The
US chapter of Pan Ndiigbo Foundation (PNF-USA) has offered
to host a get-together for Ndiigbo in Dallas, Texas on the
weekend of July 11-13, 2003 “to build a framework
for the articulation of a constructive, dynamic, and collective
Igbo Agenda”. A release from the chapter leader, Dr.
Acho Orabuchi, sees its group’s decision as a timely
move to address a widespread feeling amongst Ndiigbo that
“the Igbo and her political survival in the mainstream
Nigerian body polity are in danger”, particularly
since the debacle of the last general elections. The proposed
all-Igbo confab “is a clarion call for all concerned
Igbo indigenes regardless of one’s ideological persuasion
or political party affiliation”. The summit’s
program schedule allows for multifaceted input into charting
a new practical course of action for Ndiigbo in this democratic
dispensation. Outcome of the two-day parley in Dallas is
expected to establish a new roadmap that shall help “the
Igbo to actively participate in the national/mainstream
politics in an equitable fashion in Nigeria”.
This is the first time that an all-Igbo get-together has
been convened to address the all-important subject of deriving
a consensus agenda to guide Igbo groups of all persuasions
as we navigate the intricate maze of Nigerian political
terrain. The bewilderment that has taken over the mindset
of the average Igbo makes it mandatory that Ndiigbo, especially
the political and intellectual elite, should put their heads
together to make sense out of the ongoing quandary that
has tormented the Igbo since onset of the new democratic
dispensation in Nigeria. Through most of the later part
of military rule, the Ohanaeze Ndiigbo was looked up to
as the leadership epicenter for the Igbo political class.
But the emergency of political parties has complicated the
task for the Ohanaeze leadership to the extent that the
apex Igbo body has finally exposed itself as unprepared
and incompetent to spearhead the strategic interests of
Ndiigbo in today’s Nigeria. Its former respected status
in Igbo affairs is now being frontally challenged by the
emergence of the Igbo National Assembly whose founders have
sworn to bring the leadership era of the Ohanaeze in Igbo
affairs to and end.
The Igbo Diaspora is basically rudderless. Almost a decade
ago, some illustrious sons and daughters of Igbo heritage
resident overseas founded the World Igbo Congress (WIC)
as an umbrella organization for harnessing and channeling
input from the Diaspora population into the overall development
strategy for Ndiigbo within Nigeria. The WIC, since its
inception, functioned basically as an Ohanaeze outpost in
the Diaspora and ended up just performing the role of a
mouthpiece for home-based Igbo political elite. The imminent
downfall of the present Ohanaeze leadership is destined
to send its shockwaves through the rank and file of the
WIC in the near and intermediate terms. There is thus a
yawning leadership void in the Igbo Diaspora just as is
the case at home. A get-together, like the one being organized
by PNF-USA next month in Dallas, provides a unique opportunity
for all concerned Igbo groups and individuals to seek fresh
alternative solutions to the many confounding leadership
crises that have overtaken the Igbo elite. Solution to the
Igbo dilemma may actually lie in the derivation of a consensus
agenda that shall guide everyone rather than in blind pursuit
of an elusive unity amongst competing Igbo interest groups.
With established and well-understood consensus Igbo agenda
list of priorities, all potential leadership groups can
then proceed, in their own fashion and pace, to direct their
effort toward the actualization of a common goal.
Organizers of the Dallas confab must resist the temptation
to deviate from the main focus of the proposed summit. The
gathering must not be used as a forum for setting political
scores or for fanning ambers of an emergent vendetta between
the winners and losers of the last April general elections.
Rather than expand the theme of the summit to encompass
a long list of issues, the main task of unfurling the Igbo
agenda should get most attention of participants. It is
unlikely that the short duration of the weekend event shall
allow for detailed deliberations that ought to precede derivation
of what can be termed a practical consensus Igbo agenda.
If nothing else is accomplished, the Dallas summit should
be made to mark the beginning of a conscientious search
for a uniform platform for streamlining of the Igbo cause
in contemporary Nigeria, Africa and world. A committee,
formed out of all principal groups committed to the summit’s
objectives, should be empowered to complete the task of
producing a carefully vetted itemized list of priority issues
that shall comprise a consensus Igbo agenda. As the PNF-USA
leadership has opined in its release, the product of this
committee shall be presented at a future plenary session
in Nigeria for final review and ratification by an all-inclusive
assembly of Ndiigbo.
In a previous Osondu Editorial titled “Ndiigbo
in Post-election Era” (http://www.osondu.com/postelectionera.htm),
it was opined that, for Ndiigbo to make any headway “in
a timely manner, everyone concerned should be made to understand
what has to be done and how we shall proceed. More than
anytime in recent history, there is a need for a clear agenda
for Ndiigbo now.” PNF-USA has boldly stepped forward
to take the bull by the horns in providing the platform
to initiate the self-redemptive task of evolving the consensus
Igbo agenda which shall catalyze the realization of a unity
of purpose in ranks of the Igbo political and intellectual
elite. The leadership of PNF-USA should be commended and
supported in its bid to play a vital role in charting the
future course of action that can enable Ndiigbo to better
articulate and represent their strategic interests in contemporary
Nigeria. We urge everyone, particularly pan-Igbo groups
based at home and Diaspora, to prepare themselves well to
make good use of the opportunity that the Dallas All-Igbo
Summit shall offer for all, who are genuinely interested
in the speedy advancement of the Igbo cause, to make their
valuable input when and where it really counts.