Jonathan's Ambition, a Threat to Igbo Presidency - Udenta O. Udenta

Leadership Nigeria/All Africa

As the pioneer National Secretary of the defunct Alliance for Democracy, AD, Udenta O. Udenta is an intellectual power house, whose disposition to national issues has won him recognition. He recently had a chat with journalists and joined in the raging debate over zoning, as he calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to respect the zoning principle of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP. He stresses that not doing so, will be a hindrance to a South-East presidency in the near future. Stanley Nkwocha was there. Excerpts:

You just launched a campaign for an Igbo presidency come 2015. What is the drive?

In my booklet "Rotation of power and Igbo possibility", I argued that 2015 is the realistic year for the realization of a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction. There are a number of reasons for making this assertion. On the basis of the principle of rotation of power and the zoning of political offices, at least in the context of the PDP, presidential power is expected to remain in the North till 2015. Three out of the five core Igbo states are currently controlled by the PDP, so we expect the South-East PDP leaders to honour the party's zoning arrangement and deprecate any attempt to deconstruct or distort it.

I am also of the view that flowing out of the 1998-1999 all parties' agreement on zoning, the other main parties like the AC, ANPP, and to an extent, the newly formed CPC, have also domesticated the idea and practice of rotation of power and the zoning of political offices in one form or the other. Their rotation of power thesis may not be as explicit as that of the PDP, but it is embedded in the structure of power relations within these parties. I am no prophet or soothsayer, but I dare say that the above named parties will most likely throw up Northern Presidential candidates and Southern running mates, and I expect their South-East leadership to endorse it and work in tandem with the core instincts and impulses that define their parties' being and reality.

Closer home in Igbo land, objectively speaking, I cannot see the viability of a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction emerging out of the APGA, and other South-East leaning parties in 2011. I am compelled to declare that these parties need time to merge forces, strengthen their organizational ranks, deepen their philosophical and ideological foundation and establish a network of strategic, inter-group understanding and partnership. All these can be accomplished between now and 2015.

Finally, there are existing limit-situations in Igbo land which need to be bridged and over come. Igbo Civil Society/Activist platform needs to be created, an engaging and compelling Igbo political blue print need to be constructed, Igbo political elite need to be re-united, Igbo political base will require re-constitution and the Igbo political possibility need to be canvassed across the country, among political, ethnic and cultural stakeholders so that they will appreciate its harmlessness, buy into it, and collectively work towards its realization.

In the text of the pamphlet , you argued that a Jonathan Presidency in 2011 will endanger the cause of the Igbos for President. Can you buttress this claim?

My statement is axiomatic; it is self-evident. It is self-declaratory. President Jonathan became Vice-President in 2007 on the premise and perimeter of zoning. He is a product of zoning. His current presidency is a child of circumstance. The South-West have had their chance, under Obasanjo, and in the context of the PDP, between 1999-2007. If President Jonathan contests in 2011 and somehow, wins the election, he may be inclined to pass the presidential baton to the North, maybe not even in 2015, but in 2019. This will keep the Igbo in Perpetual wait for Presidential power, and in a national political environment in which zoning would have been rendered irrelevant. This is a clear and present political danger that nobody can wish away.

Assuming that the Igbo are not even desperate for presidential power, now or in the near future, nobody can take their support for granted. It will be naïve political thinking that because a new national chairman of the PDP has emerged, a few appointments made, and the governors speaking solely for themselves, one will assume that the Igbo support is a fait accompli, a done deal. This is a fatal and self-destructive political reasoning. The emerging signals are even very ominous. From the loss of NAFDAC chairmanship to the loss of INEC chairmanship; from the loss of NIMASA Director-Generalship to the loss of the Governorship of the Central Bank, and possibly from the potential loss of the Vice-Chairmanship of the NCC to the humiliation out of office, of a decent, hardworking, very competent Managing Director of NSITF, in the person of Chief Joe Okoli, in the name of sectional supremacist politics, and nothing more, the picture for the Igbo is grim.

President Jonathan has done nothing in this regard. Rather, he is systematically rendering the Igbo irrelevant in the polity. It is, of course, to be expected that this unbecoming scenario will not come to pass if a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction were to be in office. He will endeavour to safeguard that which is decently meant for the Igbo, and ensure that the rest of the country get their decent due also without discrimination. He will not, I suspect, allow the prevalent situation in the NNPC, Niger Delta Ministry, Ministry of Petroleum Resource, Foreign Affairs, and very many commanding heights of the nation's political and bureaucratic infrastructure which are now sectional properties.

Is the hue and cry generated over zoning not regrettable bearing in mind that it is an PDP's agenda? What is the role of other parties in the polity?

The hue and cry over zoning, as you put it, is not regrettable. The debate must go on, until the core issues around it are clarified and our people enlightened. We must move beyond myth and legend, beyond the illogic of instant gratification of power. And zoning is not only a PDP affair. It has always been, in one constitutional and administrative form or the other, a mechanism of achieving national integration, national consensus and inter-elite understanding. It is in the constitution in the form of the federal character principle and the constitutional provision that a minister who shall be appointed from a state must be indigenous to that state.

Regarding the other parties, it is no accident, but rather a solemn concession to the principle of zoning and the reality of rotation of offices that in the 2007 election cycle, Gen. Buhari's running mate, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, is from the South-East; that Abubakar Atiku's running mate, Sen. Ben Obi, is also a South-Easterner, while the party's National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, is a South-Westerner. As for the PPA and the APGA, the respective running mates to Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and Dim Odumegu Ojukwu also came from the North. And I am inclined to think that the choice of Governor Sambo as the Vice President to President Jonathan is a concrete validation of zoning because, in its absence, and with the only qualification for such high appointment being intellect, experience and competence, President Jonathan should have chosen any competent individual from his home state, and possibly his local government as his Vice President.

Would I be wrong to say that disunity amongst the Igbos has largely marred their chances in the past and may still pose a challenge to your struggle?

The question of the disunity among the Igbo political elite has been over celebrated. There is disunity among the political elite all over the country. There is disunity in Yoruba land, disunity among the Southern minorities elite, disunity among the middle belt elite, and disunity among the core Northern elite. The problem is that the Igbo elite are disadvantageously placed in the structure and dynamics of power relations in Nigeria.

They are completely marginalized, to the degree that the little space that is afforded them inevitably leads to a vicious scramble for relevance. From 1999 till date, no Igbo elite has been strategically placed in terms of the relations I mentioned above, in terms of fundamental nation-decision-making, and in terms of power and influence leverage. The six key national power positions-and I am talking of executive power have eluded them from 1999: President, Vice President, Chief of Staff to the President, National Security Adviser, Secretary to Federation Government and Head of Service. This last position was only occupied by an Igbo person for a few months.

Inevitably, when such an elite group are so marginalized, they begin to look inauthentic, playing nothing but secondary, marginal role. Inevitably also, they begin to quarrel among themselves for the dregs of power made available to them. I have already conceded that disunity among the Igbo political elite is a concrete limit-situation in the search for Igbo political possibility. It is a major drawback to the realization or affirmation of Igbo political goals. It requires principled agitation to overcome this, like the struggle against the institutional marginalization of the entire Eastern Nigeria which the Dr. Arthur Nwankwo led Eastern Mandate Union championed in the mid and late 1990s.

Today, I believe that it is the responsibility of the political wing of Igbo civil society leadership to lead the way in the re-constitution of the Igbo political base and in realizing Igbo political possibility. They can do this by unfurling their intellectual depth and ideological clarity, and tapping into their work in the area of political empowerment and voter mobilization. With all hands on deck, it will be quite possible to have a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2015; a president who will lead the nation wisely, and with passion and patriotic favour. And a President who will abhor narrow-mindedness and supremacist sectional instincts.

You described the debate on the constitutional provision that the President can contest as puerile. Shouldn't the constitutional provision override party position and zoning in this case?

I state that those who confuse the issue of zoning and rotation of power with the constitutional provision on eligibility for the office of President are either puerile or out rightly mischievous. And they know this to their bones. Were Nigeria to be a one party state, one can even begin to take them half-serious. What we are practicing is multi-party democracy. If your party slams the door on your ambition at any particular time, you open another door. Afterall, there are 59 political doors to open in Nigeria today. The latest example is the Governor of Abia State and Senator Chukwumerije. Before them was Governors Ohakim, Yuguda and Shinkafi. Don't forget that Atiku Abubakar contested the 2007 Presidential election as a sitting AC Vice-President.

My point is that why the constitution is clear about the conditions any adult Nigerian can and must meet before he is elected President, the various political parties have a right to put mechanisms in place that will guarantee inclusiveness, party cohesion, national integration and respect of the nation's various diversities. Zoning of political offices and the rotation of power is one such mechanism. There is no conflict between them and the provisions of the constitution.

You are fighting a cause for the Igbos, but the PDP chairman - an Igbo man himself last week said the PDP has breached zoning over the years and it may no longer be tenable. Where lies your support?

