By James Eze
The Igbo are often impatient with their leaders. Our republican nature makes it difficult for us to completely accept any leader in a manner that gets in the way of questioning them. For a people who bear philosophical names like Ezebuilo (kingship attracts enmity), the leader is always on the spot instead of the top. The result is that a silent distrust simmers between leadership and the people. This is why Igbo political leaders are hardly ever seen to be doing enough for their people while in office. The most loved Igbo leaders are often adored in retrospect. Governor Willie Obiano may be one of them.
In recent memory, it is hard to see any Igbo governor who has taken up major issues that have wider thematic implications for the Igbo world than Obiano. In 2018, the national debate for Restructuring reached fever pitch. Conversations were going on among ethnic and regional groups across the country. Other regions stepped out boldly to organize summits on restructuring. But because the period was dangerously close to the 2019 election year, most Igbo governors did not want to be seen as dabbling in controversial national issues that would cast them in the mould of enemies of Nigeria. So, they turned down the request from Ohaneze Ndigbo and other cultural associations to host the Igbo Summit on Restructuring in their various states. But Governor Obiano quickly accepted that request.
Consequently, the Igbo Summit on Restructuring held in Awka on May 21, 2018 to a resounding success and eventually gave birth to a historic document known as “The Ekwueme Square Declaration.” The document contains the Igbo charter of demands from the federal government. But beyond accepting to host a summit which his fellow governors had tactically avoided, Obiano had also delivered a weighty address titled “A Case for a Balanced Federation” in which he had boldly declared “I know what my people want from Nigeria and the question we must ask of Nigeria. We must ask for a just, fair and equitable federation where every citizen is guaranteed the freedom to be the best they can be and to aspire to the highest office in the land regardless of their tribe, culture and religion. And that is what Nigeria in its present structure, has not given to us! For if we rose from the ruins of the Civil War to rebuild Eastern Nigeria in record time, there should be no doubt about what Ndigbo can bring to the table in a fair, just and equitable Nigeria.” It would be hard for any student of history to forget this.
Again, to mark the Easter celebration in 2017, Governor Obiano choose a nostalgic theme that endeared him to Ndigbo when he decided to host Igbo musicians that healed Igboland with their music during and after the Biafran War. Tagged “A Night of Nostalgia,” the event brought twelve famous pop stars of the 70s together for a big and memorable concert where they evoked memories of surviving the war with the hit songs that helped Ndigbo to heal faster from the disruptions and dislocations of the war. It was such a delight to watch stars like Sweet Breeze, Funkies, Wrinkars Experience, Soky Ohale, Wings, Semi-Colon, One World, Aktion, Apostles, Foundars 15 and the legendary producer, Pal Akaronu on one stage. Other legends like Chief Chika Okpala (Chief Zebrudaya of the New Masquerade fame) were also on the stage that night. Governor Obiano gave each of them the sum of N1m and thanked them for using their talents to rekindle the desire to live again among Ndigbo after the Biafran War. That event has become a symbolic chapter in the war memory of Ndigbo.
Similarly, no Igbo governor has shown more interest in the affairs of the first generation of players of the famous Rangers International Football Club of Enugu than Willie Obiano. After assuming office in 2014, Obiano had placed the group which goes by the name “Ex-Rangers” on a monthly salary which presumably comes handy to the ageing stars. He also hosts them from time to time in a show that gives him the opportunity to thank them directly for what they did for Ndigbo with their football talent. It would be recalled that the famous Igbo spirit took a dive after the Biafran War. Our people took the defeat badly. But the pioneer set of Rangers International took it upon itself to prove to Nigeria that a defeat in battle did not necessarily guarantee a victory in the football field. As it turned out, the boys played every game with the anger of a wounded lion. They defeated every opposition in Nigeria and went on to rule West Africa with their gutsy display on the field of play. Their success and seeming invincibility lifted the spirit of a demoralized people and spurred them to retrieve their broken lives. Obiano has never lost sight of the symbolism of their exploits. He even hosted them a fortnight ago with legends like Christian Chukwu and Emma Okala in attendance. It is important for an Igbo leader to have a good sense of history and a long memory of what is dear to his people. Obiano has shown this over and again.
Beyond all these, Obiano’s thoughts on the Igbo condition has remained engaging and consistent. He has consistently appealed to the Federal Government to give the Great Zik of Africa a national holiday. His argument is that all over Africa, Zik’s contemporaries have been similarly honoured; like Nkrumah in Ghana, Kenyetta in Kenya, Nyerere in Tanzania and Neto in Angola. Unhappy with the continuing neglect of Zik by the Federal Government, Obiano had gone ahead to declare November 16 a Public Holiday in Anambra State, in the hope that other South Eastern states would follow suit to eventually speed up its adoption by the Federal Government. It is still hoped that something will give in no distant time while Anambra alone has continued to honour Zik’s holiday at the moment.
Again, unlike most of his fellow political leaders, Obiano is fiercely proud of his Igbo identity. A memorable proof of Obiano’s pride in his Igboness is subtly embedded in his address at the World Igbo Congress which took place in New York on Saturday September 3, 2016. Revving the audience to an emotional peak, Obiano had declared, “Brothers and sisters, the Igbo story is a narrative in courage. A great epic that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. The story of a people who rose vigorously from the rubble of genocide and extinction to assert their membership of the human race in the 21st century with so much brilliance, so much promise. It is a story I am immensely proud of.” It was obviously this pride that made him to organize Ozoemezina; a historic memorial for Biafran War victims.
What more can we say about this man who has blazed a lasting trail in Igbo memory.
• Eze is a journalist, poet, speech writer and Chief Press Secretary to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state.