I was told that every Igboman who heard Ojukwu's speech
after the Biafran war was filled with a renewed sense of
pride and hope. A hope that one day the Igbo nation will
rise and become a force of reckoning not just in Nigeria but
in the entire black world. I have read that speech over and
over and each time I read through, I am filled with pride
and imagination of how those who heard the words pouring
out of the mouth of the warlord himself must have felt.
Before going any further, let me recount a little part of what
the late sage said while addressing the press:
"In the three years of the war, necessity gave birth to invention.
During those three years of heroic bound, we leapt across the
great chasm that separates knowledge from know-how. We built
rockets, and we designed and built our own delivery systems. We
guided our rockets. We guided them far, we guided them
accurately.
For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we
maintained all our vehicles. The state extracted and refined
petrol, individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built
and maintained our airports, maintained them under heavy
bombardment.
Despite the heavy bombardment, we recovered so quickly
after each raid that we were able to maintain the record for
the busiest airport in the continent of Africa. We spoke to
the world through telecommunication system engineered by
local ingenuity; the world heard us and spoke back to us!
We built armoured car tanks. We modified aircraft from
trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In
the three years of freedom we had broken the technological
barrier. In three years we became the most civilised, the
most technologically advanced black people on earth."
Ojukwu, with those few lines, defined the ingenuity and never-
say-die spirit God has embedded in the marrows of the Igboman.
But my question for Ndigbo is, where has this ingenuity for which
the entire world has given them a standing ovation, gone? Why
can't it be used today to enhance the cause of Ndigbo? Can't we
re-enact the same war time feat to launch ourselves back to
reckoning again in Nigeria and in the entire black world?
Since Ojukwu died, Ndigbo have been like sheep without a
shepherd. Those who we thought could take up the mantle of
leadership are nothing but selfish entities who care for
nothing but their personal interest. As I am writing this
article, I just got words that a senator in Imo State has been
discovered as a saboteur working against the interest of his
people because he has been promised to be made Senate
president in the new political dispensation which begins on
May 29. What is it with Ndigbo and greed? How long are we
going to kill ourselves? Isn't it a gargantuan shame that a
tribe as populous as Ndigbo can't provide a single
individual that is seen to be credible enough to be elected
president of Nigeria? A casual observation of the
performances of the governors of the south eastern states
will reveal their level of under-performance since 1999.
Case point, take Aba which has failed to enjoy any
meaningful development since the 1929 Aba women riot.
The place is a total mess. What have the governors done
with what has been accruing to the state in the last 16 years
of democratic rule?
The fact that these individuals who have mismanaged fortunes of
the state consider themselves fit to even contest election is a slap
on the faces of Ndigbo. Ndigbo, are we cursed? The red-cap goons
known as Ohaneze do nothing but crawl from one place to
another offering themselves for sale and for use. This has been
their money-making scheme for too long and it can no longer
hold water. Can't we take a cue from the style Dangote adopted
and made a kill? The Yoruba have already adopted it and it is
working. We have to restrategise to become that economic power
house we crave. The idea that every Igboman who makes money
whether through his ingenuity or by accident becomes misguided
and begins to push for political office even though they are
clearly not professional politicians should be discarded.
We hear of Dangote, the Dantatas, Otedola, Mike Adenuga,
the Okoyas, where are the Igbo equivalent in terms of their
organisational set-up? Most of our businesses are largely
one-man businesses and whenever the founder dies, the
whole thing dies. Ndigbo must do away with their
selfishness and personal greed, otherwise we will continue
to languish as a people. We must redirect our thoughts away
from the deeply engrossed notion of "to make it in life," "we
must make money at all cost." What Ndigbo should learn
from the just concluded elections is that without a harmony
of opinion, all our efforts will yield nothing. Igbo kwezuenu.
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