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By Desmond Mgbo
Ndigbo in the North played a role in the choice of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu as the President General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo. In this interview, Chi Nwogu, the President- General of Igbo Delegate Assembly, gave the reasons Igbo residents in the North decided on Iwuanyawu. Nwogu who heads the assembly of Igbo town unions in the 19 northern states and Abuja also reacted to calls for Igbo businessmen to relocate to the East just as he tasked Ndigbo resident in the North to switch their loyalties to whoever is elected as their governor.
There is this other group that has been cloning the real Ohaneze Ndi Igbo of late, issuing statements in the name of Ndigbo. What are you doing to halt this alternate or fake body?
It is quite worrisome, quite unfortunate that these characters are parading themselves in the public and making unauthorized claims. Sometimes, you hear one small boy who claims to be Ohaneze Secretary. To make matter worse, he will be making statements that did not emanate from the Igbo people or from the real Ohanaeze. This is really embarrassing. This boy, who says he is their secretary, is certainly not acting alone. He has sponsors. He is not doing all of this on his own. He has backers. So let me extend our appeal to them to desist from the ungodly act, they should know that they are tarnishing and belittling the Igbo nation as a whole. We have no two Ohanaezes. We have just one Ohanaeze and it is big enough to accommodate all of the Igbo people in Nigeria and beyond. Let them subscribe and summit themselves to one big body and the family is big enough for us all.
There is the assumption that Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and Ndigbo resident in North are yet to connect very well. If this is true, why is it so?
Thank you very much. Honestly, I have been emphasizing on this development long before now. We want to be more impactful on the body. I remember that during our last Ohanaeze meeting, which was presided over by Chief Iwuanyanwu, I spoke on the need to reserve a greater place for the Igbo people resident in the North in the affairs of Ndigbo in Nigeria. I reminded them that after the Igbo in the South East, the second largest concentration of Igbo people anywhere in the world are those of us in the North. We have the population. But also, we are more cultured and traditional in our ways of life than any other group of Igbo in other parts of Nigeria. We have our traditional and cultural festivals celebrated here as if we were at home. We speak the language with so much passion, we attend weekly and monthly meetings and retain our links to our respective backgrounds through our town, Local government, state and the central unions. We are truly Igbo in our world view and in all contexts. When we were scouting for the next Ohaneze President, we the Northern Igbos, we met and we decided to seek out Iwuanyanwu. We met him in his house to invite him to assume the leadership of the socio- cultural organization. I remember him responding that for us to come to his house, it means at least about 10 million Igbo, whom we represent were inviting him to serve them. He also stated that he had accepted to serve because of the interest we had shown to him. He had by this action recognized the huge importance of the Igbo man resident outside Igbo land.
Let us discus a topic that touches the heart of many Igbo. What happened in Lagos during the last general elections and with what has been happening in parts of the North, what percent of the Igbo man’s business should be sited outside Igbo land?
What happened in Lagos State during the election was most unfortunate. They acted like a bad host no doubt. But I want to say that if we had an Ohanaeze President at that time, it would not have happened that way- at least not in the way it happened. If we had someone like Nwodo or Iwuanyawu who could have spoken out for us or spoken to the aggressors directly, certainly it won’t have happened. Iwuanyanwu would have moved to Lagos, made the right contact and ensured that the mess was immediately halted. On another note, when you look at the issue critically and without emotion, you may perhaps not blame our traders and business men for siteing their businesses outside Igbo land in most cases. These days, you hear people talking about relocating businesses to the East without talking about the existing business environment in the East. Let me reiterate it here. Business needs a very settled and peaceful environment. Where there is no disruption to the flow of economic activities is most likely where you want to site your business. That is an open truth. Yes in the North, things could go very bad or rough at times, but generally the atmosphere in some parts of the North, like in Kano in the past few years, has been relatively calm and good enough for business. Yes a few challenges, but we could manage. We do not face multiple taxes here in the North compared to the East where there is disorderly tax system resulting in multiple taxations on business men. Naturally, capital and business people would always go to calmer and predictable locations irrespective of one’s own feeling of nationalism or sub- national sentiments and attachments. Our brothers and sisters at home as well as tribal men have a role to play in attracting business ventures to the East. It is important for them to be more inward- looking and look at those factors that are militating against the localization of industries in the East and do whatever they must do to halt it. They should help create a more business-friendly environment and not an environment that scares people. There are a number of obstacles to businesses in the south- East. For instance, the other day a young Igbo business man came right here and was lamenting that he had a few international business friends, who were interested in coming to the East to invest but whenever he looked at what was happening at home, he became discouraged and less willing to encourage them. He wanted me to take the matter up at the level of Ohaneze and I promised that I would do that.
