The Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), a prominent assembly of Southeastern Nigerian intellectuals, traditional rulers and stakeholders, has again lamented the imprisonment of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Amucheazi, who succeeded late Prof Ben Nwabueze as the President of ILT, regretted that the Igbos in Nigeria were maltreated often with impunity by successive administrations in the country, from the colonial era till date.
According to the renowned Professor of Political Science and former Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Britain fought the Igbos from the inception of Nigeria and sponsored the war by Nigeria against Biafra, which lasted 30 months.
“No country recognized Biafra. Never mind the pretenses of the French that its soldiers fought like heroes, like Biafrans. Did they say they did anything else? Somebody even set himself on fire at the UN Building in New York, to protest the genocide against the Biafran people during the civil war
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“Look at how the Egyptians, fellow Africans threw bombs everywhere in Biafran territory, killing their fellow Africans. Russia did not support us. Nobody supported us for 30 months.
“General Yakubu Gowon’s three RRRs-Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction-was a mere slogan. The Federal Government said they gave 20 pounds each to Igbos after the war. No one ever gave anything.
“We Igbos have done our best after the war. It is not easy, but I think our people are trying like the Jews tried. The Jews lost six million people, not 60, 600 or 6000, but six million people. And this man (Otto von Bismarck) said a nation is built by blood and iron. This was what they did in Africa. Where are they today? Where is Portugal today? Where is Spain today? It is la liga all the time. They are playing football all the time. France is gone. Britain is gone too.”
According to Amucheazi, Americans and the Jews felt that Igbos were being humiliated and that is why they are doing what they are doing today.
“Look at what is going on in Lagos. All the properties our people legitimately acquired and developed, were destroyed. Governor Sanwo Olu did not express any fear to destroy Peter Obi’s brother’s house in Lagos because Bola Tinubu was beaten at his backyard in the last election. The worst is that they don’t care.
“Imprisonment of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still very painful. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was charged to prison and would have been sent to faraway Borno in Northeastern Nigeria, but Zik refused and sent him to Calabar.
“Awolowo never sat in prison for one day. His wife was treated as a Commissioner/Minister and given a Mercedes Benz car. But look at how Awolowo later hated Ndigbo and even suggested starvation as a fighting tactics against us during the civil war. Starvation claimed the lives of two to three million Igbo children in that war.
“After the civil war, our people went to him about the abandoned properties in Port Harcourt. How did he respond? He thought he would be the next Prime Minister. Well, God has a way of doing His own things.
“Ikeja Airport was named after Murtala Mohammed who committed genocide in Nigeria during the war, not after Awolowo, or Justice Taslim Elias, the first Attorney General of Nigeria. The last road in Victoria Island is Ahmadu Bello way. In Abuja, the two Central roads were named after Ahmadu Bello and Shehu Shagari.”
Speaking further, Amucheazi said those building the coastal road from Lagos to Calabar, mooted the idea to bypass the main road to the Eastern part of Nigeria, the home region of the Igbos.
“That is, if they will finish it in 100 years’ time. Somebody told me that they had done five percent of the Lagos-Calabar road at the cost of N7 billion per kilometre, not million. I was told the road is being handled by Chagoury who FBI interviewed. We are not fools,” he said.
While reminiscing on the struggles of Igbo leaders like Professor Ben Nwabueze and Pius Okigbo for a just, fair and equitable Nigeria, Amucheazi expressed optimism that this generation of Igbos can do the same.
Regarding the participation of many Igbo businessmen in the City Boy Movement, campaigning for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba man, the former NOA boss noted that many of the Igbo boys being conscripted into the movement, know that if they declined, their properties would be seized by the government.
“That is why they are accepting. You will be surprised that their city boys will vote for Peter Obi on the day of the election. Tinubu has bought a new plane, a yacht and a bulletproof van.”Amucheazi noted.
Earlier in a digital presentation to the ILT, National President of Nzuko Ozo Ndigbo Nigeria, Professor Ike Oluka called for a systematic return to the core philosophical principles of the Ozo traditional institutions in a strategic bid to address the collapse of moral and social order in Igboland.
Oluka argued that the restoration of Igbo identity and authenticity is the only viable remedy for the socio-economic and political challenges currently facing the South East region.
According to him, an Ozo title holder is not merely a socialite, but a priest of the Igbo traditional belief system and a custodian of culture, emphasizing that the ozo holds the offo, a sacred symbol of authority, justice and the power to govern through truth and righteousness.
Tracing the history of the institution, Oluka said: “Historically, the Ozo institution served as the bedrock of Igbo leadership for over a millennium before British colonization. These leaders were designed by the people and made for the people, providing a natural governance structure that ensured peace and order, without the need for a standing army or police.”
He highlighted the basic characters on which the institution is anchored, including truthfulness, reliability, resourcefulness, fighting for your people and a profound respect for sanctity of human life.
Others who joined Professor Amucheazi in receiving the delegation of Nzuko Ozo Ndigbo included the Secretary of ILT, Professor Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo and Dr. Joe Nwaorgu.
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