By Chief Success Obioma Akagburuonye (Akaraugo 1 of Mbaise)* to the World Igbo Congress ar its September 2024 Convention, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
All Protocols
Your Excellencies; Senator Hope Odidika Uzodinma, CON, Executive Governor of Imo State,
Dr Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, Executive Governor of Abia State,
Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, Executive Governor of Anambra State, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Erishi Nwifuru, Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, Executive Governor of Enugu State
Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker House of representatives,
Your Excellencies, former governors
Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives
My Lords, Temporal and Spiritual
Honourable Ministers
Members of the State Assemblies
Members of the State Executive Councils
Former members of the National and State Executive Councils
Former members of the National and State Assemblies
Top Government Officials
Your Royal Highnesses and Majesties
My dear Chairman, Dr. Festus Okere and beloved members of our esteemed World IGBO Congress
Distinguished Guests, Special Invitees and Friends of Ndi Igbo
Gentlemen of the Press
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to thank immensely our dear Chairman, Dr. Festus Okere and the Executive Committee of our esteemed World Igbo Congress and the Planning Committee for giving to me this remarkable honour and privilege to address the 2024 Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I regret greatly my inability to be present physically in your mist owing to last minute indisposition. I had made all necessary plans to be with you. Kindly accept my most sincere apologies.
The question; “Ndi Igbo, Gini Ka anyi choro?” remains ever relevant. From our pursuit of independence, through the civil war and up until now, this question weighs heavily on the hearts of every Igbo person. It is my sincere hope that this convention should comprehensively address this question and proffer solutions to our enduring quest for harmonious coexistence.
Recently, many Igbo people feel that Nigerian State has let them down. Our youth in various parts of the country feel completely alienated, with a prevailing precarious sense of hopelessness. As the saying goes, “onye ajuru, anaghi aju onwe ya.” The patience and resilience of the Igbo person have been and are continually being tested, showing no limits; after all, the Igbos transformed 20 pounds into mansions in Asokoro and Banana Island. They converted 20 pounds into five-star hotels and sprawling edifices all over the country. They planted 20 pounds and nurtured it into factories and manufacturing plants. It is no surprise that most parts of the country seem to pause every December when the Igbos return home to reunite and celebrate with their loved ones. It is my sincere wish today to let our people know that we should despair no longer, for there is light at the end of the tunnel and we must be determined more than ever.
To answer the question, “Gini ka anyi choro?” the solution can only be driven by Igbo peculiarity. We cannot retrieve or surrender our cultural beliefs to anyone; our nation Nigeria belongs to everyone and we cannot equate leadership failure to hatred. Many of our brothers and sisters say, “I can’t establish my business in the East because the environment isn’t supportive.” While this concern may seem convincing, some of our Nnewi brothers have proven that our destiny lies in our ability and resolve to look inwards. Ndi Igbo, the answer is economic and industrial emancipation. United States of America experienced the dichotomy of North and South until the late 90s, no section retrieved or surrendered to the other. Now is the time for us to provide the leadership that will foster the enabling environment necessary for businesses to thrive in our homeland.
The transformation of 20 pounds into factories, mansions, and thriving businesses didn’t occur by chance; it was the result of the determination of the people to secure the future for our generation. We must reignite that spirit once more and work to collaborate with each other more.
Abuja, Lagos, and the other non-Eastern States are already congested and we need to help them decongest. This can be achieved by developing Alaigbo that is not only conducive but also secure to attract foreign economic investment.
Ndi Igbo, when we embrace and imbibe the spirit of Aku ruo ulo, the transition to the new Alaigbo will be rapid. World Igbo congress has a very crucial role to play as the apex Igbo organization in the Diaspora. To whom much is given, much is expected. Mr. Chairman, the World Igbo Congress stands a very good chance of making this paradigm shift a reality in our lifetime.
Permit me, Mr Chairman to share with you some thoughts on a SWOT analysis of the Igbo nation.
Our Strengths
The greatest strength of the Igbo nation is our enormous human capacity, even if latent. We have a huge population of very resilient people; our population constitute a vast market yet to be tapped. We also have unarguably some of the brightest minds in the nation.
Our Weaknesses
By far the major weakness that confronts the Igbo nation is the obvious dearth of any suitably articulated strategy whether in the short, medium or long terms, to unlock the enormous potentials of our people. We are too individualistic in our pursuits that the very indispensable corporate agenda that can make us competitive in contemporary terms are totally absent. The once usually flaunted Igbo spirit of love and unity of purpose of our fore-fathers are increasingly disappearing.
Our Opportunities
One clear opportunity is evident; Igboland is economically green. Under such circumstances, innovations come cheap. Hope is also a regularly available opportunity. According to Martin Luther King Jr, ‘if you take away everything from a man, do not take away Hope’
Our Threats
A major threat to our corporate and even individual existence is a rapidly growing number of unemployed and unemployable youth, rapidly increasing illiteracy and very unscrupulous value system. This is undoubtedly an emergency situation; if we do not as a people act swiftly to arrest this situation; the condition would in no distant time severely encumber us. A lesser, though, somewhat significant threat is our hostile neighbourhood, occasioned by the negative perception of the regular Igbo person by our 3 neighbours. Owing to the fact of our large population and absence of comparatively large arable land, the ordinary Igbo person, in the process of the natural survival instinct, from the old time, grew resilient and determined. The audience would agree with me that these are not attributes that would be cherished by a competing neighbour.
Leadership
In the regular Igbo person’s mind-set of his individualist pursuits of livelihood, there is a very defective supposition that egalitarianism and republicanism presuppose that leadership is superfluous. So, we carry on with the old-fashioned and flawed understanding of the philosophy that “Igbo enweghi Eze”. This attitude, in contemporary reality, is as anachronistic as it is defective. It is paradoxical to hope to achieve the desired unity when we are fiercely independent. In an increasingly competitive society, a community without a “senior prefect” is doomed.
I stood trial for 20 years in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CR/59/2003.BW F.R.N. VS ENGR SUCCESS.A.OBIOMA & 5ORS. over land related matters not 419, not murder, not contract scam, not financial crimes et’al. just because I am an Igbo man that God lifted from nobody to somebody, from disgrace to his grace, from story to glory that I am alive today, could only be God’s mercies. Emphasize that it was God who gave Ndigbo the grace to recover from the war and accumulated more wealth than they had before the war.
My case was a celebrated case, for the 20 years, 7 judges from the 6 geopolitical zones of nig tried the case, EFCC couldn’t produce one victim of my misdeed to give evidence.
During my 26 months in custody I fought to put an end to draconian bail conditions that made some people loose their lives while in EFCC custody. see Engr. success A. Obioma vs FRN on bail 13wrn 2005.
Let’s stand up against inhuman treatments being meted to ndigbo esp in Abuja.
Let’s stop offering ourselves to be used against fellow Igbos.
Stand for what is right, even if it means standing alone.
It is very imperative that a strong socio-political apex leadership exits that would have the responsibility of creating this synergy towards enunciating strategies for the actualization of our potentials and corporate missions.
Economic Emancipation
On the issue of liberating our people from poverty and ensuring sustainable prosperity, do we really have a choice? This, in my mind, is at the heart of the matter. Prosperity is a necessary condition for unity and peace. This is where our individualistic pursuits, no matter how successful, have little meaning if our individual attributes and efforts are not harnessed for our common good. We shall either swim or drown together. We must identify economic pursuits where we have or some of our corporate strengths confer on us, comparative advantage and articulate appropriate courses of action.
May The Almighty God grant us all his favor and heal our land.
