Igbo Calling

Where Are The Leaders?
Taking all our expositions away from home and expensive education, we should be ashamed that we achieved nothing yet but fragmentations as the Jewry were before AD1873. Person, personal assets and businesses do not make a binding community. We have the greatest philosophy of ‘Igwe bu Ike’ but the devil rims us as a cursed people. We know and speak the same thing but agreed not in the process of making what we know work well for us. What did we learn in 1997 of the UK for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in their proportions? We can learn anything but without autonomy, we are baseless. Here we are trying not to focus on the ‘I’ but ‘We’ the Igbos with our experiences, knowledge and expectations resolve to bind together to discharge the load upon us, which no one can discharge for us. In law and democracy, it is described as ‘Voice Populi’ or ‘Voice of the People’. Washing our dirty linen (disunity) outside is making outing without preparation. Since 1983, we have made attempts to converge sensibly and many of us have become old and ageing without anything to handover to our next generation. This call for Igbos is a salvaging one in the second year of our five years’ jubilee to 2020.

Have we made baseless journeys, which nothing is taken home but coffins? Why are we inarticulate and unbearing? Why are we like Jacob and his children in Egypt, who overstayed and made more problems for themselves? Are we still about the education, which we first came for or have we over-sighted our priority? Some of our philosophies are unworking because they are impassive as we are myopic, impatience and greedy in little or nothing good is. Igbo is in Nigeria; we do not understand ourselves, how can we understand Nigeria? Hausa people mock us that every Igbo person has a financial price and even our leaders (political, social & voluntary) betray us. This is why Igbo unity is paramount to determine our position and rights in Nigeria. Some people talk of Biafra reminiscently as the UK talked out of the EU, but on what basis shall we work out our indictments and honours? To crash out and start anew from the scratch does not guarantee success. Where ignorant peoples live, they must pray for wisdom to spur each other. I remember many kind Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo; can we ignore good and chase the wrong sides? My neighbours in the UK are made by environment; thus also, we have to mellow down our anxiety to cultivate equitable environment, which is conducive and supportive for a good living together mannerism.

Whatever we learned or experienced not to see eye to eye is satanic distraction. Our ancestors experienced but treated the past as by-gone to start anew. Without their tolerance and born-again, we wouldn’t have being. Having our experiences; is it time for us to say: let our experiences end our world? God forbid! Money! Money! It is a bribe to the fool to take less and forget where his help comes from. We read the Bible and join the Jews to celebrate their 40 years in the wilderness; 142 years in captivity and 1,878 years in Diaspora but we passed similar trite in 2010 without remembering our history to mark; and 2020, our 50th year after the war may come and take us unaware. Remembering the dead as we have done in the past was mocking without tributes. In 1994, I told B. Grant that going to Dover on 1st August to remember the drowned slaves may not serve better than reconciling the living to tell their history. Lo, since the war, God has been waiting for us. Our population has multiplied and not decreased; why are we unlearning even understanding the handwriting of God on the script for us.

Now, it is our time to say let bygone be past and with newness of heart, we enter our Jubilee years to 2020. What is expected? Igbo Institute does not prohibit anyone attending his usual Town, LGA and church meetings, which we have done for years. What it requires is persons and/or organisations joining (representations) in researching, gathering, disseminating and assembling consumable information. Thus, Groups should send two representatives to participate in deliberation or emails to feed them with outcomes of any deliberation. . The Igbo Institute is an educational body focusing on all and sundry that is holding and keeping the igbos down and embellishing all that motivate to sustain us as the Igbos. We cover all aspects of Igbo affairs with specialist departments. If you know or want to learn, what are you waiting? Come let us reason and act as a people. God has suspended death for us, let us rejoice together and reason with him (Isa.1).