he main conference hall of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA - venue of this years Aka Ikenga lecture was full to the brim. Igbo who is who such as Chief Sony Odogwu, Professor Pat Utomi, Senator Ken Nnamani, General Ike Nwachukwu, to name just a few, were there. Chiefs, Ndi eze, opinion molders, traditional rulers, artistes, women leaders, the youth and journalists from far and wide were also there. The Igbo intelligentsia, the entrepreneur, inventors, researchers and the military class, too were fully represented.

Governor Ohakim delivering the key note lecture
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Outside the hall, just as dignitaries trooped in, crowds gathered in pockets discussing what might be the topic of this years lecture. Others exchanged pleasantries as journalists scrambled to get vantage positions either to take pictures or to get scoops from Igbo important personalities.

The glossy program of events had an inkling of what to expect when it profiled Ikedi Ohakim, the fifty one year old governor of Imo state whose leadership of Imo is centered on his slogan: "New Face of Imo." The brochure also named former leaders of Aka Ikenga prominent among them, Dr. Chris Ngige, former governor of Anambra state.

Governor Ikedi did not waste time to go into his subject titled: "Leadership and Good Governance: Any stake for Ndigbo in Nigeria?" According to the youthful governor, who imitating the questions posed to African Americans who still see the era of slavery as their limiting albatross in America, "my topic reiterates my firm belief that what the Igbo need to advance their collective interests in Nigeria is not effusive lamentation of the setback of the civil war years, but a repudiation of some of those limiting traits, some of them self inflicted that militate against the Igbo progress."

Amidst applause, from the equally receptive audience, the governor fired on: "In this regard, I completely agree with the American writer and activist, Nikki Giovanni, who said the best anyone can do when dealing with a weakness is to get as far away from it as possible…."the Igbo nation," he said, "needs to distance itself from all those inhibiting and debilitating traits which constitute its weaknesses today….the Igbo nation can best be answered by the Igbo. The Igbo problem can only be solved by the Igbo. Blaming the Nigerian Nation will no longer suffice as a reason for our retrogression or stagnation," Governor Ohakim emphasized.

"Referring, to Anambra state for example, the governor said: "Primitive partisan politics has manifested in all forms, including kidnapping of a governor, burning of public property and spurious impeachment concluded in the dead of the night. Today the entire state is held to ransom, by ambushing the budget. This is not pain inflicted on Anambra people by external forces. It is pain inflicted on Anambra by Anambra people in the name of politics."

Cataloguing other political woes that beset Igbo states such as Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, the governor urged Ndigbo to look further inwards for their problems rather than blaming them on external forces. In Imo, he lamented, "The state is distracted by a viciousness informed by years of retrogressive politics anchored on the big bag syndrome…... "These fat cats and freeloaders," he continued, "cannot therefore accept that God had decided to free Imo state from their evil clutches. Neither the verdict of the people of Imo state rendered on April 28, 2007 nor the verdict of the electoral tribunal means anything to them. Everyday, they dream of making the state ungovernable, through smear campaign, robbery, violence, arson, snatching of government vehicles and now kidnapping…"

"The time is therefore, now for the genuine leaders of Ndigbo to rise and shine. The future is one that the Igbo must confront with their first eleven….It will soon be 40 years since the end of the civil war. I make bold today to declare to our people that the cycle of self-doubt and externally imposed leadership in IGBOLAND HAS COME TO AN END."

Governor Ohakim called for an urgent reshaping of Nigeria to be able to face the challenges of modernization. "We must evolve a national character that is tough on crime and honest about the rule of law. We must end the cycle of a nation where nothing works. The choice before Nigeria is not between equity and inequity; it is between equity and disintegration. The choice between Nigeria is not even between justice and injustice; it is between justice and national downfall. I make these points because Ndigbo have no other country but Nigeria…"

Governor Ohakim flanked by Barrister Asoluka, arriving NIIA	Chuma Nnaji, Imo State Commissioner for Information right, with Charlie Boy Oputa at the NIIA event	Onyeka Onwenu was there
General Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu , was the chairman of the event	A cross section of the audience	Some Igbo Chiefs at the Aka Ikenga Lecture venue - NIIA, Lagos
A good day to practice journalism	Senator Nnamani with some dignitaries at the event	Governor Ohakim - Ndigbo must look inwards for their problems
Senator Ken Nnamani arriving the venue of the recently held Aka Ikenga Lecture series - the NIIA Lagos	Professor Pat Utomi Arriving	Some guests signing up at the sign in desk
	A picture could worth more than a thousand words