South-East Bureau Chief, JUDE OSSAI, writes on the recently-concluded ‘Handshake Across the Niger’ event held in Enugu and resolutions made at the gathering.
THURSDAY, January 11, 2018 was like any other working day of the week to many people, But to the people of South-East and South-West geo-political zones, it was a historic moment for them as the leaders of the two ethnic groups, gathered in Enugu, the Enugu State capital to brainstorm and chart a way forward.
Among the top dignitaries at the event were the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi who was duly represented, Chief Olu Falae, Chief John Nwodo, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, ex-governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Professor Banji Akintoye, Senator Femi Okurounmu, ex-governor Jonah Jang of old Plateau State, Professor Pat Utomi, governor of Enugu State was represented by Uwakwe Azikiwe, son of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, while Ebonyi, Anambra, Abia and Imo states were represented by their deputies. Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe represented the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, former military governor of Akwa Ibom State, Idongesit Nkaga represented Chief Edwin Clark from the South-South region, Chief Bola Doherty, Dr Joe Nworgu and Professor Joe Irukwu.
The event proper kick-started at about 1 p.m with an opening prayer by Reverend Father Anthony Ezioke which was followed by traditional breaking of kola-nut by His Royal Majesty, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe.
Professor Anya O.Anya the co-chairman of the occasion set the ball rolling with a brief remark while Dr Ubah, in his opening remarks also expressed delight over the large turn of credible men and women to the event.
In his welcome address, the coordinator of Nzuko Umunna, Mr Ngozi Joseph Odumuko, noted that the Nzuko Umunna, which he described as bridge builders, had done well by coming up with the initiative with strong support and endorsement of Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
While lauding the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo (Jnr.) and the leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti for championing and blessing the cause, Odumuko said, “the event was historic and symbolic.”
“It is historic in the sense that our brotherhood and friendship didn’t start today, and symbolic as illustrated by the memorable friendship of duo of Fajuyi and Ironsi which we are happily celebrating today. Today, under the banner of this legendary friendship, we celebrate Igbo and Yoruba all over the world and renew our vow of everlasting friendship and love as neighbours”.
Odumuko further noted, “We have all shared concerns on the enormous challenges faced by our country, Nigeria. To be truthful with ourselves, we have been divided and suspicious lately, as can be seen in continuous agitation across the country by calling for equity, fairness and even distribution of dividends of democracy. Many Nigerians have called for a restructure of the country to true federalism and decentralisation of power to fast-track development of state and national levels. This call should be taken seriously and instruments of the state to be deployed to facilitate the re-engineering of the Nigeria we all want to call our own.”
Quoting one of the African legends, Nelson Mandela, the coordinator said, “Part of building a nation means building a spirit of tolerance, love and respect amongst the people of the country.”
He explained, “The significance of our coming together opens a new door to accelerated nation building, a catalyst to take up our common challenges as a nation and create synergy to make our country what it should be. This handshake is not a day’s event, but this day marks the beginning of a new dawn, a day to totally eliminate the remnants of suspicion, rivalry and unnecessary retrogressive inter-ethnic hostility which has been a lasting obstacle to national development.”
Characteristically, the leader of the delegation from Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, when it was his turn to speak, reiterated his call for immediate restructuring of the country, insisting that it was only restructuring that can properly redress the perceived injustice, oppression and restiveness in the country.
The speech of Chief Adebanjo was punctuated by angry women who claimed they were protesting the alleged killing of their relatives by the Nigerian Army during the ‘Operation Python Dance’ last year.
Chief Adebanjo, who was later informed the reason behind the unruly behaviour of the women, said, “I am not surprised at the disorder in the hall. But our gathering today is for the gathering of the unity of Nigeria. And the enemies of Nigeria will not allow it to work. So, I want you people to maintain peace.
“Handshake across the Niger’ did not start today. The peace in the West, East and in Nigeria is why we are here today. We have not come here to gang up against any person or group of persons, but to find a common front for unity of this country. It is your right to become Nigeria and it is only restructuring that can make it possible. If you go for election without restructuring, it means your going back to square one. We are only saying here let us be together on an agreed terms. You cannot keep this country in peace without creating equality and fairness in the country. Let us go back to the constitution of our founding fathers. We want our dependence and we should refuse to be relegated. Whatever our differences are in the past, we should forget and come together and work for peace and unity”.
Chief Olu Falae, in his speech said, “It is indeed, a privilege, to represent my people and be part of this historic event. It started long time ago and it has been up and down. At this moment of our nation, it is a idea whose time has come. It has come at a critical time of our nation and it is the beginning of greater things to come as Nigeria is very sick.”
