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Wumione@AOL.com New York, NY, USA

"STATUS QUO ANTE BELLUM"
FOR OHANEZE NDIGBO IS OJUKWU'S MOTIVATION FOR RUNNING

can tell you that many are seeking to be the Presidential flag bearers of their parties in Nigeria, in this Election Year, not necessarily, to win. Many are in the race simply to make a name and a statement, while at the same time making History, and repositioning themselves for some quid pro quo largesse and compensation that may come their way, from the political spoils system, after a winner should have emerged.

The last time I checked, there were 28 Political parties taking part in the coming Elections in April. Must that translate to 28 Presidential candidates? Yes, and No Yes, because all of us, Nigerians, my self inclusive, love titles in ways that cannot be compared to any other nationality the world over. No, because many are simply in love with just being called a presidential candidate or running mate. We, Africans love titles and names or appellations so much that we often rename ourselves either to boost our personal ego, or just to make us feel good.

Joseph Mobutu half way thru his dictatorial regime in the Congo had not only changed his own name, but that of his country to Zaire. The name that had captured his fancy was soon to become one of the longest in the Guinness Book of Records. It was "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Waza Banga" meaning "the one big and proud cock that crows in the midst hens" Don't ask me who the "hens" referred to, it was none other than the entire people of Zaire on whose back he had ridden to power following his betrayal of the real deal, the one and only Patrice Lumunba of blessed memory It will be recalled that our own easy going Shehu Shagari, for all his gentle persona, as Executive President of Nigeria was simply renamed "Power" . The late Okotieboh, the Finance Minister in the Tafawa Balewa Government was always referred to as "Omimi Ejoh" whatever that means. Our own Chuba Okadigbo, educated in the United States, with a Ph.D and some impressive gift of the garb, simply assumed the title "Oyi, Oyi" as Senate President, and started carrying a Horse tail to add a little icing to his cake as a public figure.

Only God knows what title he is going to consider if he ever becomes the second fiddle to Mohammed Buhari the Sharia Ayatollah of Nigeria if many of those Presidential candidates are lucky, and if they have enough cash to throw around, they could even have records waxed for them by Commander Ebenezer Obey or King Sunny Ade or Ayinde Barrister or Kollington Ayinla just to immortalize the fact that they had once run for the highest office in the country. That, in of itself, is something to write home about in Nigeria, win or lose. The joy is not in winning but just in taking part, to make history, and to improve your visibility as a citizen. Many of those candidates will continue to be introduced at Social Gatherings as a former Presidential candidates and running mates, long after the Election has been over and done with. Our politicians love to flaunt their Degrees and would buy one if necessary. Orji Uzor Kalu , Governor of Abia is getting his Degree and may get his Ph.D from the same University he presides over as a Visitor. No questions asked. The higher and the more your degrees, the higher your public esteem.

I did a little research on the types of people that often get elected into the British House of Commons and the US Congress. You cannot believe it if I tell you that no less than 1/3 of members of the Bristish House of Commons were Ph.D holders. You cannot count the number of members with Master's degrees. Of course the great majority of them also have Law degrees on the sideline that nobody ever talks about. The taste of the pudding is in the eating. if you want to hear Queen's English at its best, just pay a visit to the House of Commons at Westminster, sit in the public gallery to see the parliamentarians go through the motions as they debate a motion or a bill. It's simply amazing! The observation is even more poignant in the US Congress, and most especially in the US Senate. Nearly half of the US Senators are Ph.D holders, 3/4s are attorneys, I mean doctors of Jurisprudence. You have Medical Doctors like Bill Frist the current Majority Leader who happens to be a Heart Surgeon. You are going to find retired Judges, astronauts and what have you. They value their titles as Congressmen and Senators a lot more than they treasure their academic degrees, and they could care less about those jaw -breaking titles like we do in Nigeria. I think we care more about the titles than we do, of the responsibilities, the handwork and the discipline that go with that office.

A Mecca Pilgrim is a synonym for an Alhaji, a J P no longer simply means Justice of the Peace. It is now "Jerusalem Pilgrim" for any body who has been lucky enough to visit the State of Israel. So you hear titles and appellations like Doctor, Alhaji, Chief, Pastor, Deacon and Deaconess and what have you. You may soon be hearing Oyi, Oyi, at Aso Rock if the two odd couples of Buhari and Wilberforce Chuba Okadigbo ever make it to the presidency in their wildest dreams.

