By Petrus Obi
Professor Uzodimma Nwala, a renowned retired Professor of Philosophy, is among the very few Igbo elders, who command the respect of the people today. The President of Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF in this exclusive chat with The Nigerian Xpress speaks on marginalisation of the Igbo in Nigeria and the renewed quest for self determination.
Can you tell us briefly about the Alaigbo Development Foundation?
ADF was born in 2014, following an international colloquium organised by many Igbo scholars, statesmen, clergy, politicians, traditional rulers, businessmen. It was one of those momentous periods when the question of Ndigbo, where do we go from here, was very rife in the air.
There was need for a wakeup call to our people because we found out that we didn’t have a solid platform that can bring us together, that can monitor what’s going on around, organise the different doors, politically, media wise, and so on.
So, we organised that colloquium to x-ray different dimensions, the origin of this Igbo predicament in Nigeria. Of course, the title of that colloquium was ‘The Igbo question in Nigeria, before, during and after Biafra.’
Over 2500 Igbo all over the world were at that event and we looked at different dimensions of Igbo history, Igbo politics, Igbo economy, Igbo culture, geography and everything. At the end of the day, we decided it was necessary to bind ourselves together into a formidable organisation that can usher in a movement that can help to ferry our people across these turbulent periods.
We tried to borrow a leaf from what the Jews did in their time. They were hounded like us, from pillar to post. The advantage we have is that we have a homeland; they didn’t have a homeland at that time, but were able to get themselves together, everybody, their prophets, philosophers, clergy, various institutions, youths, scholars and so on came together and put together what is known as Jewish foundation. Today, the Jews have more or less become masters of their own. It’s impossible for you to do deal with any serious global challenge without taking into account what the Jews are saying or doing. In the area of science, they are now dominant, same in other areas, a small country, but they dominate the world. You can call them a super power today.
We believe we are capable of overcoming our challenge in that way. As history has it, the Igbo and the Jew have a lot in common. Incidentally, in a recent video the Ooni of Ife has come to underscore that similarity between the Igbo and the Jews. And contrary to what some people believe, that the Jews were prior in history, that Igbo came after the Jews or from the Jews, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
And for those of us who studied Philosophy and history of African world systems we do know for example that the father of the Jews is Abraham. We do know the story when Abraham visited Egypt with his wife, Sarah, Egypt was then the centre of world civilisation. And we know about the encounter between himself and Pharoah. Where was Christ taken to when there was a threat; it was Egypt. The Jews were also in Egypt before going back home. So, Egyptian civilisation of which the Igbo civilisation is part of was there from time immemorial.
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So, the Alaigbo Development Foundation has done quite a lot in the past four years. We are playing the role of Oguguo Ndi Igbo and we want to assemble the best Igbo nation can command.
If one may ask, sir, what are these challenges that Igbo are facing?
The most central definition of that challenge is the challenge of survival; physical survival, economic survival, social and political survival. Take the ordinary one you call economic survival, can you see what is happening to Ibeto? What happened to Innoson before his recent court victory; what happened to Barth Nnaji; what happened to many others – Ifeanyi Ubah and others.
These are programmed attempts to destroy Igbo businesses. Can you see what is happening to our infrastructure, what is happening to the ports? That you have to go to Lagos to clear goods; as you are coming down they are harassing you. We have a case of people, who went all the way and got to Asaba and were turned back to Lagos.
Talk about economic challenges, what about roads, railways, that are functional up there. Let’s even take the political challenge, can you see we are completely eliminated from the Nigerian bureaucracy, from the management of the state, security and otherwise. You need to go to Abuja and interact with some of our people; they are like slaves, people are working like slaves. Even those who should hold senior positions, they have young Fulani/Hausa chaps, deciding what happens. We are like foreigners.
If you take security, I am sure you know that the security situation today is worse than it was during the war. They are all over our villages, armed trained young soldiers all over the place. It’s worse than during the war. You can see what they are doing with police and soldiers, harassing our people. You can also see what they are doing to our youths who are protesting; is it IPOB or so, you see what they are doing to harmless young chaps. Which area can you look at… There are so many areas, we seem to be an endangered specie. Unfortunately, our politicians are playing the typical Nigerian politics.
