The spirit of a nation is the convolution of the different characters that constitute that nation and Ndigbo have contributed to the evolution of the spirit called Nigeria. Ndigbo are economic entity, living in the realm of commerce and knowledge utilizing their God’s given potentials to the benefit of mankind. He is a strong believer in communal efforts to development and believes in less government involvement in business and the economy. He is also desirous of knowledge like his counterparts and so has a studious heart for excellent.
He is dominant specie yet he does not set out with the intent to dominate but his life afterward becomes a life of dominance. He never sits down to strategize to exclude and seclude, but he will sit down to plan on how to create wealth and ends up monopolizing the trade.
Until of recent, he places less focus on his homeland thus, always giving an impression of neglect. By nature, he is a sojourner who finds comfort wherever there is life. When President Donald Trump claimed he spotted a Nigerian in the deep obscure settlement in Alaska during his electioneering campaign, most people concluded without giving a thought that the being was an Ndigbo.
As he sojourns, he settles, builds and grows. His inherent propensity for wealth makes him a risk taker. He dares situations holy and otherwise in his bid to succeed and will stake his life to surmount the wall of poverty. Sometimes, he loses what he sought for in an attempt to succeed. An Igbo man will first compete with himself and finally competes with his kinsman. Hence, he competes with none outside his tribe.
He lives and expands without war and never annex to occupy. His Republican nature makes him vulnerable to power matrix. He sees power as less of politics and more of economic and so he does not impact or impose his culture and language on others in an attempt to expand his dominance and create a colony. Rather, he is quick to learn the language of his benefactor for economic gains and as a means of survival.
Very often, he retains his religion, beliefs, and culture among his clan in his new found land and never forgets to set aside a day to mark his culture and traditions. He holds dear to his oriental origin and has come to identify himself as a generation of black Jews. He never forgets his root and will create time to visit.
He could be boastful and exhibitionistic, just like his counterparts, yet he knows his boundaries. He is industrious. He loves freedom and will agitate for an egalitarian society where he can explore and deploy his innovative instinct to create wealth and better the society. He is at home wherever he finds himself.
Ndigbo’s greatest challenge to leadership is his Republican nature. He tends to be more conservative to issue of leadership and this has brought much fear and uncertainty among Ndigbo themselves and her neighbors who are not favorably disposed to being a part of Biafra nation.
There are five classes of Ndigbo on the subject of Biafra which have come to form two opposing groups with a different understanding.
1. The youths born after the Nigerian civil war who desire Biafra like honey
2. Those who have great fantasy and have drawn the Biafra map to include the entire South South region for convenient
3. Those who have the scar of the civil war
4. Those who have investments outside South East
5. The Ndigbo scholars who have done a study of Ndigbo leadership challenge
1 and 2 are the classes queuing behind Nnamdi Kalu seeking for self-determination. 3 to 5 prefer Ralph Nwazuruike leadership style desiring an egalitarian Nigeria restructured for equity and justice through peaceful means. However, Nigerian leadership will respond to Nnamdi Kalu’s approach faster than Nwazuruike’s and this may have prompted the huge followership he enjoys especially among the youths. While Kalu may claim he is using a nonviolent approach to agitate for self-rule, he has been violent through the use of hate and inflammatory words.
The Igbos are predominantly Christians with the majority speaking the Igbo language. A chunk of that Christian population is Catholic yet some time they find it difficult to agree. The Assemblies of God whose members are predominantly Igbos have been having leadership tussle for more than three years now. Despite the fact that the case was struck out in Supreme Court the warring factions led by Rev. Chidi Okoroafor and Rev. Paul Emeka are still maintaining their positions with a divided congregation.
The case of that of Catholic Church in Ahiara, Imo state is even more interesting which has led to the intervention of Pope Francis in the “ethnic” crisis. Bishop Peter Okpaleke was appointed by Benedict XVI in 2012 but the Catholic leaders, priests of the diocese and people rejected him because, Mr. Okpaleke is an Igbo man from Anambra State and not from Mbaise, Imo state. The Pope has threatened to sack all the priests from the diocese if the crisis is not resolved.
Autonomous communities are a direct result of Ndigbo leadership challenge created to solve communal strives occasioned by families inability to co-exist. This has led to families living in self-rule determining their own fate.
Biafra nation may turn out to be a fragile state that may suffer bitter internecine rivalries in her quest for leadership. Nigeria as a nation has helped to conceal the weaknesses of our different ethnic nationalities that we may often overlook. But we must revisit the foundation of our nation and build one whose structure will showcase our strength in diversity. That is the only way we can harness the youthful energy being dissipated on agitations that we hope will bring about the restructuring of the nation for the good of all.