I don't know the context under which he made that statement. I didn't even read that statement. However, when a breach occurs, you repudiate and sanction those who caused the breach. You enforce party discipline to ensure that future breaches are curtailed. You don't cast over board or distort a party principled position because someone has breached it. You don't, forever, deconstruct our constitution because it has been breached. You punish the breachers.

Lets talk about the imbalance even in zoning. The North West is being accused of playing pranks with the entire North. Is this infraction not a threat to zoning itself?

Who made the accusation? In our democratic journey this far, the North-East produced the prime Minister between 1960-1966, not that there was any conscious effort to zone that position to it. During the second Republic the North-West produced President Shehu Shagari. Between1999-2007, the South-West produced Olusegun Obasanjo in the first real zoning exercise. President Yar'adua, now late, came from the North-West. On the basis of zoning in the PDP, it will be the entire North that must rise to the occasion and throw up the best possible candidate they have for the job.

You have said without zoning an Igbo presidency may be difficult, but if competence and acceptability becomes yardsticks over zoning as canvassed, can't the Igbos throw up a competent and acceptable candidate?

There is no conflict between zoning and competence. Every village and hamlet in Nigeria has very competent people in all human spheres. If you zone a particular position to a particular zone, it is the responsibility of that zone to go for the best material they have. It is not for me to tell them how to go about it. Like I stressed earlier, President Jonathan's zone, or even state, has very competent people. He should have chosen any one of them to be his Vice-President. It is on the basis of this that zoning will make the Igbo Presidency project an attainable ideal. Without zoning, it becomes very difficult, just like without zoning it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for President Jonathan to have become Vice-President in 2007.

The South East governors have announced their non intention to either vie for the Presidency come 2011. Is this not damping your agitation?

When I heard that Statement I wept. I can't believe any South-East Governor will be so un-Igbo to utter that kind of rubbish. They spoke for themselves, the five of them. They didn't speak for Ndigbo, neither for the leaders nor the people. They are on their own, and must be made to retract such an insult to the collective integrity and stature of Ndigbo. If it is possible to attain the presidency in 2011, the Igbo will go for it. If it is possible to achieve it in 2015, the Igbo will go for it. Ndigbo know who their leaders are. They cannot be deceived or distracted from the historic mission of producing a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in as short a time as possible. South-West, South-South and the entire Northern Governors have not even taken a stand on this issue, and five individuals, without consultation, without discussion, want to lead Ndigbo on a path of political perdition. Unless and until that statement is comprehensively disowned by the governors, I and millions of Ndigbo would have lost any respect we have for them.

You called on the Igbos to vote for another candidate with Igbo running mate if the PDP's emerge out of disrespect. Is this tenable under the complex politics of the South East?

It is quite tenable, but it is a bridge we have to cross when we get to it. It requires mass sensitization and mass mobilization work, but its achievable.

You called for an Igbo leadership summit. The North just had its summit. Won't these regional summits threaten the unity of the nation?

No. These regional summits will rather strengthen Nigerian unity. Consultation, reaching out is the stuff democracy is made of. Democracy is dialogue. You cannot shut down the space for discussion, for inter-change of ideas. It is by so doing that you can aggregate the instincts, impulses and passions of our diverse people and channel them for the consolidation of our democracy, and sustainable social and economic transformation and development.

Kidnapping As Big Business in South-East

BY IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN, LEADERSHIP NIGERIA/ALL AFRICA

Abuja — Historians and archaeologists have it that the Igbo culture - their way of life was in the beginning a culture of life (ndu bu isi) instead of death. According to them, "Life was celebrated while death was despised and feared. The only death celebrated was someone who lived long (usually above 60 years) and had grown up children."

Today, they say the opposite is the case: "Igbo efulefu"-useless, fools, political/economic criminals, are now making Igbo culture a culture of death, killing and kidnapping. True, in the last few months, kidnapping has become a big business in the region that has produced great people - living and the dead. Our Assistant Managing Editor/Chief-of-Reporters, IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN examines the strange phenomenon.

P resident Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathan is not a poignant person prone to emotion-laden speeches. The few public speeches he has made since he became president can testify to that. But when asked to comment on the state of security situation in the country -especially the increasing rate of kidnapping in the South-east part of the country recently - he was strangely emotional.

"Any responsible leader should be worried about the state of security in the country, especially in the South-east; it is very embarrassing; it is unacceptable to us and we shall do everything within our means to confront the problems", the president stated emotionally while chatting with some media executives on national television.

The President talked about the socio-economic and political implications of the crime situation saying, it was the only reason the nation lost the hosting right of the ongoing soccer World Cup to South Africa. He said from the security report at his disposal, it was obvious that the crime of kidnapping is an organised one involving many persons or groups - the security agents, the judiciary, the banking sector and some lawyers. He asked: "I hope when we start arresting them, some professional bodies will not complain?"

True, like the information available to Jonathan, kidnapping has become a big business in the South-east. The dreadful hallucination-kidnapping which was first carried out in Port-Harcourt on February 18, 2006 by a group of heavily armed militants to draw the government's attention to their demands has now graduated to a frightening fraction in different parts of the nation. Even the peacefulness, serenity and safety of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is not out of danger. Kidnapping has now become a veritable, real tool in the hands of intelligent but criminally minded persons for making "cool money."

"It is distressing that kidnapping for ransom has become a burgeoning business in many parts of Igboland. Of recent, Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Imo States have been hotbeds of commercially-motivated kidnapping. In a bid to increase the ransom payable after the kidnap, the kidnappers now specialize in kidnapping monarchs, home video actors and actresses, traditional rulers of big towns, high profile business tycoons, politicians, children and relatives of wealthy politicians", an analyst said.

To be sure, a couple was recently kidnapped immediately after their wedding in Anambra State . His Royal Highness, Igwe Mbamalu Okeke of Abagana, Igwe J.C Nkwocha of Alor, Dr. Anayo Edemobi and sibling of Minister of Information and Communications Dora Akunyili, have all been victims of these dreadful criminals in the state.

From the capital of old Eastern Region-Enugu State , Igwe Uche Nwachime in Nkanu, was abducted and later slaughtered because his relations had refused to pay ransom on time as requested by the kidnappers. Report also had it that the proprietor of Gold Riveri Hotel Enugu was kidnapped and later released upon the payment of a N5 million ransom. In Abia State , which is fast becoming the most notorious state where kidnapping business booms, the chairman of Enyimba Football was kidnapped. Justice Awa U. Kalu was shot in a failed kidnapping bid. Some Imo State indigenes had also been kidnapped recently; they include Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu, a member of the Imo State House of Assembly and two sons of the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly.

Three persons were killed earlier in the year when unknown gunmen kidnapped a movie star Peter Edochie in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State . According to reports, the victims were killed to facilitate Edochie's kidnappings. The actor hit the limelight as Okonkwo in the television adaptation of Chinua Achebe's book, "Things fall Apart." He was kidnapped after his bodyguards were overpowered. Few days after the Edochie incident, about six people were killed in Imo State when kidnappers reportedly invaded Orlu and Ikeduru areas of the state. Two kidnapped Indians were reportedly rescued with some of the gang members seriously injured when a team of policemen confronted the gang at Ama Nwozuzu in Ikeduru. The cases are endless.

The wide-ranging state of insecurity in the South east, security experts say, had reached a stage where practically everybody is now worried about the frightening dimension the region is headed. Presently, hardly can people sleep with both eyes closed for fear of being kidnapped. Businessmen, politicians and other wealthy persons have taken voyage as well as with their businesses for fear of being kidnapped. In the last few years, kidnapping and hostage taking have moved from the Niger Delta creeks to Ndi-igboland. The ogre has broadened and taken unfathomable derivation in the land where many able-bodied but unemployed youths proliferate. Within the South-east, Abia State is the epicentre followed by others in the region. Everybody is now concern. It is expected against obtainable verification that the rich government officials, traditional rulers, elected politicians and their immediate families are now the target of the men of evil.

There appears not to be hiding place for the rich, even though some of them have relocated their families outside the South-east geo-political zone or outside the country. Even Lagos that was once regarded as insecure state is now a heaven of choice for many.

Recently, the profit-making activities in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, were crippled as banks were forced to close their doors against demanding customers after frequent violent attacks on banks. At a point, the evil men outsmarted all procedures adopted by the banks to avoid them.

"While insecurity disrupts socio-economic and political activities in the country, it also slows down the pace of economic growth and development. Many investors continue to flee the country", an Aba based bank manager who does not want his name mentioned, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY.

Sadly, the news the international community has about the South east is that it is most unsafe to live and do business. To be sure, the World Bank recently rated Imo State as one of the worst states in the country to do business. "Before any foreigner contemplates of coming to Nigeria, he or she would not only be calculating the high cost of investing in the country, but also the safety of his or her life", the bank manger said.

The National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) recently expressed regret over the serious security problems in the South east region. It said that "the security challenges had worsened the already bad and unfriendly business environment that is negatively affecting the growth of businesses and socio-economic activities in the area."

"If industries are closing shops and investors are not forthcoming because of insecurity and other attendant problems faced by businesses, then the future, particularly that of the children should agitate the minds of everybody."

