Chief Mrs Selina Ugwoke is a former governorship aspirant in Enugu state, two-time Vice President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and an activist. In this interview with CHUKS NWEZE, she speaks of the perceived marginalisation of the Igbos in Nigeria, however, saying she will not support separatist agitations but called for restructuring of the country
Excerpts:
Ndigbo on September 29, 2023 celebrated Igbo day, what does the celebration mean to Igbos?
The Igbo day celebration did not just start today. It started years back in 2010. Since then it was being celebrated every year until COVID-19 interrupted it but it has begun again. From the beginning, Igbo day is celebrated on the September 29 of every year. That is when we remember the people who played major roles in the Biafra agitation, before, during and after the war and for the integration of Ndigbo into Nigeria. Everybody who is my age during the war know what we suffered. You cannot tell the story of the war without shedding tears. And we all believed that when Ojukwu and Gowon went to Aburi, whatever they signed there was palatable to both Nigeria and Biafra. There was no time we had in mind that there was going to be a war. I was an adult then and I participated in the war.
We had thought that Aburi Accord was to make Nigeria stay in one piece but history has it that immediately after signing the Accord, on coming back, according to Ojukwu and historians, something happened and Gowon was advised never to agree to the Aburi Accord, and because of it, instead of us planning on how to carry out the letters of Aburi, we heard that there was no more Aburi. And every lover of Biafra then thought what are they going to put in place next….
Is the Igbo day all about the Biafran War? What actually is the essence of the day?
It is to remember our past and think of the present and how to forge ahead. The day was chosen because that was a crucial day for Ndigbo.
Since the commencement of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has it brought Igbos together? Is there unity among Ndigbo today?
If there is anything that the Igbo day is, it is the unity of Ndigbo, how to integrate us into Nigeria fully and to make us have equal rights and not make us second class citizens in a country we helped to build because we built Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, if you think of it. And when we were building these places, we were not building these things as visitors but as co-owners of the place and when we come in, we come with all our spirit. We build mosques, we build churches, we build schools and when we build all these things, we were not thinking of going away.
Has Ohanaeze bonded Igbos together, that is the question?
It has bonded us to some extent. We now work together as a people. During the 2023 Igbo Day celebration, you saw the governors came out unlike before. We have achieved a lot. Igbos are everywhere in Nigeria and in Diaspora making their marks, being heroes, entering Guinness Book of Records because of their ingenuity but what is sad is that when the war ended, they said, no ‘Victor, no Vanquished’ and we were looking forward to it but we saw something else. When things are being shared in Nigeria, Igbos are relegated to the background.
Ohanaeze has been fighting for the release of Nnamdi Kanu for some time now, do you think these efforts are enough?
If they had been enough, we would have gotten him released. Only God knows why the Federal Government is still holding him after winning all the count charges against him. Ohanaeze Ndigbo has made efforts as a body. Even some individuals like the late Mbazuluike Amechi, Iwuanyanwu, as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, even women groups efforts so that he is released to no avail. They don’t have anything against him yet they are keeping him. That is the height of it. If they want every Igboman to go to Aso Rock to make a plea, we’ll go but to keep Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is giving a very sinister sign because they cannot say that this is what he has done.
How would you describe the position of Ndigbo in Nigeria? Are Igbos getting their fair share?
How can they be getting their fair share when Igbos built up Nigeria? That is why I said Igbos are citizens of Nigeria. We are still building Nigeria. We own Nigeria. We built up Nigeria. We hardly discriminate. It is not in our marrow. Even now, Igbos are not discriminating. When they go to the North, they will donate. They will give to the refugees in the North. We never discriminate and will never discriminate; it is not in our blood. So, we are not getting our fair share. How can we be getting our fair share when many think the most knowledgeable persons- Igbo people – cannot rule Nigeria and that is why we are failing, failing, failing. If they let the bright people do things, then Nigeria will enjoy. We’ll be placed high up in world ranking where we should belong but now look at the ridicule Nigeria is turning into? We are now talking about certificate this, certificate that. I read in the news the other day that nurses, eighteen of them, were held in America because they forged certificate and they may get up to twenty years imprisonment. Nurses running away from Nigeria. It is not right. I don’t approve of our children running away.
