By Odimegwu Onwumere
The call for the Igbo unity has taken another measurement. This is coming after some Igbo organisations that the Igbo affairs were put in their feet seemed to have failed. Now it is Njiko Igbo, which the ex-Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu is acting as an impermanent coordinator. The organisation is however gathering momentum not too long it was established, with nearly thirty million people as members.
No matter certain discordant voices to the visions of Njiko Igbo, which one among them is to actualise the Igbo presidency in 2015, the organisation is not relaxing in its duty, because of the Shylocks. Kalu has been consulting widely. A fortnight, he was with the Oni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sjuade, and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe at their palaces. From Abia to Anambra, Kalu has not been relaxing in the lock-up of his comfort; he has been sojourning for this onerous task.
The exceptional aspect of the Njiko Igbo is that it is not affiliated or belonged to any political party and that Kalu has been a remarkable figure in the Nigerian politics. His campaign for the unity of the Igbo has brought accolades to him; chiefly is that Kalu is a pertinent
material for championing the Igbo cause lucratively.
It is noted that Kalu is not a member of any political party at present and has equivocally retired from politics to say that he is championing this cause for self-purpose, but he is out for this Njiko
Igbo project for the excellent of the Igbo pursuit. On the contrary, that the Njiko Igbo is not into partisan politics doesn’t rule out the fact that it is not against any political party in Nigeria.
Investigation reveals that in its nomenclature, meeting with all the existing political parties in ala-Igbo, is paramount in its agenda. It has respect for all the meaningful institutions in Nigeria. It has equally, religious leaders, traditional institutions, and an assortment of interest groups, at heart.
During one of Kalu’s visits to the palace of Obi of Onitsha, so they say, Igwe Achebe in his observation said that the desires of Ndigbo in Nigeria can only be actualised if they are in unity. Achebe fingered the sizable investments of Ndigbo scattered across the world with infinitesimal size of them invested in ala-Igbo. Again, he regretted how armed robbery and kidnapping are becoming immune in ala-Igbo, and called on the government to checkmate these. It is noted that if the few things that Achebe outlined are addressed, it will help the Igbo to come back home and invest, whereas they can unite no matter where they have as residences. But it is observable that some powerful members of the public are playing politics with the Igbo and the government has refused to address these things, hence Kalu frowns and wants the Igbo to understand the ugly handwriting on the wall painting the Igbo in bad light for a worst future.
Having been said, the convening of Njiko Igbo by Kalu is not sycophantic, but audacious. The overconfident Kalu sees the Njiko Igbo as an all important socio-political dais for a president of Igbo mining in 2015. While few Igbo sons and daughters are playing to the gallery against this conceivable and lustrous Njiko Igbo, Kalu comes out boldly, striding to fruition with the organisation, not minding his tight schedules with his personal businesses.
Kalu is a man who is precipitous in the nucleus of Igbo qualities of progressiveness, modesty and valour. It is evident that the Igbo with their very rare enterprising features have contributed immensely to the economic growth of Nigeria. This is why there have been speculations on the real intention of the Njiko Igbo, which painted Nigeria red on Sunday, September 16th, 2012, at the Aso Villa residence, Abuja, in its presumably first National epochal meeting.
Whether the Njiko Igbo seeks to replace some titular Igbo organisations, the assertion may not be out of line, owing to the great accelerando with which Kalu is pushing the organisation forward.
Though, Kalu, through one of his media aides, Emeka Obasi had snubbed the contention. In Kalu’s own words, he had said: The aims of Njiko Igbo as the name connotes, include harmonization of different interests in the South East Zone of Nigeria, facilitation of a common
South East position on national issues, rekindling the spirit of political participation among the citizens at the grassroots across the zone as well as channeling such enthusiasm to positive national goals, building bridges across political tendencies in the zone and extending such bridges to other geo-political zones for the full re-integration of the zone among others.
In another category, Kalu had also simply declined news making the rounds that the Njiko Igbo is launched to be the major portal to carry on his supposedly presidential ambition come 2015. He regarded those making the teases as mischief-makers. It is not in contention that what is paramount in Kalu’s sensitivity is not the alleged ambition to contest for the presidency in 2015, but how to unite the Igbo, who happened to be in disarray due to different political pursuits and
engagement in self-aggrandizement. Upon this singular and understandably notion of Kalu, yet some unhelpful-politicians from the Igbo region are not happy with it. Freshly, some of them took a dishonorable protest to the National Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party, Abuja, to demand that Kalu should not be allowed to re-join the party, having been pioneer member of the party, but later left the party and pitched tent with another, a move the constitution does not frown at? These are the few persons among other Igbo sons and daughters who would prefer to be wallowing like a sheep without a shepherd instead they would sue for Igbo unity and rally same with action.
It is because of this type of behaviour by the few disgruntled Igbo that in his position, Kalu has at his residence on Sunday October 7th, 2012, during another meeting of the Njiko Igbo, maintained that the cooperative Igbo interest and matters will surmount all the asunder that partisan politicians and political parties are putting against the Igbo aspiration in 2015. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, when Kalu visited the place on Monday October 8th, 2012, after the meeting at his residence, the sermon that was on his lips was the call for Igbo unity, which millions of Nigerians that came to welcome him spoilt the air with ovation.
Kalu has enlightened the Igbo that there are people who are not sleeping well, because of his crusade for the Igbo presidency. These people are recruiting agents against him and the Igbo cause. It is not that they are hidden; they have also made themselves known by their comments and utterances. Some have even taken to the media as a tool to fighting Njiko Igbo. Notwithstanding, one assurance that Kalu and many others who believe in the cause of the Njiko Igbo have for them is that they should look elsewhere, because they are failing to spot the point, and might not spot the point unless they come back home before it is too late.
A moment ago, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu was in the United States of America, where he applauded Njiko Igbo as a vital tool to achieving the Igbo presidency. So, Njiko Igbo is of the essence for all Igbo sons and daughters, home and abroad, to unite. It is observed that Kalu who is putting his head and leg for the actualisation of the Igbo presidency, not in any other year but in 2015, is just a provisional coordinator of Njiko Igbo. He has refused to join any political party, because he believes that his weight cuts across the country, hence he should be neutral. And this is why all Igbo sons and daughters have to join the Njiko Igbo, not minding their different political groupings, so that the facilitation of a common South-East position in Nigeria can be a cult.
Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV); and Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State, Nigeria
Source:African Herald Express
