South-East Bureau Chief, Jude Ossai, writes on the recent visit of a coalition of youth organisations from different geopolitical zones in the country to the home of the late Igbo leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, declaring that the visit signals the beginning of a new national consciousness.
SATURDAY, 18 February, was like in any other day to many people. But to the family of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Nigerian youths, it was a day they would love to remember for a very long time. It was the day Nigerian youths, under the auspices of the Coalition of Nations and Organisations of Nigeria (CONON), stormed the Enugu residence of Chief Ojukwu, christened Casabianca, on a condolence visit.
The youths, who were over 3,000 in number, were drawn from different geopolitical zones in the country, including the South-South, South-East and Middle Belt regions. Among the leadership of the coalition were Alhaji Yakubu Abu, Jonathan Tsaku, Adams Unaji (Middle Belt Region), Mr Olisa Osi, Dr Felix Tuodolo, Rex Anigoro, Asari Dokubo (Niger Delta Region); Mr Chime Ihediwa, Vincent Levy Anyawu and Chuks Ibegbu (Ndigbo)
Lady Bianca, the widow of the late Ojukwu, was delighted at receiving the leadership of CONON, urging them to keep the unity of the country in their upper most minds. Nigerian Tribune observed that the former leader of the Ijaw Youth Movement, Alhaji Muhahid Dokubo-Asari, stole the show, as his perceived anger attracted reporters covering the visit to the late Ikemba’s family.
Dokubo-Asari, who was cornered by newsmen, warned northerners to forget the presidency in 2015, insisting that the exalted position would remain in the South-East, South-South or the Middle Belt geopolitical zone. Indeed, what stunned journalists in Dokubo’s outburst was his lamentation for the lost battle of Biafra, as he regretted that Biafra, which was the brain child of Ojukwu, was not actualised.
The former Ijaw leader called for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference with a view to restructuring the country, adding that Nigeria needed to institutionalise true federalism. On the activities of the Boko Haram sect, he said it was a ploy by a cabal in the North to shift power to the region, but assured that the dreaded group would not achieve its aim.
While the coordinator of the coalition groups, Miabiye Kuromiema, had said that Nigeria was a “design of Divine Providence”, the Ijaw activist said nobody should be afraid of the Boko Haram insurgence, adding that the activists were ready to face them at all times.
Kuromiema had told Lady Bianca, “We, the new generation of emerging leaders of this country, recognise that we were born into a historic moment. It is now crystal clear that this moment is the moment of degeneration and disintegration, what some call a meltdown. It is also the moment of opportunities in pursuit of regeneration with deserving candour and placidity”.
According to the group, “We are inspired by the firm knowledge that Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is a true African icon who lived and still lives on from the great beyond for the cause of enthroning an appropriately structured and equitable Nigerian federation.’’
The Forest Crescent, where Ojukwu’s palatial home is situated in the Coal City, has become a Mecca of sorts since the late Igbo hero passed on last year. On the day the youths visited, there was a beehive of activities, as they thrilled themselves with solidarity songs and traditional dances. Most of the hotels were fully booked by the visitors.
The next day, Sunday, 19 February, the coordinator of the group, Kuremiema, read its communiqué from the meeting held at the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Secretariat along Parks Avenue, Enugu. The communiqué was dubbed “The Enugu Consensus”.
The youths’ first observation was “That Nigeria, as a nation-state, was created by both the early leaders and the colonial masters as a federation of three and later four regions, representing the interests of the dominant geo-ethnic nations under which the minority nations, against their known historical and well-documented aspirations and fears, were lumped and denied of active and constitutionally and legally guaranteed political power and influence.”
Parts of the 11-point communiqué read: “That the structure of the federation now inhibits investment and balanced development of the productive capacities of the various regions in our country, while promoting consumerism and dependency tendencies among equally natural-resource-endowed and previously productive and vibrant regions.’’
Apparently hitting the nail on the head, the youths noted that the growing destabilising and disintegrating trends in the country arose from the root cause of the current defective Federal constitution and laws which continued to fuel poverty, corruption, bad governance and insecurity.
They further noted that the monopoly and concentration of authority and power in the hands of the few was the foundation of the incentives for entrenched patronage-based political culture, as well as the inventor and generator of all forms of corruption. Indeed, the youths recognised the fact that Nigeria is manifestly the principal pride of the black race, making its democracy the largest in Africa. It is against this premise that the coalition resolved to pursue the entrenchment of universal principles of democracy and strive to evolve a truly African democracy rooted in the natural soil of Africa’s social structure.
Interestingly, the leadership of CONON has begun its task in the right direction, as it sought the partnership of the government, Corporate Nigeria, the international community and well wishers and vowed to create a new generation of leaders for a rebirth and national progress.
It may be a Herculean task for the youths to surmount the huddles they are confronted with, but there is a wise saying that a journey of 100 miles begins with a step. The battle for the enthronement of social justice, equity and fair-play in the land has just begun and the late Ikemba will be happy in the spiritual realm seeing the new generation pursuing his agenda.
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