Should there be all these agitations here and there in Nigeria – Oduduwa Republic, Biafra Republic, Niger Delta and all what not?
All these agitations come because of the situation in the country. I was telling you when Nigeria-Biafra war started, they sent us a train load of headless corpses of Igbo men and women and wrote a letter that if we want their heads, we should come to the North to get them. That was how the war kicked off. That was before the war, why the agitations now?
No equality in anything. Look at it in the South East, we are only five states. If you divide it, when we go to the parliament, the Senate, we’ll only be fifteen. The others will be forty-four, so how many senators will they get. A lot of injustice. There is a lot of marginalisation and if we old people can accept to be slaves, our children can never accept to be slaves. They will opt to die in the desert than to remain slaves in their own country. I don’t support Oduduwa, I don’t support Biafra. My own Biafra is in the mind. I believe that on Aburi we stand. All these people that are talking about restructuring, that is what they mean – on Aburi we stand. If we carry out that Aburi Accord, things will be better for everybody. But I don’t support all these agitations because there cannot be agitations without war. There will be no secession without war and if there is war, only God knows how much blood that will be she’d. I am not in support of agitations and secession.
Nigeria just celebrated her 63rd Independence. Should we celebrate? Is there anything to celebrate?
Some of us celebrated privately because I am alive but what type of life is another thing. So to be alive nowadays calls for celebration. As things stand, people can come and burn this estate and nothing will happen. You will hear it in the news. They may not even mention my name among those that died. So any day you are alive calls for celebration.
We are grateful to God but whether we’ll reach 64, we are not sure of because we don’t know if it is not hunger that will kill us. In the years past, we were in the University, we never thought of hunger in Nigeria but now hunger is real and can kill in Nigeria. Look at our hospitals? Are we happy being Nigerians? These are the things.
How would you compare the military with the civilians we are having since 1999?
Well, military rule, at least you know where they are coming from. Whatever they give you, you say, thank you, sir. This one we voted for those that will rule us. We chose Buhari and what did we get and now we have voted for another one, what do we get? Shall we say God please kill or remove this one. I don’t know. I never knew that if we get to this point, we shall say God save us for what we chose and for what we did to ourselves. Well God knows everything and he will come and help us.
Do you see an Igbo man becoming president in Nigeria in the near future?
Yes, I see an Igbo man becoming president, God willing. It is in the hands of God. I think the only future Nigeria has is in the Igboman. From my own point of view, if they refuse Igboman, we’ll take what is coming to us.
What have you to say on the removal subsidy and the attendant hardship trailing it?
My view is everybody’s view. Fuel subsidy has been come on and on for many years but the past leaders managed it but for somebody to just wake up and say I have removed fuel subsidy and the following day the price went up is something else. You see I have two cars but I hardly use them. I now take Keke when I want to go out. How can I buy fuel for N15,000 just to go to Polo and come back. You can see hardship. This is planlessness or may be he is trying to punish the people unnecessarily.
But they are giving palliatives…
Are you getting the palliative? If you see where they are giving the palliative, you tell me. I need rice, I need fuel to move about.
What do you have for the youths who are itching to leave Nigeria for greener pastures?
I just pray to God that they see some sense to stay. I once went to Germany and some Nigerian youths are there and have refused to come back to Nigeria. Anyway, those who can go abroad to make money should go but they should come back to Nigeria because there is nothing like home. Some of them may even go out and find out that staying in Nigeria might even be better. So I advice them to remain in Nigeria but aspire to make it better by engaging in meaningful ventures.Chief Dr. Selina Ugwoke-Adibuah, Ohanaeze chieftain
