The man who saw tomorrow.

 

The man who saw tomorrow.

C.DON ADINUBA.

IHIALA & THE CAMPAIGN FOR NEW STATES

Presentation by C. Don Adinuba to the Ihiala Progress Union Summit held on Saturday, June 30, 2012, at IPU Hall, Ihiala.

 

I feel privileged to be among those invited by the leadership of the Ihiala Progress Union to address the generality of our people on the campaign for at least one new state to be created in the Southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria. I am really honoured.

 

Advocates of a new state want an Orlu State which will be known as either Njaba State or Urashi State. The envisaged state will compromise the present Orlu senatorial zone in Imo State plus the present Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. This means that the creation of the state will entail a boundary adjustment. The very nature of boundary adjustment makes the campaign of an Orlu State which will include Ihiala exceedingly difficult.

 

The truth is that it is unlikely any of the 40 requests for new states will be successful for now. The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu who is a lawyer by training, has publicly pointed out the constitutional provisions which make it impossible for any state to be created now. We need not discuss, at this point, these provisions in the Constitution. There are other issues which make the creation of states any issue but urgent. Take the state of our national economy, including the economic viability or otherwise of existing states. There is the question of the impending global economic crisis, as signaled by the ongoing Euro crisis which will definitely affect the performance of our economy. There are, in addition, profound security challenges across the nation, which may well define our country’s future.

 

For some curious reason, a lot of educated people in the Southeast believe that at least one state will soon be created in their zone in order to bring the number of states in the area to six; the number will somewhat compare to what obtains elsewhere. This reasoning is, with due respect, unrealistic. It is difficult to see how other geopolitical zones will wait for the Southeast to have one new state before they can get theirs. We should not lose sight of the fact that the campaign for new states in the new democratic dispensation is the brainchild of Senator David Mark, the Senate President. Senator Mark wants to use his position to create a state for his Idoma people of Benue State who are so dominated by the Tiv that no Idoma is likely to be voted the Benue State governor because of the tribal nature of the state politics. To Senator Mark, the only thing that can make an Idoma become the Benue State governor is the creation of a state for them, to be known as Apa State. To facilitate the realization of this dream, the Senate President began to campaign for new states no sooner than he was elected to the high office in 2007. Therefore, is it realistic to expect that Senator Mark and his Idoma people will wait patiently to realize their dream of a new state “liberating” them from Tiv “colonialism” until a new state is created out of the Southeast?

 

ORIGINS OF THE AGITATION FOR AN ORLU STATE

 

The demand for the creation of an Orlu State was made for the first time under the General Sani Abacha regime when a panel was set up under the leadership of Chief Arthur Mbanefo to look into the demand for new local government areas and states. The people of the Orlu senatorial zone asked for an own state; the request was presented by Chief Arthur Nzeribe. The request was not granted because, among other factors, there were fewer than eight local government areas in the senatorial zone. With the restoration of democratic rule in 1999, Chief Achike Udenwa who is from Amaifeke in Orlu, emerged the governor and with time began to see himself as the new Orlu political leader. To increase the number of LGAs in the proposed Orlu State so as to meet the minimum number of LGAs for a new state, Chief Udenwa approached the then Anambra State governor, Dr Chris Ngige, to more or less donate four LGAs in the state which are located near Orlu. Without consulting the leaders and people of the areas concerned, Dr Ngige proposed that Ihiala, Ekwusigo, Orumba South and Orumba North LGAs become part of Orlu State. In other words, the idea that Ihiala and two other three LGAs become part of Orlu State is not endogenous because it did not come from our people, whether voluntarily or not. The idea was externally induced.

 

While the other LGAs either rejected the notion with alacrity or were cautious in their response, the people of Ihiala LGA went into a frenzy-- almost a delirium—in celebration. Two factions quickly emerged in the campaign for the inclusion of Ihiala in the envisaged Orlu State: those for Njaba State and those for Urashi State. All manner of theories suddenly emerged, like the so-called linguistic and cultural propinquity between Ihiala and Orlu people and the oppression of Ihiala people in Anambra State, as well as Ihiala becoming an Eldorado once it becomes part of an Orlu State because of  crude oil production in Egbema in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.

