Our recent trip to Onitsha, during which we worshipped with the traders, was somewhat impromptu as well as traditional. I have worshipped with traders on a number of occasions at different markets across the country. On each of these occasions, it has always been a delightful and inspiring experience as we sang and prayed together. The latest outing in Onitsha outing was nothing comparable to what transpired when I visited the same market in the course of my 2007 presidential electioneering. The crowd at Ariaria Main Market, Aba, when our campaign team visited in 2007 was simply amazing.
The truth is that I have a special bonding with traders anywhere in the world. Apart from being a trader myself, I have always stood by them whenever the need arises. A number of traders have benefited from my empowerment programmes long before I ventured into politics. So, they know what holds us together.
What happened at Onitsha Main Market a fortnight ago was arresting! It was a time well-spent as the traders poured out their hearts to receive the good news of the Kingdom and offer themselves totally to the direction and protection of God.
Let me ask: who else could have done for the traders what the good Lord has done for them all these years? They trusted in the Lord in their times of need and he did not disappoint them. So, they have found in him a Messiah, a Healer, a Provider, a Protector, a Benefactor, a Redeemer, and a God who does not fail. The progress the traders have made and the ease with which they have surmounted near-impossible and frightening circumstances are all attributable to their undying faith and trust in God. Would anybody believe that some of the traders have witnessed over three fire incidents in the market and have yet lived to tell the story? The Onitsha traders are a case-study in resilience and commitment.
Interestingly also, the traders understood quite early in the day the need to imbibe righteousness, because righteousness exalts a nation and sin a reproach. They grow from strength to strength daily – demystifying their impediments by their unqualified faith. By their singular faith God has continued to grant them uncommon favours.
For the benefit of Femi and others (who are coming or beginning to understand the complexities of Igbo) the Igbo Nation is a study in mystery. It is beyond what anybody can aptly capture or describe in a newspaper article.
Femi was right to say that Igbo went to war with cudgels and sticks, but it was a bit an understatement. Agreed Igbo went to war ill-prepared; nevertheless, they were mentally and psychologically ready for the trauma and sufferings that were to come. Indeed, Igbo knew quite well from the onset that it was going to be a daunting task embarking on a war without sophisticated equipment or ammunition. But the exigencies of that time made it inevitable for them to fight to avoid being annihilated. And so, it seemed they went to war unprepared. Do not forget that the pogrom was going on in the north and Igbo were being brutally massacred at the time!
Nobody can actually tell why Igbo held on so tenaciously for three years, with barely nothing to confront the enormous might of the federal troops. But anybody conversant with the tenacity and versatility of Igbo would not be surprised that they withstood the fire-power of the federal troops for as long as they did.
It is needless stating here the atrocities meted out to Igbo during the war, because that is not the focus of this article. Otherwise Femi would not only weep for our people, but for Nigeria – where injustice and hatred have been allowed to flourish. The most apt way to capture this sordid experience is to simply state that Igbo went through hell.
An average Igbo man or woman has pride, which makes him not to accept failure, no matter the circumstance. We fought the war with sticks and cudgels quite all right as Femi has unambiguously posited, because we believed that the cause we were fighting was just and that the God of justice would see us through. And he did. That was sheer conviction. Once Igbo believe in a cause they go all out for it. This probably accounts for why at every election their support plays the changer-role.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and other Igbo of his ilk fought for Nigeria’s independence based on conviction. Zik, in particular, sacrificed his paying job in the United States to join the struggle for Nigeria’s independence. He gave it all he had, including his resources. He was an accomplished strategist and he utilised his God-given talent to make the struggle a huge success. Despite the strategic position he occupied in the struggle, for which the British reposed enormous confidence in him, Zik remained simple, patriotic and unassuming. Though an Igbo, he exhibited Pan-African tendencies in all that he did.
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General and President, paved the way for Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to become Prime Minister when he had all the chance in this world to dump him. He stood by him till his last day. Shehu Shagari became President through the instrumentality of Igbo. It was the same support they offered to Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 respectively, and Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. Indeed, it is this openheartedness that God has always rewarded by making things turn around for them.
Though I loved the dramatization that Femi did of the crudeness of the weaponry Igbo used to prosecute the civil war, I will make haste to state that the weapons we used went beyond ordinary sticks and cudgels. Remember that Biafra’s Army Engineering Corps could rank among the most creative and courageous in the world. Out of nothing they created armaments that sent cold jitters through the spines of the enemy troops. Could the impact of the Biafran Ogbunigwe (locally fabricated mine) and the widespread havoc it caused at Abagana Sector during the hostilities have been underestimated? There were other ammunitions the Biafra Engineering Corps produced that aided the survival of Igbo. However, it is on record that the same Biafra Engineering Corps refined its own petroleum products from ordinary palm oil and with it powered its heavy-duty artillery and vehicles.
The rugged spirits of Igbo actually came to the fore during the war. They innovated, experimented and designed all kinds of equipment and machinery to aid their survival. Unfortunately, the ingenuity of members of Igbo engineers and intelligentsia has been allowed to waste. I had expected the federal government to have tapped into these intellectual and creative resources to drive our science and technology vision.