Apart from NACCIMA, the police, states in the south east and other segments of the society are worried. Recently peeved by the state of insecurity- kidnapping in Anambra, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, announced the deployment of 16 units of anti-riot policemen to the area to complement the efforts of policemen attached to the state commands. But in spite of this, security experts and monitors say the level of insecurity in the region had heightened.

The chief police officer had partly blamed the high wave of crime in the country, especially in the South-east on materialism and loss of societal values. He noted that people were ready to do anything to get rich and be celebrated in the society. While also blaming the high rate of kidnapping and armed robbery in these areas on unemployment, he however said that most of the graduates of Nigerian universities are half-baked, but carry about certificates they could not even defend.


Perceptibly troubled by the disturbing state of insecurity in the South east in recent times, President Jonathan recently invited governors in the region to Aso Rock for a meeting. Addressing journalists after the meeting, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State lamented that they were spending huge funds to support the police and other security agencies "but we found out that the hoodlums' firepower is more than the police. The security agencies are trying but they need more support from the Federal Government."

Obi requested for the purchase of two or more helicopters with modern communication equipment and detectors, placed in strategic locations in the south east where it could be called up in a matter of minutes to intervene in any security situation.

According to Obi, "I do not play politics with security. The security situation in the Southeast is pathetic. The militants who were displaced from the core Niger Delta regions have left their creeks, came upland to terrorise us. We must rise to the occasion. And since no state can do it alone, resources must be pooled together to confront this ugly development."

Those who should know said the fear of kidnapping is real in the South east because of lack of effective and reliable security machinery to confront the kidnappers. "Many people in the South east now live in perpetual fear of kidnappers. It has curtailed the freedom of movement of the people. For example, some prominent citizens from the South east now travel to their respective villages with full mobile police escorts. What a miserable life! If living in one's own village can now be classified as dangerous living, then life in itself is not worth living", an Abuja based lawyer, Mr. John kalu said.

The Minister of State for Information and Communication, Mr. Labaran Maku recently said that the Federal Government had taken steps to confront the situation calling on the affected communities to cooperate with security operatives to tackle the problems.

"The Federal Government through Federal Executive Council (FEC) called on all communities in the south-east and in other parts of the country where security has become an issue to cooperate with security agencies that are already undertaking the operation to fish out the criminals wherever they may be hiding and deal with the situation decisively", the minister said

He said kidnapping was disrupting normal life and commercial activities in some states and government could not stay back and watch criminals take over the entire situation.

He added, "So government is undertaking joint security operations to fish out the camps, know where those people are staying and this cannot be done by security agencies alone. The entire communities, especially state government, local government, traditional rulers and community organisations should cooperate."

"The criminals are not ghosts, they come from amongst our communities, they don't come from outside, so if the public can give cooperation and give sensitive information to security agencies, it will help security agencies."

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was so overwhelmed with the security situation in his state that he recently granted amnesty to kidnappers and armed robbers who made life in the state terrifying and dreadful. He made the announcement when a delegation of the various groups of kidnappers visited him at the Government House, Umuahia. They were led by the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state, Nathaniel Ubong. Mr. Orji told his guests that his government was committed to the success of the programme. The governor said he was surprised that Abia State was not one of the states covered by the presidential amnesty for Niger Delta militants and that he had protested the exclusion to the Minister in charge of the amnesty programme of the Federal Government, who assured him that the programme would be repeated to accommodate Abia State. The governor, who said the Minister's assurance encouraged him to make the offer so that Abia will also benefit, said kidnapping had made Abia State more notorious than the states where it first started. "The disadvantages of kidnapping are massive, because it has driven away contractors and investors from the state and Aba in particular, making development difficult," Mr Orji said. He urged the repentant kidnappers to go and inform others to lay down their arms as the amnesty programme is real.

The governor added, "All the arms you have packed somewhere bring them out for the world to see so that the Federal Government will accept you into the amnesty programme."

"You cannot harbour grievance against your fatherland, it is only in the atmosphere of peace that development can take place."

Mr Ubong, the NSCDC Commandant, was quoted as telling Orji that the kidnappers approached him three times for the peace meeting but he did not think they were serious. "They finally came with a lawyer, who convinced me that they were ready to leave the bush and embrace the offer," he was reported as saying.

Spokesperson of the kidnappers, Stephen John, a native of Ukwa West LGA, said his gang resorted to kidnapping to protest their being excluded from the Federal Government's amnesty offer saying, "As oil producing communities, Owazza and Obokwe in Ukwa West LGA were neglected without hospitals, schools, good roads and other infrastructure."

Chimete Kingsley Onwudara, the groups' lawyer said the delegations were made up of representatives of the kidnappers and the communities who had come to ensure that government was serious with the offer. "In the next week, all the kidnappers will be out with their weapons, making Abia peaceful once again," he said.

Before then, in huge efforts to tackle the situation frontally, some states in the South east have enacted laws with a capital offence punishable by death while two other states: Rivers and Edo imposed life imprisonment on persons convicted for the offence of kidnapping. Other states, apart from Imo that passed into law "Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law" with death penalty as punishment for offenders are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Enugu . More states are warming up to join the list.

But can the death penalty stop people from being kidnapped? And how will Nigeria look in the eye of the world legalising what others the world over are proscribing?

Mr. Aster Van Kregfen, Amnesty International's Representative Researcher in Nigeria, said that retention of capital punishment had failed to reduce armed robbery or murder in Nigeria despite the execution of more than 2,600 prisoners since 1970. "Experience has shown that the threat of death penalty is not an effective answer to violent crime. It can actually exacerbate violence in a society", he said.

He said that killing every kidnapper not only flies in the face of global and national trends, but also a violation of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a United Nations treaty.

Kregfen viewed kidnapping, as "a terrible crime that causes anguish to both the victims and their families".

His solution: "The way to be though on violent crime like kidnapping is to strengthen the police's ability to detect potential crimes before they occur and prevent them. The Federal Government needs to strengthen police training and resources to increase police investigation capacity and effectiveness."

UN views right to life as an inalienable right. This position as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in1948 sees death penalty as a violation of this essential right. Besides, the world body has always argued that not only did death penalty dehumanise society; it has never been known as an efficient way to stop crime. The worldwide trend is to abolish death penalty for all categories of crime or at least retain it for exceptional crimes committed in exceptional circumstances. African countries such as Algeria , Mozambique , South Africa , Namibia , Tunisia , Angola and Senegal are among over 90 countries in the world that have abolished death penalty for any crime.

Kidnapping is not new in the world. In fact, security experts say Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City with over 370 cases last year alone.

In fact, kidnappings and other crimes connected to the Mexican drug cartels are quickly spreading across the border, from Texas to California. The majority of the victims are either illegal aliens or connected to the drug trade. Recently, an ABC News' investigation uncovered horrific cases of chopped-off hands, legs and heads when a victim's family doesn't pay up fast enough. But can President Jonathan fix the problems in the South-east as he promised. Ndi-Igbo, the peace-loving people of the south east, are eagerly and earnestly waiting for Jonathan.

Functional Igbo - Saving a Fading Language

By Ebenezer Edohasim, Daily Champion/All Africa

SOME years back, this writer, who is Igbo, visited a fellow Igbo family based in Lagos and was discussing in Igbo language with the head of the family.

Interestingly, the man's six-year old daughter called Nkonye, who was in primary two then, clung to her father, obviously listening to our discussion.

Suddenly, the little girl burst into laughter, rushed to her mother in the near by kitchen, and told her while still laughing that myself and her father were speaking French.

The father who felt embarrassed looked into my eyes in disappointment. I told him that if his six year old child could not identify her mother tongue, he and the wife are in real trouble.

Again, just some weeks ago at Ogudu, Lagos where we reside, my wife called a girl that hawks plantain because she wanted to buy. I asked the girl of her name and she said Ngozi, an obvious indication that she is Igbo by tribe.

Then I asked her in Igbo, Ngozi, Kedu obodo unu na ala Igbo? Meaning, Ngozi where is your town in Igbo land? She looked a bit embarrassed at my question, lifted her hands to partially cover her face apparently in shame and answered me in English Language; "I don't understand Igbo Language".

Honestly, I was disappointed. And I then asked her in English how old she was and she said 18 years. I enquired how often she travels to her home town and she said that she visited her Uturu town in Abia State only once, and that was when she was still a toddler and she cannot on her own travel home.

Cultural alienation you may say, but the reality is that there are so many Nkonyes and Ngozis born to Igbo parents scattered all over the world outside Igbo land, and this is a very disturbing signal that if Igbo Language is not revived it risks extinction in some years ahead.

However, despite lack of interest and carefree attitude of some Igbo parents to teach their children born outside Igbo land how to speak their mother tongue, one woman who took the bull by the horns to ensure her children and grand children who were already losing cultural touch with their roots, due to their inability to speak their mother tongue is Odoziaku Comfort Nwabuogo Ubosi.

She wrote a practical guide, Functional Igbo, which is indeed beginners guide to Igbo Language.