 

SOME OBSERVATIONS

 

The Ihiala people will be an awful minority in an Orlu State, with all the paralyzing consequences, even in the most unlikely event that Orumba South, Orumba North and Ekwusigo LGAs join the new state. The  fate which has befallen the people of Afikpo since the creation of Ebonyi State in 1991 should serve as a lesson to us all. Whereas an indigene of Afikpo in the person of Dr Ogbonna Onu who is now the National Chairman of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) could be elected the Abia State governor in 1992, it has been very difficult for a person of Afikpo extraction to become governor of Ebonyi, which is a smaller state than Abia. The situation is such that Dr Chigozie Ogbu who served as deputy governor of Ebonyi State under Dr Sam Egwu was also to serve as deputy governor under Chief Martin Elechi simply because Dr Ogbu is from the Afikpo part of Ebonyi State which used to be in Imo State and later in Abia State, unlike the bigger Abakaliki part which used to be in Anambra State and later in Enugu State. I was appalled when a few years ago I visited Abakaliki and lodged at Ebonyi State Hotel. Immediately the restaurant supervisor asked a waiter to serve us food, the latter flew into a rage, asking his superior at the top of his voice and in the presence of guests: “What are you still doing here? Are you from Abakaliki? Can’t you go to your home in Afikpo?” Dr John Otu, former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State who was our host, felt like committing suicide. He kept on apologizing to us, explaining the politics of dichotomy in the state.

 

 Even in the days of dichotomous bickering in old Anambra State, things were certainly not so bad. The Ihiala people should never be made to experience this kind of politics. We all know the fate of Amaofu since it pulled out of Uli to become part of what is now called the Orlu senatorial district because of the dispute between Chief Agbasiere and Chief Ebigbo. The same fate befell the Ugwuoba people who, out of fear of domination by the more developed Awka neighbour with whom they share a common history and culture, chose to be in Oji River Local Government Area which is now in Enugu State. Given the opportunity today, the Ugwuoba people will be in Anambra State, just the way Amaofu elements will jump at the opportunity for reintegration in Uli.

 

REVERSAL OF HISTORICAL ROLES

 

It is, indeed, an irony of history that a spirited attempt is being made to make Ihiala come under Orlu suzerainty. Far from Ihiala ever being under Orlu, it was our people who helped bring modern civilization to Orlu.  A generation of our people went to Orlu as teachers, catechists and missionaries and created a new social order based. They included George Nwabugwu, Cyril Nwabugwu, Vincent Oti, Michael Madubunyi, Dan Mbaezue, etc. The grandfather of my own wife, Michael Nzeribe from Ubahudara, Uli, was famous as a missionary in Orlu. So, it is not surprising that up to the time he died in 2010, my father in law, Ben Nzeribe, refused to accept the fact of Uli’s inclusion in the Catholic Diocese of Orlu because he strongly believed it should be the other way round! When Colonel Emeka Ojukwu was serving as the military governor of the Eastern Region in the late 1960s and carved Uli and Amorka out of Orlu Division and place the two communities in the newly created Ihiala Division, he demonstrated a powerful sense of history. Chief Agbasiere, who led the quest for the restoration of Uli people to their kith and kin in the Ihiala culture area, displayed a keener awareness of both history and foresight than a lot of people who came after him. Agbasiere must be turning in his grave on learning that some of his kinsfolk, with all their education in this day and age, are aggressively campaigning for their community to become, for all practical purposes, a vassal state under the Orlu hegemony.

 

WHAT DO WE WANT IN ORLU?

 

A critical consideration in the creation of a state is the economic base. Frankly speaking, Orlu is virtually an economic desert. But to provide an economic justification for the demand that ihiala be included in an Orlu State, some politicians have gone to town with the romantic picture of how Ihiala will become Paradise on Earth once the state is created and point to the Egbema oilfield as the most important indicator of an impending ceaseless flow of oil money. True, Egbema has been bearing oil and gas for decades. Yet, it remains a rural community. Where, then, is the magic wand that will turn Ihiala into Nigeria’s Kuwait when the very place which bears oil is still essentially a rustic community? The romantic picture of a coming economic boom in Ihiala as a result of the creation of an Orlu State is a fairy tale. It is a propaganda stunt.

 

So is the notion that Ihiala will be the capital of the proposed state. Also romantic is the idea that our beloved hometown of Ihiala will produce the first governor of the state. Perceptive observers recognize that any agreement to this effect is not worth the paper on which it is signed because no person will observe it. How many such politically motivated agreements have ever been honoured in Nigerian history? Let no mistake be made: those who began the agitation for an Orlu State  want a state where their own would be the governor from year to year and Orlu Town the capital. The people of the Orlu senatorial zone are not large hearted and accommodating enough to allow the minority “Ijekoebe” community in their midst to be their capital and an “Ijekoebe” to be the first governor. Put succinctly, they want Ihiala LGA in the state just to enable the Orlu people to meet the requirement for the creation of a new state. The possible inclusion of Ihiala LGA in the new state is a mere addendum. Nothing else. Whether some of us want to accept it or not, the truth remains that the people of Orlu, as the rest of Imo State, are immersed in parochial politics. The politics of Imo State is anchored firmly on the “trichotomy” of Okigwe, Owerri and Orlu zones. It is not a particularly inspiring brand of politics, the type which accentuates development.

