7th October, 2013
By Henry Chukwuemeka Onyema
Very few of the men and women who have been in charge of Nigeria’s affairs for the past forty years have impressed me. The reason is obvious. They have been weighed on the scales of leadership and found grossly deficient. Though a few of them put up lasting physical legacies, they, by far, impacted negatively on Nigerians with their lack of vision; rapacity; arrogance; lack of both foresight and hindsight; inability to rise above the base sentiments of the day; sheer gutlessness and parochialism.
But Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State is one of the exceptions. There is no doubt that since he assumed leadership of Lagos, the complex phenomenon which is a macro microcosm of Nigeria, he has taught both friends and foes what it means to be a democratic leader. Although he has made mistakes he does not lack the true leadership quality to admit them. The recent speech he gave at the 25th anniversary of the pan-Igbo group, Aka Ikenga, is noteworthy. In my opinion the speech’s significance goes beyond the apology to the Igbo. It raised a number of candid issues which all Nigerians desirous of national integration would do well to consider.
The controversy over the ‘deportation’ of some Igbo people in Lagos by the state government is well known. At its height it degenerated into questions over the ownership of Lagos and the place of the Igbo in it following ex-Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu’s protest over the ‘deportation.’ The hot polemics of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode over the subject is still reverberating. I was compelled by my conscience to respond to his assertions with a two-part article titled ‘Femi Fani-Kayode’s Tangled Web.’ I sincerely hope that the Lagos State Governor’s efforts to detoxify the atmosphere are attended to by all combatants.
Fashola acknowledged the age-old bond between the Igbo and the Yoruba. In his words: ‘It (the relationship) was started by our ancestors. It was handed over to us and we have nourished it with a lot of trust, lots of understanding and with a lot of fidelity. Those who misunderstand that relationship, who think there is no value in that relationship; I have come here to correct. I place a lot of value on that relationship. And so if those people have misunderstood me or they have misunderstood the actions taken by our government, here, now and today, I offer an unquantifiable and unreserved apology. But it does not take away the real questions that cause misunderstanding.’
This article’s purpose is not to delve into a detailed analysis of Igbo-Yoruba relations since 1914 or 1960. It has been a mixture of both the sweet and the sour for both sides. But with the efforts of leaders like Fashola from both ethnic groups and other people of goodwill, we can move to a new dispensation where the Igbo and Yoruba are not weaned on a diet of hatred, suspicion and stereotyping. I strongly recommend Mr. Kolawole’s article on the back page of ‘Thisday’ newspaper, 29 September 2013 edition, for all who do not want to remain stuck in the muck of the past.
But posers and challenges still remain, as acknowledged by the governor. I submit that these posers go beyond issues surrounding Lagos. They have grave implications everywhere in Nigeria, a country where a Yoruba born and raised in Owerri is a foreigner there and an Igbo born and reared in Akure has no say there because of his ethnic roots. These are some of the posers:
Who actually is a citizen of Nigeria? Forget about current constitutional provisions on the subject; does a Nigerian of any ethnic origin qualify for all the rights and responsibilities of Nigerian citizenship outside his ethnic enclave?
Is development predicated on exclusion of certain classes or categories of people? Given that the rash of ‘deportations,’ both in Lagos and other states, were of undesirables such as beggars and other supposed wretched of the earth, just what kind of development do Nigerian leaders and citizens envisage?
Is the best solution to Lagos’s expanding social and economic needs the systematic elimination of those people who supposedly have nothing to contribute to her expanding mega-city status?
These are weighty issues. They should top the agenda whenever the National Conference is convened. I listened to President Jonathan outlining the modalities for one in his Independence broadcast and prayed it would not be a charade like the Conference summoned some years ago by President Obasanjo.
But there is no guarantee that a National Conference or Dialogue or whatever such a meeting is called will remove the ethnic bigotry in the hearts of most of our ruling elite. This bigotry percolates, by virtue of the elite’s influence and control of resources, down to the citizenry. This is unfortunate because in the records of Nigeria’s history there was a time the ruling elite, in spite of challenges, were guided by a pan-Nigerian vision. Hence in the 1950s, under the Nnamdi Azikiwe-led National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), a Sokoto Prince, Umoru Altine, became Enugu’s so far only Mayor. Professor Babatunde Fafunwa, the notable educationist, headed the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Ekiti State-born Professor Sam Aluko who was also the Head of Economics Department at the university served as Colonel Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s think tank in appointing members of the Eastern Region administration after the January 1966 coup. Igbo Professors were the vice-chancellors of the universities of Ibadan and Lagos before the civil war. Though regionalization eventually gained the upper hand, there was a time there were senior Igbo bureaucrats in the Western Region’s administration and high-level Yoruba administrators in the East. In spite of all the baggage history has laid on him, Premier Obafemi Awolowo never discriminated against non-Yoruba Nigerians in implementing the policy of free education in the West. Both his Action Group of the First Republic and the Unity Party of Nigeria in the Second Republic had top Igbo leaders such as S. Goomsu Ikoku and M.C.K Ajuluchukwu. Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, a stalwart of Zikist politics, was a true friend of the Igbo after the civil war.
Fashola’s posers in that speech are thought-provoking for all Nigerians, especially the Igbo. He asked: ‘Why should people feel compelled to emigrate from one place to the other? Is there one part of this country that is less endowed, whether in human or natural resource? Is that the problem? Is it the case that perhaps, some parts are so endowed or not adequately managed? Those are the honest debates that we must have. The political storm is gathering and allusions have been made to the issue.’
Fact is, emigration is not necessarily to the disadvantage of the territory receiving the emigrant. In spite of their challenges with illegal aliens, Western countries and China have not outrightly banned emigrants, including those regarded as unskilled. But it is worrying that a Nigerian moving from one part of the country to live in another area is regarded as an emigrant. Are there offices for passports to each of Nigeria’s thirty-six states?
From the developmental perspective the Igbo must do some soul searching. ‘Aku ruo ulo’ (Wealth must reach the homestead) is a cardinal principle for honouring people in traditional Igbo society. It is a historical fact that between 1945 and 1967, Eastern Nigeria, comprising today’s South-East and South-South, boasted of one of the fastest growing economies in Nigeria. That feat was driven by systematic and effective official planning and intervention; the legendary Igbo enterprising spirit; a vibrant educational sector which was doggedly preserved by both public and private support (remember the town unions that sponsored brilliant Igbo children to universities outside Nigeria?); favourable global economic prospects; above all, a pan-Igbo spirit that aspired to the well being of the whole, the collective, without sacrificing individual achievement. Perhaps it was only during the government of late Samuel Mbakwe, Governor of old Imo State from 1979 to 1983 that there was a resurgence of that golden era. So what went wrong? Definitely there is nothing amiss with the natural elements in Igboland. The Igbo spirit of enterprise and daring remains unchanged. It earned us the world’s respect during the Nigerian civil war.
I argue that post- Second Republic Igbo leaders lost it. True, the Nigerian federation has not been fair to the Igbo since 1970 and we are operating at a disadvantage. The apparent political edge we had in the golden era no longer exists. But that is no excuse for sitting on our haunches. The Igbo spirit abhors dependence. So this is the time for both Igbo leaders and citizens to start thinking home. How do we make Igboland the first choice for life for millions of Igbo youngsters in the face of the increasingly grim competition for scarce resources in a disturbingly ethnicized Nigeria? Subsequent articles will hopefully offer suggestions in this regard.
•Onyema, writer, historian and teacher wrote from Lagos. Email: [email protected]