Father of African Philosophy, Emeritus Professor Uzodinma Timothy Nwala, founding President of a pan-Igbo pressure group, the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), is an Igbo patriot and credible Nigerian statesman. In this second part of his interview with TONY ADIBE of NewsBitsng.com, he revealed how a nuclear scientist was contracted to mine with explosives premises of the High Court where Emeka Ojukwu planned to arraign the then Premier of Eastern Region of Nigeria, Dr. M.I. Okpara for alleged meddling with security votes, among other historical and contemporary issues. Excerpts:
What was the outcome of the case, which ADF instituted against the federal government and the Nigerian military following the said attack on Nnamdi Kanu’s Afara, Umuahia home by the military during Operation Python Dance?
Well, if I’m to answer that question, it will also land me on what we call the Green Book where we now ask ourselves what kind of future are we envisaging for the Igbo nation?. That case filed in Enugu and the judge who presided over that case was from Kano. And throughout the period he was trying it, the federal government didn’t show presence, but it didn’t bother him. The judge was like the attorney and at the end of the day, he dismissed the case. We went on appeal, and I’m not sure the appeal saw light of the day. What is the lesson? The lesson showed us that Nigeria is a most unnatural kind of political association. In fact, it has developed into that state of slavery for the Igbo nation.
Things were better during the first republic. We had our own educational system. The UNN was being run by the eastern Nigeria. The federal government didn’t have a hand in it. It was our own Embassies and Consulates abroad that were taking care of eastern Nigeria. We had our own security outfit. We had so many things that enhanced internal autonomy. The federal government only came at some level. But today, we’ve lost all that. Take election, for example. Take a democratic country you call democratic like America, for instance.
If you are running for president in America, the New York judiciary will decide whether you won there or not. There will be no judge coming from California, Washington to preside over the case. The electoral system in California will decide whether you won or not, same thing with the electoral system in New York, and Washington and so on and so forth. There was no overarching. So that shows you what Nigeria has become today. The basic minimum democratic element, we’ve lost it. It is a slave society, and no doubt why our youths call Nigeria a zoo for the Igbo nation.
So, this is why in the Green Book, we’ve advocated two things: The future we have envisaged for Ndigbo. We named the book after Muammar Gaddafi’s Green Book. In the Green Book, first of all, we traced the history of state formation globally. There was a time when we had empires – British Empire, Chinese Empire, French Empire, Russian Empire and so on. As time went on, those empires disintegrated. You then had what we called federations, which was like a collection of states. As time went on those federations had collapsed in small countries.
I heard that the Czechoslovakia federation broke into either nine states; about nine states came out of it. Russian empire broke into the states. So, the trend in the world – even in Africa, for example – we used to have East African Federation, but they are no longer there. What you have today are autonomous states of people of one language, one culture. That is the ideal state formation. So, Nigeria is an aberration. Nigeria is an aberration. It is also our conviction that eventually Nigeria will split into several states or nations, no matter what you do. Nigeria is just living under a borrowed time. Sooner or later, the Hausas will have their state; Yorubas will have their state; the Efik will have their state; Ijaws will have their state, Igbos will have their state. That is where we are going to.
However, one alternative towards that is where you can have autonomous zones like what you have in Arab Emirate. Here you have a collection of states of either four or five autonomous regions. Each of them; they have their own Head of Government, military, economy, justice system and so on and so forth. But they are only united by a titular Head, and that titular Head rotates among all of them, both the one that has one million and the one that is less than one million. That’s the only alternative. We in ADF are convinced that the future of Igbo nation lies in Alaigbo becoming an autonomous federal republic.
When you look at the way Nigeria has been operating over the years, right from the outset till today, one begins to wonder the possibility of such split?
Let’s digress a little bit. Is it going to be easy for those who seem to have a firm grip on the country to let go. Take for an example: General Ibrahim Babangida woke up one day and decided to register Nigeria in Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). His deputy, Commodore Ebitu Ukaiwe tried to speak against the decision because, according to him, the decision was never discussed in the meeting of the cabinet. The next thing was that Babangida quickly removed Ukiwe and replaced with Augustus Aihkomo. Now you look at the so-called Nigeria currency, the Naira, it has Arabic inscription. You look at the flag of the Nigerian Army, it has Arabic inscription. You look at the level of insecurity in the country. You observe the involvement of forces from outside Nigeria joining and supporting Boko Haram, you look at the rumoured reintegration of the so-called repented Boko Haram members into the military; it becomes a bit doubtful the possibility of the country splitting; how possible?
