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KWENU! Our culture, our future |
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INCONGRUENCIES
IN MODERN IGBO POLITICS by
Introduction: Let me begin by thanking the Orient Club for inviting me as the Guest Speaker at this your formal inauguration Ceremony. The Orient Club, as enunciated in the letter of invitation, is said to be a "Pan-Igbo Club dedicated to the upliftment of the excellent Igbo culture and tradition of being our brother's keepers." "Young Igbo professionals," explains the letter, formed the Club about a year ago. I want to speak to you today as an Igbo who is anxious about the future of Ndiigbo in Nigeria and, indeed, in the world. It is obvious that my anxiety is directed to the younger generation like you, with an uncertain and precarious future. You are our window of hope for a better tomorrow. I grew up in the late fifties and sixties when Ndiigbo more than held their own in the economic, political, cultural, and social sectors of the Nigerian environment. Ndiigbo were also in the reckoning in the military as well as in the civil service. The Igbo were both envied and admired not only by other Nigerians and Africans, but also by the whites with whom they came in contact. One of the critical factors that led to this
scenario could be located in the Igbo culture, which you have appropriately
described as "excellent." Ingrained in that culture is its liberal
disposition, its receptivity to modernity and change and its competitive spirit.
This was clearly manifested in the unparalled quest by Ndiigbo for education,
which was perceived as the vehicle for modernity and western civilization both
of which the Igbo embraced with passion. The Past: By 1879 the Yoruba had produced their first graduate, a lawyer by name Sapara Williams. In contrast, the first Igbo graduate could not emerge until about 1934. I believe his name was Dr. S. Onwu, a medical doctor. Despite this late start, due to no fault of the Igbo, Ndiigbo were able to catch up with the Yoruba by the 1960s. It was the investment in education in the 1930s and 1940s that yielded the dividends of the sixties, which saw the flowering of all aspects of Igbo culture and life. Those were the hey days of the indefatigable The Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the great Owele of Onitsha and the first Nigerian Governor General of Nigeria, as well as the first President of the Nigerian Federation; of the boycott king, the Hon. Maazi Mbonu Ojike; of the flamboyant wordsmith, the Hon. Kingsley Ozuomba Mbadiwe; of the political pragmatist, the Hon. Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara, of the cerebral scientist and parliamentarian Honorable Kalu Ezera; and of radical Zikists like R.B.K. Okafor, Mbazulike Amaechi, and Mokwugo Okoye to name but a few. Mention must also be made of Dr. Nwafor Orizu, President of the Nigerian Senate before the outbreak of hostilities. These political fire-eaters and strategists brought charisma, color, and candor into the Nigerian political scene and raised the status of the Igbo man to an unprecedented height. The academic group was led by intellectual giants like Professor Kenneth O Dike, first Nigerian principal of the University of London College at Ibadan and its first Vice Chancellor for seven years. There was Professor Eni Njoku, first Vice Chancellor and principal officer of the University of Lagos. Writers like Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, and Christopher Okigbo dominated the literary scene. Even though the Igbo were latecomers in the field of education -- behind the Efik in the Cross Rivers State and the Ypruba of the South West -- by 1960, the year of Nigeria's independence, the Igbo had outstripped the Efik and were about at par with the Yoruba. The Igbo rise was so phenomenal that the Yoruba felt truly threatened and their leaders wondered aloud why the Igbo should take over the leadership of the University at Ibadan, a university located at the heartland of the Yoruba nation. At the same time the business group led by tycoons like Okonkwo Kano, Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu of Nnewi, Chief Ihekwoaba ofNkwere, Chief Akwiwu -- who was the first mayor of Port Harcourt, Chief Nnanna Kalu of Abiriba (though of a younger generation) and Chief Abaecheta of Mbieri provided necessary financial and moral support to the political and academic communities and helped in the overall renaissance of Igbo culture, art, and entrepreneurship. "Something new always comes from the East," says a Latin dictum. The Igbo spirit of enterprise, characterized by hard work and thrift was rewarded by the booming of its economy in the fifties and especially in the early sixties before the war. The road network in the then Eastern Region was clearly the best in West Africa, and according to a research conducted by a premier university in the United States of America, the Economy of Eastern Nigeria was rated as the fastest growing in the world, ahead of Malaysia, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
The Crisis: Today the Igbo are at crossroads, culturally, economically, and politically. The immediate cause of this state of affairs is attributable to the war. The reason for the slow rise of the Igbo to transcend his economic and historical handicap must be located in some of his dominant traits. Three main factors account for the present political and economic dilemma of Ndiigbo today. 1. The abolition of Regions and the introduction of the state structure during and after the war, which removed the oil producing areas from Igbo control. 2. The indigenization policy of 1977 immediately following the end of the war when the Igbo had no money and therefore found it impossible to participate in the program. 3. The Igbo propensity for self-destruct.
