The Ambrose Ehirim-Claret Onukogu Q & A Interview

Claret Onukogu is Ph.D candidate at Walden University and aspires to be a film-maker and interest in working for the United Nations. In this interview, she talks about her growing up, going to school in Nigeria, Nollywood and her problems with the Miss Nigeria In America Beauty Pageant since her crown.

Excerpts:

Tell me about yourself.

I am the first child from a family of 8 and a native of Imo State, Nigeria who resides in the United States. I am an MBA/ Healthcare Administration degree holder from South University in Savannah, Georgia, and a PhD candidate from Walden University. I am also one of the new faces and rising stars in Nollywood with work ranging in cinema, soap-opera, home-videos, and co-host of a television show (music and vibes). Some of my awards include Who’s Who among American High School students, Who’s Who among American College students, Certificates of Academic Excellence, Outstanding French Student, National Dean’s List (sophomore), Minority Academic Awards, Academic Scholarships, Miss Nigeria in America (2009-2010), and Outstanding Nigerian (World Ebony Network). I am intelligent, spiritual, brilliant, articulate, hard-working, compassionate, and admirable.

What inspired you to be doing the stuff that you now do in the Nollywood entertainment industry?

I have always aspired to be an actress particularly in Nollywood at a young age, but I wanted to complete my graduate level education before I actively pursue a career in acting. As a child, I watched many Nollywood movies and I enjoyed them. I admired the culture, language, and stories and it kept me connected to home. Acting has always been a part of me even as a child and before I decided to become a professional in the field, I did it as a hobby and I loved it, besides, the industry has evolved and is taking a new and different dimension.

How would you compare Nollywood to Hollywood?

Although Nollywood is growing at an incredibly fast pace, it has not quite reached the level of Hollywood. I am optimistic that in the next few years, it will be close to Hollywood in terms of the technology, special effects and in other areas where it lags behind.

Is Nollywood getting better?

The industry is changing. Nollywood is now in cinemas and I happen to be one of the faces appearing on the big screen. Many producers are taking the risk to redefine and create new faces of Nollywood. There are young and talented actors and actresses on the rise. Some of the actors and actresses who have been in the industry for a while have ventured into filmmaking and most of them attended renowned schools to study the art and perfect their skills. I was very impressed at the work ethics and professionalism, talent, enthusiasm and educational backgrounds of some of the rising producers and directors that I was fortunate to work with; they were simply amazing and continue to search for ways to introduce new materials and reinvent the ones that are already in existence. I am definitely impressed at the frequency of growth of the industry.

You went to school both in Nigeria and the U.S. From your experience, how do you compare both educational systems?

I schooled in Nigeria for a few years during my childhood and the educational system then might have changed because it has been a very long time. I liked the experience of being educated back home because it goes beyond the regular academic environment. I learnt culture, language, values and morals as an African woman. I also like the experience of being educated in the United States because it broadened my horizon and exposed me to individuals and cultures from different parts of the world. The educational systems from both parts of the world made me who I am today and I cherish the experiences that I garnered from them. I am very grateful to God and my parents for giving me such an opportunity.

Let's talk about the Miss Nigeria in America Beauty Pageant. You were crowned queen in 2009, right??

Yes, I emerged as the winner for the Miss Nigeria in America 2009 pageant.

I read where you still claim to be Miss Nigeria in America after three years you have been crowned. In what supposedly should have been held annually, how come you still hold the crown?

I still have the crown because MNIA Inc. and its organizers have not been able to stage another pageant since September 5, 2009. My reign ended officially on September 5, 2010, but I have not been able to handover to anyone since no pageant has been held by the organization since 2009 and the public expects to see me crown a new queen who competed in the pageant system and earned the title.

who is Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja?

Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja was the first runner-up for the Miss Nigeria in America 2009 beauty pageant and long-term friend of the organizers at MNIA Inc. She now supposedly claim to be Miss Nigeria in America 2010-2011 with a false public message from her, MNIA Inc and its organizers that I relinquished my title and handed over to her while in actuality I have already served and completed my reign exactly a year after I was crowned from September 5, 2009 to September 5, 2010. Adelaja is currently facing legal actions for impersonation and defamation of character. She is a queen that MNIA Inc and its organizers falsely created for the continuity of the organization because they have not been able to afford any pageants. By doing so, Angel Adelaja has been posing with a purchased and unmerited crown and sash as the current queen with false justification to the public for the questionable act claiming that I (Claret Onukogu), the former queen waiting to hand over to a successor who competed and merited a crown at a pageant, relinquished my title for her due to a pursuit of an acting career in Nollywood which is FALSE because she bears a different title (MNIA 2010-2011) with her crown and sash which has absolutely nothing to do with me and my reign as MNIA 2009-2010. Most individuals are baffled by this unscrupulous act by MNIA Inc and its organizers because if a crown, sash and title can be given to an individual without a competition for the year that she claims to be queen, then the purpose of pageantry is defeated.

Why is she claiming to be the current Miss Nigeria in America? Since there hasn't been any contest from when you were crowned three years ago, how was she declared winner of the beauty pageant contest?

Mr. Ehirim that is exactly the lingering question that confuses me and everyone else; since my reign ended exactly a year after I was crowned, I moved on with my acting career and other activities. The answer should be given by Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja in court as to why she has been posing with a sash, crown and title that is unmerited. She should be able to answer the question effectively and defend her title without mentioning my name because I never handed my crown and sash to her, MNIA Inc or its organizers, since my reign and responsibilities as Miss Nigeria in America 2009-2010 ended a year after I was crowned like other queens in the MNIA Inc. pageant system.

From what I read, what happened to the show since you were last crowned?

No show has been held by MNIA Inc. and its organizers since the last pageant in 2009. I have not spoken to them after the conclusion of my reign. I traveled out of the country a few weeks before the end of my reign to engage in some charity work in Nigeria, which was highly publicized and recognized, and to begin my acting career a few months after my reign ended. I was astonished when people began to contact me with questions concerning my supposedly forged resignation and relinquishing of title as Miss Nigeria in America 2009-2010 according to MNIA Inc and its organizers. The first time that I received a call pertaining to this issue, I had my crown and sash in front of me. Even though the credibility of the organization and the integrity of its organizer became questionable to me while working with them, I could not believe that they would think about committing a dubious act and using my name for its justification. Apparently, six months and a few days after my reign ended, they lied on Facebook and on their website that I relinquished my title and resigned as Miss Nigeria in America 2009-2010 which is an expensive lie and defamation of character. Since I was out of the country, I could not take any actions towards the issue until I returned to the United States. For the past few months, I have been asked by several individuals and the media about the false and slanderous news until I decided to take legal actions towards the organization and Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja and to grant interviews to the media in order to clear my name and answer the questions that have been directed to me by many individuals. I do not sanction the use of my name in any crooked and questionable act and no one including the MNIA Inc and its organizers has the right or permission to dent the reputation that I have built for myself. I could not believe that MNIA Inc and its organizers had the audacity to fabricate an expensive lie with my name in public for their own interest. From the beginning of my reign (September 5th, 2009) to its end (September 5th, 2010) MNIA Inc specified verbally and in writing that my reign comes to a halt a year after I was crowned and it did; despite the fact that there were no contracts, agreement or conversation stating otherwise and none binding me to the organization stating that my reign will extend more than a year, the organizers of the pageant who reiterated to me during my reign on numerous occasions that they could not have another pageant due to financial and other organizational commitments, thought that it would be a brilliant idea to lie to the public that I relinquished my title in order to justify them crowning a runner-up from 2009 as Miss Nigeria in America 2010-2011 on February 2011 without a pageant which is an insult to those of us who worked hard and earned our crowns. To say that I am highly disappointed in MNIA Inc. and its organizers is an understatement. Please examine a few of the messages that I received from the organizers of the pageant during my reign and its pattern of change over the years. I have also included a response from Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja to someone making inquires about her being the current queen.

Email from Chichi Dike-Emeson “CEO, Executive Director, and Founder of MNIA Inc.)” On May 3, 2010 speaking concerning the end of my reign and management by regal affairs: “The meeting will discuss your management with Regal Affairs and my expectations from you and Regal Affairs. So please come with your ideas and we will draft a game plan for your reign from now till October.”

On July 22nd 2010, the executive director of the MNIA pageant sent me an email also addressing the Regal Affairs manager of the organization stating verbatim in her exact words “September 5, 2010 is the end of your reign and I will ensure that MNIA submits to you all the is due to you. I need a close-out report from you and that should include a reflection of your reign as Miss Nigeria in America 2009. As you know we will not be having any pageant this year but the next Miss Nigeria in America will be on September 3, 2011 in Washington DC. Queen, I also need a close-out report from Regal Affairs also for management of the Miss Nigeria in America 2009.”

Close out report from the executive director on July 29, 2010:

“Dear Claret,

As we come to the end of your reign, MNIA, Inc. wants to thank you for all the work you have done in the past 12 months. As you may be aware, we will not be having the Miss Nigeria in America Pageant in 2010. Financial and other organizational commitments have forced us to move this event in 2011. Due to your hectic schedule and your ongoing work with the entertainment industry, your reign will end on September 5, 2010. MNIA has decided that in order to continue the work of MNIA, Inc, and our charitable/ non-profit mission, the 1st runner-up Miss Angel Adelaja will become Miss Nigeria in America 2010. Please note that the organization will have your EEE bonds to you before your reign is over. Please let us know if there is any thing that you may need. We wish you the best in your endeavors.”

“Los Angeles, CA – February 18, 2011 - MNIA, Inc. has announced today that the first runner-up in the 2009 MNIA Pageant - Angel Adelaja will assume the role and responsibilities as the Miss Nigeria in America 2010. In a statement issued by the President of the Organization, Angel will fulfill all remaining responsibilities of the former Queen, Claret Onukogu. Speaking on this change, ChiChi Dike Emeson, Executive Director said “We gracefully accept the resignation of the Miss Nigeria in America 2009 as of September 5, 2010.”

Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja: July 26, 2012 (Response from Angel to an individual making inquiries as to how Angel became Miss Nigeria in America 2010-2011):

“Anyway I was 1st runner up in the 2009 pageant, but the winner was asked to resign for reasons I am not at liberty to say, and as it is stated in the regulations, the 1st runner up assumes the title in situations such as these. Unfortunately there hasn't been a pageant since 2009, but there will be one this September in Washington DC and I will be handing over the crown to the winner.”

