By Iliyasu Gadu

These are unsettling times both locally and abroad for Ndigbo, one of Nigeria’s prominent ethnic nationalities and an important leg in the country’s tripodal ethno-political structure.

A couple of weeks ago, there were protests in neighbouring Ghana calling on Nigerians resident in that country to go. The ruckus was in connection with a young Igbo businessman resident in Ghana who had purchased acres of land with the intention of building what he termed as ‘’Igbo Kingdom.’’ And the outrage reached a fever pitch which necessitated diplomatic intervention to douse and prevent it from becoming a full-scale issue of contention between Nigeria and Ghana.

On the internet, there was a viral video of a young Igbo man being denied entry into Pakistan by Immigration officials of that country despite his visa and entry requirements being okay. Some people used the video to make disparaging comments on the Igbos as the main culprits in Nigeria’s poor image and perception abroad.

Back home in Nigeria, Igbos and Nigerians generally have had cause to feel concerned at developments in Lagos State where properties and business premises belonging to Igbos have either been sealed up or demolished for the convenient reason of non-compliance with due process in establishing them. This in addition to the renaming of public places which names of prominent Igbo personalities.

Yet, in stunning contrast to the negativity being heaped on Igbos, in the space of  two weeks back to back, Igbos were seen prominently involved in the victory recorded by Nigeria in the Women African Football Cup of Nations (WAFCON) and the Afro Basket competitions in Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire respectively.

I was watching the reception ceremony of the victorious Nigerian female Basketball team in a relaxation joint and two tables away from me were some Igbo young men in exuberant celebration. They were not just celebrating Nigeria’s victory; more than that, they were celebrating the fact that among the team Igbo girls made up the majority. They kept shouting ‘’Igbo Amaka!’’ and ‘’Igbo Kwenu!’’ and fascinated, I approached one of them and sought to know from him the reason for the apparent over enthusiastic celebration.

‘’Oga, we Igbos are being abused and discriminated left, right and centre in this country as evil people’’ he said breathlessly. ‘’But look at what is happening. Igbo girls have brought glory to Nigeria and Igbos are developing the country and what we get in return are insults’’.  He then added ‘’Look at what they are doing to Peter Obi the man that has the solution to Nigeria’s problems. They are denying him the chance to rule Nigeria. We Igbos are denied everything in Nigeria yet the country cannot progress without us.’’ 

The statements of the young Igbo man obviously touched on a raw nerve in the present political happenings in the country.

Peter Gregory Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and Presidential candidate in 2023 elections under the Labour Party (LP) is arguably the most trending political figure in the country in the country. Nigerians of all walks of life have invested a lot of comments in his persona for good or ill such that it is well- nigh impossible to ignore him as one of the central figures in the current political calculations in the country.

In getting to the brass tacks about Peter Obi, for starters we need to look at his political stock value in his native Igbo land. That way we can determine whether Peter Obi is the best political figure that the Igbo ethnic nationality offer to Nigeria or whether he is as some people even within Igbo land consider as a pretender and a vacuous personality full of ‘’fizz and no gin.’’

From the trend of opinions on him, Peter Obi obviously enjoys a wide and near fanatical following among the rank and file and the Intelligentsia in Igbo land. He is seen in many respects as the embodiment of Igbo political interests and the man to right the perceived wrongs that Igbos feel the Nigerian state has subjected, and are still subjecting them in the country. In this regard, Peter Obi is pretty much what late President Muhammadu Buhari was to Northern Nigeria.

But just as Obi registers quite positively in the minds of Igbos generally, in the reckoning of a well-connected, powerful few who can make the difference by their influence and reach in Igboland, he is a usurper who enjoys a status that he is not worthy of. Among these set of people obviously by his statements and disposition is the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo. Also, I do not think that beyond Alex Otti the Governor of Abia State, there are precious few elected federal political figures from Igboland that can count as whole heartedly standing with Obi.

But then, this neither new nor peculiar to Igbo land. I vividly recall that years ago at the Orientation Camp at Auchi Polytechnic during my National Service in the then Bendel State, I  keenly watched two Corpers of Igbo extraction having an animated discussion on the bitterness that followed the sharing of assets between the former East Central state which had been split into Anambra and Imo States. In the robust exchanges between the two Igbo Corpers who were obviously of Anambra and Imo origins, another Igbo guy admonished them to stop the bickering as it was capable of giving Igbos an unsavoury reputation in a camp made up of young men from all over Nigeria.

In what has now become etched permanently in my mind, the two quarrelling Igbo Corpers turned on the ‘’peacemaker’’ and vehemently asked him to shut up. They both upbraided him for ‘’interfering’’ in Igbo matters as in their reasoning being a ‘’Bendel Igbo’’ he was not ‘’proper Igbo’’ enough and hence should not be part of the conversation. I recall that in that set of national service was Ben Chuks Nwosu from Nnewi who later on in life became the short-lived Speaker of the Anambra House of Assembly. And when I narrated the incident I witnessed and asked for his explanation, his instructive answer was that Igbo’s were Republican in nature and as such to expect a consensus on any issue in Igbo land was impossible. He gave me the prominent examples of Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe and Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna among notable Igbos who vehemently disagreed with Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu on the declaration and conduct of the Biafran secession war as proof.  

While it is true that on matters of this nature we cannot expect a convergence by all groups in a given society or community, it must be admitted that based on empirically proven observation and experience, Igbos have given Nigerians concrete reasons to believe that in the pursuit of their individualist republican trajectory, they have very often proven to be their own worst enemies. Other Nigerians will not forget that during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration when the Senate Presidency was zoned to the South East, Igbos could not find a convergence point to sustain support for one Igbo person to stay on the seat for the entire duration of the Obasanjo presidency. One by one, in moves engineered by Igbo Senators and political personalities, Igbos contrived to impeach and replace the seating Senate Presidents of Igbo extraction until all we ended up having five Igbo Senate Presidents each representing the five Igbo states of the South East.

With these and other experiences, Nigerians are legitimately entitled to ask whether Peter Obi whom many Igbos regard as their best foot forward in the Nigerian political stakes, truly merits that description? (To be continued)             

*Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is a columnist with Daily Trust.  

Ilgad2009@gmail.com 08035355706 (Texts only)