I tell you something …Let’s see one of our (ADF) write-ups where we said that as the song of freedom is now raging all over the federation, every nationality will wake up, not minding that this waking up does not translate into a mathematical process – one plus one equals two. But if you look at the underlining forces holding the federation together is much tensed; you notice that Nigeria is moving towards that direction of disintegration. Let’s take Ndigbo for example. Those of our people who believe that their place in history lies in coming to the growth and development of Alaigbo, and that they can only become landlord if they got warrant from the Fulani Oligarchy. I told our people the last time we met that part of the problem we have in Igboland is that the chieftaincy we have in Alaigbo has become like the chieftaincy institution during the colonial period.
The traditional Ezes, Chiefs, Eze Muo, Eze Ofor, and so on; they lost their autonomy; they became warrant chiefs. The Warrant Chiefs owed their allegiance to the colonial masters who imposed them on the people for purposes of collecting taxes. That’s what led to the women’s riot. When a warrant chief passed the message that the women were going to pay tax; something unheard of; that was the cause of the women’s riot. Now, like in Imo State, all the Ezes there are like Warrant Chiefs; none can speak in favour of their people. We are telling the Town Unions to wake up, even though the Town Unions are now like agents of the governments of the day. But ADF is working with certain forces to help liberate the traditional communities.
Let’s take the issue of security; that is one area where we become so emasculated. In those days, I remember when we were growing up – our elders, each of them had their own gun (double-barreled guns) If a thief comes to their house, they wouldn’t wait and call the police before they can fight him. But we are here, and nobody can carry gun again; if thieves come, you have to wait for the police or security people to come. However, on the other hand, in the same country, there in the northern region, the Muslims, the Fulanis are carrying their guns everywhere they go, and our people fold their hands. I think that’s where we need to begin the fight and tell our people the truth. I remember when General T.Y. Danjuma was crying, shouting and said to Nigerians, if you don’t protect yourselves, you will be dead. I remember when we inaugurated our youth league in ADF, one of our Generals who spoke; he insisted and said, if anybody, any group in any part of the country has the freedom to carry gun; our people should also carry their own gun.
We should have the right to carry our own gun. So, the problem is with those they imposed on our people as their leaders; they (imposed leaders) are the people that are sitting on our people; that can’t allow them (our people) to exercise their freedom. But that’s what ADF is working to see how we can reverse that situation.
Unfortunately, again, when you come to Ohanaeze, which is a pan-Igbo organization, many of us were students when it was Igbo State Union. And when Dr Akanu Ibiam started Ohanaeze, he wanted it to remolded into the image of Igbo State Union. But unfortunately, Ohanaeze has become where those seeking for contract from Federal Government; those seeking appointments into federal Boards and so on and so forth, go to lobby in order to secure such contracts or appointments.
But ADF respects Ohanaeze as our socio-cultural organization. However, at the ADF, we make sure that Ohanaeze plays the role for which the founding fathers founded it. What I’m saying is that I’m not ignoring the fact that our enemies are trying to sponsor those that weaken even those platforms that hold us together. ADF has been undergoing some turmoil in the last few months. But we are overcoming it; we are overcoming it, and my joy is that Ndigbo have realized that ADF has paid the dues and therefore, should be protected and preserved.
What is the reaction of Ndigbo to the existence of ADF since the last 10 years?