Information on the company website and a word document about Angel on google states:

“Dr. Angel Adelaja is the reigning Miss Nigeria in America (2010 -2011). Angel was the first runner up in the 2009 Miss Nigeria in America Pageant and assumed the role and responsibilities of the former queen Claret Onukogu who relinquished her title to pursue an acting career.”

Mr. Ehirim, please, you be the judge does this sound like I resigned or more like falsification of information and defamation of character? My observations and experience with MNIA Inc and the organizers of the pageant during my reign caused me to dissociate myself from them for almost two years now. It is frustrating and annoying for me to go back to issues concerning them again. It is obvious that MNIA Inc and its organizers are not straight forward and trust worthy. Besides inconsistency and questionable acts, they still owe money in the form of savings bonds and other rewards to me, many runner-ups, winners, and some other former contestants who merited items such as plaques. They lied and did not meet up to their obligations during my reign. Apparently, I am not the only one who is displeased with the unscrupulous behaviors of MNIA Inc and its organizers. From last year till recently, some of the winners who were owed for years before I came on board have approached me concerning the issue of payment or financial assistance that we never received from MNIA Inc as promised and we were planning to find a lawyer collectively to write a letter to the organization. I later decided to sue them because I felt like it will be the most appropriate thing to do at this point since it has become a trend by the organization to owe individuals especially the young ladies who competed in the pageant system. It is disheartening to know that an organization that supposedly prides itself of bringing Nigeria to positive light and empowering women is fraudulent, crooked, manipulative and prone to falsification. This was a message from the executive director on May 19, 2010 concerning my personal information for the supposed savings bond or money which I never received “Hi Claret, I cannot process your bonds without a SSN number so if you want to call me and give it to me so I can process in the bank, then you can call.” I am not the only person who completed the bond forms and never received the money and other rewards that was due to me. Legal actions have also been taken towards MNIA Inc and its organizers concerning the possession and possible use of my personal information. The United States federal government has been made aware of this problem and is actively working towards the issue. The last thing that Nigeria needs is another scam, fraud or dubious act attached to its name, not even in the form of pageantry. Please take note of the report from Better Business Bureau concerning the Miss Nigeria in America pageant:

This Business is not BBB accredited Miss Nigeria in America Pageant/ Danick, INC Phone: (202) 460-2919 1717 K Street, NW Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036 http://missnigeriainamerica.org! Miss Nigeria in America Pageant/ Danick, INC is Believed to Be Out of Business ! Additional Information BBB file opened: February 22, 2005 Contact Information Principal: ChiChi Dike, Company Contact Business Category BEAUTY PAGEANTS # of businesses with 1-4 complaints in the past 36 months. Miss Nigeria in America Pageant/ Danick, INC is in this range.

I do understand that the organizers at MNIA Inc. are entitled to do as they please with their organization but they are not permitted to use my name in any questionable act to rectify their mistakes or set-backs. Common sense will tell anyone that a supposedly yearly pageant will have winners whose reign ends yearly. If Miss Nigeria in America 2009 was crowned on September 5, 2009 then September 5, 2010 will mark the end of her tenure. I cannot possibly resign on the day that my reign ends. The fact that MNIA Inc. and its organizers can falsify senseless lies makes one wonder about the integrity and the sanity of any individual who will do such. I did not have any form of communication with Chi-Chi Dike-Emeson, her husband Kenneth Emeson and friend Queen Gideon Uchekwe, who are the main organizers and producers of the MNIA pageant, on September 5, 2010 to discuss or hand over any form of resignation. No one forced me to resign. My reign ended when it was supposed to like other queens who served for one year and Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja should defend her crown and title as MNIA 2010-2011 (however it was obtained) without any claims that I relinquished my title for her because if I did, she will have my crown, sash and title as MNIA 2009-2010. I earned my title, crown and sash and never gave them to anyone. She is assuming her own responsibilities as MNIA 2010-2011 and not mine. If the completion of my reign that ended in one year translates to a false imaginary resignation to MNIA Inc. and its organizers, then it means that they are referring to every queen who won and completed their one year tenure with the organization. I went beyond the call of duty to conclude my roles and responsibilities as a queen. MNIA Inc, its organizers and Oluwayimika Angel Adelaja should please formulate another lie to tell the public as usual. The ones they falsified have turned sour. Individuals in the public are not fools, they know how credible organizations conduct pageants. It is imperative that Africans, particularly Nigerians, should join hands in cleansing our image by eradicating fraudulent, dubious and falsifying entities that bear our names and put a halt to the activities of the individuals behind those acts that drag our names to the mud especially in the international community.

Besides what's been going on, what are your interests?

I will like to venture into the production aspect of entertainment particularly film-making. I am also very interested in working with the United Nations.

What projects are you working on now?

I have been working on my PhD in Epidemiology; I have also been taking some classes for film production and screenplay writing. Humanitarian work is still a priority in my life regardless of how busy my schedule might be; I create time to do charity work. I am currently shooting a program in the U.S. that will be shown on Nigerian television networks. I have been privileged to own and operate a webstore with variety of goods at affordable prizes (http://claretijeoma.fscstore.com).

BIAFRA: Relative Discourses With Hakan Gottberger, Ed Keazor, Ambrose Ehirim, Ebele Obumselu, Et al

Biafran Food Distribution Map Courtesy Of Ed Keazor/Hakan Gottberger

Hakan Gottberger was a Swedish photographer who volunteered to work for the International Red Cross during the Biafran War helping distribute relief materials as they arrived. In 2007, Gottberger was in an exhibition where he showed his Biafran project photographs in Biafra in 1968-69 during his days of volunteering for the Red Cross in distributing food along the routes designated by the handlers from Item to Uli. Thanks to Ed Keazor, Ebele Obumselu and Hakan Gottberger who made this presentation possible. Presentation was conducted on Keazor's Facebook page between August and September 2011. All images in this article were taken by Gottberger and permission must be sought for any use and reproduction.

Ike Chime: I remember these routes well. At a time during the war, I was a Red Cross volunteer. I served in Hospitals such as Iyienu hosp, Adazi Joint hosp, Achi joint hosp, Gen hosp Owerri etc. I was also at sector rendezvous like Nzam Odekpe axis, and briefly in relief centers . Thanks Ed and Håkan Gottberger.

Ambrose Ehirim: Thanks Ed for this...'preciate it! @Ike: What were your assignments at these hospitals and relief centers?

Ike Chime: My first posting was Iyienu Hospital and my assignment included waiting on hospitalized soldiers and assisting doctors and nurses. Regarding sector rendezvous our duty was to assist military medical personnel in applying first aid and rushing the wounded to hospital. My brief work at the relief center was in Owerri where we doubled as air raid emergency unit and assistants at relief supply centers. I operated at the cenima theatre off Douglas by Ama JK. My coming to Owerri was due to the evacuation of the Adazi joint hospital when Awka was under fire. When I think of it now, I am amazed at the ingenuity of the planners of such a massive operation of moving a large hospital with hundreds of soldiers and civilians with varying degrees of ailment. A group moved to Umuahia, and the other Owerri.

Ambrose Ehirim: How were you recruited in such a critical time of a people? Was it voluntary?

Ike Chime: Ambrose there is more details about my red cross activities during the war in this NVS article http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7886&Itemid=154

Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Ike: The link doesn't take me directly to the particular article you were referring to. If you would, email me and send me the link. Also, have you considered an eye witness account in book format?

Ike Chime: OK Ambrose, will be looking forward to that.I am putting the pieces together, and hopefully with the encouragement I am getting from people like you, a book to that effect will see the light. I salute you.

Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Ike: Thank you so much for the attachment. Apparently, NVS does not allow its link related. Once again, thanks, and we should be hooking up soon!

Håkan Gottberger: Sixty's was a turbulent time, a lot happened in the world, but the Biafra war brought an extra strong feelings in Sweden with large collections of money. When the International Red Cross Committee asked Sweden to send aid to Biafra sent the Red Cross, the largest operation since the Second World War. With large ads in newspapers, they sought volunteers to the effort. I signed up because I had little experience in Africa, after having served in the United Nations forces in Congo. Also upset about what happened in Biafra and Czechoslovakia, I did not want to stand next to and just watch.

Ed Keazor: Incredible stuff gentlemen. @Ike: I am still intrigued by your accounts especially your detention after the war and how Nze Mark Odu tutored you, incredible! @Hakan: Did you serve in the army in Congo? Of course you did, as you clearly said so...

Håkan Gottberger: Yes, the Swedish army sent volunteers to serve in United Nations forces. A tradition since Dag Hammarsköld time.

Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Hakan: As a voluteer serving for the Red Cross, what role did you play during the course of volunteer work in Biafra?

Håkan Gottberger: At first, I was stationed in the village Item to distribute food and other supplies to refugee camps in the surrounding area and to try to Check whether the items came to the needy, children and pregnant women. Everything was done in close collaboration with Biafra Red Cross young enthusiastic volunteers. When it became difficult to get staff to work at Uli, the airport, I started there.

Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Hakan: At Item and before Uli, did food distribution get to the needy -- women, infants and children -- in the manner it was suppose to? We heard there were incidents of coercion and theft, leaving the desperately starved short of relief materials.

Håkan Gottberger: Sure, it happened that trucks with supplies were robbed, but we got over time, police escorts, as well it happened to older people tried to oust the young people to access goods. But we managed to keep control in our area, I think. I hope my English is not too bad, use Google for translation, it can sometimes be wrong.

Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Hakan: Your English is perfectly well, sir! On your own personal account, what was it like working at Uli? We heard relief materials came in at night and some couldn't sneak in because of the 'Economic Blockade.' Were you aware of that?

Håkan Gottberger: What was the cargo in the aircraft that was not RC I do not know. It was a stressful work situation in the darkness of night to retain sole responsibility of the load was taken care of and that nothing was stolen, but that happened occasionally. We also took the gasoline from the aircraft to be used for our cars. Sometimes there was gunfire when the police would catch any thief, the routine was at least one bombing raid every night. Of course they were scared when they heard the whistling of the bombs and we counted seconds after it ceased to detonation was heard, then you knew how close it was
.
Ambrose Ehirim: ‎@Hakan: How long were you stationed at Uli and what were your findings with regards to the war?

