Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu was until Thursday, July 25, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. He died after a brief illness in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory at 82.
The business mogul and renowned philanthropist became leader of the apex Igbo socio-cultural body after the demise of the occupant of the exalted seat, Professor George Obiozor, who like Iwuanyanwu, hailed from Imo State. Elders of the State then nominated Iwuanyanwu to complete Obiozor’s tenure.
After the Imeobi, the highest decision-making organ of Ohanaeze ratified his nomination on April 30, 2023, Iwuanyanwu declared his readiness to serve his people without reservation.
He disclosed that he never contemplated becoming the President General of Ohanaeze, but since providence had placed the mantle on him, he would courageously defend Igbo course anywhere in the world.
At that historic event, he revealed that his actual aspiration was to become the President of Nigeria, a position he contested for three times and lost, but took his losses in good faith.
In his inaugural speech at the Imeobi meeting which had eminent Igbo people in attendance including then Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Governor Chukwuma Soludo (Anambra), immediate past Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Kelechi Igwe, as well as the current Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, among others, Iwuanyanwu promised Ndigbo that by the grace of God, he would not fail them.
The Ohanaeze leader from the outset, noted that the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, was key to peace and security in the South East. He also harped on the benefits of regional integration promising to mobilise resources for the economic development of the zone.
He declared that the focus of his administration’s efforts towards rediscovery would start with transformations in education; agriculture, industrialization, electricity, power generation, health, amongst others.
Other areas Iwuanyanwu had said would attract his attention were creation of an additional state for the South-East and integration of thousands of Americans of Igbo descent who had expressed their desire to be part of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
There is no doubt that Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo as he was fondly called, loved his people. And he had disclosed that he was ready to die if it was required to have peace in the region.
However, with Iwuanyanwu’s demise, the Igbo leader has left some things undone in the struggle to give his people their pride of place in Nigeria.
Like his predecessor, George Obiozor, first Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, Prof. Ben Nwabueze and former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Iwuanyanwu has died without securing freedom for the detained IPOB leader, Kanu; the Igbo still suffer marginalisation in Nigeria, the region has the least number of states, while also having vestiges of insecurity.
Freedom for Kanu
“Nnamdi Kanu is very crucial for any key discussion and it is not possible to negotiate any peace while Nnamdi Kanu is in prison. It is also important to note that the judiciary has discharged and freed Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. It will be the joy of many Igbo people and Nigerians to see Mazi Nnamdi Kalu released from detention. There is also a report that his health is deteriorating. I feel it is important that he is released to have access to his medical doctors so that he does not die in prison.” That was Iwuanyanwu’s assertion in his maiden press conference as Ohanaeze leader.
He also said that the kinetic approach adopted by the federal government to tackle insecurity in the region had failed.
On May 1, 2023, he made a passionate appeal to the then outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari to release the IPOB leader before the end of his tenure on May 29.
He also made efforts to engender peace in the region by appealing to the agitators to sheathe their swords, assuring that their case would be addressed by the authorities.
“I have decided that as a father, I am tired of the death of my children. Ndigbo have given me the responsibility of leading them at this time. Each time I hear anybody killed I feel very sad.
“I feel very sad too because those of them who are joining whatever it is are doing it because some of them are hungry. Some of them are unemployed. I am not saying that hunger and unemployment should make somebody become a criminal but not everyone has the capacity to endure hardship or hunger.
“It is good for the federal government to have peace in the South East. It won’t pay them to have bloodshed. Because you see, bloodshed doesn’t pay anybody. So whatever sacrifices they make to bring the non-kinetic approach, which saves killings and bloodshed, will be useful and that is what I want to do.
“I am going to reach all these people by any means and I will talk for peace. I will beg them. I will even give them my life. If they want to take my life, I am ready to surrender. I will set up a committee. I will send people abroad. They have mentioned some names of people abroad they feel are doing this. I am going to set up a committee.
“I don’t want to kill any of my children. All these people, the gunmen are my children. We are going there to beg them and to appeal to them. To tell them please, tell us what you want us to do and we are doing it already. I am sure that even those who are hungry, we will find something for them to do to keep them happy. But the shedding of blood should stop,” he stated.
In Iwuanyanwu’s last interview with Saturday Sun, he had insisted that the federal government had no reason keeping Kanu in detention when other Nigerians charged for similar offences were already let off the hook.
He argued: “The truth about it is that Nnamdi Kanu was charged and he was granted bail, terrorism charge you can’t get a bail, then there was an attempt to kill him according to his report and he ran away. Judges have tried him and they said he has no case to answer; till now we don’t know what he has done, if you ask me about his terrorism charge, is there anywhere, did he topple a government, is there anybody he killed?
“I as an Igbo leader, I don’t know what Nnamdi Kanu has done. Nobody has given me a clear picture of the offence he has committed and that’s why on behalf of Ndigbo, I’m saying Nnamdi Kanu should be released.
“If they can release these other people, I don’t see why they can’t release Kanu. I’m giving this government advice to release him. I’m no longer a young person.
“And again, I must say, until Nigeria is restructured it will continue to have people asking for separation, that somebody asked for secession doesn’t mean he has committed any treason. What Nnamdi Kanu did was to say he was not happy with what was happening in the country, about Igbo being marginalised, which is true.
“We’re being marginalised, so all the government needs to do is to address the problem by restructuring Nigeria. Nnamdi Kanu should not be kept in detention any longer, there’s no reason why he should be there, that’s my position as the leader of Ndigbo.”
Beyond appealing to President Bola Tinubu to free Kanu, Iwuanyanwu also led some Igbo leaders to visit the detained IPOB leader in the Department of State Service (DSS) facility in Abuja, a few weeks before his death.