Our friend and master in those days called Ikenna Nzimiro used to define Nigerian political parties as trading companies and that’s what they are. Our people are in the trading company called APC, they can’t think outside what that company is, they think about their own share. So, the challenges are quite enormous.
To what extent would the role of the Igbo in the 2019 election help in solving some of these Igbo challenges?
When you talk of the role of the Igbo, either individual or so, there is one thing that is very common in history, people who have lost war suffer the pangs of it. It’s psychological, moral, economical, over a long period of time. That has been our predicament since the end of the war, and moreover, we are dealing with a people, we are dealing with forces, that have programmed so much including our own people, they have so psychologically battered our people to the extent we don’t think we can survive without them.
So there is a limit to which we can blame our people, but there are some of them we cannot excuse. There are some of them that blindly closed their eyes over the butchering taking place all over the whole place; closed their ears as if they don’t know about our marginalization in the security and other forces; closed their ears to what happened during the last election; the manipulation and all the processes that took place before the election.
Look at the case of the Chief Justice of the federation, who was removed, whatever may be his crime…but his crime was not the major objective, his removal was to make sure the judiciary was very much in their palms so that any challenge to the rigging of the election would not go through.
So our people who close their eyes to all these things and only think of themselves, their positions…now they are talking of Senate president, I only say sorry to these people…but the way things are going now, instead of the situation getting darker we are likely to see some silver lining in the horizon. Our people are gradually getting up; those who didn’t believe in self-determination yesterday, are now militant champions of self-determination.
We must be ourselves; we must control our destiny, we must control out judiciary, we must control our educational system, we must control our resources, we must control our land and so on. That determination is strongly growing, our youths are waking up. So, it’s only a minority of the so-called leaders…see what happened in the last election, the Igbo virtually voted for one party. It shows that they are aware that the other party represents the interest of their traducers and in their quest for freedom they voted for this other party, not necessarily because it contains angels, but they feel it will give them a leeway.
Some people believe, for example, that what happened to Innoson, Chikason, Ibeto would not happen under the watch of Atiku, as president. So, I think our people are awake; we are at the verge of breaking our yoke and the chains.
What are the chances of an Igbo president in 2023, considering their role in the just-concluded elections? Don’t you think the control of political power will help the Igbo achieve their goal?
The root of solving our problems does not lie via Nigerian Presidency because one fundamental question you are asking is how feasible is it for an Igbo man to be president under the present circumstances. The presidency is not dashed. I am one of the greater apostles of rotation of powers; I was in the 1994 national constitutional conference; I worked with Ekwueme. I was secretary of the Igbo delegates, secretary of the whole southern delegates, we championed what is now known as the six geo-political zones, rotation of power to move in a North, South alternation, but what has become of that?
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Ekwueme would have been president but they said no, because the structure of the federation first as bequeathed by the Europeans and as perfected and deepened by the Northern military hegemony over years; that structure is a structure of slavery. It’s not easy for you to break through it, it’s not possible, it’s not easy. So, we should be thinking more of our own regional autonomy; how do we get together, build a solid political homefront that will deal with our problems systematically beginning with our economic disempowerment; empowering us.
We can do that ourselves. We don’t need them to do that. That’s why ADF has been championing the programme of Aku ruo ulo (think home) movement and our people are listening and what they are seeing now in Lagos and other places is enough lesson to drive home the message, that we should be coming back home with our investments.
The idea of property in Lagos, Abuja and so on should be a secondary consideration. First of all, even if we lose all those property and come home, before 10 years, Igbo land will be much more powerful in infrastructure than what we have in Lagos today. But above all, it is possible also for us if we make our property international subject; it is impossible for anyone to divest us of our property no matter where it is. That’s why we are urging our people to register their businesses and houses, eventually we will get them back, even if we are to return home tomorrow.
So, the presidency is not an issue…and under any circumstances any of these our chaps, whether Orji Uzor Kalu or Okorocha, who gets presidency will even be an instrument to destroy us the more, because they will be ministering to their dictates. So, let’s think less of Igbo presidency, let it no bother us. Let’s think more of how do we organise Igbo land? How do we rebuild our infrastructure?How do we get our people to come home and invest? How do we link with international forces to come home and invest in our territory?