Håkan Gottberger: About 3 months. I was at the airfield, difficult to answer the second question, the memory fades, but the UN did not have the ability to intervene because of the prevailing balance of power is a sad story. Maybe it's a little better world now.

Ed Keazor: Really enlightening gentlemen and thanks Ambrose for asking the right questions. Its a privilege to have you guys share this with us while you're still here and to Ebele for making it all possible.

Ebele Obumselu: Ed, we could not have done this better. Many thanks for organizing, annotating and presenting the material.

Ruth Bourne: Fascinating stories, gentlemen.

Ed Keazor: For those who are not aware Capt August Okpe was the Chief Pilot of the Biafran Airforce, who flew under the command of Chude Sokei and Count Carl Gustav Von-Rosen and was in the pioneer set of Nigerian Airforce Pilots. His book is the only focused work on the Biafran airwar, I cannot recommend it enough.

Håkan Gottberger: There is a small book written in Swedish for Swedish volunteer effort in the war. In it are a shared feature in English, when I'm home again I will copy the pages and mail them to you Ed.

Ed Keazor: I definitely will and looking forward to it- many thanks Hakan safe journey back.

Obaro Ege: Ed, as we give Captain Okpe due recognition, do you have any information on Wing Commander Ezeilo? I had written earlier on a couple of his missions, using the captured Nigeria Airways DC3. It would be nice to know where he is today and if he recorded his memoirs as Captain Okpe did.

Ed Keazor: I believe Ezeilo is deceased (I stand to be corrected) there is quite a lot about him in "The last Flight". What comes to my mind from reading is that whilst a brave and talented Pilot, he probably found Command challenging. On another note what is intriguing is the camaraderie between all the members of the first set of the NAF who trained in Canada- Aleyideino, Okpe, Ezeilo, Ukeje, Yisa Doko etc. They remained close like brethren, even until the Eastern members returned to the East after the July 66 coup.

The Ambrose Ehirim - Ogor Winnie Okoye Q & A Interview

Ogor Winnie Okoye, a music aficionado and lover of people, earned a Bachelor's Degree in law from the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, and a Juris Doctorate from the Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a trial attorney and founder of the law firm BOS Legal, LLC. She is an avid writer and blogger who has published several articles on positive living and related topics. She currently resides with her husband and children in Massachusetts. In this interview she talks about her book and what inspired it, her journey in life's endeavors and a whole lot of other stuff.

EXCERPTS:

Tell me a little bit about yourself

My name is Ogor Winnie Okoye. I am a married to man I absolutely adore, Victor ( I call him my Bubu); I have four lovely children, I am a trial attorney and the founder of BOS Legal, LLC, a firm specializing in criminal and immigration laws; I love writing and blogging; I am a lover of LOVE and a lover of life! I am extremely bubbly and I love people! Music is my first love. I also sing and record my own songs.

I must admit, “Awaken And Unleash Your Victor: Uncover the Path to Your Magnificent Destiny” is a well-written book. In what environment did you start putting your thoughts together on this book into perspective?

Ambrose, When I started getting in touch with my spirituality and asking questions about life generally and my life specifically, I began this journey that led me ultimately to uncover the greatest, most positive and most potent force of all - LOVE! After that encounter, I found that the application of the principles that I shared in the book gave my life a whole new meaning and made me encounter joy and peace like I never felt before. That was the precise moment that I started writing. My husband had also encouraged me to make this collection of my thoughts into a book. I knew that I definitely wanted to share this with the world! I knew that lives would be improved and enriched through the message! The actual writing of the book was not something that comes all of the time. It is really difficult to explain but I do get random thoughts and inspiration only when I am in harmony with the force of LOVE! I cannot write jack, no matter how hard I try if I am out of sync, meaning, not at a very healthy and positive frequency! I can only write when I am at a positive and joyful place! That is when those motivational and inspirational thoughts start streaming and I can sit down for hours and just lose every sense of time and place! it is beautiful when that happens!

For years now, I have been jotting down my thoughts into publishing a book, telling different kind of stories, and up till now, I am no where done and yet to publish. What’s the key to publishing within a time frame?

Personally, I think it comes from really enjoying the penning process. Ambrose, you are a natural already and so might not need this advice but I find that when you really enjoy the writing process, again, it is going back to powering the force of LOVE, it is a lot more seamless and it will automatically flow from within. So, I guess the key to publishing within a time frame is finding the process enjoyable and not merely writing to publish because you will write effortlessly when you are in harmony and find the process really enjoyable.

You are trained as a lawyer, and one would expect you’d be writing a book on law reviews and things like that. What generated the book you have just written instead of thoughts relating to your area of specialty?

[laughter!] I am a trained lawyer both here in the U.S and also back in Nigeria! I love the law and my clients but I found that the topic that I explored in my book is such a fundamental and compelling topic that spans across people of all races, religion, creed, background, etc. Almost everyone on earth is searching for answers and wondering about life generally and what their purpose or destinies might be. This is a journey everyone will attempt to make at one point or another and it actually is the impetus for every religion and ideology out there. People have always searched and are still searching for answers and so, i delved into a topic that I believe if and when you eventually grasp it, almost every other facet of your life will begin to make sense and your life will become a lot more seamless. At least, that is what I found in my personal life after I embarked on my individual journey!

You are a practicing attorney, a mother of four children and happily married. With a handful of these responsibilities, how did you find time to writing this book?

Ambrose, personally for me, life is almost always about balance. If you are truly determined to do anything whatsoever, you will not only make time, but you will also make a concerted effort towards making it happen! I write only when I am in sync with the force and if that happens when I am driving, I have had to pull over to pen that thought down, I write sitting down in court and waiting for my case to be called; I write when the kids are sleeping! I just love writing!

I read about how “stress” and “worry” took a toll on your life, and, on a variety of troubling issues. What did you do to overcome that predicament?

Ambrose, that is a great question! Thank you! Before I began this journey, I was so stressed and trying to find that balance that we just talked about! I was working very hard and yet felt really unfulfilled. I knew that there was something lacking in the whole story of my life and decided to search. When I encountered the force that I spoke about in the book, I understood that I was charting the course of my destiny through the thoughts, words, actions and inactions that I had taken thus far in my life and decided at that point that I needed to change course. Changing course through the victor-driven principles that I shared in my book gave me the precise antidote for the stress and worry, all of which It just evaporated and I look back at those wasted years and just feel so sorry for my poor little self. Worrying and stress are both negative emotions and diametrically opposed to the most powerful and positive force of all!

On Page 86, you wrote: “Each time we condemn, criticize or coerce another to change, we further widen the gap towards our self improvement and miss out on yet another opportunity to evolve into our highest good possible. The journey of change must start not from others but from self.” From around what time did you start realizing that change must start from you?

Ambrose, that quote is to me what everyone of us needs to embrace and imbibe in our dealing with one another! Imagine what would happen when we each acknowledge our own flaws, blemishes and short-comings and begin working on eliminating those. Life would be blissful for everyone! As beautiful as it was meant to be, I have tried to change people in my life by condemnation, criticism, even coercion and the result has been nothing but a colossal failure. You just cannot change anyone. Try changing a man and you will end up being the most miserable person on earth. I am talking from experience and I am sure most people can attest to this. [ laughter] But seriously, people can only change when they truly desire to change on their own. They become resentful when you try to do it and who the heck are you to try to change another when you have so many blemishes yourself. When I realized that people step up to your level when you become an example of what you attempt to make of them was a defining moment for me. Just like Ghandi said, "be the change you want to see in the world". Utilize the most powerful and positive force of all as your constant ally to become the person that you want your spouse, family, friend, children, and acquaintances to be and they instantly would step it up to your level.

You cited Thomas Kempis, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Camus, Melodie Beattie, Sophocles, Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others on social related problems around us. Are there any Africans you admire who should have fallen in that category of thinkers and who have done things worthy of mention?

I love Nelson Mandela! I love M. I. Okpala, even though I never met him, he has a compelling legacy of selfless public service!

Like face-to-face emotional interactions, was this book the way to express your feelings in what you went through?

Yeaah. . .it was Ambrose! "Awaken and Unleash your Victor" is my individual journey and the convictions and conclusions that I reached during the journey. It also has a lot of time-tested principles including Biblical quotes that embrace the same principles that I attempted to share with the world.

What was the inspiration behind “Role of Prayer, Faith and Religion in Unleashing” and “You, Yourself and You” in the last two chapters of the book?

That chapter on prayer for me stressed the point regarding the huge difference between spirituality and religiosity. They are not even remotely the same and when we become more spiritual as opposed to more religious, we find that we begin to experience a lot more answered prayers because spirituality envisages that you are in tune with LOVE which is really God! I gave the example of the reason why the reception (answers to our prayers) is usually poor even for the people who are very religious. Reception is poor because in reality the transmission is clogged with negative and toxic emotions which are very far from the force of LOVE! You begin to receive better transmission the moment you embrace the force!

The last chapter on "You, yourself and you" was an attempt to reiterate the enormous power that we each wield as individuals; sort of, like putting a ring on the whole process as Beyonce will say! You must be a willing participant and open to embarking on this individual journey towards awakening and unleashing your own Victor before your life assumes this incredible new dimension! You do not have to force others to start with you; you are single-handedly behind the wheels of your destiny and when you embrace the force, backed by your own faith and unequivocal belief in a particular outcome, success for you becomes inevitable! Your journey or destiny is really not tied to any one person or thing and it is yours and yours alone to make! Other people cannot and should not determine your destiny for you unless you let them! I want everyone to recognize how stupendously powerful they can become when they start practicing being in harmony with the force!

What would be your advise to young and aspiring writers who have read your inspirational book and what path they should follow?

Always follow your bliss! Make LOVE your primary guiding principle while putting in your earnest and best efforts and success would have no choice but to come to you!

Anything we should know about what you are working on, right now?

Bubu and I are doing a collaboration on relationships! Kind of like, love, sex, and marriage. I am also putting my quotes together for a possible sequel of more inspiration.

Thank you very much Ambrose and the opportunity for this interview. It was a pleasure!

BIAFRA: Chief Akpan Bassey Press Interview In London

The following is an abstract from ITN on Chief Akpan Bassey's Interview with the press conducted August 31, 1967, in London, England, asking Britain to be mediator in peace talks with the Nigerian federal government.


Lead in Q: Who would you like to act as mediator?

Akpan Bassey: Well, I have every confidence that Britain could be a possible mediator, failing that America....