Odozoaku Ubosi, who is aging gracefully as she still looks elegant, very fresh and gorgeous at 71, told this writer that she was motivated to write the book because of the near heart break she almost suffered when she discovered that her children and grand children were not all that interested in speaking their mother tongue.

Equally, she was inspired to document the 98 page colourful book at a "time when there is suddenly an intense awareness that the Igbo language has actually gone out of fashion and the English Language has assumed the status symbol height at all levels within the Igbo system".

Again, her quest to persuade her children and grand children in particular to speak their mother tongue made her to start drawing sketches on functional Igbo which some people later encouraged her to put in book form to encourage learning of the language, not only by her own children but everybody interested in speaking the language.

That bold attempt culminated in the publishing of the book and its subsequent presentation to the public in Lagos last March. It was an occasion attended by prominent Igbos, with the five state governors in Igbo land ably represented.

A high percentage of the book deals with everyday situations and activities in the home, school or such other places. It begins with the basic Igbo alphabets commonly called abidii in Igbo parlance.

Other areas of interest are numerals, family relationships and greetings, simple instructions with relevant questions and answers, colours, some fruits, food and household items, and activities around the home.

The author also wrote on prepositions, words and opposites, with illustrations on parts of the body, few wearing apparels, cosmetics and personal hygiene. Others are animals and birds, means of transportation and traveling and finally types of buildings.

One thing the author handled very well was the use of photographs in illustrating all aspects of teachings in the book, which makes it a delight to readers, most especially children who learn faster with pictorials and diagrams.

The professional graphic touch added to aesthetics of the publication which is capable of compelling the reader to flip from page to page in order to appreciate various beautiful designs on the pages.

Equally, the quality of the bond paper used in the printing of the work is another plus as it puts this publication in a position where it could stand out in any local or international book competition in terms of paper and production quality.

The glossy bond paper of high grammage registered the colours very well, making it sharp and inviting to the eyes. On quality of production, it is a book anybody who sees it must like to open the pages to peruse the content.

There is a complimentary DVD attached to each book which gives the buyer the option of sitting comfortably to watch the electronic copy. It is available in some bookshops and supermarkets both at home and abroad, and at affordable price.

Irrespective of the accolades this vital book is receiving among Igbo and non Igbo, it major minus is that the author did not write most parts of the book in the standard or central Igbo, normally used in writing Igbo texts.

For instance, she used afele instead of efere, anala for anara, mvo instead of mbo, oloma for oroma, okwulu instead of okwuru. In numerical, she used ili na ofu for iri na otu and ili na ito instead of iri na ato among others.

However, she admitted that she wrote in her native Nibo, partly Onitsha and Awka dialects because she initially intended to address the short comings of her children and grand children in speaking the language, therefore, "they may be confused if it is in any other dialect, because that is not what they hear grandma speak"

She further attested that "Functional Igbo is written to motivate and encourage both children and parents to dialogue in the child's mother tongue. Therefore this simple book from the heart of a grandma is not expected to generate any academic heat or controversy as to Igbo grammar or correctness.

"I did not study the language at any examination level, so I take full responsibility for any lapses contained therein."

The author also affirmed that "if this book can draw attention of parents and grandparents to the danger of not passing down to their children and grandchildren, the language (Igbo) or any other mother tongue, for that matter, it would have achieved its purpose".

For Professor Chinyere Ohiri-Anicha of the University of Lagos, who wrote the book's foreword,

"Since, the writer had stated that the major objective of the book was to provide opportunity to be able to communicate with grand children, I had no problem with her choice of dialect.

"My main contribution is to ensure the manuscript conform as much as possible, to Igbo orthography"

Odoziaku Ubosi told this writer that the standard or central Igbo version of Functional Igbo is ready and shall in a short time be in the market for those interested in reading that edition.

She equally disclosed that there is a future plan to translate the book into other languages in Nigeria, especially Yoruba and Hausa.

The author regretted the apathy associated with the study of vernacular in Nigerian schools as those who study them were looked down upon by their peers, and therefore, called on federal and state government to package incentives to students who study vernacular to save our native languages from extinction.

"Governments could employ vernacular teaches on special salary scale and send them to various states, where they shall be visiting the schools in turn to teach native languages.

"Besides, they should make it compulsory for any secondary school student to pass his mother tongue and one other Nigerian language at the senior secondary school certificate level instead of the emphasis in acquiring English which is foreign".

She praised Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State for taking steps to revive Igbo language in the state and the upgrading of Ahiajoku Lecture series to an institute by Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, and thereby promoting Igbo culture.

The author equally appealed to all Igbo governors to work towards upholding and preserving viable Igbo customs and traditions.

Her appreciation goes to Ndigbo Lagos and Otu Ide Ndi Igbo which offered invaluable moral and financial support to make the publication of the book a dream come true.

Odoziaku Ubosi, an educationist, holds BA (Hons) in History, M.ED in Guidance and Counseling and taught in many schools across the country before retiring in 1991 from the Lagos State Schools of Administration as a director.

A View From The Igbo Studies Conference In Washington, DC

By Obi Nwakanma/Vanguard/All Africa

Last week, the International Igbo Studies Association held its annual conference at the Howard University Law School in Washington DC. Igbo Studies has indeed come a long way.

The quest for a comprehensive understanding and preservation of the arts, culture, scholarship and other forms of knowledge production by and around the Igbo world has engaged scholars, particularly since the early 20th century with the Igbo encounter or contact with the west.

The remarkable ways by which that contact has shaped the Igbo continues to be the basis of reflections by scholars - and increasingly by Igbo scholars who feel the powerful "urgency of now" to call attention to the intricate as well as intriguing situation of the contemporary Igbo of modern Nigeria, in its current relationship with nation and with the emergent world.

The question of a "transnational Igbo" with a growing Diaspora was at the roots of the first convention of the International Igbo Studies Conference convened by the now late Igbo historian, Dr. Don Ohadike, former Director of African Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca in 2005.

I was at that inaugural conference of Igbo studies but I'm afraid I have been absent from its proceedings until this year. The Igbo Studies Association conference has nevertheless held consistently since that first outing at Cornell now at Howard University, Washington DC since 2006 through the commitments of Dr. Udo Mbanaso and the authorities at Howard University.

The Howard University Law School has offered the grounds for this annual meeting of the Igbo Studies Association and it is imperative to underscore the importance of this historical relationship with Howard University.

It is particularly important to note that, that distinguished Igbo and African statesman, Nigeria's first president, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had attended Howard University late in the 1920s where he came under the tutelage of some of the most distinguished African-American scholars of the 20th century:

Alain Locke in Philosophy, Ralph Bunche in Political Theory and Leon Hansberry for whom he named the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka when he established it. Indeed this famous scholar of the African world was the first Director of that institute at Nsukka from 1963 with Dr. Chukwuemeka Blyden, Edward Blyden's grandson as deputy Director.

It was the beginning - and as it has now proved - a mostly unrealized dream of making the University of Nigeria the gathering ground - the new Timbuktu - for scholars from Africa and its diaspora, to form what I have described as the "third zone" of African modernist thought. Because Azikiwe was critical in the formation of Igbo modernist ideas, his education and encounters with Howard which now hosts Igbo Studies rings with symbolic significance.

But beyond the symbolism are some very basic questions of what Igbo Studies seeks to accomplish and whether, as some Igbo scholars themselves have seen it, Igbo Studies is different or should be constructed autonomously from Nigerian Studies or framed within the entire dialectic of an African Studies program.

Those who argue for an Igbo studies argue for an autonomy that makes Igbo studies assume the same philosophical and historical purpose of say Jewish Studies or Irish Studies or Slavic Studies, and so on all within the aegis of European Studies.

I think that the central issue for me is to understand the link between Igbo Studies and the preservation of Igbo ideas, but also the creation of these ideas in the context of Igbo visions of itself in a new world in rapid transition. It is also to understand that Igbo Studies cannot be conducted on the mere whim of "self preservation" but on the greater problematic of what we preserve and for whom. In other words, why Igbo

Studies? What is its greater purpose beyond the annual ritual of gathering some Igbo scholars of various fields to examine Igbo life - mostly in a very agonistic way? What shall we do- meaning, how should we instrumentalize some of these ideas that emerge from the fecund and occasionally quixotic minds of those engaged with interpreting the Igbo and their current circumstance?

It does seem to me that these questions should be at the core of the future of Igbo Studies. Many years ago, the Center for Igbo Studies was endowed and inaugurated by Dim Chukuwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu at the Abia State University, Uturu. That center has apparently gone into abeyance. Governments in Igbo land have sought no productive links or connections with this important center as a way of providing the shaping ideas that might help transform the Igbo world. Igbo Studies therefore exists in some abstract away outside of its own genetic source - in a tabula rasa. It is rather urgent to re-examine this situation.

Indeed, it is crucial to link the Hansberry Institute at Nsukka with the Center for Igbo Studies at Uturu with the proposed International Center for Igbo Studies at Howard University for which the trustees of the Igbo Studies Association are proposing an endowment.

