Ralph Uwazuruike: South-East Governors Are Sell-outs

By Chinedu OPARA

The demise of the ex-Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, in November 2011 has continued to generate questions bordering on a generally acceptable Igbo leadership after Ojukwu. Not even the conferment on Chief Ralph Uwazuruike of Ijele Ndigbo (a title which was allegedly converted contentiously to Eze Igbo Gburugburu by Uwazuruike faithful in MASSOB) by the traditional ruler of Nri Kingdom in Anambra State, His Royal Majesty Eze Obidiegwu Onyensoh, on January 14, 2012 could rest the question. Instead, more questions are trailing the conferment, and the search for a true Igbo leader continues. In this interview, the MASSOB leader speaks out on several burning issues affecting Ndigbo and Nigeria at large, including Igbo leadership after Ojukwu, the performance of South-East governors, the Boko Haram nightmare, issues of Nigerian unity, among others.

Uwazuruike: MASSOB leader

Recently, the Igbo race lost its foremost leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. As one following in his footsteps, how did you feel when you got the news of his death?

Right from the time he was flown to London, I had been in constant touch, I had been on phone on daily basis with the family. I followed it up. Some people could receive that as a very big surprise but for me, I was following developments on hourly basis and before he died, I was called. I was on phone with the wife, she told me the developments, his reactions until 3:15 am when he passed on. Well, it was a shock but I followed it up, I knew when he was in crisis and I knew when he passed on.

Now, some people are saying that his passing on has created a big vacuum and that, given that Ndigbo are known for speaking in different tongues, his death would worsen the situation since he was the only person Ndigbo could listen to?

I spoke on this several times and I have told people that God will always provide. God knows how important he was to us and how irreplaceable he is. So, I believe God in his infinite mercies will show us the way. Even when he was crowned Eze Igbo Gburugburu, there were some elements that objected, but then the majority had their way. With time, I believe everything will work out well. You know, people emerge as leaders through acceptance of their people. So, with time, and through acceptance of the people, a true Igbo leader would emerge. It is not done by proclamation. The masses themselves know who their leaders are and accord them respect and acceptance as Ojukwu was accorded due to his pedigree, his love for his people, the amount of risk he was prepared to take for the Igbo race, the strength he gave to us, the leadership he afforded us. In time, I believe God will show us our next leader.

In other areas of Nigeria, like Yorubaland, there is a kind of succession, but in Igboland, it is not like that. How do you think Ndigbo will handle the issue of Ojukwu’s successor?

Well, you said other areas and mentioned Yorubaland. When Ojukwu was alive, he will tell you that he is Eze Igbo Gburugburu at the heart of Ndigbo, the people’s leader in the heart of the people. When you come to Igboland, we have our foremost leader, Ojukwu, but there are some people who think they are leaders also, there are some people who are in Abuja who by virtue of their position say they are Igbo leaders. You can’t deny them that leadership too. But Igbos know their leader; it is not, like I said, by proclamation or by sort of heredity. For instance, your father was a king and so you have to be a king. You see, there was no election for Ojukwu to be Igbo leader but the people accepted him because of his contributions, because of what he did for the people. It is not a matter of people gathering together to say you are our leader, it is not by election; it is by people’s acceptance, and whoever they accept, you will hear them say it.

A newspaper in Owerri recently carried out an opinion poll and most of those that responded rooted for Senator Uche Chukwumerije.

Well, I didn’t see the paper, but just like I told you before, there are so many Igbos that can emerge as Igbo leader. So, the person you mentioned is a true Igbo son and he has fought vigorously for the wellbeing of Ndigbo. Personally, he has fought vigorously for my release from detention on many occasions. You see, you have told me how people were calling in and saying Senator Chukwumerije should be our new leader. Fine, like that, the people will eventually pick their new leader.

But do you agree with the call that the governors should name Senator Chukwumerije as Ojukwu’s replacement?

The issue is that I’m not here to say who should nominate an Igbo leader; my position is that we will get it naturally. I don’t believe a leader should be announced. The people should choose their leader, and why must you ask some governors to announce somebody? On what law or constitution are they relying? Ndigbo have no constitution and so you don’t have a platform for that.

What future does the Igbo quest for justice and fairness have, now that Ojukwu is no more?