This takes me to peace and security in the region. How and what should be done to counter the security challenges in the East?
That is part of the things that we are going to be discussing, moving forward, at the level of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo. This is a new beginning. We are going to carefully assess the present insecurity in the South East. We will want to find out whether the insecurity is sponsored by outsiders or it is something that is home grown. And we are going to adopt whatever approach that is capable of easing the tension. We are disturbed, the Igbo leadership at all levels, is highly worried and is ready to do everything positive and possible to restore peace and normalcy in the entire Igbo land. We want our land to be what it used to be in the past – a land devoid of all these security challenges, characterized by love and fellowship of one another.
In many states, there are disputes between the Igbo monarchs (Ezes) and the elected leaders of the people, represented by the presidents of the town unions. What is your take on this ugly development?
In every of these states, there is a constitution which is supposed to clearly address these leadership challenges, including the one you have just mentioned- if it is allowed to operate. Our constitutions are almost the same. We all know that the traditional ruler or the Ezes are creations of the executive of the town unions. In other words, it is the presidents of these unions that made the monarchs (Ezes). The monarchs did not create the presidents. I think this simply explains the power equation. One of them has authority and the other has power between them. While the president has a tenure of office on the job, the monarch (Ezes) is a life time responsibility and because they have stayed longer than the presidents in office, they try to exert more influence than should be, which at times leads to these conflicts. Power belongs to the people, which is held in trust by the president while the Eze is the symbol of authority and culture. The traditional rulers should consign themselves to playing the role of a father and should not get involved in politics. Once that is done, I believe that there would be no more stress and peace would return to these people.
Across the North, some states have new elected governors. What is your advice to Ndigbo in terms of how to remain in the good books of the new system where they live?
Yes I agree with you that our people are hugely resident in these states and many of these states have new governors, some even have new registered parties. All these notable political changes should affect our people. All of these should make us review our approach to the new arrangements. Now that the general election is done with, Ndigbo should not carry their loyalty and friendship with the previous administration too far. Many of them are already making this mistake. My advice is this simple. Whoever is elected as the governor of the state where you are is automatically your governor and your leader; and therefore deserved your ultimate respect. Please let us support the directives of the new governor, irrespective of whatever was our relationship with the former governor. Let us also avoid being caught in the cross fire of their local politics. Where it is not directly our business, let us not make it our business. We are here to do our business, let us do our business in the North and leave the natives to do their politics.
In Kano, what is the relationship between Ndigbo and the new government?
I think it is quite cordial. We had few opportunities to engage the governor as a candidate and it was very enriching. If you recall, there was no NNPP in the state before now. The party just emerged a few days to the general elections and fortunately for it, it won the polls in the state.. I want to assure the new governor of Kano State, Abba Kabiru Yusuf that a majority of our people are loyal to his administration and we are very ready to support his policies to make Kano a leading state in Nigeria. We are committed to peace, progress and development for all. What we need from him is to give us peace. We are business people and peace is the foundation of our survival. We pray that he will be a governor of peace and will sustain the peace that we had witnessed in the past eight years in the state. Ganduje must be credited for that. He did wonderfully well in ensuring inter- ethnic and inter- religious peace in the state. And I am sure Abba will do better.
At the national level, what is your suggestion for Ndigbo in terms how to relate with the new government of Tinubu?
I think that it is not far from what I have just said. It is well known that most of our people voted for one party or the other but largely for the Labour Party. The elections are over. Once election is held and result declared, irrespective of the on- going litigations in the courts, you look forward. I will however like to implore President Tinubu to carry all Nigerians along. I also have to encourage Tinubu to be fair. Many a times, I have heard some regional jingoists argue that they gave Tinubu two third of his total votes, that Nigeria must be given to them in return for their huge votes. That is silly. That does not and cannot fly in any civilized setting or make sense for any great leader. Once you are returned as the President, you have become the President of all Nigerians. Therefore, my appeal to Tinubu is to treat all Nigerians, all regions and all tribes equally in the allocation of opportunities and in his appointment to positions of responsibilities. The key word should be merit. Who can help Nigeria at this time, rise to greatness? On this note, I will want to add that a majority of Ndigbo are happy and grateful to the President over the appointment of an Igbo man from Enugu State as the Chief of Naval Staff. That was not the case throughout the eight year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari. President Tinubu has started very well, yes on a good note and I pray that more Igbo people will be appointed into key positions in the present administration.
