KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

 Downsouth Destination Downtown Dallas (4)

M. O. ENE

New Jersey, USA

egbedaa@aol.com

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

>>>>continued from 3<<<<

My turn: Five minutes! It was a bad joke, but I was already on stage. I tried to explain why I showed up even though I was not on the A-listh. I moved on to mention the Ukpabi Asika speech from “behind-the-enemy line” – as was said in Biafra.

I could not read a line of the document; I merely managed to announce that the paper will be published on the Internet in three short days. {See Azikiwe_Symposium_Dallas_2009] My main take from Zik’s legacy: "When the center can no longer hold, things do not have to fall apart."

Excerpt:

The University of Nigeria Nsukka is a great metaphor for my proposal. If Zik had not founded the university amidst scorns and jeers, we would still be struggling to go to Ibadan, a college of an English university. The universities in Lagos, Zaria, Ife, Benin, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Jos, Kano, Sokoto, etc. would not have popped up when they did. Governor Jim Nwobodo would not have introduced the first state university in Enugu, which delivered Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka/Nnewi, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, and Anambra State University, Uli. Father Emmanuel Ede would not have started the first private university, Madonna University, Okija, and later Caritas University, Enugu. Today, Lagos-Ibadan axis is steaming with private universities... and Ndiigbo are still streaming across the Niger and Benue to get education!

The bottom line:

We can cripple the unending Abuja corruption with credible elections starting from town governments or community councils. We can grow good governance, accountability, and transparency. We can replicate the affirmative attributes of Biafra without wars, in a functional federation, without dragging averse or apprehensive minorities, and without disturbing the fundamentals of other neighboring nations. Dedicated democratic leadership is the greatest tribute we can pay to the Great Zik of Africa.

Everything else is embellishment.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

The last three speakers flashed through the presentations in so short a time there was still time for questions and answers. It was a time to let emotions out, and Mrs. Odinammadu got most of the questions. She was unruffled. Some asked redundant questions, as if trying to make her change her mind. Fact is, she is an avowed Awoist; nothing was going to change that. As they say in Igbo, an elder does not learn to use her left hand in old age.

Mrs. Odinammadu took the time to encourage Ndiigbo to preserve their culture… "the good ones"! She announced that she was writing a book in which she will revisit the “bad traditions,” especially those that discriminate against women. It will make a good read, especially her expected take on the role of women in kolanut communion.

Since it is not everyday that one sees an eagle, and he who climbs an iroko should gather all the firewood possible, I decided to ask her a question unrelated to Zik. The only way I could get the floor was to answer a question from the audience. I took the challenge, answered the question about Anthony Enahoro being the main mouthpiece of war crime perpetrated against Biafra's humanity. I turned and asked Mrs.  Odinammadu about a piece I read in “A Soldier’s Spouse” by Mrs. Regina Maduabum: Since she was so gung-ho about  protecting the right of women, and since she led the women of Biafra to see the Queen of England, how come she did not say anything about Mrs. Julie Alale, Mrs. Dora Obienu, and two other women locked up throughout the war.

Mrs. Odinammadu did not blink; she must be conversant with the previously untold story. She offered simple and swiftly: “Maybe it was for their own good.” I let it go, but the sins of husbands and boyfriends are not visited on their wives or girlfriend or significant others; not even in Biafra. I would have been satisfied if she had claimed not to know about the women; but she probably didn’t realize that Dora's husband, Major Obienu had died during the July 29 Massacre. If truth is to be told, maybe, just maybe, it ought to start with every aspect of modern Igbo history so that future generations will learn and not make the same costly mistakes.

CLOSING

I spent the rest of the evening networking and socializing and meeting with my constituencies, as I like to tell whomever will listen. At this time, the flamboyant headgears were appearing for the dinner banquet. My final acts of the evening include a video interview with Maazi Iwuji in unadulterated Igbo. I didn’t think I could pull it off a full-length interview in commonwealth Igbo (Igbo Izugbe). You see, if you really want to speak Igbo, not Engligbo, your safest bet is to go loco: use your dialect! I did not, and I communicated. My interviewee made a curious point of not accepting “mahadum” for university; he interjected with the descriptive “uloakwukwo di elu.” Besides that and his lengthy questions, the interview went okay in Igbo.

I also met with Tallest Okonkwu, president of Udi-Ezeagu USA. Sadly, I could not attend a reception on the other side of town, nor could I return to the Attahs who were having a house party. I had a tête-à-tête with some top Dallas Igbo community leaders and prominent personalities from outside Texas who shall remain unnamed—for now. As each person made remarks about the current World Igbo Congress brouhaha, I realized that positions had since solidified and pouring distilled water over the  issue at stake was a waste of everybody's time. I made my quiet exit, "makana okwu a na-aso anya anaghi ebe gboo."  If you dance around issues, it lingers.

And this one lingers.

CONCLUDED