The emergence of the International Center for Igbo Studies at Howard will be a very important development given the reality of a large and growing Igbo Diaspora in the Americas. Many discussions took place at Washington in the two days of the conference - starting with the Poetry Reading session featuring the poets Chimalum Nwankwo, Dubem Okafor and Akachi Ezeigbo who read from their new works. I was also featured to read.

There were also glaring absences like the distinguished scholar-poet MJC Echeruo who retires this year from Syracuse after 50 years of university teaching, the historian Godfrey Uzoigwe of the University of Mississippi, Ernest Emeyonu of Michigan State University, the artist and Art historian Nkiru Nzegwu of Binghampton University, New York, among many.

In sum, the Igbo Studies Association conference this year remarkably consolidates on the work of the last five years and signals something of the slow but steady discussion of the Igbo situation in the current era. That this self-reflexive and critical discussion is taking place is the crucial and most important news.

It means that a climate of opinion may soon emerge on the solutions to issues of identity, the crisis of Igbo education, the question of insecurity, and the dilemma of under-investment and slow economic growth in the East, the result of what the distinguished Sociologist, Dr. Christian Chikwendu Ukaegbu of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois describes as incipient "fatalism" in the Igbo public imagination.

Another important question was raised: when would the International Conference on Igbo Studies hold in a university in the homeland? This is a matter of critical consideration.

From the Pulpit to the Podium

By Clement Muozoba/Daily Champion/All Africa

Lagos — That the Nigerian politics has since gone the religious lines is what nobody needs to be told. No matter how the events are veiled in a verisimilitude, the effects are there and the innumerable lives lost especially during the religious cum political crises, coupled with some incendiary statements from some quarters bear eloquent testimony. In the same way, it is no more hidden that Anambra State politics now trails some religious denominational lines. Many events have since been pointing to this direction and ignoring them means folly while facing the facts may need more than ordinary courage. The major gladiators seem to be the Anglicans and the Catholics and the other denominations join the Anglicans most of the time. The allegation of having a favoured candidate in the just concluded gubernatorial election has attracted some widely published and sponsored spurious stories against the Catholic priests. One has to think deeply in order to find the source of these allegations.

In the first place, it must be recalled that the origin of the rivalry between Catholicism and Anglicanism is remotely traced to the 16th century, when King Henry VIII severed ties with the Pope and proclaimed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He declared that the king's religion was the religion of his subjects, thereby making Anglicanism a state religion. This was occasioned by the Pope's refusal to grant the king divorce of his wife, Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Catherine bore the king no male child. This schism was the farthest the king wanted to go. The rest was the influence of radical reformers like Jean Calvin and John Knox.

The immediate cause of this rivalry in Nigeria could be traced to the rivalry between Ireland and England which later saw Ireland divided between the North and the South, with the North being predominantly Anglican and remaining a part of Britain and the South consisting of mainly Catholics and desired a free Irish state. The South later became the Republic of Ireland. It would be recalled that England had earlier subdued Ireland in the 17th century. The enmity between the two countries has never been hidden since then. It was the English missionaries that brought Anglicanism and the Irish missionaries brought Catholicism to Nigeria. The missionaries did not rise above the politics of their countries and our people swallowed it hook, line and sinker. That was how brothers and sisters were set against each other in the name of religion.

One major problem I think the Church of England had originally was how to make the people accept what the king had rejected. Henry VIII wanted freedom from the Papacy and declared a state religion which he headed. This mean that going out for evangelization would mean making the would-be-converts religiously English people. And this is what colonization meant as the Church of England could not function independent of the British Government. Therefore, both religion and politics were packaged together and delivered to the colonies with the expectation of no opposition. If opposition arose from the local inhabitants, the British Army was there to pacify the area. This was unlike the Catholic Church which distanced itself from the local politics of the land. Though this did not augur well with the Catholic Church because as it preached the kingdom of heaven, the Anglican Church did not overlook the kingdom of the world, it however defined the Catholic Church as purely a religious body and not some political set-up.

This hand-in-glove relationship with the secular British Government has so much weakened the Anglican Church. For example, during the Nigeria-Biafran War, as the Catholic Church, through its agencies like Caritas International, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the U. S. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) etc., spent time and energy in providing relief materials for the famished Biafran children due to the blockade by the Gowon government, the Anglican Church could not rise above its master, the British Government which not only supported, but facilitated the Biafran genocide in support of its former colony, Nigeria. That has been the position of the Anglican Church as regards politics. In village, town or state politics, they believe they must be on top or cause confusion if they lose. The denominational brouhaha reached a crescendo since the Anglicans lost the grip on Anambra's seat of Power. I do not blame the Anglicans as such because they are products of a political church and ecclesiastical politics. This is why Eric Heffer, in his book, Why I am a Christian, defined the Anglican Church as "the Tory Party at prayer".

When I ruminate on what happened before the election, I have every reason to believe that there was superbly mastered and arranged plans to intimidate the Catholic Church into submission. A manifestation of this was when some Catholics were denied registration for voting in some Anglican Church premises. Quite a good number of the Anglican Churches secretly contracted the INEC officials to register their members privately. Then as early as November, 2009, a national newspaper published in its headline: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DIVIDED BETWEEN OBI, SOLUDO AND NGIGE. This was followed by some fallacious and blasphemous instances of how some Catholic priests and bishops who were Obi's supporters were harassed in the church during their homilies by the supporters of Ngige and Soludo. This then opened up a flood of criticisms against the Catholic Church and gave grounds to the sponsors of the publications to issue some statements in newspapers. Some of such statements began to compare the numerical strength of the Catholic Church and the other denominations in the state especially the Anglican Church. Some false figures were given to support the fact that the Catholics are in the minority. Another card that was played was the circulation of a secret document titled MALICIOUS/LOPSIDED APPOINTMENTS IN PETER OBI'S ADMINISTRATION AGAINST ANGLICANS. This was published by the Society for Equity, Justice and Peace of the Diocesan Council of Laity, Diocese on the Niger (Anglican Communion) and signed by Hon. Sir Edwin Ekwuno, chairman and Engr. Mike Igwilo, secretary. Unfortunately for them, this document leaked. It has to be noted that in 1950, after a secret meeting in St. Paul's University College, Awka, a similar document, "What Are We Anglicans Doing?" was issued. It also leaked. In it, their fears about the Catholic Church were highlighted and some solutions were given. Part of it is what we are seeing today.

As the unfounded allegations were peddled against the Catholic Church and the priests, it was understood that the Anglican Church, through its hierarchy, had given a directive that they must vote a particular candidate whose activities had been highly detestable in the state. It was learnt that on Sunday, January 31, 2010, the Anglican faithful in many churches were treated to a good meal of indoctrination after the service on this choice candidate. It reached a situation where the members were threatened with excommunication from the church should they do otherwise. The game plan was that since they had only one candidate, they had to vote en masse for him so that the Catholics would share their votes between Obi, Soludo, Ngige and Ekwunife. This would make this candidate coast home to victory. Many of them did not accept this and there was a loud protest which later ended up in physical combat in some of the churches, with some of their members threatening to leave the church rather than vote against their conscience. In some of the major markets in the state, it became a topic. From where then do these sponsored allegations against the Catholic Church come?

Some prominent Nigerians fell for these lies. Okey Ndibe, a firebrand critic, while commenting on the Anambra gubernatorial Election, said, "I was thoroughly ashamed to hear that some priests abused their vocation by campaigning from their pulpits for Governor Obi" (Daily Sun, February 9, 2010). I just smiled because he did not understand what the game was. He wrote from the clearest of intentions from his abode in the US. If such a thing as preaching Obi from the pulpit instead of God happened, it is highly condemnable and such overzealous priests are wrong. But condemnation should be more on church-sponsored politics hatched in synods against the people's good intention. The event of 2007 cannot be forgotten in a hurry when an archbishop, after signing a statement that there was no election in Anambra State, later swallowed his words and said that the election was free and fair. He knows from his heart that there was no election. When Insider Weekly Magazine carried the story of an archbishop (not Catholic) who was at the meeting where Obi's unconstitutional impeachment was discussed in 2006 (cf. Insider Weekly, Nov. 26, 2007, p.32), the popular belief is that the reference was to this archbishop. Till today, the Concerned Christian Group has not seen anything wrong in these moves. Who is behind the mask?

A laughable and the worst accusation against the Catholic Church is that by Okey Maduforo that, "... some of the priests from the denomination and top church leaders have been receiving monthly allowances from the incumbent governor, hence his endorsement" (Daily Independent, March 15, 2010). A major contender in the gubernatorial election is said to be behind this story. I have described it as laughable and it is laughable and shows the frustrations of the denomination which was believed to have fed fat from the state's coffers in the past. When it was alleged that within just three months of interregnum in the state, that this denomination received the whopping sum of N1b (One billion Naira) for a complex within the Awka metropolis, nobody talked. It was at that time that the state's money was said to have been grossly wasted on frivolities and a family privatized the Government House and yet, the Concerned Christians were not concerned.

