February 28 – March 6, 2011

At a cultural level, there really appears to be no set of core values Igbos ascribe to, that defines them and which they hold sacrosanct. That would explain why any uppity young man who wangles his way into wealth assumes leadership positions. As I often say to people, in the house of the average Northerner, the television channel is likely to be tuned to Al Jazeera, while his newspaper of choice would be Daily Trust and Leadership. Of course, every Yoruba man reads Punch, Nation, Tribune, Compass, etc. What does the Igbo man read? Ask yourself, which TV station does he watch? The last I heard is that Champion Newspaper, for long the only Igbo-centric newspaper, may have been sold to a non-Igbo! Which churches do Igbos worship in? Apart from the Celestial Church of Christ, Cherubim and Seraphim, etc., all the dominant Pentecostal churches are owned by the Yoruba. And yet, the Christian population of the Southwest is just about 50% of the Southeast. Have you ever thought about it? Ask yourself, why is it that no Igbo-owned church has succeeded nationally, especially with so many Igbos as Christians? And also, ask yourself, how many non-Igbos attend churches owned by Igbos? And now let me think the unthinkable: do you think there will be an Igbo General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church before there will be an Igbo President of Nigeria? Ha! Ha!! Ha!!!

The sad reality is that Igbos are marginal players in Nigeria today and it is not because they are marginalized or that the Federal Government discriminates against them as many of them tend to believe. No. Rather, it is because they do not like themselves, they tend to prefer others and subscribe to other values, they do not value themselves very highly, they do not believe in themselves, they have no sense of real being as a distinct cultural group, they are indifferent to the logic of human existence, which is underpinned by cultural uniqueness. Procreation is a credible natural phenomenon because it promotes and indeed ensures the continuation of species. It is procreation that validates the logic of group identity.

Different species cohere. But by not doing so, by pursuing and promoting individualism, the Igbo has jeopardized the continuation of its species as a distinct cultural being. My summation therefore, as sad and as shocking and as unbelievable as it may be to some people, is that whereas the Igbo does not see the need for group identity, whereas they do not invest in the promotion of their own culture and worldview, and whereas their individualism has breached natural standards, they are doomed to extinction as a credible ethnic nationality, first in power terms and later even as a culturally distinct group.

There is hardly any ethnic nationality in the history of the world which in peace time has faced the crisis Igbos are facing. Not the Jews, not the Turks, not the Gypsies, not African Americans, etc. If anyone knows, please let him tell me!

In 2000, while I served as a Special Adviser to Governor Orji Kalu, we attended the Ohaneze political conference in Enugu which was attended by virtually every prominent Igbo political leader alive, except Chief Emeka Ojukwu. Everyone else—Ekwueme, Ukiwe, Kanu, all the Governors, all the Ministers, all the Senators including former and serving Senate Presidents and all prominent former public officials at state and federal levels—were there. In the hall, I noticed something very strange which should shock every Igbo man and woman, something which confirmed to me the sheer hopelessness of the Igbo situation. That day was exactly the 30th anniversary of the end of the civil war, a war reckoned to be one of the most atrocious in African history, a war which is easily the most traumatic event in Igbo history. Yet, no one, not any of the potentates in that hall, which included former Biafran combatants, remembered! I had remembered and duly put it in Governor Kalu’s now famous speech, “A Wake Up Call to the Igbo.” When Kalu asked everyone to stand up and observe a minute’s silence in memory of the war dead, a cry of anguish rent the air. “Oh God, it is true o!” people cried. They had forgotten! Can you believe that?

My friend and colleague here, Iheanyi Ejiofor, is convinced that Igbos will rise again, conceding that they are down now. He believes that what Igbos need is leadership. He wants me to say so. But I disagree. The prospects of the Igbo rising again in the sense Iheanyi meant it are remote and almost non-existent. Will there continue to be successful Igbos in Nigeria and elsewhere? Why not! But will such individuals be conscious of any overt Igbo ethnic identity? No. Will an Igbo man one day be President of Nigeria? Certainly! But will he really be Igbo? That is the big question. By then, there will be hardly any Igbo in Nigeria, if by Igbo we mean people of a distinct and unique cultural identity and consciousness. An assertive Igbo, reminiscent of the First Republic, is hardly possible anymore. What is even more likely, as impossible as it may seem now, is another civil war in which Igbos will either be the aggressors or victims. Also, as unlikely as it may seem now, Lagos is more of a flashpoint than even the North. The reason is simple: Igbos in the North, perhaps burdened by history, do not really see it as home. But Igbos in Lagos increasingly see it as home.

With a burgeoning population that is threatening to overtake the Yoruba, the Igbo situation in Lagos is becoming increasingly precarious. For now, the danger this poses is not obvious yet. Many of us still see an Igbo homeland where we are affiliated to and even visit occasionally. But in thirty, forty years, when our children born and bred in Lagos have grown up, where will they consider home? When they seek to serve their fatherland and are told they can’t because they are not Lagosians and yet they can’t return East because they have been uprooted, where will they go? What will they do? I wish Prof. Anya O. Anya can tell me! In all history, a conflict often develops anytime settlers begin to outnumber indigenes. So, watch out!

The Igbo is almost incapable of producing the type of leadership Iheanyi Ejiofor desperately wishes will change the fortunes of his beleaguered people, for perhaps obvious reasons. The leadership class in the Southeast is detached, insular and lacking in ideological commitments. The porous Igbo cultural system does not inspire any commitment to an Igbo worldview that is all-embracing. Materialism is the prevailing value system. Sadly, in the case of the Igbo, the materialists have tended to be people of questionable social pedigree, individuals who actually emerged as leaders on the strength of their work as agents, saboteurs (in Biafra speak) and political hirelings. So how can they fight for the Igbo? Remember Orji Uzor Kalu, who merely postured for a season before reverting to his true character.

Two of the prominent political parties founded by the Igbo reflect the sad reality of the Igbo today. APGA and PPA are facing extinction. You should also ask yourself: how many non-Igbos are members of PPA and APGA? Compare these two parties to ANPP, CPC, ACN and you will begin to understand.

For Igbo youths, most of whom are agitated, the sad reality is that you are an endangered species. Your future is in jeopardy. You are condemned to a life of hustling on the margins. Your chances of having a meaningful life in the formal sector have been severely circumscribed. To mainstream Nigeria, you are merely a passenger. Even the Southern minorities now look down on you and affect a superiority complex over you. At any rate, in Uyo, Yenogoa, Port Harcourt, Calabar, etc., they prefer everyone else to you! And that is the bitter truth.

Your perennial hustle to survive grates on their nerves and exposes their insecurities. Indeed, you have a challenging life ahead of you. But you must persevere. Forget the false allure of petty trading. Go to school. You can even engage in business afterwards. But heed the Bible: in all your getting, please get knowledge. Then of course, trust in God, because as Chief Marc Wabara and Elder Mrs. Inyang Anya said, “God will not allow Igbo suffering to last forever.”