I told you that many Igbo leaders have been so greatly enamored with the ADF and its vision and mission concerning the Igbo people. Sunny Odogwu was a great patron of ADF. I remember when we went for remembering Asaba Massacre by the Nigerian Military during the Biafra War. Maryam Babangida’s sister came and spoke, saying that the Asaba people are not Igbos; that we (mainland Igbo) abandoned them during the crisis; that the northern soldiers came to massacre them and all we did was that we broke the Onitsha Head Bridge, and left them to be slaughtered. When she was saying all these things, I was sitting by Chief Sunny Odogwu on that occasion. Then Sunny Odogwu said, Prof, go and answer her, go and answer her. So, I came up and greeted the gathering, the people. I said to them, first and foremost, when those Nigerian soldiers passed Ore, Benin, came to Warri, and then to Asaba, who were they pursuing? They were pursuing soldiers: umunne Ajukwu; umunne Nzegwu (the Nigerian soldiers corruption of the name Ojukwu and Nzeogwu) And who is Nzeogwu? He is our son, onye Igbo. Who is Ojukwu, the answer is the same thing. I said again who is Nzeogwu? He is our son, who became the symbol of that coup…Now the Onitsha Head Bridge that was broken, blown up, who was responsible for it? It was Col Joe Achuzie (Air Raid), our brother. He broke that bridge; they didn’t want the Nigerian soldiers to flow into the mainland of Onitsha. So, it was not the Igbos in the mainland that blew the bridge. So, I went on and on and on and till everybody was calm and listening. So, Sunny Odogwu was a real great force in ADF. He worked with us. When he died, we joined and buried him. Achuzie was also one of our kingpins in ADF. Even the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Edozien was a very strong supporter of ADF. What about the female king of Okpanam? The Omu of Okpanam, she was a great ADF leader. She attended some of our programmes and spoke very well.
Then coming back to this side, the mainland Igbo; Dr Dozie Ikedife was one of us. Obinna was there. Anikwenwa was there. Many of them were there. Nworga was there. Ihejirika was there. Frank Nneji has been a major member. What about Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho? These are the great kingpins of ADF. These are some of the founding fathers of ADF. I forgot to mention Aneke Emejere. He was among the Think Tank during the Biafra war. He worked with Chinua Achebe, Nzimiro and others.
Now that you have mentioned the Biafran war and the soldiers. Can we digress a little bit into history? People still wonder why the Biafran soldiers had to embark on a mission towards the western region, Benin, Ore, Abeokuta, Lagos and so on. What was really the motive?
The answer you get from this book entitled, “The Nigerian January 1966 Coup And Biafra: Myths And Realities” published by the ADF. It’s a very well researched book. I have said that that coup, if you should call it anybody’s coup, then it’s Awolowo’s coup. Major Adewale Ademoyega said it all in his book, “Why We Struck,”. He said that he, Nzeogwu and others embarked on that coup in order to liberate Awolowo from prison and make him Prime Minister of Nigeria.
Who were the people that aborted the coup?
The people who aborted the coup were Ironsi and Ojukwu, the two Igbo army officers. Now coming to the Biafra incursion; when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in prison in Calabar; people didn’t know that he hardly slept in that prison yard. Dr M.I. Okpara used to bring him to the State House, and keep him with his wife; they would sleep there, and in the morning they would be taken back to the prison. So, after the coup, when Awolowo was released by Ojukwu, he had some discussion with Ojukwu. And he made that famous statement, if by omission or commission, Igbos were allowed to leave Nigeria, the Yorubas will also leave. Then after, he landed in Lagos. Then when he got to Lagos, he saw that the whole place (western region) was controlled and occupied by northern soldiers as against the Aburi Accord; the Aburi Accord of the military people demanded that soldiers should go back to their region of origin. Soldiers from the west left east and left the north; soldiers from the east left the north and left the west and came back to Enugu. Northern soldiers left Enugu but then remained in Lagos, and the west. So, Awolowo didn’t feel comfortable. He then asked Ojukwu to send troops to come and join to liberate the Yoruba soldiers from the northern soldiers in the western region. Well, Ojukwu, a very nice patriot and fine soldier. A great intellectual but he lacked the advantages of experience. So, he now agreed, and set up a contingent of the army, the Liberation Army to move through Benin, Ore to Lagos. And who was leader of the army? Banjo, Soyinka and others were there. What was the army called? It was called Liberation Force. When Banjo got to Ore, he sent Soyinka to go to Lagos, and alert General Olusegun Obasanjo, asking him to reach to other Yoruba chieftains; to mobilize other Yoruba soldiers to join them in liberating the Yorubaland.
However, Obasanjo informed General Yakubu Gowon of what was happening. Gowon then informed the British who were organizing them, organizing their forces and so on and so forth. The British now brought him (Gowon) and Awolowo together, and agreed on power- sharing. And there and then Awolowo was appointed Vice Chairman of the Military Council – a civilian was appointed into such a position, and was promised that Gowon was going to hand over to him in two years time the presidency of the country. So, that for Awolowo, was like what one has been busy searching for in the sky, one has eventually found same thing on ground! So, he now sent message to Banjo and told him do not proceed further; if you proceed further you will be treated like a man on a conquering mission, not as a liberator. So, everything was scattered as there was confusion. The whole contingent of the army collapsed, and the northern troops came now from Ore to Benin, to Asaba, to Warri, and to Auchi. That’s what happened. So, that’s the story you will get from this book on Biafra – “The Nigerian January 1966 Coup And Biaafra: Myths And Realities” published by the ADF in 2018.