I know that some priests who worked as observers under the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Church were there to make sure that the people's votes counted. And for the first time, our votes counted. The noise about the massive disenfranchisement of over 80 per cent of the Anambra electorate is described by Emeka Umeagbalasi as false. He is of the view that the total number of registered voters in Anambra State is about 600,000 and that the bloated figure of over one million was used to rig the 2003 elections by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was updated to rig the 2007 elections in favour of the PDP. For him, those who voted represented about 50 percent of the registered voters in the state (cf. The Sun newspaper, March 9, 2010). Sources close to the governor say that if one wants to befriend him for money, such a person is wasting his time. It is believed that in spite of his wealth, his kobo can never be lost for any frivolity. It runs in his family. His brother, Fr. Fabian continued to use an old 505 Peugeot car before he left for studies in spite of his brothers' wealth. How can such a person distribute the huge sum running into millions to the priests? What of those priests who are not comfortable with his style of administration, did he give them money also?

One other area of compromise that some people canvassed was that since Obi is a Catholic like Ekwunife, Soludo and Ngige, the Catholic Church should have allowed them play on a level ground. For goodness' sake, voting is not according to denominations and the church is not INEC. It is on merit and as far as I know, nobody coerced anybody into voting any candidate in the Catholic Church. We have seen those who did that and what they did and how they ended up. But even if the Church has any part to play in the election of the candidate, it would be injustice for it to produce a base candidate just for it to be represented in the seat of governance. That is the Catholic conscience. And in fairness, everybody knows that of all the major contenders to the governorship seat, it is only the incumbent governor that is not publicly tainted apart from the frivolous political insinuations to stop him. The church should be by the side of the truth always.

Be that as it may, there is one message that should be put across. It is now clear that our politicians have failed our people and they now look onto the church for redemption. It would be disastrous if the church allows itself to be drawn into Nigeria's brand of politics where corruption seems to be extolled. It is evil for any church to sponsor false publications against another. It portrays that church in worse light than the people it is meant to liberate. Having nocturnal church meetings to disrupt the peace of the state is unbecoming. Supporting any unworthy candidate by any church is also bad. The worst is the church joining hands with some forces to make people's votes not to count. The people know when their religious leaders start goofing. Finally, let the Catholic faithful and all men of goodwill not be fazed by the unwarranted attacks on the Catholic clergy. It is one of the occupational hazards. We must move beyond the pulpit to save our people.

Kidnapping Discouraged My Colleagues From Coming to Nigeria to Assist in My Free-Medical Healthcare Programme

Lagos — Dr. Anuma Kalu Ulu is a Nigerian born medical doctor based in New York, USA in this Interview with UDO ONYEKA, Ulu speaks on issues bordering on health care and why he set up a clinic in his community, where patients are treated free.

A DAILY CHAMPION INTERVIEW

Let us know about your Foundation?

I set up the Kalu Ulu Memorial Foundation in honor of my late father Mazi Kalu Ulu who was a philanthropist of utmost integrity. This foundation was set up in USA in March 25, 2009, to co-ordinate all my Philanthropic and humanitarian activities under an umbrella organization. Prior to that, since 2004 I have been coming back to Nigeria every year from December to February to offer free medical service to my community in Arochukwu Abia state. I set up the foundation to stream line activities of the Foundation.

What does this medical service entail?

It is all encompassing. What I do is that I buy medication and diagnostic equipments which I use in the clinic I have set up in my village to treat of kinds of diseases. I have set up a clinic. There was a health centre in my village that was sort of abandoned, I acquired it and I now make use of the clinic. I treat patients in the clinic on a daily basis.

I give them free consultation, free medication, free testing. If they are people that have cases that is beyond the clinic, we take such people to the General Hospital and we pay for the bill.

What do you think is the monetary cost of this project?

When I talk of cost it will be both direct and indirect. Direct in the sense of what spend in running the programme and indirect in the sense of what I sacrifice or lose by coming back home to do this. I know what I make a month as a medical doctor in the US. I work as an independent practitioner, I get paid when I work. If I add what I lose by leaving my job and what I spend, and I actually not only give medication, I give cash donation to many of the patience that indigent. I will put the expenses at a conservation $150, 000 every year. This is what should have been in my account every year if I wasn't doing this programme. And I have been doing this since 2004.

What motivated you to render this service to your people?

Like I mentioned earlier my late father Mazi Kalu Ulu taught me everything I know about philanthropy. He taught me to give to the less privileged. Apart from that I feel that I t is a good thing to assist someone that is in need. But family, because my elder brother Mr. Kalu Ulu, who served Abia state as Commissioner for Local Government was very selfless as a commissioner and he empowered so many people in my community. I might say I am towing the line of my father and elder brother.

I feel happy putting simile on the faces of people and I will continue it as long as God gives me the strength.

How do you see Health care service in Nigeria. What is your assessment of our health care facilities?

Medical services in Nigeria is very poor. And I tell you, a lot of us in Europe and America, I mean medical doctors, are aware of this. I have discussed with some of my friends over there and we all have agreed that something must be done. I might be the only one who has started it for now but I have a couple of colleagues who have the interest to come and change the medical practice here in Nigeria. But because of insecurity and lack of infrastructure some of them want some things to be fixed before the come back home.

However I want to tell you that the worst hospital in the US is better than the best hospital in Nigeria in terms of facilities and infrastructure.

Some of our best medical institutions. National hospital Abuja. I have been to couple of other highly rated medical centres in Nigeria and I know the facilities that are in those hospitals.

What do you think is the reason why the best brains in medical practice are leaving the shores of this country?
I will say it has much to do with job satisfaction and then adequate remuneration. Over there in developed world there are equipments and structure to practice your trade and at the end you are compensated adequately. I think the government should take a second look at the health sector and how to finance it effectively. There are the urgent need to 'put in more money into the health sector.

And I believe when we do the right thing there is hope. I have been speaking to a couple of my colleagues and infants all of us are burning in eagerness to come and change things for the better in the health sector. I must tell you a lot has changed in my community, since I began this free medi care services. Every year my people look forward to it and a lot of them their health conditions has improved.

Prior to this programme people have been dying of stroke, heart attack and so on, sudden death. But before now they were attribute these diseases to witchcrafts and so on. But with advent of this programme the traditional chief of my community told me that they used to a scribe these sudden deaths to local deities and I have actually come to enlighten them that most of the deaths could have been prevented through adequate healthcare.

Now the cases of stroke in village has nosedived unlike what was the case before I began the programme. There have not been any new incident of stoke in my community. This is a place where we have up to 10 to 15 cases for stroke every year. Their health condition has improved because they are very religious in taking their medication. I also provide them education about their condition. I have advised them to disregard myth and superstition and face science and people have taking it up and there has been good result. When I started in 2004 the incident of high blood pressure in my community was over than 90 per cent, but now it is less than 10 per cent.

But with the expansion of the programme into other communities I see the diseases that I used to see in my community when I started. Diseases such as Asthma, high blood pressure Ulcer and so on. And it is my intention to reduce this incidence to the barest minimum.

What is your vision for the Kalu Ulu Memorial Foundation?

My foundation is called Kalu Ulu Memorial Foundation and the website is www.physicianforfree.org or www.doctorforfree.org. When you go on the website you go to the founder section you will see the goals of t he foundation were they are enumerated and these are the things I need to achieve.

Firstly my intention is to raise enough money to provide access road to my community.

We have a three kilometer untarred road that is impassable during the rainy season and I need to link it up to the main trunk. My intention is to see that this road it worked on. Then I intend to provide an endowment fund of at least N20 million for small and medium entrepreneurs where they can obtain soft loans and interest t free loans as a sort of financial empowerment. Also I want to provide scholarship for indigent students and for brilliant students that do not have anybody to cater for their education.

I am thinking of making sure that the clinic operators throughout the year. In this regard I will arrange for Youth Corp members who are doctors to be posted to the clinic for the primary assignment every year. Before then I will provide good accommodation, good allowance to act as an incentive for them. After which I bring surgical equipments and other hospital items to equip the health centre to hospital level so that they can do surgery and take care of my people free of charge.

What is the way forward for our health sector?

The way forward is multifaceted. There has to be socio-economic and political stability in Nigerian. When we have f these and then the head will be beyond reproach then things will begin to move normally. When people are given money to execute contracts like building of hospital and schools they will do it and then there has to be roads, passable roads to hospitals. There has to be good security because over there in the US when you are sick you can call the ambulance from your house and they will be there within five minutes even with police escort to take you to the hospital. If a policeman see you on the road and your injured it is his job to take you to the hospital, if he can not do it he will radio t he ambulance and they will be as quickly as possible. So all these things has to be in place . Also those of us who are physicians in desporal need to show more commitment and come back and try to give back to the country so that we can advance medical technology.

Also importantly government has to provide enabling environment for professionals in the health sector. And then when the environment has been created such as power, security then people outside the country will be willing to come back home to contribute their own quota to the development and growth of the health sector.

What about the news about kidnapping especially in the South east. Did the news discourage you from coming back home?

