Ikwerre-Igbo Relationship As Seen By Ohaneze Indigbo

By

Okachikwu Dibia

nelsondibiaokachi@yahoo.com

 

 

In the interview of the President, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Ralph Uwechue, published in the Daily Sun of 10th March, 2010, the President was asked what efforts he is making to unite Igbo in Rivers and Delta States, he said “ First of all, it should be understood that these fractions who now deny the fact they are Igbo did so only after the civil war; take for instance the Ikwerre people… fully identified with us during the pre-civil war era but because the Igbo lost the civil war, a kind of stigma was smeared on them making a lot of people to start adjusting their names to sound less Igbo…”. This statement is misleading and not correct.

 

First of all, Ikwerre is not Igbo. We have made this clear even before the civil war and that was why some Igbo accused Ikwerre of sabotage during the war. Second, in all efforts by the minorities in the former Eastern Region to agitate for their own political, social and economic recognition and liberty in the Easter Region and Nigeria at large, Ikwerre participated fully: hence, the late Chief E. J. A. Oriji and others represented Ikwerre before and during most of the conferences set up to address the fears of the minority ethnic groups in Nigeria. Third, in May 1963, Ikwerre people formed the Ogbakor Ikwerre Convention to state that Ikwerre is a distinct ethnic group from any others in Nigeria. Fourth, in the 1964/65 elections into the Federal House of Representatives, NCNC nominated an Igbo man named Mr Eluguronu to represent Ikwerre in the House. Ikwerre rejected it and fielded young Bar. Nwobidike Nwanodi as an independent candidate and he won. Fifth, Ikwerre’s participation in all the movements for the creation of COR and later Rivers states clearly shows Ikwerre’s rejection of been Igbo.

 

Let the point be made that right from about the 16th century, the Igbo has been in touch with Ikwerre ( through slave trade, Arochuku activities, goods trading, hiring of labour for farm works, marriages and politics) and had always wanted to dominate, colonize and take over Ikwerre at all costs and by all means possible. This is natural especially where the dominated people are better endowed than the colonizing power, coupled with the ever tendency of a bigger group to swallow a smaller one and whenever the latter refuses, the former resorts to cheap propaganda. That is exactly what Chief Uwechue and Ohaneze Ndigbo are bent on doing to Ikwerre. In this unholy enterprise, they appear confused: for example, while some of them claim that Ikwerre sabotaged the Biafra project, Uwechue has said that Ikwerre did not. Truly, Ikwerre did not just like every other minority ethnic group in the former Eastern Region. How could we when the Igbo was in absolute control of the region? So, we fought for Biafra. When another colonizing super power (Nigerian forces) arrived, Ikwerre had no option than to surrender and cooperate with them. Hence, Ikwerre actually fought the war on and for both sides.

 

After the war, some of the ill activities of the Igbo in Ikwerre were corrected. In the case of names, the Igbo first changed the original Ikwerre names into Igbo names in an attempt to force Ikwerre to become Igbo. So at the end of the war, some Ikwerre decided to assert their original names; hence, Igirita was changed to Igwuruta, Isoba was changed to Choba, Amaweke was changed to Rumuokwuta etc. Even individuals suffered the same humiliation when their names were forcefully changed from Ovunda to Obinna for example. Even the original name of the Ikwerre Ethnic group which is Iwheruoha was changed to Ikwerre by the Igbo. Some names have been retained (like my surname) to reflect part of the Ikwerre colonial journey, just like a Yoruba Nigerian bearing the name Mathew. Does this make the Yoruba man an English man? No!

 

On a more serious note, if the Igbo insists that Ikwerre is Igbo, they should provide concrete sociological and historical evidences to prove their case beyond the whimsical factors of appearance, language and name which no longer can correctly and truly define a people in today’s world. What does is the character of the people and I am yet to see where the Igbo character can be sufficiently located in the behavior of an average Ikwerre person. For example, they say we are lazzy; is the Igbo also lazzy? Again, if Ikwerre say they are not Igbo, why not the Igbo leave the Ikwerre alone; must Ikweere be Igbo for them to exist? Ikwerre is Ikwerre!

 

It is this type of continuously overbearing tendency to dominate and extinct a people by force that makes it difficult for me to agree to dissolve myself into who I am not. That is why it will continue to be difficult to agree to a citizenship arrangement in Nigeria whereby I will just be a Nigerian. I am a Nigerian from Ikwerre, just like Wilson Churchill is a European from England. Therefore, let us restructure Nigeria on ethnic basis and let all the groups have equal rights, privileges and opportunities and respect one another as peoples of diverse and different nationalities who have discussed and agreed to be in one political and co-ordinate sphere called Nigeria. This pluralist recommendation is akin to the EU with different and diverse ethnic groups who have political, social and economic freedoms, but agreed to meet as equals in EU. Thinking of forcing every ethnic nation in Nigeria to forget who they are in order to become Nigeria, is like forcing the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain etc into one country. If they did not discuss and agree on that formation, who will rule who and how?

 

Let Nigeria and in particular the Igbo allow Ikwerre to remain who she says she is until and unless superior evidence is provided to prove beyond all reasonable doubts that Ikwerre is Igbo. Let the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Igbo etc  allow Ikwerre to be.

 

 

Okachikwu Dibia

Abuja.