Former Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu, speaks on the controversy over the identity of Ikwerre people in Rivers State and whether they belong to the Igbo tribe, among other related issues 

What do you make of the disagreement between the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and the President of Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation, Dr Okachikwu Dibia?

As an Ikwerre man, I know we have the Ogbako Ikwerre; we have the Ikwerre Development Organisation, IDO. So, we don’t have anything called Iwhnurohna Progressive Organisation or IPO. So, the young man (Dibia) wanted to score a point by issuing a statement to challenge Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. I wish him good luck. That is what I will say in that regard.

But the man is the President of IwhnurohnaProgressive Organisation.

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You are a journalist; have you heard about that name before? He needs to be asked some questions. First and foremost, his name is Dibia; that is what he said, and he wrote a book published in 2011, which I have. In that book, he said there was pressure on him to change his surname, but (he said) he did not change it because he allowed it to remain as an Igbo relic. But the truth is that he is an Igbo man; his DNA and his blood are Igbo. I have said time without number that the Ikwerre are Igbo, and they have at different fora from the Henry Willink’s Commission asserted that they are Igbo.

Ikwerre land is Igbo land. The man (Dibia) wanted to become popular by issuing a statement challenging Iwuanyanwu. For example, if Ango Abdullahi says something, and somebody wants to reply to him from Igbo land or Yoruba land, it should be a known name. So, who is this person, and what organisation does he represent?

But Dibia, who is an Ikwerre man, is saying that the Ikwerre are not Igbo. How will you respond to his claim?

I want to be recorded very well. The Ikwerre people are Igbo. If you say something that is not predicated on fact, either circumstantial or real, it is neither here nor there. The Portuguese got to Ikwerre land in 1400AD. Now, go and look at ‘People from Southern Nigeria’ by Amaury Talbot, Volume 1, Page 238. The Portuguese got to Isiokpo which is the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area today; they got to Amaafa, which was the name Emuoha was answering. They recorded that people were here with these names.

Now, the Ikwerre people claimed that they left Benin under the reign of Oba Ewuare, and Oba Ewuare came to power in the Benin Kingdom in 1430 AD. That was after the Portuguese had visited Ikwerre land in 1400. Assuming without conceding that the Ikwerre people came from Benin, it then means that the Ikwerre people who came from Benin met people here (Ikwerre land). The people had been here when the Portuguese came.

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Again, the Oba of Benin wrote a book titled, ‘Yes, my obedient servant’. The Oba of Benin I am referring to is Omo N’Oba Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa. He (Oba Erediauwa) served as an Assistant District Commissioner in Ahoada Division (in today’s Rivers State) between 1954 and 1965. In his book titled, ‘Remain, sir, your obedient servant’, published in 2004, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa Akpolokpolo wrote it.

He (Erediuwa) said that the Ikwerre and the Etche were typical Igbo. Also, at the Henry Willink’s Commission in 1957, the Ikwerre presented their position through their leaders that from Port Harcourt to Onitsha was Igbo land, and when Henry Willink published his report in April 1958, he made it very clear that the Ikwerre were Igbo. He went to the point of stating in black and white that Port Harcourt was an Igbo town. It is there in black and white.

Now, let us go to human beings. Illustrious Ikwerre sons, more prominent than Dibia, had stated clearly that they were Igbo. Chibuike Amaechi, who is the former governor of Rivers State, former speaker of the House of Assembly, Rivers State, and first Nigerian Minister of Transportation, says he is an Igbo man.

The question I ask is, why are people not reporting it? Now, they are giving front-page headlines to Dibia. The first Ikwerre principal of any college; Saint John’s College, Diobu, first provost of the Rivers College of Education, now Ignatius Ajuru University, and first Ikwerre minister, Chief Emmanuel Aguma, said he was an Igbo man. The First Ikwerre poet, Okogbule Wonodi, who was a one-time registrar of the University of Port Harcourt, said he was an Igbo man.

The first Ikwerre senator, first Ikwerre to obtain a PhD, first Ikwerre commissioner, and first Ikwerre member of the Constituent Assembly, Constitution Conference, 1975 and 1977, Dr Obi Wali, said he was an Igbo man. The question I will ask Dibia is; ‘why do you say you are not an Igbo man?’

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What do you think may have made him say the Ikwerre are not Igbo people?

Well, he knows what made him to say so. I don’t know. He (Dibia) wrote a book titled, ‘The Challenge of Ikwerre Development in Nigeria’, published in 2011. From Page 146 to 147 of that book, this is Dibia talking; he said, ‘Ikwerre names that are Igbo have remained unchanged because they were left as part of Ikwerre historical relics. They have no other meaning than that. For example, my name, Dibia, does not in any way assist in defining my personality despite the pressure to change it. I had decided to retain it to remember what Ikwerre people passed through in the past, representing the experiences needed to rebuild Ikwerre.’