Q: But you've accused the British of siding with the Federal Nigerian Government, can you expect her to mediate in these conditions?

Akpan Bassey: It is not too late for Britain to withdraw and then to come in with us, we still have confidence in Britain and that Britain can still track back what has happened in the past, we are prepared to allow it, and then go on with the....

Q: But you have said that Britain has sold arms to the Federal Nigerian Government, does this accusation still stand?

Akpan Bassey: It is not a matter of - it is true, it is a fact that Britain sold arms, and they've admitted that by representative from Whitehall. So it is a fact. But not withstanding the fact that they've sold arms, we've asked them to stop now and talk about mediation.

Q: Now presumably Biafra has also been able to get arms from somewhere, can you say from where?

Akpan Bassey: We do a lot of local manufacture, we make our own bombs, we make our own rockets and we make our rifles.

Conversations With Nina Fabunmi

Date of Face-2-Face Conversations: February 16, 2012 at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza

I had walked up to my appointment with Los Angeles filmmaker Bill Wynn on the arrangements to meet with filmmaker Al Thompson whose movie "Odessa", about a man and his daughter on the run from the mysterious shadow program that bestowed them with psychokinetic abilities in which they must avoid capture at all cost or be used as living weapons when I bumped into Nigerian-born creative artist, Nina Fabunmi's exhibition on display at the 20th Anniversay of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival on the complex of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles.

I had seen the sign and her work but wasn't sure if I knew her well and her work. She was gone running the events related errands when I arrived. I had asked her caretaker when would be timely to catch up with Nina, as I would like to know more of her work and what got her into the world of creative art. I was told she'd be back the next day. I came the next day at the exact time I was told she'd be there. I met her and we spoke briefly requesting an interview which she granted. We scheduled the interview for Sunday, February 16, 2012; and I came, from my other related assignments.

Nina Fabunmi was born in Nigeria. She studied Estate Management at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria, but chose to take on the arts for the passion she had in it even though her parents did not want her ending up an artist. On why she chose to study arts in the United States, she said, "I'm here in the US because of the system hoping for the opportunity in learning the arts because art has no limit."

On Nina's interest besides arts, she's into Fashion Designing & Modeling, Sports (Taekwando, Basket Ball, and Swimming), Music, Photography, Reading, Writing Poetry and short stories and Creativity in general.

On Nina's passion for arts, she notes;

"My earliest memories are memories of me making art. I was born an artist and have grown in it. In this life , I have ventured into other vocations, but they all always lead me to my hearts desires! Art. With an MFA at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, I am tightening my skills and striving to be the best that I can be at what I do best, Art!"

From the Pan African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles held February 9-20, 2012 where she had an exhibition, Nina had exhibited at the following events: Art exhibition at Zozi’s Loft , 235 9th Street, San Francisco, 17th November 2011.Art Exhibition to Send forth Dr. Renee Sanders (Outgoing US Ambassador to Nigeria), Nike Art Gallery Lekki, 8th Aug 2010. ETA Fyne Art’diction Art Exhibition, Southern Sun Hotel, ikoyi, December 2009. Vlisco Fashion Show, 1st November 2009,– One of the Top 15 Finalist for Fashion Art Competition organized by AAF (African Artists Foundation) and exhibited at the Civic Center. October rain October 2009 National Museum Onikan, organized by Society for Nigerian Artists (SNA Lagos Chapter). Vason Open House Exhibition, Mydrim Gallery Ikoyi, September 2009. “Rencontre Avec les Artists, Aquarelles et Peinture a Huile, Besancon vu par Nina et Adejumo 20-24th Juillet , CLA (Centre de linguistique Appliquee), Universite De Franche-Comte. Naijazz 2008, NAIJART Art Exhibition, Studio 868, Bishop Aboyade Cole Street V/I, Dec 2008. “Lagos Hot on Artists” Art Exhibition and documentary, 23rd May 2009, Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi, Lagos. Exhibited at Eden Fashion Show, Didi Museum. 12th Dec 2008. Serendipity by ITA (Association of Informally Trained Artists) 6-11th Dec 2008 Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos. Experience Nigeria 2008 Art Show organized by AARC (African Art Resource Center), Theme: Nigerians at Work 22nd- 28th Nov 2008; Beyond Imagination: 8th -14th November National Theatre Iganmu , organized by Multimedia Association of Artists (MFA). October Rain : 18-24th October 2008 National Museum Onikan, organized by Society for Nigerian Artists (SNA Lagos Chapter).

On a fast-pace degenerating Nigeria state, Nina said she wished the country had been more organized with its abundant natural resources and the brain drain in it's human capital, and totally felt disappointed while visiting Nigeria last December. Acoording to Nina, "nothing works with a filthy Murtala Muhammad International Airport."

Asking Nina what was her experience, she said "all had to be learned anew", which was the culture shock. For instance, learning how to use the bus lines, applying for library cards, transactions at the post office and things like that she appreciates because of a working system that brings in hope and lots of opportunities in how one could go pursuing his or her dreams.

Nina is also involved in volunteer work in the San Francisco Bay Area museum where she now calls home. Currently at the museum, she is on projects on African Diaspora and book on "Igbo Women's War."

A Man's Mind By Nina Fabunmi

BNW FACE-2-FACE: OHANEZE ON THE "HOT SEAT" - PART I

On June 19, 2002, the Honorable Emmanuel Okocha, Publicity Secretary for Ohaneze Nd'Igbo, took the BiafraNigeriaWorld "hot seat" and spoke at length on issues including the 2003 presidential elections, MASSOB, the Biafra movement, and efforts to mobilize Nd'Igbo for 2003 and beyond. Hon. Okocha took the opportunity to respond to Ohaneze's critics, while shedding light on the candidacy of John Nwodo. He also talked about his own bid for the governorship of Delta State under the APP platform, and much more. Hon. Okocha is the author of the book, Blood on the Niger, and publisher of the USA Africa magazine.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: BiafraNigerians would like you to introduce yourself, give us a little background, tell us a bit about yourself and let's start there.

Hon. Okocha: I am Honorable Emma Okocha. I am orphaned. I was orphaned during the civil war. My parents suffered. They were victims of the genocide that was carried out by federal troops when they entered into Asaba on October 7, 1967. Asaba suffered the greatest casualty figures amongst civilian victims during the Nigerian Civil War. Following the recapture of the former mid-western states from the Biafran soldiers by the federal troops. After the civil war I was able to finish my school, secondary, high school, university by scholarship which was offered to us by the then mid-western government under Sammuel Ogbemudia and since then I've had this passion to ask the questions "why should my people be killed?" And it is with the same passion we're able to go into politics, free journalism, engage in sports. As I was telling you I used to play soccer for Nigeria. I was also a tennis player -- involved myself in satellite tournaments -- Jamaica, Europe, New England States and occasionally in the Washington area where I lived some ten years back. Since then I've been in Nigeria and been into government, now I'm going to run for an office.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Which office?

Hon. Okocha: I hope EI will run for the big one. Directly we don't know yet because in our coalition we believe the people determine what the candidate will run for. I started as a councilor in local government; been a delegate representative in the constitutional assembly. So I've run elections since I returned from the United States. I've been running elections and winning. I haven't bee demanding any money or giving anybody money and this time I want to try my luck among the big constituents.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So by the "big one" you mean the presidency?

Hon. Okocha: No. The big one in Delta State. I stopped at that.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: What's the big one in Delta State?

Hon. Okocha: There's the governorship, gubernatorial elections; there's the Senate especially being a western Igbo we have seen a lot of regret. Those who have gone into the national assembly have squandered the years. This is the end of the Senate tenure. Our representative, our own Senator has not even moved one single bill and our people are suffering under the hegemony of other nationalities who ultimately were part of the people that won the civil war. The western Igbo in Delta State is considered a non-citizen. It is like South Africa during the apartheid -- the western Igbo is not considered a core Deltan. The western Igbo cannot easily be assimilated in the civil service, or democratic institution of Delta State. We don't have permanent secretaries and this is the area we used to prosper when we were in the Nigerian Federation in the old mid-western region. The western Igbos produced a lot of top civil servants. P.C. Asiodu, C.C. Mordi, etc. So this time we're not there. We're not in the bureaucracy, we're not in the political top echelons, we're not in the sports, yet we produce the Keshis, the Victor Oduas. Seventy-five percent of those J.J. Okochas, those are the western Igbos. Yet in the offices we're not there.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So what's the obstacle? Why aren't you there? What do you see as the stumbling block?

Hon. Okocha: There is the standing state policy that once you're Igbo, whether you are western Igbo you must be degraded as second-class citizens. So what is happening to Igbos in general in Nigeria is being accentuated in Delta

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So what's going to be the impetus for change?

Hon. Okocha: That's why we think this is the time. The time is now because we think people are so disenchanted with the present situation that anybody that raises the issues -- like I know I know the issues. I don't care about how much money you have but I know I can talk more on the issues than any other candidate, any other human being of my generation in that part of the world.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: From what I understand, your goal is to get an Igbo into the presidency. Is that correct?

Hon. Okocha: My goal is not necessarily to get an Igbo, but as you premise this discussion on the theory that guarantees safe federations all over the world like Signapore, Malasia, Switzerland, United States of America, every federation according to the expert analysis of professor J. C. Way. Every federation must cooperate, coexist, co-exert and coordinate. If these four indices of a federation are lacking the federation will not function. The Nigerian federation does not have room for parity of forces as a super position of powers. And then we don't coexist, we don't cooperate. The Igbos are left to play crumbling rolls and at this point in time there is just a lack of good leadership. They don't have those types of characters that used to co-exert, people like Nnamdi Azikiwe, M.I. Okpara, Akanu Ibiam. These are our forefathers. How come that the present generation are only after blue chip jobs? The best jobs are in the United States. Because these Igbos are brilliant, they go to the United Nations, the top most lady among the African division at the World Bank is Dr. Iwuala, she is an Igbo leader. The same thing in the United Nations, all over the world, Igbos prosper. But in their politics suddenly there is a lack. We have around us charlatans. So these are our challenges, to take over, see what we can do. So that these federations that must depend on these co-exerting factors, coexisting factors like I told you as Switzerland, if the canons of Switzerland cannot cooperate, the Swiss federation will collapse. In Nigeria, it is in the interest of Nigerians that they should allow certain roles for Igbos to play, not only in the East but in the Western part of the nation.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So what if you can't do that? What then is the solution for the Igbo if you cannot achieve this goal?

