ACF said it opposed the creation of more states in Nigeria because too many states have tended to convert them into what it called “mere cost or effort centres” at the expense of socio-economic development.
“It is against this backdrop that the ACF believes that the creation of any additional state at this point in time is counter-productive and therefore, should be kept on hold until the need can be justified in future.
“The argument that creation of states should be on the basis of equality irrespective of population and landmass is inconsistent with the elementary concept of justice, since injustice is not only when equals are treated unequally but also when unequals are treated equally”.
The northern group argued further that going by the population average per state, each of the 36 states of the federation could be assumed to have an average of 3,888,987 and a landmass of 27,327 square kilometre.
Using its baseline land mass and average population for each of the states, ACF argued that the South-East with a total population of 16,381, 729 and a landmass of 33,664 square kilometres, presents each of the five states in the zone with a population of 3, 276,345 and a landmass of 33,664 square kilometres.
ACF, therefore, argued that the population per state in the South-East is far less than the national average by 612,642 while its landmass of 33,664 square kilometres is not up to 25 per cent of the National Average.
The group maintained that the total land mass of the South-East is just a little above the National Average per state.
On the other hand, the ACF boasted that its seven states in the North-West alone, boasts of a population of 35,786,994 and a land mass of 222,120 square kilometres, with an average population of 5,112,421, which it claimed is 1,223,434 higher than the national average.
Turning to the South-West, the northern group pointed out that the six states in the zone have a small population of 27,581,994, which amounts to 4,596,999 per state, which is 1,320,654 far higher than the South-East average.
But the ACF conceded that by land mass, the South-West with a figure of 78,774 square kilometres is 13,129 square kilometres or twice the South-East average.
The group argued that for any state to be created in the South-East, the South-West must have up to nine states first, if population were to be used as the deciding factor and as many as 12 more states if land mass were to be the deciding factor.
The north argued: “This proposition, which formed the cardinal position of the South-East since the 1994 Constitutional Conference, has been crafted to whittle down any political advantage the north could exercise in Nigeria despite its huge territorial size and large population.
“Yet, the concept of geo-political zones has no place in our constitution and it should remain so,” the group maintained.
Culled: VANGUARD
