The Igbo nation has suffered severe leadership crises over the last 30 years following the demise of several post-independence leaders like Micheal Iheonukara Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Nwafor Orizu, and several others. I had deliberately refused to include Nnamdi Azikiwe, great visionary and thinker who died in 1996 in the list of Igbo leaders because Zik had a broader perspective and never sought to restrict himself to the narrow boundaries of what today is known as South East Nigeria. I have also omitted Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu here because he is largely controversial and divides opinion amongst thinkers and historians.
Leadership in Igboland is far more complex issue than in other places. The republican nature of the Igbo people does not permit a central structure of leadership as we find in most places. The inability of the colonialists to understand this existential truth about Ndigbo made it impossible for them to dominate or lord it over our people like they did in other parts of the country.
The principal belief amongst Igbos as Chinua Achebe opined in his book- There Was A Country- is that every man is as good as the other and while everyone is deserving of respect, no man should be worshipped by the other. The Igbos according to Achebe- Africa’s best known writer and storyteller, will have no trouble burning their idols should it stop serving (protecting, prospering) them.
The Igbos are known for questioning things, making demands and insisting on fairer deals from whoever they deal with- gods or man. In Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, the story is told of a summon to the leading protagonist- Ezulu- by the Colonial Officer – T. K. Winterbottom- to his office in Okperi where he offered Ezulu- the chief priest of Ulu in Umuaro- the position of a warrant chief. Ezulu felt insulted by the offer and bluntly told the white man that “Ezulu would be no one’s chief except Ulu.” Intimidation and harassment from the white man and his representative following Ezulu’s obstinate refusal did little to alter the chief priest’s position. After days in detention, the stubborn but wise Ezulu was asked to go home to his wives and kinsmen.
Ezulu did not decline the position of a warrant chief because he despised the white man. Recall that he it was who testified openly against his own people during a land dispute with Okperi. Winterbottom had in fact considered him for the warrant chief position because he was an honest and courageous man. But Ezulu- better than the white man- knew too well that leadership is a delicate thing in Igboland and that even as the mouthpiece of Ulu, his community’s deity, he still suffers intense opposition from Nwaka and Ezeidemili who dispute his authority and position as the chief priest of the community’s deity.
Becoming the “white man’s chief,” Ezulu may have reasoned, would earn him greater opposition even from amongst friends like Ogbuefi Akuebue and others in the community who would have difficulty fathoming why their chief priest would be taking orders from a white man.
One thing the Igbos treasure from time immemorial is the freedom to make independent thoughts and undertake actions that would advance the very things American psychologist- Abraham Harold Maslow outlined in his hierarchy of needs. From seeking to meet the basic needs of food provision to self actualization on rung five, the Igbos- by nature are bound to take independent routes- seeking to stamp their authority on the earth.
Well, it is arguable if this is the right approach to advancing human interests and privileges in an interconnected world such as ours. Many have opined that the Igbos inadvertently hurt themselves in their extreme pursuit of wealth and the very ventures that validate them in their communities and the larger societies. To the critics of the Igbo ways and methods, Igbos undermine themselves in ventures requiring co-operation from other sections of the country or communities. This is often given as the reason why the Igbo spirit of excellence is only manifest in individual ventures like book works, trading, arts and craft- including technical works. Beyond these ventures and others like them, Igbos often struggle in endeavours where they would need to reach out to others, play the fool and make accommodation for the interests of other people.
Politics for example- especially in a multi-ethnic society- like Nigeria- require consultation and compromise. The Igbo spirit is hardly very suitable for that kind of arrangement and that is why no Igbo man has emerged a democratically elected president in Nigeria.The last time they held the presidency of the senate, they kept sabotaging and pulling down oneanother until almost every senator from the South East region between 1999 and 2003 almost made it to the number 3 seat in the land. That could not have happened had the senate presidency been zoned to any other region at the inception of the 4th republic.
The Igbos have continued to struggle in Nigeria’s politics- constantly accused of inability speak with “one voice” on national issues, not having respect for authorities and “not being good in politics.”
Orji Uzor Kalu, Rochas Okorocha, Chuba Okadigbo and several leaders of Ohaneze Ndigbo have all made attempts to speak for and advance the interest of Ndigbo with varying degrees of success at various times since the return of the 4th Republic. Igbo governors- under the auspices of South East Governors’ Forum- have never shied away from making statements on matters affecting the Igbo people at several times. You also find prominent Igbo men and women- former government functionaries, elected officials, intellectuals, legal luminaries, and retired military officers speaking up in defence of the Igbo interests within the larger Nigerian setting.
