Nnewi, why I write on traditional and other affairs, by Godson O. Moneke

For sometime now, I have through my many writeup drawn people’s attention to existing practices in the traditional institution in Nnewi which I find bizarre and illogical.

I am a typical Nnewi man because I proudly have roots in all the prominent lineages in the four towns of Nnewi. I stated this in one of my previous writeup. For example, I am from Umudim, Dim Onyedike lineage (former Obi Umudim), my mother was from Okpuno-Otolo (Ezenwegbu lineage), my grandmother was from Abubor-NnewiIchi (late DALLA Okenwa lineage), my great grandmother was from Edoji-Uruagu.

I am married into the famous Igbokwe family in Uruagu. For those who may not know, Igbokwe was the second son of Ogbufo, former Obi Uruagu and the younger brother of Obi whose lineage produces Obi Uruagu today.

My paternal grandmother was from UMUDIMNKWA-UMUDIM. Therefore, like the late poet and first president of Senegal , Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-2001) would say, YOU CANNOT QUESTION MY NEGRITUDE.

I went this far to reiterate that my interventions are not selfish but borne out of altruistic desires to see the right things done in Nnewi.

God created us for many purposes and it may be, this is God’s purpose for my life. Most of the people who hold the view that I hate Otolo only talk out of ignorance. I grew up in Otolo and they treated me well like their NWADIANA.

I have more close friends there than I have even in Umudim. Otolo is always home to me because I feel at home there. What I advocate in Nnewi is enduring peace which is a minimum condition for growth and development anywhere.

This is the only way to guarantee lasting stability in Nnewi. Most of the people who make the loudest noises on this matter can not even touch the knobs of the doors which I open in all the Royal Courts in the four towns in Nnewi.

I have worked at executive management levels in both the public and private sectors of Nigeria’s economy. I understand the political economy of Nigeria and can confidently say that we misplace our priorities in Nnewi.

We normally make noise that Nnewi people are rich but fail to note that the total wealth of all the rich men in Nnewi may not add up to four -year statutory allocations of the governor of Anambra state, yet we prioritize TRADITIONAL RULERSHIP stool over that of the governor.

How can a people celebrate their foolishness? I only see this happen in Nnewi. If this is not misplaced priority, what is?

Any society which is not built on respected moral ethos and values is doomed. When some of us insist that you do the right thing in Nnewi, we are only giving people the benefits of what we know through our exposures to avoid a impending implosion.

People who talk of phantom stability and graveyard peace are only talking of immediate gains which will melt to nothing and obscurity in the future. In military warfare, they say that such a person is talking TACTICS NOT STRATEGY.

I reckon more with strategic imperatives and my interventions are anchored on strategic viewpoints. In retrospect, when the idea of state and local government creations was muted in Nigeria, it was the Igbos who were against it throwing up all sorts of conspiracy theories.

They pride themselves as the wisest ethnic group in Nigeria yet they are always holding the shortest end of the stick allowing those they mock as foolish to best them all the time.

Now, the number of state and local governments in a region is used for revenue allocations and all forms of political decisions in Nigeria. Why didn’t the Igbos anticipate this and position themselves advantageously as wise people were expected to do?

Now, we are crying marginalization and agitating for additional states and local governments but the rest of Nigeria will have none of that.

We are doing the CATCHUP INSTEAD OF BEING IN THE LEAD. I find this approach nauseating. That is the same thing that will happen to the autonomous towns and traditional rulership structures in Nnewi.

We shall realize what we are doing to ourselves when it is too late. I don’t like this perpetual catch-up mentality and that is why I prioritize planning in all I do. Some people phone me to express their support and endorsement for my position on the Nnewi matters but they cannot state their positions openly because they are timid ,cowardly and afraid.

Implicit in my motto is that any human being who cannot conquer fear is not worth to live. This does not mean disdain for reason and rationality, it only means that you must be alive to your duties to your society and humanity.

My childhood friend, BS Nwankwo SAN (of blessed memory) told me a story of a magistrate who rebuked one rich man in court, telling him, YOU HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY BUT YOU HAVE NO COMMONSENSE. This is true of Nnewi today, MOST PEOPLE HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY BUT HAVE NO COMMONSENSE.

They cannot articulate logical hypotheses because they are lacking in intellectual rigor. That you have plenty of money does not influence your intellect in any positive way, likewise high education does not make you an intellectual.

Intellectualism depends on REASON AND RATIONALITY. Therefore, neither wealth nor education can make you an intellectual. That is why I laugh scornfully at those who question the power of interrogation on which intellectualism is built. We see talents which God has given to some people as INFERIOR because they are not built on wealth and other material things instead of harnessing all useful talents.