The war exposed the contradictions in Biafra in particular and Igbo land in general. First, our so-called minority neighbors used the opportunity offered by the war to further betray the political and economic aspirations of Ndiigbo under the aegis of Biafra. Evidence abound that without their collaboration with the Federal army, the outcome of the war would have been different. Secondly, the Igbo penchant for intra-group feud weakened Igbo resolve to prosecute the war single-mindedly. These factors, which led to the demise of the short-lived Biafran Republic, are still at play as they have been carried over to the political arena and have continued to hurt Ndiigbo, as was the case in the Second, the Third and in even the Fourth Republics. Efforts by both the newly organized Council of Eastern States led by the elderly and amiable Mathew Mbu and the still to be reorganized Ohanaeze Ndiigbo to address these issues have not yielded the desired dividends. Today the Igbo are the victims of all forms of state terrorism, marginalization, and dehumanization. They are the ones to be easily removed from office without apologies; they are the ones whose promotions in the civil service are delayed or totally ignored; they are the ones whose goods are stolen or destroyed during sometimes contrived religious riots or inter or intra- ethnic feuds. They are the ones whose properties are labeled "abandoned" in their own country. They are the ones whose roads -- state and interstate -- have graduated from death traps to graveyards. The Igbo youth, his profession notwithstanding, is at the crossroads; and, unless something urgent is done, he may be lost to the Igbo nation. The Igbo are therefore constantly under severe threat in a country they contributed perhaps more than any other ethnic group to build. It is an irony that they are no longer at ease in the Federation because their acts have been made to fall apart. To move out of this quagmire, the Igbo need to retool their strategies and reconsider their options. The Igbo need cohesion in organization and in leadership. That there is a crisis of leadership in Igboland is no longer in doubt. The underpinning of that crisis is monetary and attitudinal. There is a monetary warfare going on presently in Igbo land. It is a class struggle as it is not directed towards the upliftment of or the welfare of the common man. It is a war being waged by the elites for their own interest. It is not a contest of vision, issues, performance, or even competence. The power to spend billions of naira in order to remain in power or in order to remove an incumbent from office cannot equate to a guarantee that the citizens' rights and interests will ultimately hold sway in the new dispensation. Before public interest is brought to the fore, the spender must have ensured that the money he spent would be recouped with interest. We must therefore be very wary of our soi-disant liberators and those presently said to be serving us. There is also a belief that the failure by many state governments in the South East to perform is linked to the pressure being exerted on them by those who financed their elections or by those who determine their political future. The ability of such governments to initiate and sustain people-oriented programs is greatly curtailed by the demands of predatory corporate or individual interests. This situation can only exacerbate social dysfunction and further stall development. The point being made is that Igbo land must be the launch pad for Igbo economic recovery and self-esteem. We cannot have war at home and hope to have peace abroad. The Igbo say that A na-esi n'ulo a di mma were puwa n'ama. Charity begins at home. Political monetarism is unfavorable to fiscal accountability and transparency. It builds systemic instability and is anti-people. Few individuals may gain from it, but the society at large is the eventual loser. We must address these issues if we must move forward. We must bring to end the unnecessary contentious and chaotic rivalry among the political and business class in Igbo land. There is need for a political consensus to move ahead. That consensus will be located in the Igbo spirit and philosophy of Egbe bere, ugo bere based on tolerance and accommodation. Retooling Igbo strategy for economic recovery and political ascendancy involves soul searching and rediscovery. It means asking ourselves some hard questions about our relationship with fellow Igbo and with our culture. I did speak of the Igbo predilection to self-destruct. It has been a feature of Igbo politics ever since the days of the Rt Hon Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. There was the celebrated case of the sit-tight ministers of Igbo origin who had refused to resign their ministerial and parliamentary seats in order to allow a restructuring of Eastern Nigerian politics to enable Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe to assume his rightful position as the head of Government business in Eastern Nigeria. When a similar situation arose in the Western Region the Yoruba closed rank and ensured that Chief Awolowo became the Premier of Western Region, at the expense of Dr Azikiwe whose