It affected my programme because last year I planned to come home with about 10 expatrite medical doctors. They wanted to come to Nigeria to assist in what I am dong in my community.

They gave me support, some of them even brought donations of clothings, medication. They were eager to join me in the trip to Nigeria. There were a couple of colleagues that wanted to come and we have already made arrangements. You know this age of internet and World Wide Web, they read about the kidnapping in Nigeria and especially the South east where I come from.

So at a stage they began to develop cold feet and that was why I didn't come back with any of them. That was how it affected me.

When I came back I used some local doctors but I believe when next I am coming back I will come with some of them.

Also importantly government has to provide enabling environment for professionals in the health sector. And then when the environment has been created such as power, security then people outside the country will be willing to come back home to contribute their own quota to the development and growth of the health sector.

Rediscovering the UNN

By Emeka Nwosu/This Day/All Africa

Lagos — My recent trip to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), the great citadel of learning located within the ambience of a conclave of seven rolling hills was a good home coming of a sort, being the second time I was visiting the institution 26 years after graduation.

The previous trip was in 1996 during the funeral ceremonies of the founder of the University, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onitsha and Great Zik of Africa. On that occasion, I was detailed by the Daily Times in my capacity as the Political Editor to cover the momentous event.

By that singular responsibility, I followed the funeral train from Lagos through Abuja and Nsukka to the Inosi Onira Retreat, Onitsha, the final resting place of the great African Nationalist.

By coincidence, my recent trip to Nsukka was as a result of another funeral involving the mother of Dr. Emeka Enejere, a renowned Political Operator, who incidentally was my lecturer in the Department of Political Science.

I took advantage of the funeral which was happening at Ibagwa Aka, on the outskirts of the University town, to undertake a first hand visit to my great alma mater.

To say the least, the picture that greeted me was not cheering enough. It is true that some major strides had been made over time to reposition the University infrastructure wise, the present state in which I found this great citadel of learning leaves much to be desired.

It would appear that after the exit of Professor Frank Ndili as the Vice Chancellor in 1985, whose tenure could be likened to the golden era in the history of the institution, the UNN has found itself in a state of arrested development. Except perhaps for some modest achievements that were reportedly recorded by the immediate past Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedu Nebo, the degradation and degeneration in existing infrastructure remain very appalling.

Nevertheless, I can report that some key structures that were initiated by Ndili which defied succeeding administrations had been conclusively completed. My investigations revealed that the feat was recorded by Nebo. They include the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, reputed as the largest in Africa, South of the Sahara; the Arts Theatre; Faculty Building for the Social Sciences etc.

Other areas where impressive achievements had been recorded are the sporting facilities on the campus. They include the famous Akanu Ibiam Sports Stadium, the Olympic size swimming pool and several training pitches etc.

Beyond these, it was observed that some serious decay had eaten deep into the University. It is sad and regrettable to note that 40 years after the Civil War, the vast landscape of the University is still dotted with abandoned structures including those that were destroyed during the Nigeria-Biafra War.

There is no reason on earth why structures that were conceived to enhance learning and research should still be allowed to remain in their derelict form 43 years after the end of the war, unless they are being preserved for succeeding generations as the physical evidence of the defeat of Ndigbo by the victorious Federal forces.

It saddens the heart to see the majestic Library Building within the Ziks Flats Hostels, Onuiyi Haven donated by the Great Zik of Africa along with the flats to the University still standing as a carcass more than 43 years after it was looted and destroyed by the invading federal troops.

We want to know from the University authorities why this is the case. For Christ sake, why can't that building be restored to its original status? Is there any legal instrument that imposed any restrictions on the restoration and rehabilitation of the structures destroyed in the University as a result of the unfortunate Civil War?

The popular Princess Alexandria Auditorium, which was the Centre of intellectual activism in the University before the War, suffered a similar fate. For ages, the roof of the building blown off during the war could not be replaced. It remained in that condition for a very long time.

We the alumni of this great citadel of learning that was conceived to restore the dignity of man cannot shy away from asking the necessary questions. Unless there is a legal instrument somewhere that ties the hands of the succeeding Governing Councils of the institution, the University authorities owe the UNN alumni movement and in deed Nigerians an explanation on why some of the infrastructure on campus have remained decadent.

I also wish to report that the entire Ziks Flats which at the moment house female students are in a state of disrepair. Until not long ago, the Ziks Flats were the abode of fresh male undergraduates coming into the University for the first time. That place, from what I saw, is no longer fit for human habitation.

The inhabiting students need to be evacuated from the area to make room for total reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Even, the several hostels that dot the campus are in vey bad shape. Those that cry for urgent attention are Akpabio Hall, Isa Kaita, Okeke, Okpara, Balewa and Mary Slessor.

I also observed with disgust that the Students' Union Building and the adjoining Multi Purpose Block initiated in 1982 are still standing at the heart of the campus as abandoned projects.

For those that graduated from the University several decades ago, they would be surprised to see that temporary wooden structures otherwise known as prefab buildings are still very much pronounced. For instance, the Medical Center still operates from makeshift structures in the name of prefab buildings. This certainly is not dignifying.

The current Governing Council of the University must initiate moves to apprehend the prevailing decay on campus. Excuses for non-performance will be unacceptable.

To the glory of God, an alumnus of the University, Dr. Sam Egwu, is the Federal Minister of Education. Admittedly, he holds a national position of trust; he also has a moral responsibility to his alma mater which is a federal institution.

As an institution crippled by the war, I am not away that the University has benefited from any Marshal Plan by the Federal Government to upgrade its facilities. A case can be made for the setting up of a Special Fund for the purpose of mitigating the lingering effects of the war damages.

Dr. Egwu, as a 'Great Lion', has a big role to play in this respect. It is my prayer that Go will give him the enabling grace to do so.

Nigeria: Hobbling Towards A Failed State

By Chiedu Uche/Daily Independent/All Africa


Our freedom fighters envisaged and dreamed of a country that would be the bastion of democracy in Africa, an ocean of peace and unity, and a land filled with economic prosperity. Sadly, almost fifty years after we became a sovereign and independent state, Nigeria is like a toddling baby in diapers. I know for sure that Awolowo, Azikiwe, Tafewa Balewa and other early nationalists would turn in their graves whenever the news broke that a political leader diverted public money into his private pocket.

Nigeria, the so called giant of Africa with a potential to be a great country, is bringing up the rear in economic and technological development among the comity of nations because of some factors, chiefly among them is ethnicity, religious intolerance and bumbling, incompetent and corrupt political leadership.

Nigerians are very conscious of their ethnic origins, and owe allegiance to their ethnic group. They place the interest of their ethnic groups above the interest of Nigeria. This attitude undermines the unity of Nigeria. The Nigerian civil war which claimed millions of lives was partly caused by ethnic hatred which existed among Nigerians, then. Now, Igbos living in the north have dropped their cultural names to assume non-igbo names in order to be absorbed in schools in the north. As ethnicity plays a crucial role in one's securing a Job or admission into schools, many Nigerians who were qualified to be given jobs or admissions into schools were by-passed. Using ethnicity as a bench mark or criterion for offering jobs or admissions to people means the dethronement of meritocracy and enthronement of mediocrity. And, today, Nigeria is the worse for it. Can Nigeria advance when very gifted people are denied opportunity for self-actualization?

Ethnicity as well as incessant religious crisis, especially in the north, militates against development. The north is now a hotbed of religious violence. Many Nigerians who lived and did businesses in the north are now derelicts in their villages because their shops and wares were burnt by rampaging Moslem marauders. Non-Muslims in the north cannot afford to sleep with their two-eyes closed. Can economic activities boom and thrive in a milieu of fear, uncertainty and violence?

Now, Jos has last its innocence; it is the metaphor for ethnic religious conflicts. The recurrence as well as the frequency of bloody violence in Jos is an indication of the state insecurity of lives and properties in the country. The police and other state security outfits, ineffective as ever, can't gather intelligence and forestall the visitation of violence on innocent people in Jos by murderous religious gangs.

The Nigerian police men and women who mount road locks on our roads and extort money from commercial bus drivers can't combat criminal activities in the country. Armed robbers who wield dangerous weapons operate unchallenged on our roads. And, political killings have assumed a dangerous dimension in the south-west of the country. Recently, a roving band of blood thirsty human vampires invaded a village in Benue state and killed some people.

Do we still have a government in Nigeria? Is anarchy not looming in the horizons given the frequency of eruption of violence in Jos and north in general, the recent killing in Benue state, and the unresolved killing of politicians and journalists in Nigeria?

This is not the best of times for Nigeria. The constitutional imbroglio created by the failure of President Umaru Musa Yar'adua to transmit a letter to the national assembling informing them of his trip to Saudi-Arabia for medical treatment has not been successfully settled. Are some people not insisting that the acting president Dr. Jonathan Goodluck be made the president, and Umaru Musa Yar'adua impeached? Uneasy calm is reigning in the country. We are experiencing the peace of the grave-yard.