We cannot be wiser than God who deemed it necessary to create those talents. There are some uneducated men that are highly intellectual just as there are many academic giants but intellectual Lilliputians.

Money is good but it is not everything. Philosophically, the most important thing in this world is free and indispensable.

Why can’t we reason beyond the mundane. Most leaders in advanced countries are not multimillionaires and most wealthy people there are those who add value to the society.

Conversely, most rich people in Nigeria are those who exploit the weaknesses in the system and make it weaker but that is not the purpose of this essay. Most rich people in Nigeria cannot exist outside government patronage unlike what obtains in advanced countries.

You can not add value to your society if you don’t interrogate the status quo. This is origin of civilization which has brought us thus far. In Nnewi, we come across people who are eager to put forward loud arguments on burning issues but cannot defend the logic behind their lines of arguments.

That is why most of them are afraid to speak out because they lack self confidence and conviction. I have met people who argued that since the lopsidedness in the traditional rulership structure has persisted for a long time, it would be better to allow the sleeping dog to lie in order not to upset the applecart. What kind of reasoning is this? The reasoning of a dead man?

It is better for somebody to keep quiet instead of opening his mouth and talking nonsense. My people say that it is better for a fool to remain quiet in a gathering than to talk and remove all doubts. According to the school with this nebulous argument, injustice which has persisted for a long time should be accepted as a new normal since correcting it would disrupt existing status quo.

If we had held on to this, Nigeria would not have obtained political independence from Britain talk-less of subsequently becoming a Republic. Some people argue that the threes Obis do not appear dignifying and exude Royal aura enough unlike the Igwe but forget that Igwe Orizu has enjoyed government exposure, support , patronage and presence for over 60 years.

They make outlandish statements to justify their docility and inactions. Do you look down on your father because he is poor? Is it not your duty to uplift him? If you don’t like the way your father looks, make him to look the way that you want.

The Igwe and his greedy prince are swimming in billions of Naira acquired using the goodwill of the four towns while the threes Obis are left high, dry and empty handed. These ostriches do not see anything wrong with it? My advocacy is for the three thrones to be respected and not because of any special love for the occupants.

Those who have axe to grind with any of the occupants are being myopic because it is destiny and providence that placed them in their respective positions.

It is foolish to throw away the baby with the bath water because of silly pettiness. If you don’t like the way your Obi appears in public, teach him the rudiments of protocols to meet your expectations, I repeat.

You don’t judge somebody by a standard which you are striving hard to stop him from attaining. If this is not SADISM, what is ?

The Obi of my town is not subordinate to any of the four Obis in Nnewi. Anybody who holds a contrary viewpoint should educate me on why I should change my position and not by resorting to intimidation and blackmail.

It is only a weak man that behaves that way. Your Obi is your Obi whether or not he appears in tattered clothes. If you are ashamed of the way he dresses, change his wardrobe. NWANNE K’ANA AMAZI AMAZI , OBUHO ENYI!!!

Any human being can choose his friends based on certain parameters like social, economic and political class, statuses and alliances but you cannot choose your brother and relatives but UBOSI NWANNE OYI ANAA!!!! People should be deliberative enough to leave situations better than they met them.

What kind of person weakens his traditional institution because he does not like the occupant of the throne? That amounts to cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face!!! No matter how much you support Igwe Orizu, you can never be ONYE OTOLO.

I am talking of traitors who readily sell their birthrights. This gives rise to tigers who in the words of Nigeria’s only Noble Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka are ashamed to PROCLAIM THEIR TIGRITUDE. They make you IGWE NNEWI Cabinet Members and give you Chieftaincy titles, yet important and confidential decisions are taken behind you and you don’t see yourself as ASHIKOTA EKWEE ONU or EJIM GUZUO.

You belong to a group where you rub shoulders and exchange greetings with special hand fans with a fraudster and ex-convict with whom you wear uniforms and red caps. What values are you laying for the younger ones and the society at large? That crime pays? If the Obis of the three other towns get ten percent of the money and perquisites that Igwe Orizu and his greedy son enjoy, they would operate at a higher standard.

During the colonial era when the colonial masters set up a Tribunal of Inquiry with the aim of probing and indicting the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who was becoming a thorn in their flesh over the defunct ACB, the late Sir LP Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then richest man in Nigeria surprised the white people in testifying that “ HIS WEALTH WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO AZIKIWE’S WEALTH “ thereby throwing them off-guard. The import of that statement was that political and intellectual leadership is superior to financial and economic leadership. The late Odumegwu Ojukwu was a colossus in financial and economic leadership while the late Dr Azikiwe was himself a colossus in political and intellectual leadership. Only a deep thinker who is gifted with intellectual sagacity would reason that way. That was in the period of the rise of intellectualism among the Igbos in Nigeria. Unfortunately , we don’t reason that way now.