How do we begin to assert that power? If Northern governors can go to Arab countries and get loans, negotiate for investment, why can’t our own governors go to America or China and do same and let’s see who will stop them. So, it’s a question of asserting our rights. If we are able to emerge with a political platform. Of course, it’s very easy to do, a party that serves the interest of the Igbo.
If we do that, the governor in Enugu, governors in Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra and Abia will be speaking the same language and we may be arriving at the situation of Catalonia. That’s why some of us cry over the destruction of APGA. But sooner or later it may be possible to evolve a political platform that can stand firmly, all of us, and drive our struggle, protect our land, security and so on.
Prof. sir, you appear so convinced of a conscious effort to run down the Igbo in Nigeria?
Are you asking me that? Let’s take something as remote as the efi Igbo (local Igbo cow); do you know that during the Babangida regime, there was conscious effort to; maybe not Babangida directly, forces around him, conscious effort to eliminate that Igbo cow? I have mentioned one of our businessmen; if you know what Barth Nnaji has been going through; power is the backbone of economic development.
This gentlemen came from abroad, highly exposed international system and believed that Aba is the heart of Igbo business and what it requires is power. He went raising loan from everywhere; come and see what is happening today. I was listening last time, Buhari went to Aba to launch a power project there when Geometrics is there. Is it Ibeto whose cement business has been destroyed; Dangote has become the octopus in every village everywhere. The other day, somebody told us a story of somebody who said that they were not going to empower an Igbo economic fellow because empowering him will mean competition with Dangote. So, what else are you asking; it’s very deliberate.
You are in the media, have you sat down to ask yourself, why did Outlook Newspapers die; why did Renaissance die; why did Nwobodo’s newspaper, Satellite die; why did Champion, Iwuanyanwu’s, die, why did Arthur Nzeribe’s newspaper die, why did Sunny Odogwu’s Post Express die, why did MINAJ die, and so on? You see, this is why I get angry with some of our people on social media. Some of them are very idiotic the kind of things they discuss, not addressing critical issues of our survival at this time. There are some of them who are very intelligent people, with good level of analysis but what we need more is a level of action.
That’s why recently we published ADF intervention in Imo State; you need to read what we did and you ask yourself how come an organisation did all these within Imo to help Imo people come out of the woods. Look at the petition we wrote that helped to turn the mind of his people to see him as major liability, not as an asset. We will also publish the documentary of what devastations and environmental decay, what a human being could do to his people.
One of the major problems of the Igbo is unity. How would you describe the oneness of the people now and what is ADF doing towards bring the people together?
That unity will come, it is part of the problem. Part of it is programmed. Look at what happened in Lagos recently. There are conscious efforts to set us against the Yoruba people. That is why I advise our people, when you make reference to who has done what to you, refer to individuals, don’t refer to Yoruba nation; we have very good friends there who love the Igbo. If our Yoruba fellows know history they would have known what the Igbo did for Awolowo when he was in prison in Calabar.
Awolowo never slept in prison; Okpara had to hire a house; the man who was given that assignment was ‘The Boy is Good’, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, to get a house near the prison, and about 6 O’clock, Awolowo moved to the house and slept with his wife. And in the morning at 9 a.m. or so, he would return to the prison and the wife was placed on a salary.
And Okpara provided a Mercedez Benz to be on standby for them; that’s the Igbo and Yoruba. What about during the Operation Wetie, when the Northerners used Akintola to go all out and destroy the Yoruba nation. The period when they were burning people with petrol and so on. Akintola was their friend and they wanted to use him to destroy the Yoruba. Okpara went there on massive campaign, just to give support to Yoruba in their struggle; to come out of the stranglehold.
What about the coup of 1966; it was not an Igbo coup, it was a coup by young intellectuals and army officers; people like Banjo, Ademoyega, even Soyinka and others. Those intellectuals, Ifeajuna, who was in Ibadan; it was their coup to create a more massive jihad against the state. And what they had in mind was to install Awolowo whom they felt was a very strong man, as prime minister of Nigeria to overcome the onslaught. It was not an Igbo coup.
What about Biafra soldiers, moving to Midwest on their way to Lagos; it was called Liberation Army because Awolowo had requested Ojukwu to send a division of Biafra soldiers to come and join his people to liberate Lagos and Ibadan from the control of the Northern soldiers. Because decision had been taken at the time for soldiers to go back to their region of origin.