 

Another interesting myth that has just been created is  how the people of Orlu and Ihiala have always been one, historically, culturally and politically. Admittedly, we are two neighbouring communities, and have over the years influenced each other in one way or another. But we must guard against distortion of facts by self serving interests. Right from 1900 when the British colonialists created the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, Ihiala has always been part of the larger Onitsha community, administratively, politically, culturally and even in Church administration. When Ihiala people engage these days in oral discussions with one another in Igbo, they speak either the Ihiala dialect or a loose form of Onitsha dialect. They do not speak the Orlu or Orsu dialect! No wonder, our surnames are now “Ifeanyi”, “Okolie” and “Okoye”, not “Anyanwu”, “Ihekwaba” and “Okereke”. As adumbrated above, the Orlu people call us “Ijekoebe” (Onitsha or Anambra) people.

 

ARE WE TRULY MARGINALISED IN ANAMBRA STATE?

 

One of the most emotive reasons adduced for the agitation for the inclusion of Ihiala in an Orlu State, otherwise called Njaba or Urashi State, is the alleged marginalization of our LGA in the scheme of things in Anambra State. How true is the allegation?

 

Anambra State, as currently constituted, was created on August 27, 1991. Within one year, there was an election into the office of the governor. It was a hot contest between the only two political parties recognized by the law, namely, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). Dr Chukwuemeka of the SDP narrowly defeated Dr Nnamdi Eriobuna of the NRC, an indigene of Ihembosi, then one of 11 towns which made up the Ihiala LGA. Dr Eriobuna, who was to become a senator in 1999, defeated Engineer Fort Dike, an indigene of Uli which is also in Ihiala LGA, to win the NRC ticket. In other words, the the two candidates who polled the highest number of votes in the NRC primary came from Ihiala LGA. Within 20 months of democratic practice, the military under the leadership of Gen Abacha struck on November 17, 1993, and truncated democratic growth. By the time civilian rule was restored on May 29, 1999, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju, an indigene of Uli in Ihiala LGA, had been elected the Anambra State governor. Do these facts show that our people are margianlised in Anambra State? How many LGAs in the state have got the kind of privilege we have had since 1991 when the state was created?

 

Of Course, I am not oblivious of a kind of anti Ihiala sentiment noticeable in the state since 2003 or so. The major reason for the sentiment is the record of the state administration in Awka between 1999 and 2003 which a number of people do not consider exactly stellar or exemplary. If we have to be honest with ourselves, we must thank ourselves that we are in a very liberal state like Anambra. In how many states in Nigeria would the citizens tolerate a situation where three out of four campuses of a state university would be located in just one town? Worse, virtually all the university principal officers came from the same town! Even the Special Adviser to the Governor on Higher Education with the principal duty to develop the university came from the same town, in addition to the governor himself who, ipso facto, was the Visitor to the university. It would then seem that adherence or fidelity to the principle of mea culpa would compel us to admit that the government of this era was actually running a fiefdom, not a creative modern state.

 

To exacerbate matters, some politicians from Ihiala LGA have been behaving in ways which are at odd with the values and traditions of our people. Has there been a political upheaval or awful controversy in Anambra State in which our politicians have not been mentioned more than others as the principal actors? Why have these politicians refused to follow the example of Chief G.E. Okeke who, in his heyday as the Minister of Education and later of Economic Development in the Eastern Region, was synonymous with unprecedented development and the raising of the living standards of the Eastern Nigerians, including his Ihiala people whom he enabled to access modern amenities and education in a profound way?

 

Apart from politicians, why is it that news from Ihiala LGA making national and foreign headlines has often been utterly embarrassing? Sometimes it is about brothers murdering a sister returning from the United States after several years, sometimes it is about a businessman killing his banker neighbor who loaned money to him, sometimes about armed robbers attacking up to five banks in one single operation, and sometimes about traditional priests at shrines with numerous decomposing bodies of human beings and human skeletons. Concerted efforts must be made to reposition our area in the imagination of many Nigerians. We should project the best amongst us to the outside world. After all, the first West African to write a book, Olaudah Equiano, was a native of Isseke in Ihiala LGA, and his autobiography written in 1789 remains to this day a compulsory text in higher institutions across the world. “Fuel For Love” played by Damian Dan-Mbaezue in the early 1970s is among the greatest evergreen records by a Nigerian musician, still played daily at night clubs, parties, weddings, social gatherings and on radio. The founder of the most successful African geophysical surveys consulting firm in the area of hydrocarbon development, Engr Boniface Madubunyi, is from Ihiala. The famous Biafran Airport which remains a testament to the Blackman’s ingenuity  was located in Ihiala LGA. Dr ABC Orjiako has become a national icon and his philanthropy legendary. Engineer Joe Anyigbo has exceedingly impressive credentials in the petroleum industry, and his record in gas development in particular is intimidating. The list goes on.

