The founder and pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie, says lack of cohesion and unity of purpose has exposed the Igbo nation to very embarrassing ridicule, disrespect, alienation and marginalisation by their contemporaries.
Okorie, who spoke at the Igbo Agenda Dialogue held in Abuja on Wednesday, pointed out that the contemporaries of the Igbo have managed to be in control of the lever of political power and commanding heights of Nigerian economy and bureaucracy.
He said the time has come when holding back from calling Igbo leaders together to join hands to salvage their people is no longer tenable.
“Things came to a most worrisome head when a former president of Nigeria while presiding over the affairs of the country described us as a dot in a circle, which in a sense implies that we are few and landlocked,” Okorie said.
“The true position as is well known even by the person that mocked us in that manner is that there is no ethnic nationality in Nigeria that has greater access to the sea than the Igbo Nation.
“Following the advent of the Igbo Forum in 1976, which metamorphosed into Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 1979, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was our patron then, repeatedly cautioned during our meetings that the worst thing that usually happened to any race that lost a war was the loss of self-esteem,” he recalled.
“He[Azikiwe] further said that it would take several decades of conscientious focused leadership to recover from the loss of self-esteem.
“I remember those inimitable words when I watch with sadness and embarrassment the sycophantic, subservient, and condescending posturing of some of our leaders just to get by in a country where we are supposed to be equal stakeholders. Some even disown their identities as Igbo to escape oppression by those in power. It is now 55 years since the Biafra/Nigeria fratricidal war ended. Now is the time to redeem, reassert, and reclaim our inalienable rights in Nigeria.
“We are unarguably the ethnic nationality with the largest population in Nigeria. Our geographical spread in this vast country is second to none. We are easily the second largest population of practically all the states of Nigeria and about 99% of the population of the South East geo-political zone.
“Similarly, studies have proved that we constitute a minimum of 25% of the voting population of all the States of Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory.
“In view of the nature of democratic practice in Nigeria, the majority of votes and its component geographical spread are the critical factors that determine electoral victory in our elections. It stands to reason that if we put our acts together nobody will win a presidential election in Nigeria without sitting down with the Igbo to agree on the terms of engagement.
“Some of us who witnessed and can recollect the various democratic dispensations in Nigeria from the First Republic to the present time will agree without argument that Ndigbo were better off in the First and Second Republics when the then Northern People’s Congress, NPC, and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens, NCNC, formed a coalition government, and the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, and Nigerian Peoples Party, NPP, formed an accord (another form of a coalition government) respectively. In fact, in the Second Republic, an Igbo man was the Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme of the NPN, and another Igbo man, Chief Edwin Umezuoke of the NPP was the Speaker of the House of Representatives as a result of that accord.
“That combination has not been replicated since that time. It could also be recalled that the coalition of the NPC – NCNC facilitated the creation of the Midwestern Region in spite of the vehement opposition of the Action Group, AG, at that time.
Permit me to cite yet another interesting example of what Igbo political unity can achieve and juxtapose it with what our lack of participation can deny us.
“In the case of a race, like the Igbo race, while Igbo cannot force anybody to love us but we can earn the respect of others or adorne the aura Igbo people are known for that elicits both fear and respect for us. Any race that is neither loved nor respected is not worth its name.
“It is generally said that heaven helps those who help themselves. In the case of Ndigbo in Nigeria, God has already blessed us with huge population, geographical spread and unrivalled human resources. We are the ones holding ourselves back. We can resolve today that we can unite and join hands to redeem ourselves and live to witness the inevitable resurgence of Ndigbo in Nigeria and assume our rightful place in Nigeria’s political space.”