Other members of the delegation were former Enugu State Governor, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Okey Emuchay, Chief Simon Okeke, Eze Igbo Abuja, Nwosu Ibe, Secretary of Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF), Prof Charles Nwekeaku, and a youth leader, Monday Diamond.
Marginalisation of Ndigbo
In one of Iwuanyanwu’s speeches, he said: “We, through this medium, appeal to Nigerians to treat us as their true brothers and sisters and do to us as they would do for others.”
In June, this year, he had enumerated various ways the Federal Government was marginalising Ndigbo.
Iwuanyanwu stated that sometime in 2023, reported the high level of marginalization of the Igbo in Nigeria to the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF).
He listed the short-changing of the South East in the number of states created in the zone, least number of ministerial slots even against the federal character principle, continued incarceration of leader of the IPOB, and destruction of Igbo businesses and property, as some of the proofs that his people were being marginalized.
“South-East is the only geo-political zone in Nigeria that has got only five states whereas other zones have between six and seven states.
“Forty-eight ministers were appointed by Mr President. By law of Federal Character, the South-East should have eight ministers but we have only five ministers while some other zones have up to ten.
“All the efforts to develop railway infrastructure in Nigeria, nothing was done in the South-East in spite of the fact that our people are traders who travel a lot.
“According to the Federal Character Commission, the presidency is zoned to rotate North and South instead of rotating through six geo-political zones. This has made it impossible for the South-East to produce a president when two large zones come together to deny the South-East the opportunity. The presidency was zoned to the South. The Southern and Middle-Belt met, deliberated and resolved to zone it to the South-East. In their own opinion, justice demanded that it should be zoned to the southeast; they therefore zoned it to the South-East. Later on, a South-West candidate emerged in APC being the political party in power.
“Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders’ Forum resolved to support an Igbo candidate. This is how the support for Peter Obi came up. From the result of the election, Mr Peter Obi won clearly in Lagos, Delta, Abuja and many other places including the Middle-Belt. I must confess that the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders’ Forum has nothing against Mr President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They were convinced in all honesty that it was the turn of the South-East to produce the President.
“When the result was announced, His Excellency Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared winner, the Southeast candidate went to court to seek redress. However, as the Supreme Court of Nigeria affirmed Mr President’s victory, as law-abiding citizens, who believe in the rule of law, we congratulated His Excellency Mr President and promised to give him every support he requires to rebuild Nigeria for good,” Iwuanyanwu stated.
Continuing on the plight of Ndigbo, Iwuanyanwu said: “I had at one of our meetings of Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders’ Forum brought up the problems of obvious marginalization of my people by the Federal Government and the forum expressed their sympathy to the Igbos. I remember vividly a communiqué was issued at one of these meetings calling for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu whose continued detention is causing problems in the Southeast.
“After the 2023 general election, we experienced the worst situation which after Peter Obi won in Lagos, Abuja and some other states, a group of people held a meeting and boasted that they will cripple Igbos and make sure they don’t succeed in business and politics. The activities of this group were glaringly obvious in Lagos where after Mr Peter Obi’s victory in Lagos State, every effort was made to stop Igbos from voting. At times violence was used to stop them. Igbos were abused and threatened to leave Lagos.
“Some markets in Lagos state dominated by Igbos were either closed down or demolished. I held a meeting with the leadership of Lagos State, I am happy the matter had slowed down.
“An Igbo man, HRH Eze Nwajiagu who was arrested in Lagos State for no justifiable reason is still in detention in Lagos. His only offence was the statement he made which if the same statement was made by persons of other tribes, would not be taken seriously. We expect Mr President to look into this matter in order to forestall future occurrence.
“We also woke up one morning in Abuja to hear that a spiralling estate owned by an Igbo man, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu (Ikukuoma) has been totally demolished.”
Restructuring
For Iwuanyanwu, Nigeria would not make any significant progress and development unless it was restructured.
“It is not only Nnamdi Kanu that has asked for the restructuring of Nigeria and let’s go back to history and see that we have been talking about the restructuring of this country because it has failed to work. This move was made by Adaka Boro from the Niger Delta who was later conscripted into the Nigerian Army. So, it is all about making Nigeria work and that has to be done before all this agitation stops,” he said.
The elder statesman admonished that until the proper restructuring of Nigeria was done, more agitation may likely arise.
“We should allow restructuring of this country to take place so that people should develop within their capacities and live within their potentials and again so that the power of the Federal Government should reduce and the federating units come alive. This was clear in 1914 that Nigeria was not a republic of one nation. It was a federation of many nations and all the parts had their culture, history, idiosyncrasies and need to exist as a Federation.”
Elsewhere, he said: “We have constantly talked about restructuring of the country. The present constitution where power is concentrated at the centre does not make any sense at all. Take for example how the whole thing is being structured. At various discussions it has been agreed that power should rotate between the North and South, but it’s structured now in such a way that Igbo can never get power.”
Alaigbo Stabilisation Fund
One other thing Iwuanyanwu left unaccomplished is the establishment of the Alaigbo Stabilisation Fund, which has been abandoned for over two years.
Iwuanyanwu had hinted in the State of Igbo Nation interview he granted on Zoom, in May, that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was going to revisit the issue.
He disclosed that the Sam Ohuabunwa-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo Council of Business Leaders would mobilise businessmen and women of Igbo origin across the world to join the development of the region.
He further said that Igbo traders across the country would be mainstreamed into the activities of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The Igbo had floated a Stabilisation Fund to boost infrastructural development in their region.
A steering committee was set up by the South East Governors’ Forum and Ohanaeze Ndigbo in July 2020, to chart a new course for the socio-economic development of Igbo land.