party, the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon -- the NCNC -- had won the election. During Zik's political career many attempts were made to assassinate him by some of his Igbo associates. I can still remember vividly of attempts to eliminate him at Aba and at Onitsha. The efforts failed but they are all indicative of the asymmetric factor in Igbo political culture. This factor, as I have already mentioned earlier, manifested its ugly head during the Nigerian-Biafran uncivil war. Ojukwu, Nzeogwu, Ifeajuna, and even Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe could not agree on how the war should be prosecuted. This led to the unwholesome phenomena of sabotage, suspicion, fear, detention without trial, and defection to the opponent's side. Zik's defection to the Federal side' weakened the resolve of many people to continue with the war effort and whittled down the support of those who had recognized Biafra as a sovereign country. I have already alluded to the carrying over of this syndrome of asymmetrical and incongruent relationship in our culture to the political arena. It manifested itself in the relationship between Dr Alex Ekwueme and Jim Nwobodo in the Second Republic and led to the breakup of the accord between the NPP (the Nigeria Peoples Party) and the NPN (the National Party of Nigeria). The NPP was a dominant Igbo party under the leadership of the Rt Hon Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. lt controlled what is today the South East Zone of Nigeria and the former Plateau State and entered into a working relationship with the NPN under the leadership of Alhaji Shehu Shagari at the center. The idea was to help consolidate our fledgling democracy after 13 years of military rule and to build a coalition through which power could be transferred to Ndiigbo via the route of Igbo presidency in 1987. I was a product of that accord as Minister of Education and can attest to the beneficial effect of that relationship to the Igbo. In the Fourth Republic there is a whole lot of incongruent and unwholesome relationships between our political torchbearers at all levels. Our ability to self-destruct and self-immolate assumed a horrendous proportion and seems to have become a defining feature of the nascent Igbo political culture. The examples are legion, as the bug of ambivalence attacked almost all our senators in the search for an Igbo Senate President. Enwerem, Okadigbo, Anyim, Nwobodo, Nzeribe, Ike Nwachukwu, all were involved in varying degrees in the macabre dance that ensued. Some other Igbo senators played the role of cheerleaders in the destructive exercise. Okadigbo and Enwerem were the immediate casualties, but the image of the Igbo race was soiled in the bargain. It reminds me of the saying that even if you win a rat race you are still a rat. At the state level the same antiphonic relationship has been at play. When it is not Nnamani and Jim, it is Anyim and Egwu or Mbadinuju and Emeka Offor, or still Orji Uzor Kalu and Ojo Maduekwe, et al. Yet a little circumspection, a little display of the spirit of give and take here and there, a little regard for the image of Ndiigbo, a consensus of some form, would have spared Ndiigbo the current spectacle of shame and the derision of our compatriots who see us as a people who cannot put their home in order. A symphony of talents, a congruence of ideas and abilities, would extirpate political collusions and enhance political consensus for our common good. It will enable us to channel our abundant energies into more creative enterprises and solutions. It would help us to syndicate and synchronize (Okadigbo). The "carrot and stick" principle will always be at work, but that is not a good enough excuse for ethnic infidelity.
The Objective of The Orient Club: This analysis is not supposed to be a journey into the world of self-pity, nor of recrimination nor rancor. It is supposed to provoke us to righteous indignation against ourselves so that we can embark upon the path of rectitude through soul searching and soul cleansing. It is by doing this that you can achieve the noble goals of this Club, which include being our brother's keeper. We need an attitudinal change to be able to do this. It is evident that the events analyzed in this presentation have not quite portrayed us as our brothers' keepers. Because of this and in the light of our past experiences, may I take the liberty to amplify your objectives? The other objectives, which the Orient Club should consider pursuing, should include:
These objectives derive from essential ingredients inherent in our culture and which is part of our noble heritage. They form part of the dialectical process of our history and therefore part of our character. For Igbo history is not just a basket of woes and negativism. As Professor Nwabueze put it: The
Nigerian state has brought out the best and the worst
And A.R. Caponigri by Professor G.M. Umezurike in his 1992 Ahiajioku Lecture, says: The effort, which can send a nation back upon its origins to grasp anew, in idea, the principles of its own spontaneous life and power is the greatest spiritual effort, a nation can make. It is criticism in its purest, that is, its most concrete and historical form.