So, Ojukwu, as a young man, very radical and committed young man but with little experience, even when Nigerian soldiers were knocking at our door, he sent a whole division. By the time they passed Ore, Banjo sent Soyinka to go tell Obasanjo to get ready their men that they were coming to join forces with them to liberate their people. Obasanjo went straight and told Gowon.
Gowon went and told his European masters and they brought him and Awolowo quickly and arranged a programme of power sharing. Awolowo should become vice president and in two, three years the soldiers will hand over to him. That was how Awolowo sent message back to Banjo and said, don’t proceed further; if you do, you are coming as a conqueror, not as a liberator. These are key points in history. From there, they pounced on our people and massacred them down to Asaba.
So, that is the history, but today we believe that many forces are awake; many people who were hitherto trapped, strangled by this mammoth jihadist forces…in the middle belt; they are waking up, even in the South-south, they are waking up; Yoruba, many of them are waking up, everybody starts singing the songs of self-determination. Europe has achieved that over the years, the nation states in Europe are independent nations like Yoruba, Igbo, Tiv, Hausa, Fulani, Efik.
These are independent nations. So, we should be moving in that direction to free all these people, so that we can all have this freedom and live and enjoy God’s own sunshine, control our resources, protect our children.
Prof, you speak as though you are still expecting Biafra?
Still expecting Biafra? It is not expecting Biafra. There is a movement for freedom, not only by the Igbo but all the other nationalities that are held like hostages, animals, by the artificial federation created by the British. That song of freedom is all over the place, not only among the Igbo and we believe that the Igbo will sooner than later achieve their freedom, because we believe that the enemy has exhausted all the tricks with which it was controlling these people.
Look at the result of the last election, if it was not rigged, the forces of the PDP being seen as a symbol of greater freedom…PDP won that election; it has taken many of the states controlled by APC. That is to say that the struggle for self-determination is the number one issue on the agenda today, not even the transition. Even if Atiku had won, the only thing is that Atiku would not be posing the kind of monstrous regime.
You can see since the news of Buhari winning; can you see the Miyetti Allah people? Can you hear their voices, their echoes, stumping all over the whole place? The killings have resumed; everything is getting worse. For us we believe our God is awake and this time more than ever before we all will win our freedom.
The Igbo have been rooting for restructuring but with Buhari’s return, don’t you think it will not materialise?
Restructuring is the wrong word. What we are rooting for is self-determination. And what do we mean by self-determination? A situation where we control our land, our resources, our governance and so on. Decide with whom to align and whom not to align with and that is what every nationality in Nigeria is asking for. None of them wants to be slave. If Nigeria has to continue, it should be a federal union of autonomous regions.
Igbo land as an autonomous region, or we can work together with our neighbours in the erstwhile Biafra and agree within ourselves to stay together, as one autonomous region. But that will be by consensus. The Igbo man is not going to assume the Ijaw man is in the same state with him or the Efik man, we all have to agree to work together. The Yoruba have gone very far in this direction, or you don’t know? They have their own anthem, they have their own constitution, they have their own corporate identity. If you are talking about Yoruba nation, it includes those in Kwara, Kogi and others.
And that’s it again for us, want to return to the concept of Igbo nation that was in vogue in the days of the Igbo state union. Where the Igbo community spread from Abakaliki.
There is a movement for freedom, not only by the Igbo but all the other nationalities that are held like hostages, animals, by the artificial federation created by the British. That song of freedom is all over the place, not only among the Igbo and we believe that the Igbo will sooner than later achieve their freedomAfikpo Umuahia.
There is a movement for freedom, not only by the Igbo but all the other nationalities that are held like hostages, animals, by the artificial federation created by the British. That song of freedom is all over the place, not only among the Igbo and we believe that the Igbo will sooner than later achieve their freedomAbaThere is a movement for freedom, not only by the Igbo but all the other nationalities that are held like hostages, animals, by the artificial federation created by the British.
That song of freedom is all over the place, not only among the Igbo and we believe that the Igbo will sooner than later achieve their freedom Ikwerre, Anioma, Nsukka and so on. So we are talking of Igbo nation in that concept; that is the Igbo nation as an autonomous region.