THE NATION, SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2012
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If you’re looking for ‘banana peel’ in the House, you won’t find it —Anambra Rep Ogene Hon.Victor Afam Ogene represents Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State in the House of Representatives on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He debunks the notion that the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu declared war on Nigeria and states that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State is the new Igbo leader. He spoke with select journalists, including ODOGWU EMEKA ODOGWU, on some other topical issues. Excerpts: the current security crisis? not because we don’t have men and
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HO, in your view, should assume the leadership of Igbo after the death of Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu? I think that beyond uniting the Igbo race, Dim Emeka Ojukwu sought to unite the Nigerian people. That was why Nigerians, not just Ndigbo, rose to bury him. Circumstances tossed him up during the crises of the 60s as the leader of the Igbo race. Don’t forget that he didn’t make himself the leader. He was the then governor of the Eastern Region, and because of the pogrom, people were running home. There was what was called a consultative assembly, made up of leaders from different parts of Igbo land, including some parts of the Mid-West as we had it then, which is the present day Delta State. The Eastern Region at the time stretched as far as Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states, apart from the present five eastern states. Dim Ojukwu felt that if our people were being slaughtered and some were rushing back home, the best thing was to offer them protection. And if we reverse everything, we can’t reverse history. Ojukwu didn’t declare war on Nigeria. He decided that on the basis of the advice of the consultative forum that gave rise to the Ahiara Declaration of May 31, 1967, when they said: ‘If the Nigerian federation does not want us, let us stay in our enclave and be called Biafra.’ Ojukwu did not declare war. If I declare war on you; I will come and slap you. Ojukwu didn’t take the battle to any part of the country. Instead, the first shot of the battle was fired somewhere around Cross River State on July 7, 1967. That clearly tells you that Ojukwu at no time declared war on the nation. Instead, he was alive to his duty as a military governor. He was alive to his duty as the chief security officer of the Eastern Region. Talking about who steps into his shoes, except that you have asked, nobody is going to have a debate over who takes over from him. There are three ways of gaining leadership, and we are talking about Ojukwu because he qualified in all the three. One, you are born great. His father was one of the first recognised millionaires in Nigeria. As a result of that, he was just like a prince. Another way to achieve greatness is by a dint of hard work. Ojukwu attained greatness by not only attending Kings College, he went to Oxford University. He came back and despite his wealth, he sought to make a name for himself. He went into the colonial service and served as a district officer. From there, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army as a recruit. He didn’t enter as a graduate officer. He worked his way up and within six months became a lieutenant-colonel and commander of the Fifth Battalion. So, that was a great feat at the time. He even rose to become an adjutant in the Nigerian Army, and by sheer providence of the civil war crises, he also had greatness thrust upon him. So, Ojukwu had three ways to greatness: he was born great, achieved greatness and had greatness thrust upon him. But the general perception now is that there is a tussle as to who
•Hon. Ogene
succeeds him. In the olden days, a leader was known by his large compound, how large your farm was and your number of wives and children. So that when the man dies, people begin to scramble for some of his things. In modern society, nobody sits down to elect a leader. A leader emerges by consensus and personal hard work. People will now say okay, you will lead us. When you talk about the South-West, the clear and identifiable leader you can see is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. If you come up North, you can identify people like Muhammadu Buhari. Whether you believe in what he stands for or not, when Buhari talks, people listen to him. If you come to the South-East, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State is already playing that role, even without telling you. So, Tinubu does not need to stand on the table to tell you he is the leader. By the things you do, people will now say you are the leader. I say Peter Obi because, today, we are saying Ojukwu was buried like a hero. Who made it possible? Peter Obi.
