•Knocks Igbo political elite for docility
By Steve Oko
UMUAHIA – Major General Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma (retd.), has regretted that 55 years after the civil war, Nigeria is yet to forgive Ndigbo and fully integrate them as an integral part of the country.
General Ijioma, the guest speaker at the July edition of Ikengaonline’s virtual town hall meeting on Thursday night, expressed shock that despite the genuine commitment to the unity and progress of the country demonstrated by Ndigbo, other tribes in the country are still reluctant to embrace them as one of their own.
This is as he slammed the Igbo political elite, particularly the South East Governors, for not doing enough to advance the cause of Ndigbo collectively.
He expressed grief that despite sacrifices by Ndigbo to unite and move Nigeria forward, “Nigeria is yet to forgive Ndigbo.”
“Our people at the end of the war wholeheartedly wanted to be reintegrated into Nigeria and have done everything possible to convince Nigerians that we are Nigerians, but I want to observe that despite these efforts, it seems that there is an agreement by Nigerians that the war hasn’t ended”, Gen. Ijioma lamented
According to him, the ‘ No victor, no vanquished’ slogan after the war is a mere rhetoric as realities on the ground rather brazenly show that Ndigbo are still being treated as conquered foes.
“Nigeria is still at war against Ndigbo. My 33 and half years in the Army rising through the ranks to a Major General, has taught me that the rest of Nigeria have not forgiven Ndigbo.
“My experience in service convinced me that the rest of Nigeria have not accepted that the war ended in 1970. So there is a war against Ndigbo.”
Gen. Ijioma likened Nigeria to a family where six dwarfs ganged up against their giant sibling, pulled him down and took turns to enjoy their common patrimony.
“In my Master’s dissertation in Ibadan, I said that Nigeria is akin to a place where you have seven people, one of them a giant and the other ones being perpetually afraid of the giant.
“They want to perpetually keep the gaint down. This is what Nigeria is doing to the Igbos and for Ndigbo to reinvent themselves, the only thing they need to do is to unite and come together and challenge the state of affairs.”
Gen. Ijioma wondered why it is proving difficult for Nigeria to trust an Igbo man for the presidency while other major tribes in the country had taken their fair share of the prime job.
“If President Tinubu runs his second course in 2027, that will be eight years. Then add it to eight years of former President Obasanjo, making it 16 years for the Yoruba nation.
“ Add it to the six years of Jonathan, and eight years of Buhari, that is 30 years and these were 30 years of political exclusion. By 2031, the presidency goes to the North and if you take another eight years you are talking about a total of 38 years of continued exclusion of Igbo from the Nigerian presidency.
“This is besides long period and long years of military government during which no Igbo man came near the presidency except the short time of our brother, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.
“So, the end of the war has impacted every facet of life – in business, in academics, in the military. There is no place that the war has not impacted negatively against Ndigbo. But it shouldn’t be so.”
Gen. Ijioma who accused Nigeria of being afraid of Ndigbo, explained that contrary to the unfounded suspicion against the race, Ndigbo, more than any other tribe, are genuinely committed to the unity of the country.
“We fought because we had a just cause. I don’t know why Nigeria is so afraid of Ndigbo. It’s because of the fact that Ndigbo are true Nigerians.
“I don’t just claim Ndigbo are the true Nigerians, but in theory and in practice we are the true Nigerians. The development Nigeria has made is as a result of the effort of Ndigbo. I will dare you and I will challenge you to show me an Hausa man in Igbo land developing it as we do outside Igbo land.
“In Igbo land, you won’t see any Hausa man’s house, or any Yoruba man’s house, but look at Lagos and other parts of the country, we have landed property in them. Twenty five per cent of houses in Lagos belong to Ndigbo. The same thing in other cities. This is because we believe in One Nigeria.
“Why is it that the people that are so committed to Nigeria are the people that are so excluded from Nigeria?”
General Ijioma blamed Igbo political elite for the second fiddle the Igbo race is playing in the country, stressing that any day they place the collective Igbo interest avoid their parochial gains, the tribe would no longer be relegated.
“Ndigbo must unite to overcome the gang-up against them It’s a conscious effort. Our exclusion from the politics of Nigeria is a deliberate effort. It’s a calculated effort by the rest of Nigerians to exclude Ndigbo.
“Our divisive and individual nature are our vulnerability. Let us make those efforts. Understand that politics is a game of numbers. We have a number. We are the ones. “
He described the emergence of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the beginning of the political woes of Ndigbo, and challenged the political elite to unite in defense of Igbo interest.
“Look at the five southeastern states. When we were in PDP, were we not much stronger and was our voice not louder? Were we not respected? Now that you have APC crawling in and taking two states, you have Labour, you have PDP struggling in Enugu and APGA in Anambra. Is there any doubt to anybody why our status has gone miserable? It’s because of division. And Nigeria is fighting to continue to perpetually undermine us. We must consciously look for a way of uniting so that in unity, our voice will be stronger.”
Going memory lane, Gen. Ijioma said Ndigbo had their best moments between 1956-1966, lamenting that Ndigbo have been thrown into political wilderness since the APC came on board
“ I will look at the pre and post-independence in Nigeria between 1956 to 1966. This is the period I will call the golden and glorious stage of Ndigbo in Nigerian politics. Thereafter, I will look at Ndigbo in Nigerian politics between 1979-1993, which was the last stage of Ndigbo in Nigerian politics.
“Then look at Ndigbo in Nigerian politics from 1999-2014, which I regard as a lost opportunity by Ndigbo. I will look at Ndigbo in Nigerian politics from 2015-2025, which is the worst period and most shameful time for Ndigbo in the history of Nigerian politics.
“This is an era when Ndigbo people were excluded from the leadership of certain parties, excluded from the leadership of the legislative arm of government, and excluded from the leadership of government. And indeed, Ndigbo have been excluded from governance in Nigeria.
“ With the benefit of insight, I want to point and ask, does it look like Ndigbo have fared well in terms of global participation in Nigeria? Then, I will do a little overview of Nigerian politics in 2027. Looking at the Nigerian political horizon, there is nothing to inspire confidence of a better outing by Ndigbo.”
On the way forward, Gen. Ijioma called for unity among Ndigbo and placement of collective interest above personal interest.
“But there is hope. The hope is that Ndigbo will do a self-searching, self-re-evaluation to be able to do the whole of the united front. First, we learn from our political friends while at the same time mitigating our vulnerability. Otherwise, we will remain in political wilderness of irrelevance”
Gen. Ijioma called for re-examination of value system among Ndigbo, while frowning at the emergence of people with little integrity into political positions.
“You see people following people who ordinarily do not have the integrity to be called leaders. This thing is across the board. Of our political elites who find themselves in the executive arm and those in the legislative arm, we have been reduced to nothing in the eyes of every other Nigerian.
“Political followership of Igbo masses is our another major challenge. Is it not high time they held their political representatives to account? Is it not high time that Igbo masses that follow people of low integrity understand that life is beyond what you put in your stomach, the food you eat?
“When are we going to redefine our values and place emphasis where it should be placed? Should Igbo continue the way we are? We are derided now in Nigeria, even with our population.
“I dare say and challenge Igbos that with about 65 million people that make up the 200 million in Nigeria, the Igbos with marginal support from other regions can put one of their own kind in the presidency come 2027.”
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