ONCE I read the article entitled “Uwechue’s sad swan song (1)” on the back page of the Sun of Monday October 25, 2010, I decided on examining the question it addressed. Upon reading the second half of the piece a week later, it became obvious to me that Uche Ezechukwu, the author, had needlessly degraded and devalued the integrity and cathedral majesty that his weekly Capital Matters column should normally commands.

Uche and I are friends. We had previously discussed on telephone the support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential bid which Chief Raph Uwechue announced on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, which Uwechue heads.

Had I read Uche’s article before its publication, I would have cautioned that its irreverent tenor and the attempt to impugn Chief Uwechue’s integrity were a failure of argument that did not advance the alternative opinion he wished to posit.

Ezechukwu’s central charge against Chief Uwechue is that he sold out by pitching Ohanaeze in President Jonathan’s camp without the authority of the body he leads. The ancillary accusation is that Uwechue is scheming to elongate his tenure as Ohanaeze’s president-general. Instead of driving home his argument on these points, the columnist decided on name calling and invectives.

Ezechukwu littered his article with vituperative registers against the person of Chief Uwechue. He called Uwechue undignified, unfair, curious, fake, disdainful, disrespectful, traitorous, etc. He even claimed that Uwechue mouthed the following sentence to him: ”Don’t worry, let’s support Jonathan so that we shall teach these Northerners a lesson”. Well, the Raph Uwechue that I have known for two decades is not the one Ezechukwu discussed.

There is no way this thoroughly detribalized Nigerian and a career diplomat to boot would have made such a statement. Whoever knows Ambassador Uwechue will be horrified by the distorted picture Ezechukwu painted.

Professor Chinua Achebe taught the world in Things Fall Apart that, in the Igbo country, age is revered while achievement is respected. Ambassador Uwechue is 75, a senior citizen. He distinguished himself as a career diplomat, a politician and a publisher. At 32, he was already heading a Nigerian mission abroad. He was a Minister in the government of President Shehu Shagari.

For over two decades, he published Africa (Afrique) magazine simultaneously in English and French, in London and Paris. His Know Africa books which are in three tomes – Africa Today, Who’s Who In Africa and Makers of Modern Africa – remain today the most detailed source of information on the African continent, its academics,  peoples, cultures, religions, geography, history, economics and politicians.

Chief Uwechue’s London offices were the headquarters of NADECO operations during the repressive years of Abacha’s junta. I was in Biafra; I happen to have done considerable research on the failed republic. Ambassador Raph Uwechue did not betray it, notwithstanding all the insinuations by Ezechukwu who denied the septuagenarian achiever all the reverence and respect that he so richly deserves. All this, for what? All this because Chief Uwechue announced that Ohanaeze Ndigbo is in support of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential bid!.

The point is that the Imeobi of Ohanaeze Ndigbo met two clear days before Ezechukwu’s second journalistic flutter on Uwechue, and after extensive deliberations, came out with a communiqué worthy of reproduction on this page:

*It reaffirmed its confidence in the Ambassador Raph Uwechue-led executive of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
*It approved the extension of the tenure of the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and its executive by two years.
*It endorsed Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s support for the presidential bid of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

*It appreciated the efforts made so far by the five South East Governments to end the industrial action by university teachers, which led to the closure of state-owned universities in the geopolitical zone. It further mandated the Ohanaeze executive to also intervene in the lingering dispute with a view to finding a just and lasting solution to the problem in the shortest possible time so that our children can resume classes.

What this communiqué, which was signed by Ohanaeze Acting secretary, Chief Eddie Onuoha and National Publicity Secretary Prince Ralph Ndigwe, clearly shows is that the current noises on Chief Uwechue and Ohanaeze’s leadership are extraneous. The Imeobi registered a full house of distinguished members, including politicians, traditional rulers, religious leaders, professionals and academics.

I mentioned from the outset that Ezechukwu’s piece prompted my examination of what all the hoopla was about. It boils down to this: It is an antipodal conflict between those who, like Chief Uwechue, support Jonathan’s presidential bid, and others who are opposed to it. Opposition to Uwechue has come from Ezechukwu and from a group of Igbo politicians who have gathered around an amorphous body known as the Igbo Political Forum (IPF).

The IPF purports to speak for Ndigbo. This is presumptuous because they have no such mandate. The IPF claims an agreement with the North to create an Igbo President in 2015. Only someone naïve or foolish will fail to greet this so-called “agreement” with skeptical smiles. Besides, most “members” of the IPF are positively identified with certain Northern presidential aspirants.

My take is that political partisanship is not sufficient reason for the simulation of crisis inside Ohanaeze Ndigbo, especially as most of those currently railing against the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization are not known to have previously identified with its activities.

Back to Ambassador Raph Uwechue. The truth is that his Ohanaeze executive did consult widely before deciding to support President Jonathan. There scarcely is anyone today with a sense of balance and a modicum of knowledge who can confidently claim that Ndigbo are currently more attuned to any other presidential aspirant than Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. However, the down side of the Jonathan support is its announcement ahead of Imeobi’s endorsement. Why had the cart apparently been placed before the horse?

This question was asked Chief Uwechue during the press conference he addressed after the Imeobi meeting of October 30, 2010. He explained that the timing of the Ohanaeze endorsement of President Jonathan was designed to thwart those who were already confusing Ndigbo with the ridiculous story that they had wangled a 2015 Igbo presidency with the North. One more point.

The extension of the tenure of the Ohanaeze executive was not initiated by Chief Raph Uwechue. As Uwechue said at his press conference, the recommendation was on the President-General’s table well before Uwechue assumed the office.

Chuks Iloegbunam is an author, writes from Lagos..