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toksogunbiyi@hotmail.com London, England

IKEMBA NNEWI AND THE STATUS ANTE BELLUM

r Wumi Akintide makes an excellent case for Ikemba Nnewi in his article "Status quo ante Bellum for Ohaneze Ndigbo is Ojukwu's motivation for running".

The main highlights of his article need not detain us for long. Ojukwu's pedigree is all too well known and inspite of the attempts by some to dismiss him on the basis of his Biafran antecedents, the more intelligent understand the undercurrents that led to the unfortunate war, 1967 - 1970. I may add my own personal recognition of Ikemba Nnewi since as the then Lt-Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, he made an indelible impression on me when in 1966 he came visiting Owerri Province in his capacity as the new Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria.

As a student at Government Secondary School, Owerri, I took to heart his "advice" that the Nigerian nation would only move forward when we could match the nations of the northern hemisphere in science and technology. Politics he said, had so far only succeeded in dividing us. Until my family left Eastern Nigeria in December 1966 and subsequently I followed with interest many of Ikemba's positions and statements on national affairs.

Dr Akintide is clear that Ojukwu's cerebral nous is non-pareil; but I also believe that Ojukwu is one of those who in a position of political power would be unable or incapable of stealing our money. He was a millionaire at birth and lived completely unconcerned about material things. His Nigerianness is not in doubt.

In 1966 my younger sister gained admission to Queens School Enugu. In the previous year she had passed the First School Leving Certificate with distinction. The Eastern Nigeria Ministry of Education decided that all students of Eastern Nigeria origin gaining a distinction would be entitled to secondary school scholarships. The following day an order from Governmnet House Enugu reversed that decision and widened access to scholarships to include all Easterners anywhere in Nigeria and all Nigerians resident in Eastern Nigeria. Hence my sister gained her secondary school scholarship; there was no free education in the NCNC-controlled Eastern Nigeria.

However there is an error in Dr Akintide's analysis which we must exorcise before Nigeria can move forward well and truly into a new more balanced and more equitable dispensation. He recognises the achievements of Ndigbo in the pre-war Nigeria but he does not adumbrate some of the ways Ndigbo contributed to injustice against other Nigerians and even to our present morass.

In the status ante bellum it is true that Ndigbo were very prominent in education, the professions and elsewhere; Nigeria was a meritocracy, but in between there were cases of the not so meritorious who got ahead because of their political and ethnic connections. I do not have an axe to grind with any Nigerian ethnic nationality but we must not forget some very glaring injustices that were meted out to other Nigerians in the upward swing of Ndigbo to the ascendancy of the Nigerian establishement.

In the University of Ibadan, Professor Oladele Ajose was in 1949 (yes!) a Foundation Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine at what was then the University College, Ibadan. At Independence in 1960 he was overlooked for Professor Kenneth Dike who arrived as Senior Lecturer many years after Ajose and Dike became VC. These are facts not propaganda.

In what might appear as a "consolation prize", the University of Ife (it was not OAU then!) made Ajose its Founding Vice-Chancellor. This was but one case of injustice now largely forgotten. Dike himself was later to face allegations of ethnic favouritism which led to serious crises between himself and the Registrar, Nathaniel Adamolekun.

Subsequent Commissions of inquiry told stories how at ECN and NRC amongst others, Ndigbo used their political and ethnic connections to get ahead of others. Okechukwu Ikejiani, the man who loved cars was at Nigeria Railway Corporation and featured prominently in those allegations as did JC Egbuna the then Genral Manager at NRC. I do not deny the intellect and intelligence of Ndigbo but Ndigbo gave the impression ante bellum of being the only animals in the field!

In Eastern Nigeria many of the people of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers Provinces felt marginalised by Ndigbo. They complained that they were left out of senior public appointments. I recall only one or two permanent secretaries in those days in Enugu who were not Ndigbo - Tom Ikpeme and Ikpi. The man who would later be Ojukwu's Secretary to the Governmnet, NU Akpan felt hard done by when Ojukwu on becoming Governor had to appoint a new Secretary to the Government after he got rid of Jerome Udoji. NU Akpan recalls that Ojukwu gave nomination papers to his brother permanent secretaries to nominate (or vote?)for a candidate. The assembled permanent secretaries chose CC Mordi, not the heir apparent.

But before we get so far, let us go back to Dr Azikiwe's rough treatment of Eyo Ita many years before. This is not a piece to show up Ndigbo because no Nigerian nationality is made of saints. What I am out to establish is that the return to the status ante bellum is not a helpful starting point if the sensitivities of other Nigerians are to be considered; live and let live?

Against the background of the fear of domination by Ndigbo, the January 15, 1966 coup was seen as confirmation of the determination by Ndigbo to foist their hegemony over others. I do not accept this thesis because I consider Nzeogwu a patriot driven by the highest motives, but it is clear that not everyone was persuaded, hence the barbaric reaction of July 29, 1966 and before then, the pogroms of May 1966 directed against Ndigbo in northern Nigeria and elsewhere.

The future of Nigeria lies in a new construct with opportunity for participation by one and all. The current ramshackle constitution cannot deliver a modern industrial democracy which I hope is what Nigeria aspires to be? If it is to advance it needs amongst other things an independent, impartial public service based on merit, not the one constructed by the Federal Character Commission. Within this type of arrangement Ndigbo will thrive again but other Nigerians are there to be considered and so Ndigbo are not likely to attain the situation where Kenneth Dike was VC at UI, Eni Njoku at Unilag, and JC Edozien was being proposed for ABU until the coup of July 1966 put paid to that!

I have one final grouse with Ikemba Nnewi. I appreciate his candidature for APGA but I feel that he has travelled too far with the hounds in Nigerian politics. His membership of NPN was a jaw-dropping event for me; but he also helped to campaign for this current constitution which can never deliver equity and justice! But most curious of all is Ojukwu's antagonism to NADECO. He laughed NADECO to scorn at a time when all progressive forces ought to have joined hands to pave the way or at least clear the bush to prepare a new national dispensation. I was embarrassed that Ojukwu could claim that "Abacha respected me". Who does not deserve respect but must it be from any quarters? One is reminded of the person who chose to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven!

I wish Ikemba and all other candidates success in their Presidential endeavours. I have here on my desk a newspaper cutting (Thursday February 6, 2003) about the final dissolution of Yugoslavia after 74 years. It makes some impression on me as I try hard to believe that that is not Nigeria's future.