With Southwest leaders engaged in a shouting match with Southeast leaders over allegedly derisive comments on the Southwest sage, Obafemi Awolowo by literary giant, Chinua Achebe, Arewa leaders last  Wednesday slipped into Enugu to rub minds with Igbo leaders. Could the meeting be a prelude to geopolitical realignment in the polity?

By Tony Edike

Northern political and cultural leaders under the umbrella of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, stormed Enugu on Tuesday for what was described as a crucial dialogue with Igbo leaders on various national issues.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze was the platform under which elders of the Igbo nation were assembled for the meeting.  The meeting was held at the Universal Hotel, Independence Layout, Enugu. The Ohanaeze delegation was led by the President General, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue while the Arewa delegation was led by the Chairman, National Executive Council, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed.

On the Ohanaeze delegation were the Secretary General, Chief Nduka Eya, former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former President Generals of Ohanaeze, Justice Eze Ozobu, Prof. Joe Irukwu, and Justice Mbazulike Amaechi, former Ebonyi State governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala, Prof. Obiorah Ike, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Chief Onyeso Nwachukwu, Chief Kalu I. Kalu, Senator Ofia Nwali, Col. Victor Ozodinobi, Dr. Joe Nwaorgu, Chief OAU Onyema, Engr. Ralph Ndigwe and members of the executive council, among others.

The ACF delegation was made up of its Secretary General, Col. Musa Shehu (rtd), the deputy Chairman, Alhaji Saidu Barda; Assistant chairman, Senator Joseph Kennedy Waku; Major General Lawrence Onoja; Ambassador Adamu Mohamed; Hajia Halima Alfa ; Amina Ladan Baki, Ambassador Ibrahim Mai Sule, Col. Musa Shehu, Mallam Buka Zarma, Col. Mohammed Abdu, Barrister Bitrus Gada, Anthony Sani and Alhaji Ladan Shinnu among others.

The meeting was at the instance of ACF and it was significant being the first time in the current dispensation where elders and notable leaders from Northern Nigeria and their counterparts from the South East sat together around a common table as one extended family to discuss issues affecting them and the entire nation.

When the idea of the meeting was muted by ACF leaders, the agenda was not disclosed to Ohanaeze members a development that fueled speculations that the dialogue could centre on the 2015 presidency which both groups have vested interest. The Ohanaeze President General, Ambassador Uwechue confirmed this in his welcome speech when he asked the Arewa delegation to reveal their reason for the interaction.  The participants were kept guessing until the leader of Arewa delegation delivered his speech and set the agenda.

A cross section of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Arewa Consultative Forum delegations after their joint meeting in Enugu, Wednesday.

“We requested for this meeting with the belief that civil society organisations and cultural groups such as ours, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, South South Peoples Assembly, etc, have a duty to dialogue with each other and search for solutions to the major issues of concern to Nigeria.

He expressed gratitude to Ohanaeze for accepting to host the Arewa delegation and “to have expressed its willingness to work with us and other sister organisations in the interest of our dear country,” adding that he had no doubt that the interactions would go a long way in “helping to promote understanding, clear misconceptions and eliminate any suspicions we may have about each other, Aliko said.

Speaking on what he termed temporary challenges of development in the country, the ACF leader noted that it was self-evident that Nigeria is passing through very hard times due to several challenges of development.  “Years of stagnation in economic activities, especially of agriculture, degradation of physical infrastructure and shrinking opportunities for legitimate employment have made our communities increasingly restive. We have frequent outbreaks of conflict accompanied by violence.  At times, the brunt of such violence has been borne by the relatively well off members of the community which, unfortunately, in many urban centres of the North, includes your members, Ndigbo.

“As a result, allegations have been made suggesting that Southerners, especially Igbo are deliberately marked out for attack.  Even more distressing is the damning propaganda that the violence that have taken place in the North are masterminded by Northern leaders supposedly for political reasons.

“That is why ACF is under pains to reassure Nigerians, especially our brothers, the Igbo, that leaders of the North do not, and will never condone violence, let alone those targeted at specific groups of Nigerians. All violence takes us back many years as it destroys whatever assets we have managed to acquire.  What is more, Igbo people promote the concept and spirit of one nation through their settlement in larger numbers everywhere in Nigeria.  If, for example, the over one million Igbo that live in Kano state were to leave today, there is no doubt that the economy of Kano would be affected.