Now, the question you will ask him is why he has not changed his name. Dibia means in Igbo land, a knowledgeable person and a healer. A professor can be called Dibia of History, Dibia of Law, Dibia of Journalism, or a healer. So, let him change his name, because he has no other names to answer. We are not Iwhnurohna people; we are Ikwerre people. He used the word ‘Iwhnurohna’. Let the people be bold to change all their organisations’ names from Ikwerre to Iwhnurohna, and they will lose their bearing and relevance.

Why did you say so?  

Of course, if you change your surname today, you will lose your track. Why is it that the Afro-Americans are still insisting that they are Africans? Why are they not saying that they are Spanish? Why are they not saying that they are Germans or British? Why are they still insisting that they are Africans? Blacks and Afro-Americans have their root in Africa. This is because it is the identity that defines their mission and purpose and that they are blacks and Africans.

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The Ikwerre are Igbo, and from time immemorial, the Ikwerre have remained in Ohanaeze. From 1939, the Ikwerre were members of the Igbo State Union which existed from 1939 to 1966 when the military proscribed it. Since the formation of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 1976 with Akanu Ibiam as President General and Jerome Udorji as first Secretary General, the Ikwerre were members of Ohanaeze.

I have served as Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; many prominent sons and daughters of Ikwerre have served as Ohanaeze members. Chibudom Nwuche, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from Ekpeye is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ohanaeze as I am talking to you. His father, the late C.C Nwuche, once served as the chairman of Ohanaeze’s Elders’ Council. The late Senator Francis Ellah of Ogba, the most outstanding Ogba man to live on earth, was a senator; he was a district commissioner, he was the registrar of the Rivers State University at a time, he was Secretary to the Government, he was a minister, and remained Ohanaeze till he died.

So, I don’t know where the likes of Dibia are coming from. If he knows the people that sent him on an errand, he should tell them that the Igbo will not surrender Ikwerre to anyone or tribe; and I want to be recorded. Any attempt to remove Ikwerre land from the Igbo will be resisted. No nation in modern history will want his side to be shrunk. That is the whole crisis in Kremia and Ukraine. Russia said you cannot remove Russians from us.

Why do you think Ikwerre land is important to the Igbo?

No nation will want itself to be cut off from the sea. Ikwerre land is the tongue of the Igbo nation to the sea. The Ohanaeze President General (Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu) is coming to Rivers State in January 2025, because constitutionally, it is the turn of River State (to produce the next president general). So, the likes of Dibia are on a mission to undermine the Ikwerre in Ohanaeze. He should tell those who sent him that they have failed because some of us are still alive.

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Some have said that the reason why some Ikwerre people are claiming that they are not part of Igbo and Igbo land is because of an alleged expansionist tendency of Igbo people. How will you react to this?

Who is expanding to where? Under the constitution, where are you expanding to? Nigeria is an indivisible and indissoluble country under Section 2 of the Constitution. Local governments have been created, and states have been created. Nobody from Ebonyi State will rule Enugu State; nobody from River State will rule Delta State. The clannish nature of Nigeria is so high that you cannot even be a councillor outside your village. Even in Yoruba land, you cannot come from Oyo State and be a councillor in Osun State.

So, I don’t know who is expanding to where. Is anybody controlling a local government except the chairman who is from there? Rivers State was created in 1967, almost 60 years ago. So, the Igbo came back to Rivers State after the war as non-Rivers indigenes and struggled for survival. Rivers people are in Lagos State as non-Lagosians struggling for survival. Anywhere you find yourself in Nigeria, you struggle for survival as a non-indigene. You battle; if you go to the university, you pay different school fees from the ones those from the state pay.

So, which expansionist tendency are these people talking about? If you go anywhere, you buy land with your money; nobody will dash you land. You are in Lagos today, if you have money to buy land, you buy from the natives. The Lagosians go to Ogun State and buy land. Even the Ijebu people buy land in Ijebu. Tell those saying this to tell us where we are expanding to. It is just a case of calling a dog a bad name to kill it. Tell the person that it is not true.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo will likely have a new president general next year and it is said that the position will go to Rivers State. How ready are your people to take this position?

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That is the same question they ask when it comes to politics. What is the qualification to become a President of the country? Is it not a School Cert? (Umaru Musa) Yar’Adua was the first Nigerian President that went through the university. So, didn’t those who ruled before him do well? The Igbo-speaking people in Rivers State; the Ogba, the Ekpeye, the Ndoni, Ikwerre, Etche, Obigbo; don’t they have people? Is Amaechi not an Ikwerre man? He has said he is Igbo.