Nigeria is the only country on Earth where title holders don't want to shed any of their titles regardless of how many they have got. You hear of Kabiyesi, Alaiyeluwa, Oba, Dr, Alhaji "Iku a pa opolopo" Okiti Ogan of Iju, to just cite an example. "Iku a pa opolopo" is an acronym derived from "Uku Akpolokpolo" a famous title or appellation coined for one of the most revered traditional rulers in Nigeria, the one and only Oba of Benin, Omo N'oba N'Edo, Oba Erediauwa of Benin, Oba a gha topere. Itse. Can you imagine Governor Tinubu of Lagos still holding on to his former title as a Senator in the Second Republic? He is often introduced today as Senator Governor "Ojuyobo" Tinubu, because he is just too much in love with his title of Senator, to give it up

. If lawyers are allowed to use the title Barrister, Nigerians see no reason why Accountants, Engineers, Surveyors, Architects and Lecturers and what have you should not be allowed to attach those titles to their names as a matter of principle. An architect friend of mine recently visited me in New York, and insisted I introduce him just like he would be introduced at home. I said No. I was just going to call him "Ogidiolu Aluko" because the people to whom I was introducing him, couldn't care less if he was a road side Mechanic or an "Obioma" All they needed to know was his name, and he should reserve all those titles for Nigeria, not here. The point I am making is that many candidates are seeking the presidency today in Nigerians for different reasons. A lot of them know they cannot, and do not deserve to win, and they appreciate that only one person is going to emerge the President, when all is said and done. They think it does no harm to be called a former presidential candidate and adding that to your resume which could run up to 10 or more pages in Nigeria, is not such a bad idea.

The one candidate I am focussing in this article is the one and only Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi himself, and the ex Biafran War Lord, the worthy alumnus of Oxford University, and, decidedly, one of the most colorful and controversial politicians of our time. You may like him or hate him, the Ikemba at 67 or 69 is still a force to reckon with in the South East, and for that reason, in Nigeria. Just like you cannot dismiss the Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba Block with a wave of the hand in the configuration of Nigeria, you also will be foolhardy to dismiss Ndigbo as a powerful block and as a force t reckon with in Nigeria The word Nigeria is not complete, if you discount the contributions and the resourcefulness of the Igbos as a people. They are one of the most colorful and hardworking tribes you will ever meet in Nigeria. I love the Igbos so much that I am proud to identify myself as a proud father-in-law to an Igbo Beauty queen recently married to my son

There may well be a minority school of thought in Nigeria that wants to look down on Ohaneze Ndigbo, and to consider them as second class citizens for daring to destabilize the country by initiating the Biafran War from 1967 to 1970. I just happen not to belong to that school of thought because I respect Ndigbo too much for me to buy that cheap shot. Nigeria would have had to invent the Biafran challenge if we had not had the Biafran War. True, that some mistakes were made, on both sides of the isle, in the way and manner the war was conceived, fought and concluded, but it was necessary and called for, just to shake up Nigeria from its slumber and its inequity and transgressions which were legion at the time. There was in deed a pogrom that had to be challenged and stopped, if our country was to live the true meaning of her creed, as well as the original goal of her founding fathers like Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sardauna Bello and Obafemi Awolowo, to mention just the arrow heads of our struggle for Independence from the British.

If you want to double-check my conclusion here, I refer you to go get yourself a copy of the new book titled "Surviving in Biafra" just published by Alfred Uzokwe where some of the gory details of the War and why it came about, were eloquently chronicled by a great Nigerian architect in America, and one of the lucky survivors of the War. That book is a "must read" for you to fully appreciate some of the very controversial statements you might find in this piece. I have once had occasion to criticize the Ikemba for leaving Biafra, and leaving somebody else to handle the surrender formalities. On a hindsight, and after reflecting on the immortal words of the late Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister that "Survival is in deed the Art of Politics," and that those who fight and run away, live to do another fight, I am beginning to have second thoughts on my being so hard on the Ikemba for leaving Biafra at the time he did in 1970.

If the very people he had led into that horrific War were willing to understand and to excuse his departure, how could arm chair critics like us, who were far from the theater of War, continue to lambaste the Ikemba for leaving for exile? He probably had a reason to leave, and the tumultuous welcome he got in Aba and from all of the old South East, and the esteem with which he is still held, today, 33 years after the War, all have to be seen as a pointer to the fact that his departure was not necessarily the act of a coward. It was probably the best thing to do, in retrospect.