Hon. Okocha: There is nothing from the history that guided the Nigerian Federation as played by the Igbos. Igbos from history because during the independence war they were at the forefront, they performed. Once they get mobilized, once somebody breaks the issues down to them to see, Igbos will join forces. That's what we are doing. We are now interested. Like you asked me 'what do you want to be'? That is not the immediate question. We are now in the period of mobilizing, getting the issues aggregated, getting our interests defined. For the first time we have been able to define the Igbo interest.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Isn't it usually better to have a goal in mind then you plot your course carefully so you can achieve that goal. You have to have an ultimate goal in mind. You can't just define issues in a vacuum without having a direction. So I just want to know what is the destination?

Hon. Okocha: You know you're very right. But in politics what you call goals I call political interests. The core goals in psychology or career setting or agenda whatever is different but in political practice, goals are defined as interests. What is your interest? Morgenthau, on the Politics among Nations. America defines their interests in the Middle East ...

BiafraNigeriaWorld: But whatever you call it, isn't it still the same thing?

Hon. Okocha: That is what I'm saying. Those goals are what EThis is the first time since the civil war, since before the civil war, the Igbo man's goal was the Nigerian goal. Get something from Nigeria, make Nigeria good. We have invested in Lagos, we have invested all over the country. The other groups, the Yoruba groups, they were not interested in Nigeria, they were interested in their Western enclave. The Northerners were interested in spreading the Sharia, getting Nigeria to be a Muslim country. But we are managing, trying to manage these forces to get a Nigerian ideal, but now it has failed. There are groups that don't even want to see Nigeria anymore. Those are the Biafran resurgimento groups. But those of us in Ohaneze said, we agree. Nigeria has been a major disappointment, in spite of its resources. But can you change Nigeria? We started to have oasis of hope. That's why we said why not define for the first time, the Igbo interest, the Igbo goals your own words? Once you get it defined the leadership will emerge. But when you come and say I want to be governor, I want to be president, there is no mobilization, there is no socialization of the people, there is no followership. It is going to be difficult. But now we are mobilized courting our group, defining our interests like now the major interest of the Igbo man is to check the erosion explosion in Igboland. If that erosion is not checked, we may not see an Igboland in the next ten years. I don’t know where it comes from but I know in every village, every second it's collapsing before my eyes. It's modern, the states, the local government, take a look at the Nigerian nation, where an Igbo man becomes the president, is from that platform, will solve those problems.

Second interest, if you like, getting the Igbo language as the number one form of communication for the Igbos all over the world because they are speaking very great English, but it is not Eyou know this is a culture among Igbos, they speak good English, good Spanish, good French. The Yoruba man doesn't care, they speak their language.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: You know that's a really interesting point. There's a recent article published at BiafraNigeriaWorld on that very topic. If you have time, please take a look at it. But I'm curious, what was your trip here about? What are you doing in the United States?

Hon. Okocha: I will answer to give our discussion direction. I was talking about mobilization, to identify those interests so that those leaders after the mobilization they will then I came here as part of a mobilization exercise. We have our people with different groups not talking to themselves. We've been able to within this trip get those groups talking to themselves. We cannot totally unify people once they have their different platforms, once they have their different methodologies and their goals. Even in your own family, I don't think you have the same unity of purpose. You know we don't believe in that utopia. All we have done now is to admit that we cannot be the same unified train but we can identify similar interests, similar goals so that those of them who are on the other side can as much as possible merge with other groups who are thinking alike. My visit here is to identify those groups who are thinking like us. Can we produce for the benefit of assuaging those interest of an Igbo president using the resources we have in America. We've done that in Houston because we have identified Houston as having the greatest number of Igbos. Been to Texas, been to New Orleans, been to Kansas. We went to Kansas to speak to the Anioma Igbos, those are the western Igbos some never believed they were Igbos. So after talking with them in Kansas I was very pleased and for the first time they decided to join their kith and kin in the Eastern flank. And as I am talking to you, Ohaneze for the first time is to have their monthly meeting in Asaba the capital of Delta State, which has never happened before. So my visit here is to identify those groups, get them together, and the seek the resources because we believe, profession by profession, especially the new profession, when you are talking about the new profession, we are talking about medical scientists, those transplant liver surgeons, we're talking about the insurance, the computer technology group, the banking finance group, those are what we consider the new professions, as opposed to just lawyers and education group. We have the majority of them in Nigeria. So these are where we thought the Igbos have a lot of professionals in America no longer coming home. Or I've graduated I'm going to come home, no more. They are here. They're going to remain here and they've become very serious opinion molders on the American side. So if America decides that the next Nigerian presidency could go to the East, we have made it. Because it was America that got a prisoner Olusegun Obasanjo through the Baptist mission as proposed by Baptist faithfuls like Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young from Atlanta. Those are the protagonists of the idea that Obasanjo, then a prisoner, should be made the president of Nigeria, despite the fact that he lost his deposit in his local government. So where can we use our own resources, the Igbo resources that could measure, could be even more awesome than any India, Chinese or European resources here. What are they doing for us to convince the American opinion makers and get us the presidency as they did during Obansanjo's Ekwueme contest.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Have you identified anyone within the American government that could be approachable?

Hon. Okocha: That is the job of these resources. That is their job.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Even coming from Africa you should still have an idea of whom you need to bring into the fold?

Hon. Okocha: Yes, we tend to leave that job to our brothers who are more Ewho deal more directly with them. They are in the NASA, some of our brothers are lobbyists in the Congress, one is a Mayor in Cleveland, he is an Igbo man. I can tell you I've identified but I know they will do a better job because they are here. We’ve given them that function.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So you mentioned bankers and IT professionals, what do you do for a living?

Hon. Okocha: I'm a journalist, at present I'm the executive editor of Post Express the first Nigerian newspaper in the Internet and I'm a sports promoter. I intend to bring the William sisters to Nigeria to tour West Africa. I'm talking to the EI was in the Nigerian government. Before now, I was a Commissioner, and then right now I'm back to journalism.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Post Express seems to be offline. What happened?

Hon. Okocha: We are going to restore it. What happened is that there is a change in management. We are going to reorganize the place.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Let's get back to Ohaneze the organization. How did it come about?

Hon. Okocha: Ohaneze was founded by seven gentlemen, K.O. Mbadiwe, Akanu Ibiam. These were former Igbo leaders who were prominent in the struggle for Nigeria's independence. After the Nigerian Civil War with the total isolation of the Igbo interest away from the Nigerian Federation Ohaneze was formed as a lobby to bring Igbos back to the mainstream. These gentlemen are K.O. Mbadiwe, he was a former minister under Belewa, Akanu Ibiam, former governor of Eastern Nigeria, when Western Cameroon was part of us, D.V. Osadebay, my uncle. All these people are late. He was the former premier, the first and last premier of mid-western Nigeria. The former sponsor of Ohaneze then was this man from Umunze, , the Balitete of Umunze, Chief Ugochukwu, owner of Ugochukwu tires, Dr. Pius Okigbo, a reverred Nigerian economist and then special advisor to the federal government. Those are the people who founded Ohaneze.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: When did they found the organization?

Hon. Okocha: It was founded during the first election after the civil war. I don't know the exact date -- around late '70's. So it was founded to take care of these Igbo interests. Midway, it was involved in partisan politics. That time Igbos had a party they called NPP, Ohaneze was used. Most of the Ohaneze people were in NPN. Ohaneze was used to fight NPP and it was a losing battle. So Ohaneze was given a knock out punch because NPP took over Igboland. So after the deaths of all these men, because at that time they were septuagenarians, Ohaneze was resuscitated in this era, especially during the Oputa panel, during the killings in the North, Kaduna riots, during the institution of Sharia as a religious mission in the North, so Ohaneze came out to play certain roles. We challenged the Sharia. Ohaneze wrote a petition, organized witnesses to appear in the area, both in Enugu and Abuja. Ohaneze since then has been regarded as the Pan-Igbo cultural leader. And now, two years ago in Enugu, at the Enugu presidential address, Ohaneze rose from a meeting in January 2000, made a declaration that no more would an Igbo man play second fiddle, we would never accept the vice presidency anymore. The Igbos will contest the presidency, 2003. So that is the situation right now.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: How is the organization structured in terms of its leadership? How do you as the Publicity Secretary fit into the organization? How did you become the Publicity Secretary?

Hon. Okocha: I became the publicity secretary after playing a role as the chairman of publicity during the Igbo Day celebrations and the incumbent publicity secretary was voted out of office so and then I belonged to a think tank, what they call Nkpuke. What you talk in Nkpuke you don't say it out at the open assembly. So we enter into Nkpuke and I'm the smallest boy there. People were 70, 60, 50, they are probably former justices, ministers, there you present papers and because of my book and coming from Delta, this is the area, what they call federal character. That's why I'm a member of Nkpuke and I lead the Young Turks because most of the time people criticize Ohaneze of being too conservative. So we want to change how we react. We were the first group that admitted the MASSOB, admitted the Bakassi, people like our Secretary General, Nwabueze is a constitutional lawyer, a Nigerian expert in constitutional law, he teaches the constitution, he is a graduate of the London School of Economics. He was teaching there. He wouldn’t like anything unconstitutional. So we damned that. We said we need to control our own area. Without Bakassi and MASSOB, we cannot control the East so we had to admit them. It took a lot of lobbying and a lot of talking for them to accept that. So, they are now part of us.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: MASSOB was forcibly excluded from your last "Igbo day" celebrations in Enugu. Why?

Hon. Okocha: What happened was that before the last one, in 2001, we had to bring them in, and Uwazuruike really pulled the crowd. Ohaneze does not discriminate. Once you are an Igbo man you are a member of Ohaneze. The Ohaneze we are talking about is just the executive cabinet. But once you are Igbo you are an Ohaneze child. So for MASSOB to say they were excluded or not excluded is not the issue. The issue was that certain Esome leaders of Ohaneze would not like to relate with MASSOB. And then those of us, Ohaneze's younger members, told them that things had to change. We need this group, just like we need groups like Aka-Ikenga, World Igbo Congress Group, whether they're of conservative bent or radical movement, once they are Igbo, they are Igbo. So nobody would say MASSOB or Bakassi is not accepted. Nobody. What happened was that they should come in there, part of the program and in the 1 million march, we are going to organize in Aba. MASSOB will be represented and we don't discriminate. It is not anything official except there are some leaders like I told you who are either afraid or because of Abuja relationship, they would not like to be related.