If there was any Igbo leader who was highly elated, it was the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nwodo, who felt so disgusted at the state of the nation particularly as it concerns Igbo marginalisation.
While recalling his days as Students’ Union President in the University of Ibadan (UI), he remarked that it would not have been possible for him to clinch such an exalted position in a highly dominated Yoruba institution if the country was polarised as it is now.
“Today, will go down in the history of Nigeria as remarkable day. At a time our unity is threatened in Nigeria, at a time religious/ethnic cleansing is going on in some parts of Nigeria and lamely attended to by our national security forces and law enforcement agents, at a time many Nigerians are losing hope in the joint enterprise called Nigeria, two major ethnic groups in Nigeria are coming together to re-emphasise their oneness, to recall the incidences in history which bind them together, to note their differences, historically disagreements and regrettable past and proclaim, let bygone be bygone!
“Today, we have come to say thank you to the Fajuyi family for paying the highest price of solidarity and brotherhood to the Ironsi family and by implication to Ndigbo. Late Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi in offering to go along with his boss and guest rather than leave him alone to be slaughtered was dramatising brotherhood. We will be betraying him and his legacy if we do not continue to promote that brotherhood”, Nwodo stated.
The former Minister of Information recalled, “At the dawn of self-government and the commencement of political parties, Sir Herbert Macaulay exhibited that brotherhood with Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo was incarcerated , Dr Michael Okpara exercised that boldness as he looked after him in prison. Both of them sucked their differences and formed the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA) Many of us benefited from this fraternity.”
The Ike Ukehe also noted, “At the end of the civil war, no Igbo man had his property confiscated in Western Nigeria. Today, Igbo abound in property ownership, manufacturing and commerce in Lagos. We implore Yoruba to begin to invest also in Igbo land.
“The Igbo/Yoruba alliance which has catalysed the Southern leadership forum and the Middle Belt is a bold statement that unity is possible in Nigeria. We shall soon extend our hands of comradeship to our Northern brothers.”
Agreeing with other speakers, Nwodo said, “Our irrevocable stand that Nigeria must be restructured is non-negotiable. To abandon restructuring is to self-destruct Nigeria. Any one opposed to restructuring is a proponent of the liquidation of Nigeria. Already the signs are becoming obvious as over 70 per cent of the states can hardly meet their recurrent expenditure
For former governor Jonah Jang of old Plateau State and representative of Middle Belt, he said, “The divide and rule tactics is used to cause the suspicion between the Yoruba and Igbo.
While pouring encomiums on the founding fathers, Jang added, “Let the ‘Handshake’ not go across the Niger only, but across the Middle Belt. There should be devolution and the question of restructuring is smothering that must be done and accepted. It is above an individual. We must survive and build on unity for legacy for our children.
Mr. Timothy Kwande (Middle Belt Forum) used demography and census of 2006 as his premise, stressing that those who are opposing restructuring of the country are in minority,
“Few people are using religion to oppress others”, he noted. Indeed, the Southern leaders from all intents and purposes, were able to send a strong signal to the world that time has come for strong regional cooperation between the Southeast and the South-West regions, using the call for an immediate implementation of 2014 National Constitutional Conference as a spring board for restructuring the country.
In a communique after the meeting which was signed by Chief Nwodo (Jnr) the President-General of the apex umbrella of Igbo socio-cultural associations and the leader of the Afenifere, Chief Adebayo, the two ethnic groups noted that the immense strength of Igbo-Yoruba close affinities of kinship and brotherhood, shared origins and cultural/ethical values, a common world view and inherent love of freedom and justice.
The Southern leaders recalled that ‘Hand Shake Across the Niger’ anchored on the heroism of Major General J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi and Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, though long overdue, has finally burst the myth of Igbo-Yoruba irreconcilable differences and spiteful rivalry, thus, providing new impetus for resurgence of the same bold, patriotic and nationalist solidarity of the two ethnic groups from the 1930s to the 1950s that earned independence for Nigeria in 1960.
According to them, “the immense strength of Igbo-Yoruba close affinities of kinship and brotherhood, shared origins and cultural/ethical values, a common world view and inherent love of freedom and justice”.
“We believe that the fore-going measures will reposition Nigeria to reach credible nationhood, attain its full potential and respect in the community of nations thereby enabling us to effectively lead the campaign for the political and economic renaissance of Africa and the black race – the very goals for which the Zik of Africa and the sage, Chief Awolowo and a host of other founding nationalists lived and sacrificed so much”, they added.
