IGBOS HAVE NOT DEVELOPED REAL LOVE
Ide ju Ogwugwu
Saturday, May 08, 1999
Igbos have not developed real love for themselves - Anah.
Interview by Ebere Ahanihu
AS the May 29 date for the military to relinquish power to civilians draws
nearer, one political office being hotly contested, is that of the Senate
president.
It should not be surprising, because, after the position of the president
and that of the vice-president, the seat of the Senate president is the
third most important.
For now, the contest is clearly between the political zones of South-East
and North-West. And the ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP),
appears to have found itself in a quagmire over which of the two zones
should produce the Senate president.
Down in the South-East, the situation is replicated between those of the
states in the old Imo and Anambra states. Everyone wants the plum job.
These were the issues The Guardian On Saturday took up with Senator
Nathaniel Anah in his GRA, Onitsha, Law office in Anambra State, recently.
Anah has been a regular feature in politics, right from the First Republic,
as a front bencher in parliament and a senator in the defunct Second
Republic, and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate.
In this interview, he gave the thumb down for politicians from the
South-East, but spoke with optimism, when he said the Igbos will wear an
entirely new look in no distant future. Excerpts:
There appears to be a stiff competition between the North-West and the
South-East for the seat of the Senate president. Looking at the sharing of
offices, what do you think should be the position of the party?
My strong appeal to the PDP's National Executive, in the interest of peace
and stability in the party, and, indeed, in the country, is to zone the
Senate presidency to the South-East. That will be a fair consideration for
their missing the presidency at the PDP's Jos convention. It goes without
saying, that the PDP was formed by a South-eastener in the person of Dr.
Elex Ekwueme. No Nigerian, apart from him, would have been able to get
Nigerians of all walks of life, different faiths and religions, to come
together under the umbrella of G-34, which later metamorphosed into the PDP.
That was made possible by his credibility, his honesty of purpose and, above
all, his outspokenness and forthrightness on national issues.
We must appreciate the fact that he risked his life, at a time when it was
extremely dangerous to tell the late Gen. Sani Abacha that what he was doing
was wrong.
Above all, he was a sportsman who, immediately after the Jos convention,
conceded and embraced his opponent. Such a gesture is rare in Nigerian
politics.
It will, therefore be fair and just to zone the next highest position of
Senate presidency to the South-East, which is his own zone. That will
promote better understanding and heal the wounds afflicted during the Jos
convention.
I, therefore, appeal to our northern brothers to sink whatever ambition they
may be nursing and concede the Senate presidency to the South-East. I
whole-heartedly support the plum office of the speaker of the House of
Representatives going to the North-west. This will balance the equation.
Even the senators-elect from the South-East are not helping matters. There
is now a division between those from the old Imo and old Anambra states.
Don't you think this division may have encouraged those from the North-West
to bid for the Senate job?
My next appeal is to the senators-elect from the South-East to bury the
hatchet and come together in peace and harmony to select, with one voice,
the person ideal for the Senate president, so as not to let senators from
other zones begin to eye the office.
Let them not repeat their mistakes in the primaries of the presidential
candidate. It was their lack of unity and political disorientation that made
them loose the primaries. Twice beaten, thrice shy, shall be their
watchword.
In the build-up leading to the Jos convention, politicians from the
South-East, as you pointed out, lacked vision and focus. What do you think
was responsible for this attitude?
What was responsible for that was that most of them were bought over and
they lost their original visions, which they had fashioned at the Modotel
Hotel, Enugu, where Ekwueme, having assumed leadership role of the PDP,
called all of them together to join hands to achieve a common goal.
No sooner had this been done, than they were bought over and were given many
promises. So, those of them who stood as presidential aspirants were, in all
intents and purposes, not serious. In fact, they were spoilers, as events
later showed.
Why was it easy to buy over politicians from the South-East than those from
the other zones?
The Igboman loves money and can easily be bought over with money. We Igbos
know that we can easily be disorganised with money.
But now, we are trying, after all our mistakes, which we are now regretting,
to regroup ourselves and have an entirely new culture to come together and
embrace a common policy.
Why should the Igboman be ready to sell his birth-right for money? Is it in
his nature? Why is it so?
Quite frankly, I will say that, like Shakespeare, the fault is not in
ourselves, but in our stars.
It is for us now, to shake-off this yoke of greed for money and think of the
Igbo nation. The Afenifere in the South-West are prepared to die for a cause
which they believe in, without looking at money.
Now, the Igbos are meeting seriously, through various Igbo organisations
like Ohanaze, Ikenga and others.
But these organisations you have mentioned were there in the beginning...
There are new organisations which are being formed to make sure that our
paramount consideration in everything we do, is the welfare of the Igbos and
that money should not dislodge them from taking care of the interest of the
Igbos.
Even Igbo students in some universities, within and outside the country, are
meeting to curb the excesses of our greed for money and I am sure that, in
no distant time, the Igbos will wear an entirely new look.
One of the faults which the younger generation of politicians hold against
the older ones from this area, is their penchant to under-cut one another,
when the chips are down at the national level. Don't you think this is at
the roots of all these problems?
The Igbos have not developed real love for themselves. It could be as a
result of personality clash.
An Iboman will prefer to concede a position to a person of different ethnic
group rather than to his own brother. This is because of lack of love for
ourselves.
It could be traced back to the days of the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the
late Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe. During this period, Zik and Mbadiwe would not see eye
to eye. That divided the Igbos and it took them a very long time before a
reconciliation could be effected.
If you look beyond the South-East to the South-South, the old political
disagreement during the time between Zik, (Dr. Michael) Okpara and Prof. Eyo
Ita, divided the former Eastern Region.
At a time, it was said that because of this disagreement, the South-South
did not vote for the NCNC and Okpara got so annoyed, went there and removed
all the amenities which the Eastern Region government made available to the
now South-South Zone and that embittered the people. Uptill now, they still
have reminiscences of those acrimonious days.
But a new generation from South-East and South-South, is now asking that all
those disagreements should be kept behind us, so that we may come together
as a strong, united and viable South-eastern block.`
But now, we are trying, after all our mistakes, which we are now regretting,
to regroup ourselves and have an entirely new culture to come together and
embrace a common policy.
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