The details of the march, the symbolism of the march is to teach, that Igbos are now together. This is an election year. If anybody says he is against the Igbo interest, let him be excused from the march, but I know that most probably everybody, including those who were in the Obasanjo camp, they will all run to Aba to get some media attention. Because if we are really going to really have a 1 million march, not only the men this time. Remember the historic position of Aba in Nigerian history. In 1929 Aba women went on riot. They were the first Bostonians. Boston went to riot because of federal taxation. The Aba women are savvy, in 1929. They broke and had their first strike against tax. So we're going to reincarnate that effort. They are moving the women. We are looking for the best world. We are looking at an Igbo language to produce for us what should be the theme of that march. Women and men, oshimili umu nwanyi na umu nwoke, something like that to give it impact.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Earlier you mentioned the Ohaneze cabinet. Could you describe the Ohaneze cabinet?

Hon. Okocha: The Ohaneze cabinet has a chairman, an executive chairman, a retired chief justice, Ozo Ozobu, it has a secretary general, as I told you a constitutional expert, the best in West Africa, his name is Dr. Ben Nwabueze, it has a treasurer from Abia. Nwabueze is from Anambra, justice, the chairman is from Enugu state, the treasurer is from Abia, the deputy secretary, Dr. Nwogu, is from Imo. I myself am from Asaba, that's Delta, the publicity secretary. I'm the last. So you see they made these appointments to satisfy the different states that make up the Igbo nation.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So you did that to make sure that all the people are really represented within Ohaneze?

Hon. Okocha: Right.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So are these people elected, selected or appointed? How did you and the others in the cabinet attain your positions? Or how did you make your selections?

Hon. Okocha: These were positions that were there before I came in. I don't think they were really elected. They were appointed based on their achievements because Igbo rules accept achievement because it’s a functional rule that operates on meritocracy. When I talk about constitutional expertise in Nigeria, Professor Nwabueze is number one, that's why they appointed him secretary general to make sure we don't enter into constitutional faux pas. He's a conservative. There are others who are chairmen of committees, chairman of political committee, chairman of strategic and planning committee, like comrade Uche Chukwumerije and a member of the planning committee also. But the executive is not elected, there is a proposal to make sure that future elections are carried out to usher in new members. The proposals are there because a constitutional amendment has to take place for that to happen, its on the ground.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: So there is a constitution?

Hon. Okocha: Yes.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: What does the constitution say right now about how these officials are to be picked?

Hon. Okocha: When it started, it started as a small thing? But because of the issues that it has treated, it has exploded into something very big. Now that people want to come in and they're asking for constitutional amendments, so that next time around when these elderly fellows leave office, there will be elections. I think its on the ground right now, we're looking forward to it.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: You also said that one of the goals of Ohaneze was to bring the Igbos into the mainstream of Nigeria and then you also mentioned that there were some members of the cabinet who are conservative and are not as radical as for instance some members of MASSOB, so there is a bit of conflict---

Hon. Okocha: Standoff!

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Okay, standoff between them. Why did you choose to call the group Ohaneze? Why not Oha Nd'Igbo?

Hon. Okocha: Ohaneze means the whole people plus the chiefs. What we did on a daily basis with the chiefs, for us to control the crucial constituents, that's our people's towns, the chiefs must be there, the traditional chiefs. That's why we say Oha. Oha takes care of the Ndigbo. Na eze, do you understand? So for every meeting to take place there must be a chief that must chair. Every time we are in Enugu, there must be an Enugu chief. Last time I went to Abia, an umuahia chief was the chairman. Ohaneze cabinet, none of the members could chair the sessions, there must be a traditional chief. That is how it works out.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: One thing that needed to come out of that was that was the question, why not "Oha Nd'Igbo" since Igbo regard themselves as Republicans and it is agreed generally that "Igbo enwe Eze"? Most of the younger generation tend to see Ohaneze as an insular and feudal group of "Ezes". If Igbo enwe Eze, why did you name this thing that is supposed to bring all Igbo together "Ohaneze" when eze suggests that there is now a hierarchy? Igbo base things on achievements, so that no one who has not achieved can rise above another. How does the name Ohaneze highlight that reality about Nd'Igbo?

Hon. Okocha: Igbo enwe Eze is a historical fallacy because inasmuch as we say Igbos enwe Eze, remember Onyemeneke who had empires, remember the Aros. The eze in the Igbo traditional set-up is not a dictator, it is not like the Oba of Benin, or the Ashanti head of the Ashantis. Igbos enwe Eze means the eze had its limitations. In the republican set-up, you still had to depend, you still had to debate with the igwes, the lesser obis. The age groups had rules. The Igbos throughout their history, they had their own type of chiefs. But when those chiefs got out of hand they got the boot. So the Igbos have always had their chiefs. So the people who formed this, they didn't go to every village asking for their opinion. On their own they decided to call it Ohaneze. That's how it started. It was not very popular at that point. But I told you at a certain stage, the popular party NPP (ebe esere madu) beat them to it. Remember, it was later when they had nothing to look forward to, the military governed the whole place, Ohaneze started resurging, it was a resurgimento and that is why Ohaneze stuck. You might as well say why is it not called Igbo nile whatever. We had all sorts of names but Ohaneze was how they started it those founders of the Ohaneze group. As far as we are concerned, there are chiefs, traditional chiefs in Igboland who have certain powers except that they were being controlled by their constituents.

If I may add, those cabinet members who are the top echelons of the Ohaneze cabinet inasmuch as by training or by profession they were conservatives, they still believed in the dream of the Igbo, that Igbo should be free from the tentacles of second-class citizens. Those are the MASSOB group. But where they differ from us is that they have different modalities according to their identity. MASSOB wants to secede, they don't want to hear anything about Nigeria. It's all over. Some members of Ohaneze believe that Nigeria is El Dorado, that there is paradise in Nigeria. After all, they created Nigeria. It was through the sweat of the Igbo that Nigeria became what it is, so why run away? At the same time, they (Ohaneze members) don't want to see Igbo being cheated anymore.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Yet, it is widely believed that a good portion of the Ohaneze are only interested in protecting their properties and investment in Nigeria. What is your take?

Hon. Okocha: You are correct. That is why I say that they may be conservative, but at the same time, those of us who are in Ohaneze who believe that it is probably not in the best interest of Igbo to secede now. Why can't we get the presidency for the first time? Let us try and get this thing and see whether there could be changes. We do not believe in being conservative about it we are out in the open talking about it. But I don't think we are ready to determine the map of Biafra from Agbor to Warri. I think that is Utopia because even though they are saying they are Biafrans, they don't even believe they are Igbo. I'm talking about Agbor from Ndokwa down to Borny, which is the riverine area. They don't believe they are Igbo even though they speak Igbo in Borny. So for now I believe that if we can use those resources, that Nigeria could be salvaged. If Igbo take over the presidency and bring back work. Because people are not working in Nigeria. The president is traveling as I'm speaking to you. Obasanjo is somewhere in Romania, going to Italy. He has visited the Pope fifty times, has gone to London until the British Prime minister is tired of receiving him at the airport, so now it’s a council member receiving him.

We believe that a working Igbo president that can log in sixteen hours a day. There is no work in Nigeria now. People just go to pillage the treasury. So I think Igbo should not run away, they should play the parity game, they should belong to the federation they worked so hard to bring about. That is our platform and that is why we are seeking the Igbo presidency 2003.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: Some in your group are said to be nursing presidential ambitions as Igbo and appear to be enjoying the support of Ohaneze. It is a matter of public record that some of these men took up arms against their own blood during the civil war. Why does Ohaneze feel comfortable in parading such men as Igbo "leaders" when the minimum of a public apology and acceptance has NOT been tendered before OHA for the abomination committed by those men? Are the Igbo that cheap and forgetful?

Hon. Okocha: Okay I would like to have the test on that question. Who were the Ohaneze who took up arms? One of the greatest members of Ohaneze is Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra, Iwuanyanwu was a soldier in Biafra, Dr. Okigbo was an administrator in Awka province. I want to know those who fought against Biafra that are Ohaneze members.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: I understand what you have to say about Ojukwu, Iwuanyanwu, Okigbo and perhaps yourself. But what about the other members of Ohaneze who actually fought against their own people during the war?

Hon. Okocha: Those in Ohaneze, the visible ones in Ohaneze, may differ, and the modalities of achieving that Igbo goal, Igbo interest Eso if you can give me one or two names that you feel betrayed the Biafran trust, that is in the top echelon of Ohaneze I'll be able to take that question.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: If you knew that somebody fought the war, for example, for the other side, would that disqualify him for leadership, in Ohaneze? Should that disqualify him from leadership of Nd'Igbo?

Hon. Okocha: If we knew that he fought on the other side, it’s a major negative on the backs of whomever that will come to seek an Igbo vote. Knowing that at the crucial time that Igbo needed sympathy and solidarity he went to the other side.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: We know, for example, that Ike Nwachukwu fought the war on the Nigerian side. He bore arms against his own people, against Biafra, and we don't have him on record apologizing for that.

Hon. Okocha: Is Ohaneze proposing Ike Nwachukwu?


BiafraNigeriaWorld: It is just an example, although his name has been bandied about as a possible candidate.


Hon. Okocha: Before now, Ohaneze had been taunted, you don't have a candidate, you made a declaration. Suddenly we are approaching zero hour, and suddenly we have about five candidates, credible candidates.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Who are they?

Okocha answers question in Part 2
A BIAFRA_NIGERIA_WORLD EXLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The Ambrose Ehirim-Apollos Nwauwa Q & A Interview

Dr Apollos Nwauwa's teaching and research focus on modern Africa, especially colonial and post-colonial, intellectual and diaspora history. His published works include Imperialism, Academe, and Nationalism: Britain and University Education for Africans, 1860-1960 (London: Frank Cass, 1997), several book chapters, and numerous peer-reviewed scholarly articles featured in international journals including Anthropos (Germany); Cahiérs D'Études Africaines (France); Africa Quarterly( India); Journal of Asian and African Studies (Israel); History in Africa (USA); Canadian Journal of African Historical Studies (Canada); Ife Journal of History (Nigeria); Ufahamu (USA); and International Journal of African Studies (USA). Dr. Nwauwa serves on the editorial board of many journals and was Guest-Editor of special issue of the International Journal of African Studies in 2007. He is the President of Igbo Studies Association and recently coedited Against All Odds: The Igbo Experience in Post-Colonial Nigeria (Goldline & Jacobs Publishing, 2011). Dr Nwauwa is the Editor, Ofo: Journal of Transatlantic Studies.