The question has to be asked what exactly does the Ikemba want in entering the cat and mouse race for the presidency of Nigeria in today's climate and environment? i think I know, like Maya Angelou, "why the caged bird sings" I think I know why the Ikemba wants to run so bad even though he is said by many to have passed his prime, and does not have a chance to win because of his track record. The Ikemba for all you know, may lose the battle, but still win the new War. I don't believe he has passed his prime. If anything I believe he has been mellowed by age and experience. A man who could still find a beauty queen half his age to convince and marry, at close to 70, has to still have something going for him, other than his name recognition. The Ikemba, in my view, is still as versatile and dead serious on anything he may want to do, even in his twilight years. Part of the beauty of Democracy is the fact that we could still have a person like him taking part in the debate and elevating its level for the betterment of our country. His mind is still razor-blade sharp, and can tell the difference between bravery and foolhardiness.

I have just read on the Lagosforum website created by a young dynamic Nigerian, Joe Femi Dagunro resident in Germany, a full text of the interview done by the Ikemba, after launching his campaign for the Presidency from the very heart of Igbo land at Aba. I think that guy still has a lot of fire in his belly, and I respect him a lot not just for his courage, tenacity and common sense. I respect him for his ability to pick a needle from a haystack of issues, and to zero in, on what is important. He did so at Aburi, Ghana, where he simply made a dead meat of Gowon and his delegation in a peace move that the late General Ankrah of Ghana had brokered between the then Governor of the Eastern Region and General Yakubu Gowon. "On Aburi we stand" which had become the clarion call of the breakaway regime, at the time, was a product of brilliant thinking and articulation of issues by an Oxford graduate who knew his onions, and stood his ground. I think the later decision of Yakubu Gowon to go back to school to legitimize his claim to leadership, years after leaving office as Head of State, was not unconnected with the lessons he learnt from the Ikemba at Aburi, who had proved that he, sure, belonged to a new generation of the Military in Nigeria, with a solid intellectual fire power to meet the challenges of the office he had held at the time.

By that single stroke the Ikemba was later to be one of the architects of the later scramble on the part of serving and retired Colonels Brigadiers and Generals Commodores and Rear Admirals, etc., in the Nigeria Military to want to go back to school, to really educate themselves for whatever it is worth. We have got to give credit to General Yakubu Gowon who blazed the trail for so many others to follow by going back to school, after he lost power in Lagos. Even though the move was putting the cart before the horse, it, nevertheless, has drastically changed the perspective of the officer cadre in the Nigeria Military in very profound ways. Brigadier Haruna, General Jemibewon, General Oladipo Diya, even retired Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle the Black Scorpion and my good friend Rear Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe, all had to go back to the University to study Law, not to talk of Colonel Yohanna Madaki and so many others I know. I think it's good for our Economy and for our country, but we must all remember how it all started. I believe the Ikemba one of the very few Oxford trained Nigerians to be commissioned into the Nigerian Army definitely had something to do with that, if you ask me.

What does Ikemba want? That is a million dollar question. The Ikemba who does not suffer fools gladly, is probably aware like you and me that, given where the country is today, the Ikemba knows he is definitely a dark horse in the coming presidential race. He will not win, but he could take back Ohaneze Ndigbo back to the "status quo ante bellum" which was really where the Igbos had belonged, before their odyssey into the Biafran War which would appear to have set back the hand of the clock for Ndigbo in Nigeria by so many years in reality. By the time we obtained Independence in 1960, and in the six years that followed under Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister of Nigeria under the NPC/NCNC coalition Government, the Igbos had totally dominated the Nigerian Military, the Federal Public Service, the Federal Parastatals and all facets of Nigerian economy, because their coalition partner in the NPC just could not measure up to them in anything.

The Igbos saw the vacuum and they grabbed it with both hands. It was the golden age of the Igbos in Nigeria. Those were the days when Professor Dike had become the very first indigenous Chancellor of the great University of Ibadan and Professor Chike Obi and others too many to recount had become the center piece of the Nigerian Higher Education. The late Ladoke Akintola mad a huge humor out of that observation when he picked on the name "Ikejiani" as a euphemism to show how the Igbos have dominated Nigeria. The Western Region which used to be a leader in western civilization and education in Nigeria, had to temporarily take a back seat, as the West was isolated and embattled with the political intrigues and feud going on between Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola.