Everything now is about materialism and economic conception of history. The dominant belief in STATUS INCONSISTENCY whereby deliberate attempts are made to put down the intellectual class and elevate money and materialism in the body Polity is now the order of the day. That is why some misfits see acquisition of political power as inferior to preservation of Igwe Orizu as the only traditional ruler in Nnewi without explaining how that status was achieved or arrived at. Besides, it is an accepted principle that culture, tradition and custom are dynamic, so why are we behaving as if traditional rulership dynamics are cast-in-stone in Nnewi ? There is no action taken by human beings that cannot be revisited. It is only actions taken by God that remain perfect and sacrosanct forever and that is why we say that only God is OMNISCIENT, OMNIPOTENT AND OMNIPRESENT. To some people, Nnewi people are rich enough to ignore government and privately take over the development of physical infrastructure in the enclave to show government that they are equal to the task and can do without them. What kind of foolery is that? Are such people advocating ISOLATIONISM? Are they aware that PHYSICAL PLANNING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT are the exclusive responsibility of government. Are they advocating that Nnewi should work in a SILOS at this age and time? But that is the dominant thought among these perverts in Nnewi but it is ERROR-RIDDEN. The only thing important to these sadists and bigots is how Igwe Orizu will be the only recognized traditional ruler in Nnewi and enjoy all the privileges it brings while his brother Obis in Nnewi live in neglect and wants.. Nobody is talking of the strategy for acquiring political power in both Anambra state and Nigeria. You cannot achieve holistic development with that kind of mindset. A people who are obviously lacking in EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL QUOTIENTS cannot achieve holistic development in any context. The few Nnewi people who are close to the corridors of political power use that advantage for selfish aggrandizement , primitive accumulation of power and to service negativities. They never use their closeness to political power to advance the cause of their people. Nnewi people exhibit pride, boasts and arrogance which are often nauseating.

There is no doubt that Nnewi people are hardworking and blessed but it should not get into their heads as to attract the envy and hatred of their neighbors. They must not look down on their neighbors because they need their support in any democracy.

The art of humility is clearly lacking in Nnewi people, both the rich and poor. Sometimes, I question some people’s definition of wealth which are often material wealth. To me, real wealth is measured by how many people a person is capable of lifting up not how many he is able to put down and intimidate.

Real wealth is in the quality of people you lift up not in your material possession. Most wealths disappear with their founders, it is only wealths built around human beings that outlive their founders. The concept of limited liability especially public limited liability is built around this reasoning.

Nnewi can only develop when the people prioritize political leadership over mundane financial and economic considerations. It is even worse when a greedy prince sees traditional authority as an avenue for personal enrichment rather than service to the people.

If Nnewi people are not the political leader, they should be in the political leadership with the vision to maximize the welfare of the their people through the provision of public goods.

Above all, as I have already said, Nnewi people should imbibe the art of humility and increase their emotional and social intelligence because they need others to grow.

Sadly, I can see some people falling over themselves to shamelessly be in the good books of some of some aggrieved moneybags.

While I detest showing disrespect to others whether rich or poor, rich people should stop throwing their weights around.

After all, it is the same God who in the Ten Commandments admonished children to always honor their parents that also warned parents to desist from provoking their children.

We need love and conviviality amongst us not hate and attrition. What I am saying is that everyone deserves respect because respect is reciprocal.

We should not use a WhatsApp platform meant for enlightened discourse to promote eye service and build a cult of personalities based on wealth.

People are very dishonest, they say sweet things about wealthy men in public only to define them in derogatory terms in private.

I advise that they should shun hypocrisy and eye service and be truthful always. One should learn to respect boundaries no matter the circumstances of the other’s material endowment.

People should realize that you do not get rich by running down rich people but by giving them their due respect and courtesies should not be elevated to hero worshiping. Being a wealthy man should not be seen as a license to engage in egregious conducts.

People, whether rich or poor should conduct themselves within the realms of decent and acceptable behaviors. We should be conscious of the fact that richness is an act of providence and respecting those whom God has blessed is not out of place but you must not worship them because they are not God.

The respect of other people’s rights is important knowing that your rights ends where mine begins. In the final analysis, all is vanity.

I have not seen a person who refused to die at his appointed time because of his wealth or poverty. I have also not seen a dead man wake up because the richest and most important personalities attended his funerals. The sudden death of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah should bring this thesis nearer home.

*Godson O. Moneke is a polymath who holds degrees, diplomas and certificates in many disciplines. He is the author of the bestseller, NNEWI (AgbaN’ano). He wrote from Abuja.

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