Excerpts:

You and Ebere Onwudiwe worked on an important book, "Between Tradition and Change: Sociopolitical and Economic Transformation Among the Igbo of Nigeria." What inspired the project?

The publication of this book was inspired by the enduring commitment of contributors and co-editors to the growth and dissemination of serious scholarship on the Igbo. Between Tradition and Change was not initially begun as a book project per se; rather, it was the result of a scholarly dialogue by Igbo intellectuals about the historical, political, economic, social and cultural elements of the Igbo question. In 2005, Professor Ebere Onwudiwe, then Director of the National Resource Center for African Studies at Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, invited prominent Igbo scholars for a conference on the Igbo ethno-political history with a view to understanding the place of the Igbo in the Nigerian political dispensation. The political situation in Nigeria at that time necessitated this conference. It was a time when the Igbo were debating the best way to fight what they saw as their systemic marginalization by successive regimes of the Nigerian state. It was the period when chatter on the Igbo role in national affairs (The Igbo Question) was hot, leading to a political environment ripe for the growth of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and the predictable hostile response of federal forces. At this point too, the role of Igbo intellectuals in national affairs came increasingly into question as they said or did very little on the Igbo question. The decline in national political influence mainly due to the civil war (1967-1970) undermined even the local authority of elders and traditional establishment in Igboland. Thus, the lack of national voice was gradually spilling over into an attenuation of the socio-political cohesion in Igbo land. Although the papers from this conference were published in a special issue of the International Journal of African Studies in 2007 for which I was guest editor, we felt that these quality papers deserved wider circulation and readership. Thus, Between Tradition and Change came about; it provides a detailed and insightful account of the transformation of Igbo society, politics and economy since the period of European contact. The Igbo experience demonstrates how internal and global factors gave rise to new dynamics of change as African societies engaged with the Western world and developments in the new global arena

How do you perceive the Igbo of today and the Igbo of yesteryears. What changed dramatically by way of cultural heritage?

To some extent, the Igbo have remained true to their roots; however, what has changed is the way they have responded to the vagaries and challenges of the modern Nigerian state. Just as cultural heritage of any society can be enduring, it can also be lost if not properly harnessed and preserved. Like other societies, the Igbo have adopted and adapted to new forces of change while striving to retain important elements of their indigenous society. They pride themselves as being the most de-tribalized Nigerians. This mindset has its own pros and cons. On the one hand, it is the only way migrant Igbo can fit into their host communities. De-tribalization has not really helped the Igbo in the Nigerian context. It did not help the political future of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe very much nor is it helping the current Igbo leadership in Igboland and in Abuja. Instead, it diminishes Igbo cultural heritage since the Igbo concentrates on how to fit into everyone else’s but their own culture. Thus, relations between the Igbo nation, other ethnic nationalities and the Nigerian state in the postcolonial period have been marked by intense conflicts and contestation for political and economic control. This tension, culminating in the Nigeria-Biafra war, introduced new significant currents that shape Igbo society today and her relationship to Nigeria and the global community. Yet, despite some strains and shifts in their traditional institutions, the Igbo remain well-equipped to address issues facing them as a nation within contemporary Nigerian society. The key to a meaningful progress centers around a visionary leadership in the spirit of the dictum: Show the Light and the People Will Follow.

What is the Igbo Diaspora not doing right in terms of influencing decisions back home to effect change, using its background of living in a thorough system and an organized society?

Contrary to what many think, the Igbo Diaspora is not really a homogenous, coherent group. Like other ethnic nationalities in the USA, the Igbo Diaspora consists of peoples from all walks of life separated by everything and only united by the fact that they are all Igbo. Serious social class disparity exists between them; therefore, presenting a united front in influencing or engineering actions at home continues to be a challenge. Just as it is at home in reaching consensus, so it is, if not worse, in the Diaspora. Indeed, it is in the Diaspora that the Igbo maxim: Igbo-Enwe-Eze manifests strongly and often in a negative and counterproductive fashion. Worsening this dictum is the callous application of the American principles of American freedom of expression and choice. The World Igbo Congress effort in providing a common forum has often been bedeviled with challenges crisis within the organization itself, making difficult for any meaningful collective ideas and actions that will influence affairs at home. Thus, what can safely be said is that whatever influences, real or imagined, that the Igbo in Diaspora are making center on individual rather than a collective action. The Igbo Studies Association, though a scholarly/professional organization, is already in the process of forming an action committee that will liaise with colleagues at home in moving the Igbo forward in political, economic, and social-cultural spheres. Yet, the difficult part is to define the meeting points and boundaries between politics and scholarship.

On Igbo women in politics, it seems to be a level playing ground coupled with a changing world. Are the women becoming relative to the cultural and political culture in Igbo land? And what's your take on that?

Women’s participation in politics, like in other callings, is now a global phenomenon, and the Igbo have not been left out. Despite that British colonialism scuttle the progress that women made in pre-colonial Igbo society, the post-independence era has increasingly witnessed the steady progress in women empowerment in Nigerian politics. It has become the rule now rather than exception that list of commissioners and major political appointments must include women. Although there is still a long way to go, the Igbo has not done too badly compared with other ethnicities. Although the Igbo have produced female federal lawmakers in both Senate and House of Representatives, and state lawmakers and deputy governors, no woman has yet been elected as chief executive of any of the five states in Igboland. Igbo women are doing much better in appointive spots compared with elective positions. I do believe that with time, this anomaly will be rectified through more education, awareness, and recognition of the boundless leadership skills of Igbo women.

In 1997, you published a scholarly text " Imperialism, Academe and Nationalism: Britain and University Education for Africans 1860-1960.” You did research on 100 years of British Empire and education in Africa. Analysis on British Empire is almost everywhere and had been written in many forms. What was the need for the book?

Debate on the nature of British rule in Africa, especially their colonial education policy, is one that will never go away. Different scholars approach the issue from varying perspective based on new research and vantage points. Initially, we were misled into almost believing hook and sinker that British colonial education policy was instituted for the benefit of Africans. As new research became available, much of the conclusions that glorified colonial education as benevolent have been challenged. My work on Britain and university education falls under this revisionist history. It demonstrated that western education was the most seductive form of British“cultural imperialism” especially Africans realized that university education opened up prospects for economic advancement, individual dignity, and would ultimately provide the keys to political power and self-government.
From 1860s, African demand for a university in West Africa was frustrated by the British until 1948 when they created four universities – in Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Gold Coast. My research was geared towards providing answers as to why the British rejected the university idea at first through the 1930 only to move swiftly in favor of it in the post-World War II period. Initially, the British worried about the place which the highly education African would occupy under colonial rule that depended on collaboration with traditional rulers under the indirect rule system and the fact that the highly education African elite would be difficult to assuage and control. In the meantime, Africans returning from America with higher education were proving to be too radicalized based on their racial experiences in the USA, and Britain was getting apprehensive about more Africans going to America for university education. London now felt that a British-run university education system in Africa would make it easier to mold the African character. Furthermore, the post-war circumstances ushered in a new era of fervent nationalist movements in Africa to which Britain could not forestall. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, it is my conclusion in this book that British effort to “manage nationalism” by producing a core of African elite imbued with British tradition and values that the British took on the expensive project of creating four universities in Africa in 1948 with mostly British taxpayers’ money. Existing studies on university education in colonial Africa did not engage in this aspect of my analysis and that's what makes my book unique.

Based on the text, and compared to now, what are the significant changes in independent Africa today with a fallen-in-standard educational system?

In the period following independence, there were no significant changes to the colonial education system that African countries inherited from their former European colonial powers. In those African countries that were formerly under French rule such as Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire, the French education system was retained downright. The same scenario was replicated in former British colonies such as Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, etc. While the curriculum in terms of subject areas may have been altered a bit to reflect the new era of independence, much of the pedagogical approaches remained essentially the same. However, the standard of education in each country has been proportional to the level of economic condition and political stability of the respective countries. In corruption-ridden economies with rogue leadership such as Nigeria, the standard of education had fallen proportionately. When Ghana’s economy came to its knees in the 1970s followed by political failures, Ghanaian standard of education collapsed proportionately. That is exactly where Nigeria finds itself today. Therefore, any solution to falling standard of education must first begin with stabilizing the economy and ending political corruption in government and the educational system.

What had caused the failure of the school systems in Africa today?

As stated earlier, falling standard of education has little to do with the system itself but has everything to do with the level of socio-economic and political situation in a country. When a country is faced with high level of unemployment for university graduates, poor pay for university teachers, lack of financial resources on the part of parents, and government neglect of education, the attendant consequence will be falling standard and system failure. The lack of accountability on the part of government officials infects educational institutions, administrators and teachers and thereby leaving the students and their parents more vulnerable. I do not believe that any country with such chaotic political and epileptic economy as Nigeria can realistically sustain high standard of education at any level.

Studying at Bendel State University, Ekpoma, one would expect you'd settle in Nigeria and provide your services for the country. What compelled you to leave for services elsewhere?

After completing my NYSC in Kaduna State in 1987, I was recalled and employed by my alma mater, Bendel State University, Ekpoma, as graduate assistant. I taught there for one year before leaving the country for further studies in Canada. After completing my doctorate in 1993 and getting ready to return back to Ekpoma, I noticed that even some of my lecturers and colleagues there were leaving for overseas in droves. The Nigerian economy had entered into a downward spiral and the political leadership had also entered into a major carnival of corruption that friends and family members persuaded not to return immediately until things get better. Thus instead of returning to Nigeria, I accepted an offer from the USA as an assistant professor in African history in one of their universities. At first, I thought this stay would be very brief but I was proved wrong when the political saga of the Babangida-Shonekan-Abacha triad pushed Nigeria deeper into political and economic uncertainties. Soon, I began to take my stay in the USA one year at a time. Twenty years and I am still counting. What a shame! That I am still in the USA today is an indication that Nigeria has yet to get the country in order.

There is the Nigerian Association of Greater Toledo. Tell me about it.