"In so doing, " adds Professor Umezurike, " a nation becomes well-informed about the good and bad aspects of its culture and history, and it can therefore ensure that history does not repeat itself." I hasten to add that negative history should not repeat itself
The theory of Igbo Enwe Eze: Some analysts have tended to ascribe Igbo political behavior to the fact that the Igbo are said to be without kings. IGBO ENWE EZE. This is not quite true. The Igbo do have kings, but their concept of kingship is quite unique. Igbo kings did not and still do not enjoy the political and religious powers that was part of royal prerogatives. Yet, it is a historical fact that many traditional Igbo societies set up governments without kings. I shall illustrate. I have said that it is not quite true to say that the Igbo have no kings. If this were to be otherwise we must then explain how the word Eze appeared in the Igbo vocabulary. Language is the soul and spirit of a people's culture. Without it you cannot understand their worldview, that is to say their Weltanschauung. The word Eze, that is king, has been part and parcel of the vocabulary and lexicon of the Igbo language as far back as the human memory can recollect. It was neither borrowed from any other language, nor invented as a neologism to enrich the Igbo language and explain a new phenomenon. As a symbol it defined an exponential reality located in the day-to-day experience of the people. It has been part of Igbo history and culture. There were pre-colonial kings in Igbo land. This was mainly in Nri, in Northern Igbo territory. Historians postulate that the Nri culture and civilization flourished between 800 AD and 1910. Its economic mainstay was agriculture but it was famous in iron works, producing the famous Igbo-Ukwu bronze castings which predate those found in lIe-Ife and in the Benin Kingdom. The Caliphate is therefore a much later entrant in the list of royalties in Nigeria. The head of the Nri hegemony was the Eze Nri (King of Nri). A record of all the kings who reigned is said to be properly kept, with their burial sites well preserved. When therefore we say that the Igbo have no king it should be taken literarily. (By saying this I am not trying to valorize this ancient institution whose functions and values appear rather exaggerated and out of sync with trends in modem governance). The statement Igbo enwe eze is a reference to the character traits of the Igbo. In the context in which it is used the inference is pejorative and infelicitous. This might be due to the apparent high esteem in which other traditional rulers, the Sultans, the Obas and the Emirs, are held where they reign. The most significant fallout from the concept of Igbo enwe eze is the spirit of self-reliance, which is perhaps the most noticeable character trait of the Igbo man. Every Igbo man wants to be independent, wants to have his own house, his own farm, his own business. Look at the joy an apprentice exudes when he completes his apprenticeship and sets up his trade! Independent village governments ruled traditional Igbo societies through a council or an assembly, which met from time to time. The assembly was for everybody who could attend and make his contribution on the subject under discussion. Nobody was accorded any preference because of circumstances of birth. Titleholders, however, were respected because of their achievements but not feared or revered like kings in certain communities. In traditional Igbo societies they performed specific functions given to them by the Peoples Assembly or by the Council of Elders. Traditional Igbo communities were also essentially pacifists and did not see the need for large armies. This is why the Igbo did not have any empires nor were they interested in imposing themselves upon their neighbors. They always found basis for common action, preferring to work rather in loose confederations. This is reflected in the Igbo spirit of egalitarianism and his attitude to governance. The Igbo Ukwu civilization, which was based on farming and technology, could have established empires by force if it so desired, but its primary concern was to carry out commerce with its immediate neighbors and the outside world. Modem Igbo traders appear to have imbibed this tradition.
