KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Ndiigbo and the Nigerian Presidency:

The Campaign for 2015 Begins April 17, 2011

Ugorji O. Ugorji

Africanwriters@gmail.com

 Friday, April 14, 2011

On March 28, 2009, the World Igbo Congress, which is the umbrella organization of the Igbo outside Nigeria, did me the great honor of inviting me as its keynote speaker during its First Quarter Board Meeting. During that presentation (Ugorji, 2009) I posited, among other things, that a Nigerian patriot of Igbo ethnicity will be elected President in 14 years. And in 2010 I followed that presentation up in Mbari: The International Journal of Igbo Studies, with prescriptions for repairing what I referred to as the “amputation of the Nigerian soul” that was manifest in the pogroms against the Igbo and the monumental fratricide of 1967-to-1970 (Ugorji, 2010).

The emergence of a President of Nigeria named Goodluck has altered the permutations somewhat, but it has not and cannot be allowed by the Igbo to change or move the goal post with respect to repairing that amputated soul. In fact, I submit that the emergence of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has made the case for an Igbo presidency all the more realistic and all the more achievable within the timeline of my original prediction in 2009. While I have worked for and currently support the Jonathan/Sambo campaign as the ticket with the best chance of bringing profound changes in development and the national psyche (see www.LeanForwardNigeria.com), that support comes with full cognizance of the fact that neither man is Okoro. I like Jonathan as my Ijaw brother, and he has become a transcendent figure in a remarkable way, within an equally remarkable short period.

In this instant article, I make the case that whether Jonathan wins or loses the presidential election this Saturday in Nigeria (I hope he wins), the Igbo, as represented by the World Igbo Congress, will fund, work, write, sing, intellectualize, shout, scream, cajole, and negotiate for the actualization of equity in the presidency come 2015. This is more so given that Jonathan has pledged to serve only one term of four years. If given the opportunity to lead a united World Igbo Congress, the following would be the course of action in pursuit of 2015, subject to approval by the relevant organs of the organization.  

WIC and the Presidency Project

On December 4, 2010, the Chairman of the World Igbo Congress, Ichie Chibuzo Onwuchekwe, made a speech titled “On 2015 we stand: The Igbo political interest in 2011” at the 10^th Annual State of Nation Conference organized by the Nigerian Peoples Forum (www.LeanForwardNigeria.com , 2010). In his speech, Onwuchekwe informed the audience that the Igbo leadership as it were had persuaded their sons and daughters not to run for president in 2011. It was a decision made to fortify the Igbo quest for equity down the road.

The first President and Head of State of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik), came from what is now described as the Diaspora to lead the independence movement. The great Zik was educated in the United States of America and had a political and economic philosophy that was shaped by his experiences at Lincoln University and other places outside Nigeria. He was Igbo in a quintessential pan-African fashion. As we march towards 2015, there will be an international dimension to an Igbo becoming president. The World Igbo Congress can and will make the case for this project.

We will put it in writing

In collaboration with Igbo scholars and empathizers around the world, we will put out a series of books (one each year) that would be collections of essays on the presidency project. Funding from patriots around the globe will enable us to make the books available for free in all high schools, colleges, and universities in the country. We will seek to add to the curriculum for every Igbo student in the next four years a virtual course in “Nigerian Presidency 101: The Igbo and Equity in Nigeria’s Leadership.” By this means we hope to sensitize Igbo youth globally that not only is the project just, it is realizable.

We will work with Umuada

Since its introduction to the World Igbo Congress, the Umuada phenomenon has become one of the most important and significant things to happen to WIC. Kate Ezeofor, Nonye Agude, Bridget Akazie, Nkiru Ugwuadu, Christy Ejiogu, Uju Akpuaka, and so many of our bright and consequential sisters, have been responsible for this growth. And quite prophetically, I included a number of them in Sunrise Daughters: A Global Portrait of Igbo Women (Ugorji, 2009). We cannot achieve an Igbo presidency without Umuada. Congruent with the initiative to unite WIC, it is imperative that we facilitate peace and unity among Umuada so that the work ahead can be easier. To this I am fully committed and I have contacted Adaozo and Ezenwanyi-BB to this effect. Not much would matter going forward if we don’t bring Umuada back together.