We will continue the struggle. What you have to understand is that people must die. Ojukwu has lived his life and we are feeling so much because of his importance to us. He made himself important to us because of his work, otherwise it is not as if people wouldn’t die. He lived his normal life, he didn’t die by accident, he was not assassinated, so what we should do is honour him and uphold all those virtues for which he lived and life continues. If anybody should emerge as Igbo leader, the people will accept him and you don’t campaign about it. It is not politics.

Some people are saying that you should drop all agitations because President Jonathan has been according Ndigbo their fair share in his administration. Are you comfortable with this?

What agitation do Ndigbo have? Is it about state creation or what?

About Biafra.

About Biafra? Fine, the issue of Biafra is not all about Jonathan. We started campaigning for Biafra before Jonathan came on board, and even if we don’t get it during his time, after him, we will get it. There is nothing like dropping it. It is not even an Igbo thing, it cuts across and nobody has the capacity; I don’t even have the capacity to do it because so many people are involved. What should Jonathan do to favour Ndigbo that is better than freedom? Nigeria should have been under Britain since Britain was favouring them. There is nothing like freedom and there is nothing Jonathan will do to us to make us drop the issue of Biafra. Nothing.

Sometime ago, newspapers carried photographs of your award from Rotary International and we saw how politicians scrambled over themselves to identify with you. It led people to start asking if you were now a politician.

They think Uwazuruike is a success story. They think Biafra is a success story. They think the struggle is a success story, that is why they are flocking around me and that is why people are wondering. I had an investiture and I have a right to invite my friends and I did and almost everybody came. So why should anybody wonder if I am now a politician? What is wrong in being a politician? But I am not one because of the way the so-called politicians play the game. For me, I am continuing the struggle more than ever before.

If we take it that the struggle is now a success story, won’t it be good to let the masses out there know how far it has gone?

In everything you do, you don’t expect everybody to know. You just said people were gathering around me now, so those who are in the dark should continue to be in the dark because there is no way you can bring sunshine to everybody. The few who are still saying Ndigbo no longer know about Biafra, let them continue being in the dark. I can’t tell them anything. I am comfortable with the majority that want to know what I am doing and I will go along with the majority.

So, you are assuring us that Biafra would one day become a reality?

What do you mean if I am assuring you that Biafra will one day be a reality? Why won’t it be a reality? All the independent states who fought for their independence, are they not enjoying it now? So, why must our own be an extraordinary thing if it happens? You must be a student of history by being a journalist. Look at other new states coming up and you are talking of Biafra being a reality. Biafra would have been a reality since. It will be a reality and, you know, if it is not going to be a reality, I can’t be wasting my time on it.

Sometime ago, you criticized Gov. Okorocha for treating Eze Ilomuanya shabbily and government said it did so because the man bastardized the traditional institution. What prompted your action?

I am not a referee between Eze Ilomuanya and Rochas. My position is constant on the issue, not minding whose ox is gored. What I am saying is that traditional stool must be respected and an Eze is an Eze. Other tribes would be watching how we treat our own, a whole Eze, Chairman of South-East traditional rulers whom everybody recognizes, you don’t have to insult him. I don’t mind whoever is there, our so-called governor should respect our traditional rulers and they too should respect the governor. I have no special interest in anybody. Governor this today, governor that tomorrow, they get out of that office but the traditional institution is for life. It is just like somebody insulting the judiciary. I won’t support that. So, I won’t support anybody insulting our royal fathers. And for somebody who is the Chairman of South-East, he represents Ndigbo too, and we must be careful how we bastardize our institutions because of politics. Whatever Ilomuanya must have done may not be unconnected with the fact that he did not support Okorocha; he may have supported somebody else.

Many people feel that Ndigbo do not love themselves and that their actions show this. What should be done to see that at least we begin to speak with one voice?

It starts from all of us, it starts from you too. Ask yourself, what have you done to promote the cause of Ndigbo in your writing, in your office and what have you? What I don’t like is that everybody is saying Ndigbo when you have not sat down to ask yourself speaking if you are a true Igbo man. Majority of our people are afraid of themselves and these are the people you hear saying Ndigbo. Who are these Ndigbo? I was on the road the other day and we stopped because a policeman, an Igbo man, wanted to take bribe on the road and somebody with me spoke Igbo to him and he said he did not understand the language but his names were Igbo. I looked at him and said your name is Elechi and you say you don’t understand Igbo. The man was very serious, he was only interested in collecting the money. Because of the money, he denied his origin. Then I announced myself and he was confused and gave me a salute. I said to him: “See you have denied your identify simply because of N20 and you will be the first person to shout against any other Igbo man.” That happened just recently when I was going to Enugu with my friend, Peter Orji. He never knew I was Uwazurike, that’s why I said it starts from you. As a journalist, you ask yourself, what have I done for the unity of Ndigbo? Then you ask me: Uwazuruike, what have you done for the unity of Ndigbo? And then we ask ourselves that question and we arrive at the answer. Everybody must play his own role to make Igbo great.

