Like The Jewish Question, Who Is An Igbo?

Igbo-Ukwu

The recent appointment of Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by President Muhammadu Buhari has raised a lot of furore in the media especially on live radio and online comments.

The controversy however was not over Kachikwu’s competence, because that was out of the question, as he is more than qualified for the position. The controversy sadly was over his ‘Igboness’, generated mostly by those who have elected to view any appointment by Buhari from the Igbo prism.

These are the people claiming that Buhari was yet to appoint an Igbo in his government stating rather disingenuously that Kachikwu is from Delta State. They said that Buhari is yet to appoint an Igbo from the ‘core Igbo’ states into his government.

This was similar to the mistake some Northern Elders made when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was president and appointed most of his service chiefs from the North Central, and the Northern Elders kicked against this, alleging marginalisation because ‘core Northerners’ were not represented in the National Security Council. This was the beginning of the allegations by groups like the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) that Obasanjo was responsible for creating divisions in the North for political reasons. Just recently the chairman of ACF, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie told Abuja based newspaper in an interview that religious crisis in the north was allegedly instigated by Obasanjo’s divide and rule tactics as president. The north is yet to recover from that perceived injustice done to them by Obasanjo by appointing non-core northerners as service chiefs and other appointments at the detriment of ‘core northerners’.

It is therefore strange that given the race’s recent history, some Igbos would want to copy the style of the Northern Elders under Obasanjo as a template to engage the Buhari government, by questioning the Igboness of appointees of President Buhari.

The question of Igbo identity is becoming like that of the Jewish identity.  Not long ago there was controversy over who is a Jew. Some said that he who calls himself Jew is a Jew. However, for Orthodox Jews like Rabbi Tubul, the solution is simple and ancient: you are a Jew if your mother is Jewish, or if your conversion to Judaism was in line with the Halacha, Jewish religious law.

In the case of the Igbo identity, things have gotten to the appoint where you are an Igbo, if you say, you are Igbo, and no other Igbo has the right to question your Igboness or validate your Igboness.

Recently at his unveiling as the coach of the Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh without being asked found it necessary to clarify that he is not Igbo. He took pains to explain that he was born in small community Abavo, in Delta State. But while the people of Abavo claim some affinity to Bini Kingdom, crisis brewed in the community when its traditional ruler, died in 1991, and a potential successor was accused of being from Bini and thus was not qualified to be the Obi of Abavo Kingdom. Presently the Obi of Abavo Kingdom in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State is, His Royal Majesty Uche Irenuma II. The Abavo speaks Eka language which most linguists say is a variant of the Igbo, but if Oliseh say he is not Igbo, he is not Igbo. There are many from the same community who consider themselves Igbo. It is not therefore the business of any other person to question the Igboness of Igbos from the South-South of Nigeria or elsewhere in the world.

It is a historical and geographical fact that there are Igbo speaking people in present day South East zone and South-South zone especially in Rivers, Delta and Edo states. Some Igbos wherever they found themselves are proud to be so identified. Some hide it, apparently because of discrimination against the Igbo since the end of the Civil War in 1970, and those with Igbo names were denied employment by federal government, and businessmen of Igbo extraction were equally discriminated against in the award of contracts. I remembered the time I wanted to register my company, Paul Uwadima & Associates,  with Corporate Affairs Commission, my lawyer warned me that my name could become a problem in getting clients. I ended up registering two companies because I was proud of my father’s name even if it makes another person uncomfortable to the point of overlooking my competence in a professional service to his organisation or government establishment.

In the case of the GMD, NNPC, I consider Kachikwu, Igbo, and from the names he gave to his children and the titles he hold in Onicha Ugbo, in Aniocha North local government of Delta State, where he is the Odogwu and Omeudo of Onicha Ugbo, he apparently considers himself Igbo.

Therefore this idea of some people believing that they are more Igbo than others must be stopped, because it brings the race to ridicule. How can many Igbos consider former President Goodluck Jonathan (an Ijaw), one of their own, or their ‘adopted son’, yet others would be questioning the Igboness of Kachikwu.

In any case I do not think Kachikwu was appointed by Buhari to make the Igbos or Niger Deltans feel good. He was appoint I believe, like other appointments by the president before him, for his competence.

Here are some quick facts about Kachikwu:
*He was born some 58 years ago.
*He hails from Onicha Ugbo, in Aniocha North local government area of Delta State.
*He is married to two women, Elizabeth and Mariam. The first wife, Elizabeth has three children – Nkem, Emeka and Uche.
*He holds the titles of Odogwu and Omeudo of Onicha Ugbo
*His country home is one of the most beautiful and costliest in his homestead. It’s called Eden Retreat.
*He is a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School.
*He is an author of three legal books as well as the publisher of the popular Hints and Chanelle magazines.
*He last worked for Exxon Mobil as Vice Chairman and General Counsel. But before that, he was with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank and Texaco.
*He has a Masters and Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, USA and graduated with distinctions.
*He is a staunch Catholic.
*He’s fun loving and once bought the latest Mercedes Benz which his father, a Justice, refused to lend him money to clear on arrival.