Import of Igbo Enwe Eze in Modern Igbo Way of Life: As a general practice the Igbo do not have kings as their political leaders. The proliferation of Ndi Eze in Igbo land today is a response to administrative imperatives whose origin is linked to our colonial experience. Because royalty has never been much celebrated in Igbo land the tradition has been bastardized and does not really confer much dignity or respect to the holder of the title. The saying in Igbo land that if you respect or serve a king you will also be respected or served (Onye fee eze, eze erue ya) makes the point that there is no divine obligation to respect a king, talk less of serving him. There is not even a moral obligation in serving a king, outside the illusion that you too may be a king if you serve him. The Nri tradition is a unique case. It is unlike other cultures and civilizations where the King is regarded as a god and highly revered by his subjects. The modem trend is one of the incongruities being forced upon our culture and it has not sat well with us. On the contrary, elders and achievers in Igboland command measured respect even though not to the point of adulation. The Igbo will always ask the rhetorical question whether you are the one that provides his daily bread: O bu gi na-enye m nri? And when rushed further will want to know if you are God: I bu Chukwu? The inference is that only God, the provider of all good things, deserve adoration. The Igbo predilection for loose political association, like confederation or true federalism derives from its traditional concept of governance. The traditional Igbo government was highly participatory and democratic, except that it did not promote effective women participation. Otherwise, every grown up was free to participate in discussions that affect the governance of his community. There is a school of thought that believes that Igbo enwe eze encapsulates the concept that there is a royal blood in every Igbo person; in other words, that every Igbo man is as good as another. This belief promotes the spirit of long life competitiveness, robust individualism, and the desire to excel. It led to ethnic rivalry in the long run and earned the Igbo hatred and envy among other Nigerians. There were no recorded Igbo empires built through military or religious impositions by an Igbo suzerainty The Igbo never raised any large armies to either defend themselves or impose their will on others. It was not in their character. What was in their character was to achieve peaceful coexistence with their neighbors to enable them carry out their business of trading. This is why attempts by successful Igbo entrepreneurs to impose rulership in Igbo land are incongruous with our political culture and could be self-defeating. Ndiigbo have always governed themselves without surrendering their power to any individual. The non-existence of strong kingship tradition in Igbo land is not a handicap, even if we judge from this short historical survey. It is a fact well known all over the world that the Igbo are among the most industrious, skilful, and enterprising groups in the world. We have already outlined their successes in education, politics, business, and industry. It is therefore improper to locate present Igbo predicament on the nebulous concept of Igbo enwe eze. The republican nature of Ndiigbo need not make them leaderless. In traditional Igbo society men of achievement and substance commanded the respect of their peers. But they did not dictate to their societies because of their achievements. Rather they listened to the council of the elders and functioned within defined areas of operations. The negative connotation attached to the concept of Igbo enwe eze accentuated partly from the events of the war and our handling of defeat. It is all in the mind. The Igbo should stop licking their wounds and re-launch themselves onto the path of cultural, economic, and political recovery. Enough of the mantra of marginalization! Let us invent and raise new slogans that are positive and that would help us to reawaken the Igbo spirit that made us to bridge the gap between the Yoruba and us within a short period of time.
Rationale for An Igbo Party: At the beginning of this talk I mentioned some of the factors I consider to be responsible for the below-average performance of Ndiigbo in the current economic and political environment of Nigeria. They include hostile federal government policies whose objectives are deliberate institutional and structural marginalization of Ndiigbo. The other is the Igbo propensity to self-destruct. Institutional and structural forms of marginalization manifest themselves in the attempt to contain Ndiigbo in only five states when they should have not less than seven states and in our absence in key and strategic positions in the country. It also shows up in the negligible number of local government council areas in Igbo land and other Igbo dominant areas of Nigeria. This aberration has led to the inequitable allocation of financial and other state resources, including legislative seats to Ndiigbo using the present state structure without reflecting the demographic content. It has therefore impinged on the quantity and quality of our representation in the National Assembly where policy and fiscal decisions affecting all and sundry in this country are taken. Institutional or structural marginalization cannot be easily contained without political power. It is my considered opinion that Ndiigbo should form a political party in which they are in control. Such a party will not only control Igbo states, but can also control states, or parts thereof, where the residents or indigenes share the same visions with, or have had similar experiences as Ndiigbo. My considerable travels within this country and my interaction with persons from ethnic groups outside the Igbo convince me that if moves are made in this direction, Ndiigbo could go into alliance with these divergent groups for mutual and rewarding political gains. I submit that the present beggarly status of Ndiigbo in the Nigerian state is a