You are a stakeholder in the South-East and we are almost exhausting one year of this tenure, do you think the people of the zone are in safe hands with regard to the South-East governors?

Well, the governors, do they tell you that they are Igbos, or that they are working for the Igbos, or that they were planted there by Ndigbo? Most of the governors we have here represent the interest of their master.

So they have masters too?

They have Ogas who put them there. See what is happening in Bayelsa now. The governor was not given the chance for a second term. Yes, people own the party, they have their Oga too. You see, why they are harassing MASSOB is because they want to please the people in Abuja, they are not doing it because they like it. The other day Theodore Orji locked up 51 members of MASSOB simply because they went to Igbo Day at Abakiliki, he locked them up for how many months. He did it because he wanted to please Abuja. He wanted to show them that he is against himself at Abuja. He wanted to show them that he is against himself. He has to kill himself to satisfy outsiders. These are the people you call your governors. Where are they, a bunch of I-don’t-know-how-to-describe-them. But know that true people have not emerged as governors for our people, as governors for Ndigbo. When they emerge, we shall know. At times we make mistakes and bring out people we think are leaders; when they go there, they show you they are not leaders. A leader should be courageous; he should protect his people by all means, at all costs. How many of them can come out and speak out? Ok, look at what is happening in the North now, the Boko Haram thing, how many Northerners, I mean, those who are supposed to speak up against it have spoken up? But if it is here, you will see these riff-raffs jumping over themselves attacking MASSOB. They call themselves governors, Lilliputs, people who ordinarily could not afford three square meals, now that they are governors, they are mighty gods here. Have you ever seen any Yoruba man that talked against OPC? But in Igboland, they jump up and down. Do you ask yourself why they do this? They do it just to satisfy the Hausas and the Yorubas, to get contracts, gain positions, chairman of this board, member of that board, get national honours, all those petty things they get. And it transcends the politicians. Even at the middle level, we are not getting it right. We must purge ourselves of our iniquities. When I look at them, I laugh, but the beauty of it all is that this is democracy, they stay there temporarily and they get out of the place as hungry as they were before they got into that office. You see, even those who were there before who felt like gods, immediately they got out of office, in less than two or three years, they became poorer than most of us and when I look at them, I say: Upon all your bravado, gragra, you are still here, you still enter the same aircraft with us, you still sit in the same compartment I sit. I pity them because most of them feel ashamed coming into Igbo gatherings because they know that they have no face. So, as far as I am concerned, we don’t have governors in the South-East.

Finally, are you comfortable with Boko Haram method of reaching out? Is it the best?

I congratulate them. You can reach out through any method. They are heard, they are feared everywhere. Yes, I should be stupid if I don’t congratulate them. I have said it and I will continue to say it, what is wrong in what they are doing? There is nothing wrong in what they are doing. You say they are killing people, do you know how many people that die as a result of the misrule of our leaders? The roads are not repaired, millions of people die by accident. We have the resources to repair the roads, but instead of repairing the roads, you go to Dubai to buy houses or you go to Swiss Bank and put the money there. Are you helping the masses? Go to hospitals, the drugs are not there. Are they not worse than Boko Haram? Why should I criticize them? They want their own freedom; they want independence. I don’t have any reason to condemn them. Those condemning them are supposed to be condemned first, including the SSS, the police, and the army because they are protecting a failed nation, a nation that should have gone into extinction years back. Nigeria has no reason to exist, and that is why from year to year the worst continues to happen. Now Nigeria is bankrupt, a country that sells crude oil. States that don’t have oil are triumphing but a state that has oil is bankrupt because the hand of God is not on Nigeria. There is nothing you do that will make this country move forward until it divides. It is not a matter of kill Uwazurike or do this or that. When the hand of God is not in a thing, that thing will never succeed. The bringing together of the Southern and the Northern Protectorates in 1914 was not done with God’s blessing. It was done to use the resources of the South to favour the North, and as far as it was never ab initio right, God will never look at Nigeria until Nigeria divides.