But all the while, people used to think that Ojukwu took the decision of asking Biafran soldiers to head to Lagos in an attempt to eventually force Gowon to flee, and may be, bring the war to an end?
No. That wasn’t the mission. Awolowo invited Ojukwu, and told him to send troops. But it was a mistake on the part of Ojukwu. If he had consulted elders such as Akanu Ibiam and Nnamdi Azikiwe, they would have discouraged him; they would have told him no, don’t embark on such mission.
For Ojukwu to have taken such decision apparently without due consultation, didn’t it add credence to the rumoured “one-man-show” people accused him of running at the time he headed Biafra?
Yes. He was like that. He didn’t work with the elders; he didn’t work with them. I still remember when Ojukwu came to Nsukka. That was after the January 1966 coup. He addressed the students. We listened to him. He was very critical of Zik and others. Ojukwu tried to legitimate himself as the overall saviour of Ndigbo. There was also the story that Ikemba Nnewi discovered that the security votes; he didn’t hear a clear account of it from Dr Michael Okpara. And Ojukwu now arranged for Okpara to be sent to court and explain what happened to the security vote. So, when that information came to Chief C.C. Onoh, and The Boy is Good – Chief Mbazulike Amechi; a court in Enugu was set up to try Okpara. So, the two gentlemen met and said over their dead body would Okpara be tried by Ojukwu. They called Onoh’s brother, nuclear scientist, who was very good in explosives. They told him to go and mine the court area. They told him if they are bringing Okpara to the court, as they are approaching, then blow up everywhere.
Then the Boy is Good flew to Lagos to meet Ojukwu’s father, Sir Louis Odumegwu-Ojukwu. They called him and told him, look, your son wanted to stripe the Igbo people naked. He wanted to disgrace the Igbo by attempting to prosecute Dr M.I. Okpara. Then there was no telephone as such but there was the security phone which they could get from the system. So, the Boy is Good who was junior minister of Communications at that time, being familiar with the system, knew that was the way he could reach him; he called the manager of the telecommunications then, and asked him to give them hotline to Enugu. The manager said, my friend who are you to be asking for a hotline to Enugu.
When he introduced himself as their junior minister, they gave him the hotline to Enugu. Emeka Ojukwu’s father came online and got to his son, Emeka. Then the father said to his son, “Emeka, Emeka, ara opuwago gi” (meaning: Emeka, Emeka, are you now going crazy?) What do you say you want to do? You want to prosecute M.I.? You want to drag M.I. to court? Emeka, Emeka, I don’t want to say any other thing till I see you in Lagos today or tomorrow.” The following day, Emeka went to see his father in Lagos. It was the father that dissuaded him from such plan.
There was also the case of the ACB issue, when Colonial masters wanted to try Zik for meddling with the funds in the bank (ACB). And it was a setback. They found out that some moneys were removed in the bank to support the operations of the NCNC and so on and so forth. So, they set out to try Zik. The Boy is Good ran to Lagos, and called out all Igbo men, and told them that look we are in trouble. The white men want to try and disgrace Zik. The Igbos in Lagos mobilized funds and they drove to meet the target. But he passed through Benin, and they were accosted by armed robbers. They stopped him. He told them to come and see he had money in his car booth. He told them that the British wanted to disgrace Zik because of money. That this money in the car was contributed by Ndigbo in Lagos to offset the debt Zik is owing to the ACB. So, the leader of the gang, then gave two of his men to accompany the Boy is Good in his car to escort him because another of their gang was somewhere in front. So, when they drove to the point, the gang members in the car gave signs to their men, and they drove past until they brought the money safely to Enugu for the purpose it was meant. Those days were better because they (Igbos) would decide on an issue, and nobody would betray them.
What is the future of ADF?
The future of ADF depends on you and I. We must do all we can to reinforce it to see whether it can provide leadership in the area of security, in the area of development. I tell you something: ADF is doing a lot in organizing even the women; organising the youth now. We need to have a youth league. It’s just a gradual process. The media have to support ADF.
