…Says Nigeria Living Under Borrowed Time
Father of African Philosophy, Emeritus Professor Uzodinma T. Nwala, founding President of a pressure group, the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), is a core Igbo patriot before being a Nigerian nationalist, and owes no apology for that. In this interview with TONY ADIBE of NewsBitsng.com, he spoke on contemporary and historical verifiable issues which you probably haven’t heard or read before. Excerpts:
ADF will be celebrating its 10th anniversary any time from now. How has the experience been since the last time years?
I think the most important thing from where to begin is dealing with the question: Why ADF? There are several things one can say about why we devoted our time, energy in building this platform over the last decade. But it is better and more important to start from the very moment we had that great urge to set up this kind of platform. One wouldn’t really appreciate why we got involved unless one is a student of Igbo history right from the period of amalgamation to the civil war and to where we are today.
I think my generation is in best position to key into the search for a solution to the Igbo predicament because we grew up in an era where we saw the challenges of nationhood of what we call Nigeria. We also began to learn some colonial history of how Nigeria came about. We are also familiar with the challenges before the coup, we were fully conscious of, and also events of Biafra.
Those of us at Nsukka had one peculiar advantage over our compatriots, except those who were either in the Zikist Movement, Labour Movement and so on. When I say those of us, I mean those who schooled at University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) particularly in the 1960s.
Nsukka as you know was a beehive for pan-Africanism or African nationalism. Also, Nsukka was a beehive of the independence struggle for Nigeria. The doyen of it was Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and many of his compatriots – those who were in his Zikist Movement – those who agreed with him, and those who didn’t quite agree with his methods. But Nsukka itself as an institution mellowed so much in terms of the spirit of the age. When you come to pan-Africanism, it is in Nsukka that you get a feel of what it was. When you talk of Nigerian nationalism, it was also at Nsukka. The whole environment exhibited the spirit of pan-Africanism, not only in the express philosophy of the it but also in the infrastructure in the area.
Look at the hostels in Nsukka; there is Kwameh Nkrumah Hostel. You have Haile Sellesia Hostel. You have Ahmadu Bello Hostel. There is Tafawa Balewa Hostel. You have Eni Njoku, Margret Ekpo, Akpabio Hostels and all of them. That’s the feel for Nigerian nationalism and also the feel for pan-Africanism.
So, that is Nsukka for you. Now, when you look at Nsukka and the spirit that it exuded so the Nsukka environment was a great environment; political, social and otherwise. Now, when you look at Nsukka and look at the infrastructure of the place, you can’t help to feel like a pan-Africanist. You can’t help but to feel like a Nigerian nationalist. That is the background in which we grew up, and that is the background in which many of my generation grew up; so that is what I can say when you want to know about the spirit of the age in which we grew up.
Now, linking it to ADF, why ADF?
Well, as I said, we saw it all from the struggle for independence and from the crisis of nationhood; what Azikiwe and co underwent in the hand of the colonial authorities; the crises – party conflicts and confrontations; the confrontations between the Azikiwe group, Awolowo group and the Ahmadu Bello group, up to independence and post-independence crisis; the election crisis of 1962; the western Nigeria crisis and the election crisis and then the military coup.
Do you mean the Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu coup?
Well, do you call it Nzeogwu coup? He was the leader. But when you look at that coup, if it is to be called anybody’s coup, it’s Awolowo coup because the aim of the coup plotters was to release Awolowo from Calabar prison and install him Prime Minister of Nigeria. That was the simple objective of that coup. Nzeogwu came into it because he was a charismatic leader.
The key people – forces behind the formation of the coup were Adewale Ademoyega, Victor Banjo and others, even Wole Soyinka and others; these were all the forces that were there; so up to the civil war, many of us saw it all. After the coup, all that took place and the civil war; until we got to the point we saw it all during the civil war; all that the Igbos went through; we also got involved in the effort to see whether we can recreate Nigeria; what you call today the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) was initiated by the youths of Alaigbo in an effort to see whether we can have a new beginning; a new orientation; whether we can have a formular to enhance national integration. But all these efforts continued to yield little or nothing. The Nigerian Federation has really proved like a Golgotha for the Igbos. The nation has failed to cohabit and the greatest victims of it all are the Igbos.
So, at a certain point, the Igbo predicament became central in our thinking, in our concern. The question then is what to do? And we started searching the pages of history to see whether there is any lesson we can learn from the history of the various nations on earth. And one of the areas that struck us was Israel.
It did appear to us that the Igbos are like the Israelis, or the Israelites are like the Igbos; highly talented, highly gifted all over the whole world. But for one reason or the other, they became the weeping child of the world. And we realized that at the point we were doing this, Israelis had come to stabilize to become a major force in the world. And we say to ourselves, it is possible for the Igbos to follow the footsteps of the Israelis and become a major factor in the global system.
One of the things that struck us again was the role of the Israeli intelligentsia, what they called Israeli Literati; that included many of their Prophets, many of their clergy, many of their scientists, many of their diplomats and so on and so forth. I remember that the world-renowned man they call Albert Einstein was a member of the Israeli Literati.
So, we felt that Igbos are all over the world, also; and they have dedicated intellectuals; men of intelligence all over the whole world; that if we can begin to pull them together, we will be able to start moving steadily along the same course the Israelis moved. And eventually, the Igbo nation will become a major factor in the global system. At this point, we had done two things: one, we had taken part in the global celebration of “Things Fall Apart” – the 50th anniversary of “Things Fall Apart”. We organized our people to join. We got our people mobilized for the global celebration of “Things Fall Apart” the masterpiece written by Chinua Achebe.