 

DANGERS OF CAMPAIGNING FOR AN ORLU STATE

 

We made it clear at the beginning of this paper that there is little chance that any state can be created now, let alone the proposed Orlu State, christened Njaba or Urashi State, which will require a boundary adjustment,  a very tough exercise on its own. Once a part of an existing state starts to agitate to be in another state, it cuts the image of almost aliens in the existing state. The consequences are often severe. Lt us look at our own case. The rationalization of the development of the Igbariam Campus of the Anambra State University more than the university headquarters in Uli is hinged on prudence: anytime a new state is created and Ihiala becomes joins it, what remains of Anambra State will still have a fully developed university. In other words, we have already begun to lose out because of the campaign for an Orlu State which stands very little chance of being created.

 

Onitsha is the cradle of modern civilization in Igboland. There was a time almost everyone who mattered came from Onitsha, from Zik to Ukpabi Asika, to Chike Obi, to John Cross Anyaogu, to Sir Louis Mbanefo, to Dan Ibekwe, etc. Educational institutions in Onitsha were many and famous. The Onitsha Market is still second to none. The church began in Onitsha, the home of the famous Onitsha Market Literature which served as precursor to modern novel writing in Africa, an enterprise in which the Igbo have excelled, with Chinua Ache as the father. Yet, the moment Onitsha indigenes began to agitate for inclusion in an Anioma State, they lost out so much in the scheme of things. When an Onitsha indigene won the highest number of votes in 1992 in the SDP primary for the choice of a candidate in the senatorial race, the authorities announced a different result for fear that Dr Okechukwu Areh, a nuclear pharmacist, could support the campaign to take Onitsha away from Anambra State. The discrimination was such that rather than allow an Onitsha indigene to become the chairman of the Onitsha Local Government in 1989, a not so educated trader from Ideato in Imo State was elected the Onitsha LG Chairman! Things are a lot better today for Onitsha people because a well educated and sophisticated person has since been elected the Obi of Onitsha, and Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe has succeeded in convincing the people to accept their Anambraness in their own interest.

 

Is it so difficult for our people to learn from contemporary history?

 

WHY WE SHOULD REMAIN IN ANAMBRA STATE

 

Anambra has the largest concentration of developed human capital in Nigeria, whether in the professions or in politics or in the church or in entrepreneurship or in scholarship or in the arts. Ihiala, interestingly, ranks among the most endowed places in the state. Yet, some of our own politicians have strongly been telling us to stay away from the rest of the state because “they are too advanced for us”. What these politicians are advocating unwittingly is for us to develop an inferiority complex before our brothers and sisters in the same state. They are unwittingly demonizing and criminalizing success and, conversely, turning failure and poverty into virtues. We must reject this scare tactic. It is dangerous and debilitating and paralyzing. It induces in the victim a horrible worldview.

 

Anambra has a solid economic base. Onitsha and Nnewi are recognized centres of excellence in commerce and technology in the West African sub region. Thousands of our people are employed in the industries and markets of Onitsha and Nnewi. In fact, Sir Best Uzoeto, an indigene of Azia in Ihiala LGA, is doing well in his bid to become the elected chairman of the Onitsha South Local Government. Would he have had the courage to be in the race if he had not come from Anambra State? Can Sir Best Uzoeto remain a day longer in the race should an Orlu State be created today, with Ihiala as a part of it? And this now brings us to a more serious matter. There are unconfirmed reports that one or two individuals from our LGA are preparing to run for the governorship of Anambra State in the next election. These are likely to be serious candidates. But come to think of it: are our people not undermining the campaigns even before they are launched by the exuberant and extravagant support which some of our politicians have given for an Orlu State, which, by the way, is unlikely to be created?

 

Ihiala politics has in recent times been characterized by high emotions. It is now time to allow our actions to be guided by a careful consideration of facts and events. The overriding interests of all Ihiala people should guide our thoughts, actions and statements, and not the personal interests of one or two ambitious individuals who have been promised Heaven on Earth. Let us reason together.

 

Once again, I thank the IPU leadership for its thoughtfulness and generosity of heart and for its drive towards greater inclusion in policy formulation by asking all Ihiala sons and daughters to contribute freely to the discussions on the place of our beloved and historic hometown in the quest for new states in Nigeria. May the Almighty continue to guide and bless you all. Long live, Ihiala.

 

C. DON ADINUBA,

Abuja,

30 June, 2012.