The communique further stated, “today’s ‘handshake’ is not a one off event, but only the first of a progressive and continuous re-socialisation project that will, in short order, reach out to embrace other compatriots in the South South (SS) ,Middle Belt (MB), North Central (NC) North East (NE) and North West (NW) zones of the country;
“We decided therefore, to establish a standing Joint Action Committee (JAC) to drive this process, and to continually articulate fresh ideas and strategies to sustain the current zeal and momentum of mutual understanding and collaborative actions aimed at resuscitating Nigeria politically and economically in order to position her to earn her rightful place among the contending nations in the world.
They stated that the composition and mandate of the joint committee and its sub-committees, along with the full report of the ‘handshake’, will be posted in due course.
According to the communiqué, “in a long history of close relations and association, the Igbo and Yoruba have no recorded instances of violence against each other’s ethnic group, such as inter-ethnic mass killings and destruction and/or seizure of property; that instead, they have lived, worked and prospered together, accommodating and respecting their differences;
“We expressed awareness that grievances generated by past errors on both sides can no longer justify or sustain dissection between the two groups whose solidarity and mutual collaboration have the capacity to dramatically change the fortunes of Nigeria, thereby also, changing the fates of the African continent and the black race.”
All the speakers at the occasion talked about the need for peace and unity in the country. Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Mimiko said “ We now live in a world where machines are being built to think, a world in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) threatens our fundamental assumptions of employment. We can therefore not afford to be cocooned in the prejudices of the past, some of which are based on the perceptive errors and indiscretions of some of our leaders living or dead.”
“For sure, we must learn and cherish our history and allow it to enlighten our choices of today and tomorrow, but we must resist the temptation of perceiving history as an invitation to live in the past. I hate poverty. I believe in God’s word that He created us in His own image. That to me means that He wants us to live decent lives, not the obviously subhuman living most of our country men and women have been consigned.
“I hate to be considered an inferior human being because my country, my race has refused to excel in virtually all areas of human endeavour. We, that were once forced into slavery have now become voluntary slaves and are ready to take any risk to so be. Yes, even the risk of traversing deserts and oceans in the most hazardous manner is game. Our young ones, the strength of our today and the wisdom of our future have become objects of derision, victims of hard drugs and all manners of occultism and cultism.
“We thirst for a turnaround. We pray and shall continue to pray for it. But we must also be ready to work for it…peacefully through shared perceptions and agreed concrete democratic actions.
“We all agree that the structure of our nation is not serving us well, and that in many ways, it hinders development. Indeed, many of the challenges listed heretofore, and the list is certainly not exhaustive, are but a manifestation of the defective structure this nation has been forced to operate, especially since military incursion into governance in 1966. No one needs to be a development expert to know that we are not doing well on the development front. The good news, however, is that we are capable of doing better. We are capable of posting great results on the platform of composite development and national unity. What we simply need to do, and I dare say urgently, is to redesign this structure, with a view to making it more functional.
“I am glad that in spite of everything, some semblance of consensus is emerging around the more critical of the issues, not just across the Niger, but indeed all over the country. It has become clear, as I have often averred, that restructuring is not a South versus North thing. Rather, it is about unleashing the potential of all parts of our nation for rapid development.
“My conviction in this regard is what has made me align with the mainstream Yoruba political tendency, personified by Afenifere, which has perhaps more than any group in this country, put the restructuring argument on the front burner. It is the reason why as Governor of Ondo State, I supported the convocation of the 2014 National Conference, and the southwest delegation in every way possible. I am persuaded that what that conference came up with is good enough a starting point in rescuing our nation from this suffocating structure that has hamstrung development for decades, and promises to keep doing so for as long as it is in place.
“As we proceed to develop this concept of handshake further, let us please note three critical issues. The first is that seeking to build a stronger bond between the East and West, or better still across the Niger, is not inconsistent with our desire for national unity. Indeed, it is the case that when two significant units of a system work in harmony, it portends greater prospects of the entire system doing the same, and being more functional. The closer the East and West work, therefore, the surer the path of peace and development for Nigeria.”
Be that as it may, the’Handshake across the Niger’ was a huge success and the memories will continue to linger on in minds of many people both within and outside the country. As a matter of fact, it was great reunion for the Igbo and Yoruba especially for the families of both Fajuyi and Ironsi as they (including the wives and children of the late heroes) posed for a group photograph to the delight of the audience. The great Lady of song, Onyeka Onwuenu, thrilled the audience with her “One Love” track music.