The great Ladoke Akintola had sought to change the balance of power between him and the 800 pounds gorilla in Awolowo, by pitching his tent with the Sardauna and the NPC. He had used his impeccable fluency in Hausa and Yoruba language and the long trading connections between the Ogbomosho people and the people of Jos in Benue Plateau, to very good effect. Ladoke Akintola and a few Yoruba politicians like Richard Akinjide had envied the impregnable positions occupied by the Igbos in the NCNC, and thought they could change all of that through a carefully calibrated realignment of forces which had led to the Nigerian Democratic Party under Akintola and Fani Kayode forming an alliance with the North, to push out the Igbos, or force them to relinquish some of the positions they already had. The very first time Akinjide became Federal Minister of Education, one of the first thing he did was to begin to level the playing field, and he succeeded to a great extent.

The truth was that the Igbos were enjoying the best of two worlds. That impregnability began to fall apart as soon as the North saw a window of opportunity opened for it in the West through Akintola's willingness to join forces with the North. The North then began to marginalize the East, and they did it so fast, that the East could not fail to take to notice. The marginalization and the reckless speed and levity with which it was done, was what finally led to a collective resentment by the East. It was only a question of time before the pogrom was unleashed on the East The Biafran War therefore became the explosion waiting to happen. The hell finally broke loose in 1967 in what Yakubu Gowon first called a Police action against a tribal insurrection which eventually metamorphosed in to the Biafran War. The War had raged for three terrible years during which the East totally lost control of all the gains they had made in Nigeria. In the process, they also forfeited their hope of setting up an independent Republic with Oil and liquefied Gas as the pillar of their economy. Everything had gone up in smoke, and the igbos had totally lost out. The "no victor no vanquished" stance of General Gowon at the end of the War, was nothing but sheer propaganda. The vanquished were clearly Ohaneze Ndigbo every where they were, and the Igbos are yet to fully recover from that onslaught up till tomorrow.

The Igbos had remained in political quandary and isolation regardless of what anyone may say to the contrary. The isolation had continued when the tripod that Nigeria has always been, was made to lose its third leg when in 1999, three major political parties were registered in Nigeria. Two of them were totally dominated by the North while the last one, the AD fully represented the old West. The old East had lost out completely. Gone were those days when the NCNC which had started as the offshoot of the defunct Nigerian Youth Movement under Herbert Macauley later became the NCNC under Azikiwe's leadership, and was eventually identified as the major party representing the old Eastern Region, once the Action Group under Obafemi Awolowo had become the major party representing the West. You had the NPC representing the old North, the NCNC representing the East and the Action Group representing the West and the minorities in the Calabar Ogoja area, the old Mid West and the Middle Belt. In 1999 the PDP and the APP were dominated and almost exclusively owned by the North, so to speak. The AD was dominated and totally owned by the South West without any question. The South East had nothing to hold on to. The Ikemba had clearly seen the hand writing on the wall for the Igbos and is hell-bent on changing that before he is too old to do something about it.

The registration of 28 political parties in Nigeria has opened a new window of opportunity for the old East to reassert herself once again by floating APGA and picking the Ikemba as his Presidential flag bearer in the same way Azikiwe was picked by the NCNC in the late 50s and early 60s. The East could now boast of a political party of their own they can now nurture to maturity in the fulness of time. While the APGA may not make too much difference to the outcome of the Presidential Election, because no less than three or four Igbos are running for President at the same time. The Igbo vote is likely to be totally fragmented. But the APGA could possibly make some impressions in the Governors' races, and even do better in the Local Government Elections that are likely to follow. The APGA can then begin to build up the party from the grassroots, and in four or eight years from hence, it will gradually become a force to reckon with in Nigeria. It took quite some time to break up the East. It will take as much time for the East to begin to pick up the pieces all over again. With 36 states in Nigeria today, however, and with the old East totally separated from the Calabar Ogoja and the River State axis, things will never be the same again for the old East or any of the tripods making up Nigeria. That one is clear.

The Ikemba with his political stature, eloquence and organizational ability has begun to use the APGA to build some cohesion and solidarity among the Igbos of Nigeria. Ikemba is clearly saying the Igbos must never again play the second fiddle in Nigeria and if they are going to do it, it has to be at their own terms, leaving them an elbow room, to opt out, if they feel their interest is not being adequately served, just like it was when Zik used to describe himself as the beautiful bride of Nigerian Politics. I see a lot of sense in what the Ikemba is doing, and nobody does it better. His goal is not becoming the President of Nigeria come next April. His ultimate goal is repositioning the South East, and giving her back some of the clout and leverage she has once enjoyed in the political equation of Nigeria as time goes on. I also believe he can do it. He does not care if he loses this second battle which he certainly will, but he, surely, wants Ndigbo to definitely win the War, in his life time. I could be wrong. That is my premonition. I rest my case.