So, the totality of these thoughts snowballed into the founding of ADF?
Yes. Yes. Yes. First, that conference on “The Igbo Civilization”, then after we now came into the conference on “The Igbo Question in Nigeria”. This was in 2014; the conference that brought in over 2,500 people from all over the whole world, and for two, three days, we were in Enugu communing among ourselves, by your right is the outcome of that conference “Igbo Nation: History And Challenges of Rebirth and Development” volumes 1 & 2. It was from there we moved on, and we had done quite a lot of things in the process.
One of the areas that also struck us is in terms of stabilizing the Igbo society. We realized that a lot was achieved during the Okpara and Azikiwe era. When we took tour of Alaigbo to see how we can key into that trajectory of Okpara/Azikiwe era. The name we gave the whole organization is Ala-Igbo Development Foundation, and for the last ten years, we have done quite a lot.
Done quite a lot? Can you give an example?
As I said when you read this two-volume book – “The Igbo Nation: History And Challenges of Rebirth And Development” – somebody described the book as the QED; everything you want to know about the Igbo, their history, economy, culture, politics, their affairs, their dreams of tomorrow – you find the answer in the book. And we brought together some of the key Igbo intellectuals; people like Prof. Adiele Afigbo, even though he submitted his paper and died thereafter – Adiele Afoigbo; Chinweizu; Kalu Idika Kalu was there; is an assemblage of who is who among Igbo intellectuals. So, all of us were there. Then after that we decided we are going to set up an Igbo organization for the realization of the goals. That’s how the idea came about. And what was our vision, our mission?
We called it Ala-Igbo Development Foundation, and what was our vision? Our vision is the rebuilding and development of Igbo nation, and the rebirth and advancement of the spirit of her culture and civilization; to place Igbo nation as a major player in the global system. That was our ambition. And since then we’ve done quite a lot.
We have looked at the socio-economic life of the Igbo nation. What you call today “Aku Ruo Ulo” was initiated by ADF. And in promoting it we had a conference in Abuja, Enugu, Awka, Lagos and other places to reach out to Igbo people investors. We discovered during our tour of Igbo land that Igbo wealth, if it is 100%, over 70% was abroad – outside Igbo land. And we started asking our people to come and invest at home.
We had several challenges, also in the course of this thing. Of course, within this period that the Igbos had a quit notice from the northern youths supported by their leaders; and in response to that we took a petition to the United Nations, and copied the American Congress. During the Nigerian Army Python Dance that followed the attack on Nnamdi Kalu home, the ADF went to court to sue the federal government of Nigeria and the Nigerian military. During the Open Grazing Bill, ADF fought it squarely at the national assembly. We’ve done quite a lot, really.
In terms of economic development, we’ve taken a tour of Ala-Igbo, and what struck us was how the Igbos missed out – that developmental trajectory initiated by Azikiwe and Okpara. And ADF has been working hard to re-link the Igbo society and that era in our history.
ADF’S Several Encounters With Peter Obi
And it was at that point that we came in contact with Mr. Peter Obi, the former Anambra State Governor, who was my student in Nsukka, but that’s not the cause of our relationship. The cause of our relationship was when World Igbo Congress came to have a programme in Nigeria, and ADF had to facilitate it. In the course of discussions, somebody mentioned what Peter Obi had done in Anambra State.
Our other encounter with Peter Obi was when Chinua Achebe died, and he had also assigned me the task of organizing his burial ceremony. I got in touch with Peter Obi, Ohanaeze and the federal government. And in the course of that, we came very close even before Achebe died, during the colloquium for the celebration of “Things Fall Apart”, Peter Obi was very active. He affected the Igbo patriots who organized that programme. So, when we now had the industrial tour to see how we can re-jig Ala-Igbo development, Peter Obi was now at Ukpor Nnewi in the house of Chief Mbazulike Amechi (The Boy Is Good).
He is late now; from there to Innoson Industries at Nnewi, from there to Onitsha. And all we heard along the way was Mbazulike Amechi telling us brother, thank Peter Obi for me. The car you see there was the car he bought for me and my colleagues by the time he was governor. When we came to Nnewi, Innoson (Innocent Chukwuma) said my brother, please thank Peter Obi, if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have seen what you saw here. He gave me a contract of N5billion to mass produce cars for institutions in Anambra State, which I finished in advance, and he gave me another one. When we came to Onitsha, the owner of one of the biggest furniture manufacturing companies there said to us thank Peter Obi for me.
When he was governor, he gave me contract to produce furniture for institutions and so on and so forth. And somebody said again thank Peter Obi for me. When my goods were seized at Lagos International Airport, I told Peter Obi, and Peter Obi flew to Lagos and got President Goodluck Jonathan to order my goods to be released to me. So we felt that the chap who had that type of orientation and acumen; if he was playing a role at the federal level, our lives wouldn’t be what it is; that’s why we (ADF) supported him when Atiku Abubakar nominated him as his VP or running mate, and we also supported him during the last (2023) general elections as the Labour Party Presidential candidate. So, ADF has done quite a lot, quite a lot really.
We did intervene in the case of Chief Cletus Ibeto whose containers of cement were seized by the Nigeria Customs. And we intervened in many other cases, you know. So, there we are…(To be continued)
