Confab: What Ndigbo want
- Written by Jude Ossai
- Monday, 04 November 2013 00:00
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ARGUABLY, Ndigbo remain the largest ethnic group in Tthe country that cries loudest against perceived marginalization. Perhaps, it is against this backdrop that made the news of the visit of the Presidential Committee to President Goodluck Jonathan, on proposed national conference to Enugu very paramount to Enugu residents last Tuesday.
Despite the delay in the arrival of the presidential team and conflicting reports in the venue of the meeting, many people remained calm waiting for the visitors. First, it was said that the venue was the national secretariat of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Enugu with the commencement of the sitting at 1 pm prompt. But meeting was later moved to Toscana Hotel, also in the Coal city with the venue filled to its capacity.
Among the notable Igbo leaders were the President of apex Igbo organisation, Chief Gary Igariwey, Secretary General, Dr Joe Nwaorgu, Chief , Dr Joe Nwaorgu, Ezeuzu Awka, Obi Gibson Nwosu, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, former governors, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dr Sam Egwu; Prof Ukwu I. Ukwu, Chief Mbazulike Amechi and Ambassador LOC Agubuzo. Curiously, the five governors of South-East zone:Abia, Anambra Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, were not in attendance. Also, one of the committee members, Tony Inyiam stayed away for a reason yet to be ascertained as the time of going to press.
The Chairman of the Advisory Committee, Dr Femi Okurounmu, took charge of the proceedings after the opening by Nnamani with an apology for coming behind schedule. In his opening speech, Okurounmu called for strict compliance with the objective of their visit, explaining the reasons for President Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration of the committee. Among the terms of reference given to the committee is to find out from Nigerians what they want to be discussed at the conference, composition/structure and time table for the dialogue. Okurounmu later called on the President of Ohanaeze to mount the podium and read the memorandum of the Igbo group.
Chief Igariwey, who spoke on behalf of all Igbo associations, in a preamble, went down the memory, saying "after nearly a hundred years of amalgamation and existence as a single entity, the time is ripe for Nigerians to pause and ask themselves a number of salient questions: what sort of country have we become? Are we satisfied with it? Do we wish to proceed under the status quo or are there fundamental changes that have become imperative? What aspirations bind us into a common destiny as a people?"
These questions, he said, called for an inevitable and expansive national dialogue through which we may turn common cause into creative thinking and coordinated action. He stated, "Only thus can we realistically forge a better future for our people that will long endure. After a century of chequered history which bore witness to our long and sustained struggle against colonisation through political liberation and experimentation with various forms of government, including parliamentary, military and presidential systems, it is time to take stock. As a community of rational beings, we must welcome this opportunity for self-assessment to put our collective experience on the sieve of a national discourse and agree to retain those aspects of our national structure that work well, restructure the obvious anomalies and finally consign to the dustbin of history the aspects that do not work but instead retard our progress to national greatness".
The Igbo leader noted that it was against this background that the Igbo lauded the President for taking the bold decision for a national conference, where Nigerians will have the unfettered opportunity to decide how best they can live in peace, unity and harmony. On the structure of the dialogue, he received an ovation when he said the outcome of the conference should be subjected to a national referendum to enable it become the constitution of Nigeria without any alteration.
He also insisted on equal representation of the six geopolitical zones of the country comprising 60 delegates from each zone to dialogue at the conference. He further listed issues that should be discussed at the conference to include political structure of the country, forms of government, power of the tiers of government/devolution, revenue and fiscal federalism, derivation and distribution. Others are citizenship, structure of the armed forces and other security agencies to improve the security of lives and property of Nigerians, judicature, population and census issues, religion and secularism, as well as place of traditional rulers and institutions. "As a nation with enormous natural and human resources, Nigeria has refused to grow in line with the aspirations of its founding fathers. Nigeria is not working and cannot work because it now exists on a faulty foundation. The fundamental problem is structural. No one builds a super structure on a faulty foundation. It is therefore time to review and fine–tune the bonds binding us a nation, in preparation for the challenges of a new global order," he said.
The need for the conference cannot be over emphasised. Nigeria being a multi-ethnic arrangement is like a marriage. Every marriage requires dialogue to smoothen misunderstandings. Nigeria has become a country of ethnic rivalry and suspicions. There are conflicts in virtually every section of the country the result of unresolved grievances. It is therefore important that the conference should provide the long awaited opportunity for aggrieved sections of the country to table their grievances in the hope that through sincere dialogue these issues will be addressed.
He implored the committee to rise to the challenges of true patriotism by ensuring that the recommendations of the conference would lead to the realization of the dreams of the founding fathers of the country.
Igariwe recommended that "the outcome of the conference would be subjected to a national referendum /plebiscite and thereafter, without alteration, becomes the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria".
"To ensure its legality and integrity, the conference should be instituted through an Act of the National Assembly. Mr President should as matter of urgency send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to legalize the conference" he stated. Igariwe therefore urged President Jonathan to as a matter of urgency send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to legalize the conference. The Ohanaeze leader also recommended a total of 360 delegates for the conference, adding that 60 delegates should be selected from each of the 6 geo-political zones in the country. He advised the President not to allow the conference to go the way of previous ones and warned that the consequences of failure would be too ghastly to contemplate.
However, the memorandum of the group did not foreclose other groups as they submitted theirs one after the other.
To the Igbozurume Association speaking through the former Secretary-General of Ohanaeze, Col. Joe Achuzia (Rtd) said that the odyssey and trajectory of Igbo fortunes in the country are too well documented, stressing that the events that constitute the main highlights, the war of genocides of the state of Nigeria waged against Biafra from 1967 to 1070 stand like an epistle hoisted before the world.
The Secretary-General of the Lower Niger Congress (LNC), Tony Nnadi, said that any conference to discuss the terms of federating could only come after the blocs that wished to federate had made out and enacted the individual constitutions. "This is one ground or which Ndigbo will not be part of the proposed conference," he stated.
The convener of the Peoples Movement for New Nigeria, Alhaji Yahaya Kingsley Ndu said the proposed structure of 60 delegates each from the six zones by the leadership of Ohanaeze was elitist and canvassed for delegates from local government councils. Although the recommendation of Ndu did not elicit enthusiasm from the audience, a few said he was entitled to his opinion.
The submission of the South-East Elders council, led by Dr Dozie Ikedife, tallied with that the Ohanaeze but it added that the elders should be accommodated in the delegates to the conference. The Wawa Peoples Congress and the National Ethos and Values, led by Onyeaso Onyeaso, canvassed for inclusion of all ethnic nationalities for the conference.
Indeed, the Chairman of the advisory committee was delighted with the outcome of the meeting with Ndigbo even as some still went home with pessimism about the conference. To round off the interactive session, the former Senate President, Nnamani appealed to Ndigbo to present a common agenda at the conference in the interest of Igbo nation and Nigeria as a whole.
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