function of our political weakness, and the formation of a powerful, all-embracing Igbo party is one of the sure ways to redress the situation. Economically, Ndiigbo can still improve their fortunes. The Igbo have survived so far because of their adaptive and creative capabilities. They have been known to have turned hostile environments into friendly abode. Through hard work and thrift they have created their own capital, which has helped them to improve their quality of life and record some commercial success. Yet all is far from being well in Igbo land and outside it. If Igbo entrepreneurs and businessmen can pool their resources together in a cooperative spirit of enterprise we should be able to transcend the limitations of the hostile indigenization policy and the on-going privatization exercise. Being our brother's keepers implies confidence and trust. You cannot keep somebody you don't trust. But there is no reason why you should not trust your brother. It means we can pool our resources -- financial and otherwise -- for large-scale investment. It is unfortunate that the on-going privatization exercise has found our people lagging behind. Reports have it that our political zone, the South East, has not been able to utilize its allotment shares because Igbo entrepreneurs and governments have refused to pool resources together in order to take advantage of the offer, inadequate as it is. The future of business does not lie in small, individual or family businesses, but in corporate business ventures. All over the world companies are merging together, not only to protect themselves, but to increase their investible funds in the hope to reap higher dividends in the long term. The imperatives of modern economy should compel the Igbo entrepreneurs in Aba, Alaba, Abuja, Onitsha, and Nnewi and elsewhere to respond positively to these imperatives. On the nagging issue of the so-called Igbo propensity to self-destruct let me remind Ndiigbo, through members of this Club, that the glorious future, which we wish for Ndiigbo, cannot be achieved through this pattern of behavior. It is a negative trait in our culture which if we encourage will lead to the destruction of the entire Igbo nation. A few Igbo names demonstrate and amply illustrate the wisdom in not pursuing this course of action: Igwe bu ike; These trans late as follows: Unity is strength; Many other aphorisms, and proverbs also support the need for restraint and circumspection when dealing with our own: Nwanne di uko; These are names and aphorisms which emanate from our culture, which is the totality of a people's way of life and which expresses their hopes and aspirations. They are words of our elders; they are words of wisdom. These expressions cannot come from a culture that is irredeemably bound to hatred or violence or self-destruction. Every culture has its positive and negative elements. These elements in themselves act as checks and balances to give the culture its specificity and to define its limits. The Igbo culture is not an exception. The Yoruba culture is probably more atavistic and divisive than the Igbo. We can easily remember the days when Yoruba land was referred to as the "Wild, wild, west" -- when the face-off between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola led to a political logjam in Western Nigeria and eventually led to the imprisonment of Awolowo by the federal Government. The events of those days approximated to a mini civil war. That was between 1964 and 1965. But today there is apparent peace and solidarity among the Yoruba. If they can forget their differences and come together, why can't the Igbo? While making these general assertions I am not unmindful of the influence of hunger and poverty and the syndrome of war on the conduct of a group of people. Hunger, poverty, and war syndromes contain seeds that can open windows of opportunities for us to, once more, excel and triumph. Our tragedy should beckon us to unity, should be a source of new strength to us. Such is the legacy left by Germany, Japan, and the Jews to all those who have passed through the crucible of war and defeat. The greatest poverty that can afflict us is the poverty of ideas. The greatest crisis in Igboland is, perhaps, the absence of a sustainable new thought or idea that can revitalize our political culture. Since the end of the war the Igbo have lost their historical initiative in the area of civilization and culture, and their enviable intellectual blaze trailing tradition. Our rapacious desire for knowledge and learning has also waned. In our present exercise of soul-searching and rediscovery we must therefore remember the primacy of knowledge gained through functional and formal education. It is education that made the Igbo what they were, not commerce or entrepreneurship. Many ideas on the way forward have been canvassed and thrown up like tossed salad without coalescence, without a follow-up, and without strategies of implementation. I hope that the same fate will not be the lot of some of the ideas canvassed in this lecture.
Conclusion: We have reviewed the afflictions and incongruities that have been in the ascendancy in Igbo political behavior and tried to locate the cause or causes. We have also shown that the propensity to self-destruct is anti-development and has portrayed Ndiigbo as a people who cannot protect their own and be their brother's keeper. Recent political events have been analyzed in the context of Igbo enwe eze, and it has been demonstrated that the legacies of Igbo enwe eze are positive, progressive, and democratic. Our conclusion is that Ndiigbo can overcome their present political and economic downturn, reclaim their past glory in Nigeria and in the world, by forming their own political party, seeking alliance with groups of similar dispositions and persuasions, by embracing formal education and by imbibing the spirits and letters of modem trends of entrepreneurship. I thank you all for listening and may God bless you.
IHECHUKWU MADUBUIKE, PhD; D.Litt, KJW |
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