Interestingly, none of these big names commands as much recognition, acclaim and followership as the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra- IPOB- Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu came onto the scene few years ago and was initially dismissed by many as a rabble-rouser, a noisemaker and an illiterate who knows nothing. Many who listened to Nnamdi Kanu’s broadcasts on Radio Biafra around mid-2015 believed him to be an entertainer who was only seeking relevance by attacking and abusing the Igbo and Nigeria’s political establishment. While many believed Nnamdi Kanu’s central theme of marginalization against the Igbos, few ever took his call for the resurrection of an Independent Biafra very serious.
The elders at first warned their children against associating with Nnamdi Kanu, telling them he wants to give “our enemies another opportunity to finish what they could not conclude between 1966 and 70. Rich Igbos with properties and businesses outside the SE region announced than Nnamdi Kanu wants to create a certain chaos which could cause them severe losses. Igbo politicians laughed Nnamdi Kanu off- calling him a “deluded fellow,” whose sense of judgment is questionable at best. Several commentators called him mad, others said he as jobless while many more posited that he is an agent of destabilisation.
Four years down the line, a whole lot has changed. The EU Parliament does not give audience to rabble-rousers, the UN cannot invite a madman to its event while no head of government in Europe would want to associate- even remotely- with a man whose “senses are not in order.” Nnamdi Kanu since his mysterious escape and appearance in Israel in October last year has continued to grow his audience base- brushing aside criticisms and suspicions at home.
The IPOB leader has been traversing the length and breadth of Europe, speaking to senior bureaucrats, explaining IPOB’s mission and its motivations, bringing to light, the numerous instances of human rights abuses committed against his followers by the Muhammadu Buhari administration since 2015.
Nnamdi Kanu has corroborated testimonies from international groups like Amnesty International and others that unarmed IPOB members were shot and killed in cold blood in several parts of Igbo-land and the South South Zoneby Nigerian security operatives between 2015 and 2018.
Kanu has become an international celebrity- feted and adored by followers wherever he goes around the world. He is a much-sought after personality by journalists who want his views on several matters within the context of the struggle for a new nation in Africa. Kanu’s ability to speak with intensity, boldness and without fear has singled him out as cut from a different cloth from the average Igbo leader. He is seen as an authentic leader, a fighter and one truly committed to freeing the Igbos from the unprofitable grip of Nigeria. Kanu has stayed consistent in his message and has refused to be bought over by Abuja with raw cash, appointment or contracts.
Kanu has an advantage no person of influence in Igbo-land today can lay claim to – non-association with Nigeria’s political leadership.
Is Kanu defying the age-old belief that Igbos have no leaders? Where does Kanu’s rising leave political and cultural Igbo leaders? Well, one can guess they are hardly comfortable. Kanu has offered the Igbos something they have been unable to offer since the passing of the pioneer crop of political leaders. Where they have wavered in their commitments to advancing the cause of the Igbo race, Kanu has shown remarkable consistency and steadfastness.
Of course it must be said that there are still millions of Igbos who have no regard or interest in Kanu’s message of the resurrection of Biafra. Many Igbo intellectuals still regard Kanu as an outsider, a charlatan who is only feeding on the gullibility of the general public. This group of thinkers maintain that Kanu’s solution could prove more disastrous than whatever problem he is aiming to solve. They are adamant that Kanu has no depth and has merely managed to capture public attention by bamboozling an uncritical audience.
Are there merits in these criticisms? You bet there are. However, one indisputable fact remains that Kanu has managed to keep the Biafra conversation ongoing. Today, many are calling for restructuring, true federalism, a confederal state and slightly different versions of Kanu’s message of balkanization of Nigeria.
One uphill task that he mayhowever find challenging to surmount is the gazetted proscription of IPOB. Justice Abdu Kafarati, then Acting Judge of the Federal High Court Abuja, had on 20th September, 2017 pronounced the Biafra agitators a terrorist group. Although the ruling was appealed, the ex parte motion which put the Nnamdi Kanu led group at odds with the Nigerian government seems the final straw, as touted in some quarters, that snapped the spine of the camel.
Kanu and his group- more than any other in recent times- has successfully forced us to pay attention to the dysfunctional nature of the Nigerian federation, he has revived along-standing conversation about the workability or otherwise of Nigeria as a geo-political entity.
Whether Kanu’s followership would endure or if he would unravel like Ezeulu in Chinua Achebe’s epic novel is an entirely different matter. For now, there is no more authentic voice amongst the Igbos than the Umuahia born, British educated campaigner.