Are you saying a man, who has run presidential primary cannot be Ohanaeze’s president general? Are you saying that Chibudom Nwuche, who was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is not qualified to be Ohanaeze president general? Are you saying I am not qualified as a lawyer to become president general of Ohanaeze? I have also served as secretary general. Are the qualifications of the president general and secretary general of Ohanaeze different? It is like saying (Prof Yemi) Osinbajo cannot be President, even when he has been Vice President.

All those things are cheap blackmail. The Rivers people are very prepared. We are very prepared. Constitutionally, it is only people from Rivers State who can contest the position of the next president general of Ohanaeze. It is zoned to Rivers State, and after Rivers State, it will go to Abia State.

What is your advice to those who may unwittingly try to distort history over the current controversy on the identity of the Ikwerre people?

If something is not your name, you change your name. For example, my name is Uche Okwukwu. If I find out that it is not my name, I change it. Go to court, do an affidavit, and publish it in a newspaper. So, some Ikwerre who are saying Ikwerre are not Igbo should change their names.

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Some have also said that language is not enough to determine where a person comes from.

Dibia is saying that he is retaining his name as an Igbo relic. Now, you are saying that a name is not important.

No, some people said, not me.

Let me quote what Oliver Wendell said in 1866 about language. ‘Every language is a temple in which the soul of those who speak it is enshrined. Language is by its very nature communal. It expresses never the exact thing, but a compromise that is common to me, you, and everybody.’ Now, language is very important. That is why the Yoruba of Kogi, Kwara, and Edo states are still saying they are Yoruba. This is because of language and name. If you say the Igbo should change their names. How? How can that kind of influence be there that the person does not retain anyone?

It is important I also give you this source; the famous Benin historian, Julius Egharevba, wrote a book titled, ‘Short History of Benin’. In that book, he said that the earliest migration of people out of Benin was in 1440, by which time the Portuguese had already visited Ikwerre and met the Ikwerre people. Remember that the Portuguese were here by 1400. So, I don’t know where they are getting their facts from. You must be armed with history to make a statement; you don’t just say things, and when they bring you out on national television, you can’t defend it.

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Igbo women are said to always tie two wrappers and that is also one of the ways a person can determine who an Igbo woman is. How will you react to this claim?

These days, globalisation has made people open their noses, open ears in five places. Some almost go naked, which the government is fighting in all higher institutions. I know that Ikwerre women tie two wrappers. You must visit Ikwerre with your camera and take snapshots. We wrestle like Igbo and our women tie two wrappers.

Culled from The PUNCH

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For the umpteenth time, Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State, has come under immense attacks from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the state, this time over his alleged underhand dealings with retirees over their arrears of pensions.

Apart from pointedly lying over the issue, the main opposition party in the state, which lost power last year after 24 years, also accused the governor of squeezing the airpipes of the retirees to submit to an unholy deal in which they would forfeit part of their arrears as a condition for getting part of their pensions.

The party, in calling out the governor, dared him to come out clean on the issue, in a statement on Sunday, by Abraham Amah, PDP Vice Chairman and Acting State Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, who stressed that the claim by Otti to have cleared all the arrears due the retired workers, was false.

Against the back and forth claims in which the governor’s revelation that he had cleared 10 years arrears of pension in the state, is being disputed by the leadership of the pensioners, the PDP accused Otti of making unproductive efforts, seeking cheap popularity by peddling lies to confuse and deceive “the good but unsuspecting people of Abia State about the pension situation in the state.”

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Regretting that the issue of the said pensioners had been trending for the wrong reasons, given the governor’s claim that he had cleared their outstanding nine years or ten years pension arrears, the party, pointed out manifest discrepancies the narrative from the government house.

“To show further proof that the claim is false and embellished with visible lies, there are discrepancies in the claim because, Alex Otti, his operatives and the pensioners do not agree on the accurate number of months cleared. While his Commissioner for Finance said nine years, Alex Otti in the United States, said ten years and pensioners insist that only a certain percentage of the nine months arrears owed them since the inception of the Otti administration were cleared. At this point, we will leave the judgment to discerning Abians,” the statement, said.

It cited a recent statement by the enlarged Executive Council-in-session of the Abia chapter of the National Union of Pensioners (NUP), dissociating itself from any agreement entered between the government and pensioners which purportedly stipulating that retirees would forgo all outstanding arrears as a condition for the regular payment of their monthly pension, the PDP decried Otti’s description of the NUP’s position that the said section of the agreement was a mistake and should be expunged as a huge joke.