Let me make some attempt to relieve Femi of his amazement over the surviving secrets of the Igbo Nation. Before doing so, it would be fine to point out at this juncture, that Igbo have no particular survival secret(s). What we have are surviving strategies anchored on unwavering faith in God and believe in our abilities. And they have seen us through many pitfalls in the past. To survive in a complex environment as ours requires tact and diplomacy. Contrary to the insinuation that Igbo can do anything to survive, what Igbo have are tenacity and unyielding courage. Every Igbo child is born with this trait. They are usually focused and undeterred in the pursuit of what is right, just and equitable. Igbo are not treacherous as some critics wickedly imply. They believe in agreements and can go to any length to defend the oppressed. What many critics have erroneously called treachery are actually stridence and manoeuverability. Like the leopard, whose back cannot touch the ground, Igbo can survive under perilous conditions unfazed.
Igbo are as well adventurous. This is why they are fondly referred to as the salt of the earth. There is no part of the world you cannot find Igbo. From east to west, north to south of the globe they are there doing what they know best: business. Igbo live like the Jews (in fact, they are generally believed to have descended from the tribe of Gat). No wonder they possess the raw courage and indomitable spirits of the Israelites. Like the Jews they drive the economies of the United States and United Kingdom and other nations of the world where they reside.
Though they are a people many have loved to hate Igbo are still reliable, trustworthy and pragmatic. In other words: they are goal-getters. This is why I view it as nonsensical when critics allude that Igbo cannot be trusted with the Presidency of Nigeria. Which tribe could do it better than Igbo? With due respect to other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, Igbo remain the best for the office.
It is for this reason that I think Igbo should have a shot at the presidency after President Goodluck Jonathan has completed his tenure. All the noise about no victor, no vanquished can only make sense to me when this has been achieved. How can Igbo be shut out of the presidency and yet people believe the war has ended? The wounds of the war would heal the day an Igbo assumes office as President.
Believe me: most of the problems besetting our nation are products of inequity and injustice. There are certainly some positions Igbo are forbidden to hold since the war ended. Does this show equity? As the single largest ethnic grouping in Nigeria, Igbo have the capacity to deliver on any assignment given to it. They have demonstrated this commitment in the past through their steadfastness in the execution of delicate responsibilities given to them. I wrote in this column once that the ascendancy of Igbo to the Presidency would usher in a new era for Nigeria. Forget about the undue and biased sentiments being expressed in some quarters, Igbo have been anointed by God to transform Nigeria.
It is their faith in God that has also sustained them all along. That was the aspect of the secrets that Femi saw in Onitsha. But let me ask Femi: Did you not observe that almost 99 per cent of Igbo are Christians? Paganism and idolatry are gradually giving way to Christianity in the entire Igbo nation. Large and fearful forests, which used to be the abodes of deign gods and all kinds of infernal spirits, have been transformed into churches and schools. Curiously, they still exist in other parts of the country in quantum.
The prayerfulness of Igbo is another lesson in faith. They pray ceaselessly as instructed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus, so that they do not fall into temptation. It is also this aspect that Femi saw in Onitsha. It is not strange to see such sites across Igbo land.
Sorry for my immodesty: let me ask this question: what will happen if Igbo were to leave their present places of abode and return home? I know some critics would say something like: it does not really matter after all they are not the only people in Nigeria. That is true, but not as simplistic as it sounds. If the truth be told: Igbo are critical and central to the survival of the Nigerian nation. Events in the past have since reinforced this conclusion. Those who think otherwise do so out of sheer envy.
What again I love so much about Igbo (forget the fact I am one) is their willingness to accommodate and take wherever they reside as their home. May be this has brought untold hardship on them and exposed them to constant intimidation and harassment by their hosts.
Despite the killing of Igbo and all kinds of threats to their lives where they reside and do business they have soldiered on unstoppably. Is it too much to ask then that they be given their rightful place in the scheme of things? For close to 60 years after Nigeria’s independence Igbo still struggle to produce a Nigerian president of their extraction. That to me is the height of injustice. They were able to produce another Chief of Army Staff after General JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi 45 years after.
It has to be unequivocally placed on record here that it is always counterproductive to do anything uncharitable against Igbo. This is because their God will always fight for them. This certainly is the real secret why Igbo have survived under very hostile conditions in Nigeria.
I think Femi and others who have seemingly discovered the secrets of the Igbo Nation should undertake further work to document the injustices done against Igbo and the need to pay them reparation as demanded by Ohaneze Ndigbo. Even the amount the Igbo socio-cultural organization is asking for (2.4 trillion naira) is child’s play compared to what they have been made to go through in a nation their forbears laid down their lives to found. To me, it goes beyond money. I am more interested in the place of Igbo in the nation’s socio-political equation than in ordinary pecuniary settlement. If you give Igbo all the money in the world and they are not equitably and respectably treated then the money means nothing to us.
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