There have been reports that before Ojukwu died, he anointed a successor. Now, with so many interests in the leadership of Ndigbo, don’t you think this could lead to a crisis? That is not true. What Ojukwu said on record during the 2010 governorship election in Anambra State was to raise Peter Obi’s hands and said: ‘This is my beloved son. This is my last wish: return him to the back seat.’ It is a popular quote, and it was actually Ojukwu’s last wish because that was his last major public appearance. During last year’s presidential election, APGA did not present any candidate. It is
women of timber and caliber, but by a deliberate choice engineered by Peter Obi to support the aspiration of now President Goodluck Jonathan. To my mind, that support was what the Igbo reaped in the burial. If you extend it further, there is no Igbo man today that is leading like Peter Obi. He has been Chairman, South/East Governors’ Forum. Even at that time, he was the single governor of APGA and the four others were PDP. His colleague governors saw something in him and allowed him to lead them. Their chairmanship is supposed to be rotated after six months, but he has been the chairman for four years. He was Vice Chairman, Nigerian Governor’s Forum under Bukola Saraki for the same length of time. He was to be the chairman, Governors’ Forum, but at the last minute, the PDP governors felt that it would not work well. How could all of them be here and the opposition would lead? They still prevailed on him to continue when it was supposed to go somewhere else. It is normally North and South or South-North. Today, Peter Obi is Honorary Adviser to the President on Financial Matters. He is also a member of the Economic Management Team. Any Igbo man who wants to get a position at the federal level comes to Peter Obi. So, I ask you, from Ojukwu’s prophetic message, who is the leader of the Igbo people? Will the idea of Biafra remain a metaphor or you think it can be realised? I will say it is a metaphor for injustice; a metaphor for the fight for equity, fairness for every Nigerian to be a Nigerian in whatever part of the country you find yourself. It is ironic that at a time when Nigeria was burying Ikemgba Nnewi, the clamour for a sovereign national conference is on-going, 45 years after Ojukwu told Nigerians that the way to go is confederacy. You know it is said that lightning does not strike twice in a particular place. But Ojukwu’s lightning has struck more than twice. Today, we have come to accept that we have six geo-political zones. When he said it, some forces at that time, who probably didn’t see tomorrow, thought otherwise. You know that if today you leave what you are supposed to do till tomorrow, the problems will still be there. It is ironic that now that Ojukwu is dead, the call for SNC is louder. So, it tells you that Biafra is a metaphor that is replicated in Boko Haram, militancy, Odua People’s Congress. So, any kind of agitation for a better Nigeria means that the spirit of Biafra is alive. As a veteran journalist, how would you assess media reports on
After inauguration, when we noticed that there were convert and overt moves to enthrone a leadership from outside, members rightly felt insulted that if on day one they could not be trusted to handle their affairs as people who had been freely elected, they insisted on electing the leader of their choice...
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Don’t forget that those who pay the piper dictate the tune. Most of these media houses are owned by private individuals who have their own motivations for setting them up. I agree that the media should be more nationalistic, but you must see this subjectivity. If you cover an event, you will choose the perspective that is suitable for you. Any real journalist would tell you that there is nothing like objectivity in journalism. Rather, the word is fairness. Instead of looking for objectivity, you should look for fairness. The call for equal revenue sharing formula is getting hot. How would you like to see it shared? The simple way to go is either to allow the states to work or we allow the geo-political zones to work. We have a loose federation. What is happening is that every month, we come to Abuja cap in hand with a bowl to share money and go back to the states to pay salaries. No nation develops like that. In the 60s when we had the regions, all the regions, Lagos, Ibadan, Calabar, Kaduna, Kano and the rest were products of the regional arrangement, such that today, if we had regions, they would have been in healthy conditions. They tap whatever mineral resources in their environment and pay tax to the centre, which was why Ahmadu Bello was not keen on coming to the centre. What was he coming to look for when Northern Nigeria was booming because they had put things in place? The West was making money from cocoa, and they established free education with cocoa. But now, there is no motivation to go and do these things. This clamour won’t work because you cannot appropriate and abrogate at the same time. Preindependence and postindependence, the derivation format was 50 per cent. Now, it is 13 per cent. So, we are even cheating the Niger/Delta that we are crying are taking all the money. Oil, instead of being a blessing, is rather a curse because it has made us lazy. We share money on the basis of local governments, but some states have more local governments than others. Lagos, with all its population has 20; Akwa Ibom has 23; Kano has 44. So, Lagos too has the right to agitate. But the way to go is either to allow true federalism or go for confederacy. The 7th House has been united since inception. What is the binding force? If you are looking for any banana peel, you won’t find it. I think God designed it this way. About 200 members came to the House and most of them were not happy with what was happening. When you are coming to a place, you come with certain ideas on how you think the place should be. After inauguration, when we noticed that there were convert and overt moves to enthrone a leadership from outside, members rightly felt insulted that if on day one they could not be trusted to handle their affairs as people who had been freely elected, they insisted on electing the leader of their choice. Coming on the wings of enormous goodwill, it decided to also stand with the people.