Accusing the governor of taking advantage of the desperation of the pensioners to insert that obnoxious clause in that agreement, adding that such an action is the height of infidelity, especially as he had promised several times, during the campaigns and after the elections that he would clear any pension arrears he met in office, the party, insisted such ill-treatment must not be allowed.

The statement added: “While Abians are distraught and in shock that Governor Alex Otti could arm-twist and deceive desperate pensioners and trick them into signing an agreement that makes them forfeit their outstanding pensions, the Abia PDP is not, because it is typical of Alex Otti but we don’t want to get used to it as many Abians have already.

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“And that is why we have a sacred duty to hold him to account for his deeds in office. Everything Alex Otti has touched since he became Abia governor has ended in unnecessary controversy and always proven him as one who is always economical with the truth.

“Otti ab initio was never ready to pay pension, otherwise he would not have pressured and tricked the leadership of NUP into signing an agreement to forgo its outstanding arrears. Did the agreement entered into with the leadership of the NUP expressly say that the government would claim to have paid in full pension arrears that were forfeited because Alex Otti at every given opportunity claimed that he has cleared all outstanding pension arrears in Abia?

“The records are clear that in the eight years of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, which amounts to 96 months, he paid 51 months pension and had an outstanding of 45 months which the NUP has acknowledged several times.

“Abia PDP wonders how 45 months suddenly turned to 9 or 10 years which Alex Otti consistently referenced during his toxic campaigns as an opposition figure. Unfortunately, he has carried on with his lies to the government and does not understand the boundaries between being in opposition and the government.

“Arising from the above, Abia PDP demands an explanation and wants to know where the balance 111 or 99 months are, as Alex Ott claims to have cleared 9 or 10 years arrears and will soon be reflected in Abia State quarterly expenditure records and used to fleece Abians.”

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The party, while praising what it termed the courage and maturity of the NUP in handling the matter and encouraged it to take the dispute to arbitration for a quick resolution, stressed that it was inappropriate to ask one to forgo one’s arrears as a basis for receiving future entitlements.

“Governor Alex Otti should henceforth desist from saying that he has cleared all outstanding pension arrears because such a claim is not the true position. We urge him to stop using pensioners to promote his self-serving,” the party, added.

Members of the House of Representatives are going through the award of the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway contract, on the suspicion that it did not pass the integrity test in terms of the process, one of the grounds on which the main opposition figures in the country, including Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, have attacked it.

The members of the lower legislative chambe during plenary on Thursday, adopted the motion sponsored by Austin Achado, a lawmaker representing Gwer east/Gwer west federal constituency of Benue, which also included the summoning of David Umahi, Minister of Works, Wale Edun, his Finance counterpart and Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), to furnish them with “all guarantees and credit enhancement instruments,” for the project.

The federal government recently commenced the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road — which is expected to run through the shoreline of beach resorts in Lagos, while traversing eight other states, a project which has run into murky waters of criticisms from many quarters.

The naysayers had questioned not only the transparency of the contract award process, but the viability, as well as the priority of the project at a time major highways in Nigeria are not only in states of eyesore, but have become death-traps, while providing leeway for criminals to operate.

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Achado, who said the “award strategy” of the road contract violated the Public Procurement Act 2007, told his colleagues: “This laudable project with the prospect of providing easy access for movement of goods and services across the nation, has a financing structure, as announced by the honourable minister of works, which requires the federal government to provide 15 percent to 30 percent co-financing, while the private sector counterpart will provide the balance.

“And to toll the road when completed for a minimum period of 15 years to ensure full recovery of all debts and equity applied for the delivery of the project. There are concerns that the Procurement Strategy may have violated the Public Procurement Act 2007, section 40(2) which requires that where a procuring authority adopts to use restrictive tendering approach, it should be on the basis that the said goods and services are available only from a limited number of suppliers and contractors and as such, tenders shall be invited from all such contractors who can provide such goods and services.

“The procurement strategy adopted by the federal ministry of works for the award of the contract violates the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission Act 2005. Section 4 of the Act outlines that all approved infrastructure projects and contracts for financing, construction and maintenance must be advertised for open competitive public bid, in at least three national dailies, and section 5 of the Act further clarifies that any direct negotiations with only one contractor could be allowed, only after exhausting the provisions of section 4.”

Unyime Idem, Chairman, Committee on Public Procurement, said parliament who said that the members had received several petitions demanding the investigation of the procurement process of the project, hence the need to heed to the cries of Nigerians to scrutinise the process.

After the motion was adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, the lawmakers mandated the committees on public procurement and works to investigate the matter, and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

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