We will go to the movies

In collaboration with our brethren in Nollywood and our scholars, we will produce a documentary tentatively titled Igbo: A Global People; A Freedom People. The documentary will tell the story of both Igbo origins and Igbo dispersal around the globe before and during the slave, and dispersal during the Nigeria/Biafra war to Garbon, Ivory Coast and other regions. To be produced in Igbo and English languages, the documentary will pay particular attention to the Igbo contribution to the Nigerian space and the cost to the Igbo of that contribution in the past century. While its primary goal will be educational, the global buzz about the documentary will play within the quest for the presidency project.

We will work with the major parties

Our goal will be to replicate in 2015 what Nigeria managed to get in 1999 – have all major political parties field an Igbo as candidate for the presidency in 2015. In 1999, following the June 12^th atrocities, Nigeria gave us Olu Falae (AD/APP) and Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP) as our choices for president. If we do our work with respect for other ethnic nationalities and their sensibilities, we can have the PDP, ACN, ANPP, APGA, CPC, PMP and LP all field or endorse across parties an Igbo for president. This is where the non-partisan stance I have fought for in WIC would come in handy. The PDP need not be persuaded about fielding an Igbo for president in 2015 – the Igbo have, even in this current elections, demonstrated their support for the party. I believe that Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) can be persuaded to look East in 2015. The ACN’s best chance of metamorphosis - from the preeminent opposition party to the ruling party in 2015 - will lie in presenting an Igbo for president. With Buhari mounting his last campaign for president, the CPC would have an opportunity in 2015 to demonstrate that it is not a regional, religion-driven party by fielding an Igbo for president. This is a case we must make to all the major parties, for equity and for the healing of wounds.

We will find and support a transcendent candidate

Ndiigbo alone cannot elect a Nigerian president. It is going to take a transcendent candidate to actualize the election of a president of Igbo identity. The Nigerian people and nation will demand and should get a president who loves Nigeria and Nigerians above all other considerations. The candidate would need to have a carriage and background that makes him or her comfortable in his or her Igbo skin and at the same time comforting to all Nigerians.

We will form alliances

In 2009 I called for WIC to extend its commendable outreach with Zumunta and Egbe Omo Yoruba, to include our Idoma, Ijaw, Urobho, Efik, Ibibio, Edo, Junkun brothers and sisters and all others in the Delta and in the Middle Belt. This suggestion has gotten us to what is referred to as “The Mississippi Accord” between WIC and the Ijaw National Congress (INC). The alliances that such interactions will bring shall be indispensable in the equity project. The desired, ultimate outcome would be the uplifting election of a president who would embody the healing of the amputated soul of the nation.

Transformation comes only when we vow collectively to never be victims again (Asante, 1998). But first, we must unite our father’s house. I remain in the vineyard of those working behind the scenes to enable and facilitate the return of my aggrieved brothers to the one, indivisible World Igbo Congress. Our work is cut out for us. No rest for the gifted and talented!

Now, let’s go to the polls on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

References

Asante, Molefi K., 1998. Scream of blood: Desettlerism in Southern Africa (p. 5).   Princeton, NJ:       Sungai Books.

Onwuchekwe, Chibuzo, 2010: On 2015 we stand: The Igbo political interest in 2011.             www.LeanForwardNigeria.com.

Ugorji, Ugorji, 2010. Obama’s Transcendent candidacy: Prescriptions for an Igbo Presidency.   Mbari: The International Journal of Igbo Studies, Vol. No. 2; Princeton, NJ: Sungai Books.

Ugorji, Ugorji, 2009. Sunrise daughters: A global portrait of Igbo women. Princeton, NJ: Sungai    Books.

Ugorji, Ugorji, 2009: Obama’s Transcendent candidacy: Prophetic fragments for           Ndiigbo and   the Nigerian         presidency. http://www.kwenu.com/publications/ugorji/2009/obama_ndiigbo_nigerian_presidency.htm

Ugorji, Ugorji, 2008. Forty Four (44). An article published at kwenu.com, November 4, 2008.                          http://kwenu.com/publications/ugorji/forty_four_obama.htm

The writer, Dr. Ugorji O. Ugorji, is the publisher of the Princeton-based Sungai Books, and the Executive Director of the African Writers Endowment, Inc. An author of six books himself and a leading authority on the subject of the Nigerian Diaspora, he is currently working on a book about the World Igbo Congress tentatively titled I dream a world: The History of and quest for a consequential World Igbo Congress. His activities can be seen at www.Talldrums.com.