“And yet, too often, we treat this topic in a way that gives the impression that the problems of crime, violence, poverty, extremism or insecurity are confined to the North, whereas the security challenges spread across the country.  By way of example, there are security challenges posed by Boko Haram and ethno-religious crises in some parts of the North.  It is also common knowledge that kidnappings and communal clashes as well as activities of MASSOB are reported in the South-East just as more armed robberies and activities of Odua Peoples Congress, OPC, occur in the South -West.

The South – South zone suffers under the weight of militant activism by violent groups as well as oil bunkering, hijacking of vessels and piracy.  And this is in addition to the countrywide problems of unemployment and collapsing infrastructure which together have rendered economic development virtually unattainable.”

Noting that if an Hausa man could win an election in Enugu in the first republic, our great Zik could win in the West, a Kanuri man could win election in Kano and an Igbo man could win in Kaduna and as a local council chairman in Abuja just over a decade ago, “there is no reason why we cannot replicate those events in our time.”

“All these suggest that, however unsatisfactory the situation today may appear, the concept of nationhood requires that we do not throw in the towel but to persevere in our determination to preserving the union. ” On the increasing agitation for a national or sovereign conference, the ACF leader said his organisation was not opposed to convening such conference but warned that if the talks take the form of a Sovereign National Conference “it at once amounts to vote of no confidence on our democracy and its institutions.”  “We do not share the view that any group has the right to pass such vote of no confidence.  Moreover, most of the issues which agitate the minds of proponents of Sovereign National Conference  or National Conference have now been listed for review of the Constitution underway by the National Assembly,” he said.

“One more subject I may well mention is the fact that the ACF and, indeed, the North, is not opposed to derivation as a basis for revenue sharing as long as it is designed to reward efforts and to compensate for environmental degradation.  But we have made the distinction that in the case off-shore oil exploration, no efforts are expended by littoral states nor does any appreciable degradation of environment of any host communities occur. That is why ACF says revenue from mining of oil, far in the middle of the ocean, should not feature as a factor in the calculation for derivation of revenues for any particular state.”

The speech by the ACF leader was greeted with a loud applause as he succeeded in disabusing the minds of the Igbo delegation that they were on a political mission.

In his response, Ohanaeze leader, Amb. Uwechue observed that the ACF presentation at the meeting showed that the north still believed in the unity of Nigeria.  ”There is a lot in this presentation that shows that the entire and total commitment of the ACF to the unity, peace and survival of Nigeria, and we thank you for that,” he told the delegation.

On his part, Dr. Alex Ekwueme said the decision by the northern leaders to come down to the South for a dialogue with Ndigboon these topical issues was commendable as it would afford both groups the opportunity to make meaningful contributions that would move the nation forward. “We have heard them and we shall go back and look critically into their submission and continue with further discussions because it is better to jaw-jaw than to war-war.”

The meeting later went into a closed door session after which a two-page communiqué was issued to newsmen. “Following a big brief discussion the two groups underlined the imperative of national unity dialogue and consensus based imperative of national unity dialogue and consensus based on the principles of equity, justice and cooperation among the various people of Nigeria,” the communiqué jointly signed by leaders of the groups, President General of Ohanaeze, Ambassador Uwechue and the Chairman of ACF, Alhaji Mohammed, said. According to the communiqué, “since the issues raised in the address by the ACF were very weighty, Ohanaeze Ndigbo requested for time to study and make their response available for discussion on a future meeting.”

Both sides, however, agreed that the channel of communication opened by the meeting should be maintained.

Many participants at the meeting who spoke on the cooperation between Arewa and Ohanaeze welcomed it with some reservations as some believed that the Northern delegation is yet to come up with their actual plan, which they, said, is to make political incursions into the political landscape of Ndigbo with a view to nominating a vice presidential candidate from the South East to run with a northern presidential candidate in 2015.

However, as the two groups continue with their dialogue which has commenced on a friendly note, the true motive of the of the initiators would be known without long but in all the dialogue has been generally described as a development that could guarantee the unity of the country.