The ship of state is rocking to and fro, and moving towards the precipice considering the happenings in Nigeria. I would like the acting president to utilize and seize the opportunity offered him to lead; he should steady the floundering ship of state, offer us quality leadership and douse the tension in the land.

We should not be deluded by what Hugo Grotious says: "Government comes and goes; but a state remains forever". But, have U.S.S.R, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia not disintegrated? Nigeria is reputed to have come out of every major political crisis not dismembered. But, the bible warns those who think that they're standing firm to be careful least they fall.

May God save Nigeria.

Re-Awakening Igbo Can Do Spirit

By Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu/Daily Champion/All Africa

Lagos — I am very happy today to be amongst you my brethren, my people, at this historic meeting. I am always happy to be with you but today I am very excited by the presence of our traditional rulers and governors - the custodians of cultural cum traditional power and custodians of political power in Igboland. May I commend the Chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, HRH Eze (Dr.) C. l. llomuanya, who convened this important meeting for his foresight, and the governors who have attended. May I also recommend that this type of meeting and exchange of ideas to constantly re-affirm Igbo interests in Nigeria, between the traditional rulers, governors and the elite of the South East should become an established norm and feature of Igbo political life.

Before I proceed, let me again thank the conveners for inviting me to give a key note address to this important meeting. May the Almighty God, the Creator of Ndigbo and all other peoples of this earth richly reward you. I will never be tired of reminding you, my beloved brothers and sisters, that we Ndigbo are a great race, richly endowed by the Almighty God, the Creator and the giver of all gifts. I believe that the enormous qualities which the Almighty God has endowed Ndigbo with, are not just for themselves alone but for the development of Nigeria. This is why Ndigbo are found all-over the country, contributing enormously to national development.

Lest we forget, Ndigbo constitute the largest homogenous ethnic population in Nigeria. Perhaps this is why, despite Igbo protests, important demographics such as ethnic group, religion and state of origin, are always eliminated from Nigeria's population counts. Even for a nation like Nigeria where the term "Federal Character" is enshrined in the Constitution. Howbeit, it is a well known fact that in every state in Nigeria outside Igbo land, Ndigbo always constitutes the second largest population next to the indigenous population.

Lest we also forget, Igbo economic investments outside their homeland greatly outstrip the economic investments of other ethnic groups outside their ethnic enclaves. Indeed in most communities in Nigeria, Ndigbo are at the fountainhead of development. This to me is unassailable evidence of the great faith which Ndigbo have in Nigeria nation. But is Nigeria a nation? I have this question for your deliberations.

Finally, lest we have forgotten also, Ndigbo were very active and at the forefront, in the struggle for Nigeria's independence and shed more blood than any other ethnic group in the struggle - the coal-mine massacre of Enugu, the Aba Women's riot etc. And Ndigbo have continued to shed the most blood in the ethnic, religious riots and other political disturbances that have become a feature of politically independent Nigeria as she strives to become a Nation.

Having outlined these pertinent facts, let me share with you my brethren, my concerns, worries and unhappiness over the current state of our beloved Igbo nation in Nigeria. You know me. I am not a person given to lamentations. I shall therefore not spend time lamenting how Ndigbo, an enormously gifted and courageous people with populations spread all over Nigeria have become, or seem to have become the weakest link in the Nigerian political chain. Naturally, I am sad and disturbed, that Ndigbo, despite who and what they are to Nigeria, are assigned minor responsibilities in the Nigerian enterprise. What makes me sadder is that, we, Ndigbo seem to accept these minor and irrelevant responsibilities, when by virtue of our population and spread, we should act as the adhesive force holding the Nigerian fabric together. And so I ask you my brethren, what are we afraid of in our God-given country, Nigeria? Especially when other ethnic groups less in population than Ndigbo are courageously asserting themselves, sometimes with impunity, in Nigeria with great success and throwing it in our face! This indeed makes me sad. I therefore say to Ndigbo that Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must not forget this fact.

I ask myself on a daily basis whether Ndigbo fully understand the cause, essence and import of the war, where we defended ourselves to the admiration of the world against a senseless pogrom.

I have therefore decided that my full story on that war shall be told this year, by me, in a book, so that future generations and all who like us and even those who do not like us, shall appreciate that Ndigbo are nation-builders not nation-wreckers, but that the strong Igbo moral sense, handed down to us by our ancestors, will always resent and rebel against injustice, inequity and mindless blood-letting.

Having said this, my message to Ndigbo through this important meeting is that we must march forward in Nigeria, without fear, but with a commitment to assert ourselves fully in the building of a Nigerian nation that works for all and not some of its citizens. Ndigbo must reject firmly any attempt to relegate them to subsidiary, politically irrelevant and minor roles and responsibilities in the exercise of building a modern Nigeria nation. And my desire and prayer remains that Ndigbo shall regain their political relevance in Nigeria without violence in my lifetime. Please God.

How shall Ndigbo regain their political relevance in Nigeria? We must first, clearly define the Igbo interest in Nigeria. The Igbo interest, to me, has always been to assert ourselves as a major, integral part of a Federal Nigerian nation, where every citizen, Ndigbo and others, can self-­actualize. The Igbo persona refuses to be relegated to the margins and we shall aspire to every position - political, economic and social, which our individual and group capabilities entitle us to, in a modern, prosperous and democratic federal Nigeria. This simply stated, is to me, my dear brothers and sisters, the Igbo interest in Nigeria and I submit this definition to this meeting to ponder, deliberate and amend as necessary. But whatever we do at this meeting, the affirmation of the Igbo Interest remains paramount.

Please permit me again, to mention briefly, two personal experiences of my life, which inform my strong position on Ndigbo and Nigeria. My Father, Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu lived in Lagos, invested in Lagos and contributed to the economic and political growth of Nigeria for which he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Enugu in 1956. He loved Nigeria and he was an Igbo man to the core and he raised me as such. My Uncle, Chief Felix Okonkwo, popularly known as "Okonkwo Kano" lived in Kano, invested in Kano and was a member of the Northern Legislative House. He loved Kano and he also was an Igbo man to the core. He brought me up to respect the North and Northerners. Why then must we, their children, do less for ourselves and for Nigeria? This is why I continue to say to Ndigbo, that we must march forward in Nigeria, without any fears whatsoever, because it is our God-­given country, doing what is right and proper, and protecting ourselves and our rights in Nigeria because we are bona fide citizens of Nigeria. I shall say no more.

What then must we do to regain political relevance and be in a position to defend our interest and rights in a new prosperous and great Federal Republic of Nigeria, where no man is oppressed? The first and perhaps the only thing we need to do at this present time, is to nurture and strengthen internal unity and cohesion in the Igbo nation.

Our republican nature and unbridled individualism needs to bow to the collective Igbo interest. In the past, before we became incrementally irrelevant in Nigeria, the Igbo State Union provided not just a potent force for development but provided impregnable support machinery for Igbo political interest in Igbo land and Nigeria.

I urge this meeting to consider seriously the re-establishment and strengthening of "AUTHORITY STRUCTURES AND SANCTION MECHANISMS" in Igbo land via which Igbo interest can be defended and protected. Any ethnic group not just Ndigbo, is akin to a mob and any strong-willed political misfit, with a lot of money, can drag the group into a wrong direction. I therefore plead with you my brethren, to give this important issue of "authority structures and sanction mechanisms" in Igbo land and leadership in Igbo land, your very serious thoughts.

As I conclude, let me mention three trends which in recent times have further weakened the Igbo nation and reduced our group potency as a political force in Nigeria. First is the relegation of visionary and strategic thinking to the background. In the past, our best political leaders have always been men of vision who were also strategic thinkers. These leaders were often not rich, and in any case they were never among the richest in Igbo land in terms of money. But they were courageous and our very best thinkers and political strategists.

The second trend is the lack of personal and group courage, especially the courage to assert ourselves and defend our rights, lives and properties in any and every where in Nigeria. Cowardice which was never a quality of our ancestors is now celebrated in Igbo land as "Sense". But today, I, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, exhort Ndigbo to be assertive and courageous in protecting their rights, lives and properties as bona fide citizens of Nigeria whilst respecting the rights of other citizens.

Finally, I say to you, my brothers and sisters that politics is not and can never be about self-neglect or self-negation, such that Ndigbo have become unwilling investors in Igbo land, citing myriads of reasons.

Sometimes I reflect and think that it may be our massive investments outside Igbo land which has emasculated us from asserting our citizenship rights as Nigerians fully because of our investments, which we seek to preserve through our meekness and tame responses to violations of our citizens' rights as Nigerians. I Pity, for a Man's soul is not a matter of properties and investments, but a matter of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust. Ndigbo must not lose their collective soul as a people.

As we ponder on how best to reverse these unwholesome trends among Ndigbo, let me in conclusion say to you, that we as a people have a bright future. I, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu see a bright future for Ndigbo in Nigeria because Ndigbo are a "can-do" people. And so, I maintain today that Ndigbo shall regain their appropriate political relevance in Nigeria in my Life time.

Excerpts from the key note address delivered by Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu at the meeting of South East Elders and Leaders in Owerri March 5, 2010.