The simplest cure for nostalgia for many immigrants in foreign lands is to seek to replicate the socio-cultural practices at home in their new place of abode. The Nigerian Association of Greater Toledo was founded to fulfill this need. I served as the vice president of this Association for four years, and president for another two years. Formed in 2003, the Nigerian Association of Greater Toledo (NAGT) is a socio-cultural organization dedicated to the progress and vitality of the Nigerian community in the Greater Toledo area of Ohio. As the number of Nigerians in the community increased especially in the last few years, it became necessary to have an enrichment forum where issues of importance to members and their community will be received, considered and acted upon collectively. It was against this backdrop that NAGT was formed. Highlights of our mission include: To work cooperatively with public and private agencies, businesses, industries and community organizations on issues beneficial to members and the larger community; to foster unity and good relationship between and among Nigerians and members of other communities and citizens of Greater Toledo; to promote social, educational, cultural and economic interests of Nigerians both here and in Nigeria; and to educate and share with our children and the Greater Toledo community on the beauty and riches of the Nigerian tapestry of cultures and languages.

What would you say the organization has accomplished from the time it was established?

The success of every organization is measured against its stated goals and objectives. Despites its relative young age, the Association has already made its marks in Toledo and its environs through its socio-cultural, community and diversity activities as it continues to fulfill the goals for which it was constituted. The Association has united Nigerians in the Greater Toledo area into a vibrant community that caters for the welfare of its members while contributing to the socio-cultural and economic development of Toledo and its neighboring communities. Plans are underway for scholarship fund launching to help those in need.

I read about the Nigerian Cultural Heritage House. Is the structure in place now? If not, what's going on?

No, the Nigerian Heritage House has not yet become a reality although the idea lives on. The number of Nigerians living in the Toledo area is quite small compared to other larger cities in Ohio such as Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Therefore, to raise the funds that can help to procure and sustain the Heritage House remains quite a challenge. But given the progress we have made in terms of fund-raising so far, it is only a matter of time in no distant future for us to realize our Heritage project. The worse thing an organization such as ours can do is to hastily commit to a major real estate project without proper planning and readiness in terms of resources.

Let's talk about the current situation in Nigeria. It has the same resemblance of the past. What's your take on that?

Undoubtedly, history seems to be repeating itself in Nigeria. It is like déjà vu all over again!Just like the 1960s crises that culminated in the civil war, the national polity is at the brinks again denoted by ethnic and sectarian tension and violence; mayhem and wanton killing of innocent people, especially the Igbo, fleeing the north for safety; government inability to stop the violence and bring perpetrators to justice; segments of the country feel that it is their birthright to rule Nigeria in perpetuity; and the call for sovereign national conference. Government officials have once again engaged in a carnival of corruption while the masses wallow in economic despair; power-sharing is detested and equal economic and political opportunities for all has become an aberration. All these social and political vices were the same scenarios that resulted in the crises of the 1960s. Observers fear that Nigeria may be heading toward total disintegration. While some would quip that we have been there before and Nigeria is still standing, others would argue that circumstances have changed as the country seems to be in more precarious situation with several cracks at its unity than the 1960 era.

What's your thought on the country's future?

Stability in Nigeria can only be assured if Nigerians themselves agree on the basic elements of national unity and the need to be united as one country. Forced and false unity does not always work. This seems to have been the case with Nigeria. Nigeria as a country was patchwork cobbled together by the British imperial governor, Lord Frederick Lugard, in 1914. From then on, successive British colonial governors of Nigeria instituted several constitutional revisions towards creating what they hoped would become a perfect union. This did not materialize before nationalist movement forced them to quickly retreat and transferred power to Nigerians. Since then, the ghost of the Lugardian patchwork has continued to haunt Nigeria and its successive leadership.

For Nigeria to resolve this lingering existential impasse, the inauguration of the sovereign national conference has become an absolute necessity. This conference will bring all the various ethnic nationalities in the country to a bargaining table to: 1. resolve to be a part of the union called Nigerian; 2. agree to the unity and inviolability of the union; 3. agree on ethnic or regional economic and political power-sharing principles; 4. agree on a federal system of government in which states have more power to legislate provided it did not negate the powers of the union; 5. resolve and recognize the separation of religion and state; 6. resolve the oil derivation and revenue sharing formula; and other matters. Part of this will be an understanding that these resolutions are only subject to alteration after 50 years. It is during this discussion that any group that does not want to be a part of Nigeria should have the opportunity to opt out or be persuaded to stay. This may seem like a recipe for disintegration but one cannot underestimate the power of negotiation. Once these agreements are reached and signed into law, a violation of any part of the contract by any constituent groups will be a crime against the Nigerian state.

Your thoughts on Nd'Igbo cultural and political future?

Unlike other ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Igbo are a people that have done less to promote their culture and nurture their political influence. Language is a major feature of a people’s culture. Out of the three major ethnicities in Nigeria, the Igbo come up the rear when it comes to nurturing their language. A typical Igbo person takes pride in his/her ability to speak other languages other than Igbo. Challenge and education Igbo in the Igbo language, and you see the extent of the problem. In this sense, Igbo cultural future is in danger of extinction just as the Igbo language is in trouble.

Politically, the Igbo political influence in Nigeria has not fully recovered since the outbreak of the Nigeria civil war. In some quarters, it was partly the fear of Igbo domination that led to the mass killing of the Igbo in 1966 resulting in the Nigerian civil war. Since the war ended, although there was the much-talked about “no victor, no vanquished”, it was clear that all hands were on deck in many parts of Nigeria to ensure that the Igbo never rose in political influence again. It has been a struggle ever since; that partly explained why the most respected and influential national politician in the name of Nnamdi Azikiwe lost the 1979 presidential election to the little known Shehu Shagari. It is now 42 years since the end of the civil war and no Igbo person has ruled Nigeria as an executive president. While the Igbo are aware of this problem, they should begin to strategize on how to be relevant again. But unless the current Igbo leadership abandon internal bickering, selfishness and “pull him down” syndrome, and present a united front, the political future of the Igbo will continue to be in disarray.

Nd'Igbo are not writing enough about their history and I'm afraid Igbo history will one day disappear as a result. What should be done?

Just as the Igbo language is under the threat of extinction so is the Igbo history/studies. Both require urgent attention. Currently, enough studies and writings are not being carried out on Igbo history, culture and tradition for a number of major reasons: First, the Igbo no longer have enough historians; secondly, the available historians would rather focus on other fields/areas of study such as international relations where they hope to work as diplomat or secure a UN job that will do nothing about Igbo studies; and thirdly, the Igbo themselves neither pay attention nor support efforts for keeping the study of Igbo history and culture alive. It was more than a decade ago when Professor J. F. Ade Ajayi called upon Nigerians to cultivate a sense of history and to rediscover the value of history to nation-building and for the socio-political and economic development of the country. Ndi-Igbo have yet to heed to that call despite that it was the Igbo iconic historian, the late Professor K.O. Dike, who popularized the study of history not only in Nigeria but also in Africa as a whole. Other first class historians of Igbo extraction included J.C. Anene, Chieka Ifemesia, Adiele Afigbo and others. It is sad that the number of specialists in Igbo history have continued to shrink since the past ten years. Unless the Igbo begin to value their own history, recognize and patronize the works of their few existing historians, and encourage their children to value and read history in schools and universities, Igbo history will gradually disappear. As part of the effort to rekindle interest, southeastern governments should institute a commission on Igbo history, establish scholarships and essay contests on Igbo history at all levels of education in the states.

Tell me about Igbo Studies Association.

The Igbo Studies Association (ISA) was founded at the African Studies Association (ASA) Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1999. The mission of the Association is to promote and encourage scholarship on IGBO history, culture and society in African studies; to forge intellectual links and network with scholars, policy makers, and activists inside and outside NIGERIA; to participate actively and collaboratively in continental and global debates with interested organizations in Nigeria, the U.S. and other countries on issues specifically relevant correlated to Igbo studies; to work actively for the promotion of Igbo language with interested organizations and/or institutions in diverse regions of the world. ISA holds an annual conference at Howard University in Washington, DC featuring numerous seasoned and young scholars working on topics relating to the Igbo. Participants come from Nigeria, USA, Canada and other parts of the world. So far, it is one of the strongest Associations dedicated to Igbo scholarship.

As President of Igbo Studies Association, what vital roles do you think should be played under your leadership to educate future Igbo leaders and role models?

Although it is true that the Igbo Studies Association, which I head as president, is not necessarily a political but a scholarly organization, I expect the Association to play a very prominent role in educating the political leadership in Ala-Igbo. Ideas generated by scholars on the political, social, economic and cultural life of the Igbo, if properly harnessed, will serve as reference points for Igbo leaders. Our hope is that with time, it will become absurd for anyone to present himself or herself for a leadership position in Igboland without an appreciable knowledge of aspects of the Igbo culture, history, and society. In recent times, the Igbo have abandoned education for quick money from dubious businesses and from political corruption. This sort of lifestyle contributes nothing meaningful to the general welfare of the people. Instead, it creates more avarice and crime. Life and property have become so unsafe in Igboland that prominent Igbo would rather stay in Hausaland and Yorubaland than visit their home towns and villages. But a well-educated person is an asset to the people, always finding ways to give back to society than to wreak havoc. The more education the Igbo are about their heritage and the need for genuine progress and development, the less likely they would turn to crime and avariciousness.

You and Chima Korieh wrote “Against All Odds: The Igbo Experience In Post-Colonial Nigeria.” Speaking of the ‘horrors of ethnic politics, civil war and the Igbo example of perseverance,’ the question here is, based on that perspective, did Igbo actually learn anything, looking at what had erupted over the months in Northern Nigeria?

Against All Odds is a scholarly book which explores the experiences of the Igbo in postcolonial Nigeria and evinces both the grim side of postcolonial politics in Nigeria, particularly the horrors of ethnic politics, civil war, and the Igbo example of perseverance and human potential to overcome dreadful conditions of such magnitude. The study illuminates the tension emanating from the enduring colonial legacies and their influences on Nigerian peoples and public life; it links socio-economic, cultural, and political events in Nigeria since the 1960s and the peculiar circumstances faced by the Igbo ethnic group with the continuing attempts to forge a more perfect nation state in which every constituent group is treated with fairness and equity. Yet, it has become increasingly more glaring that the Igbo did not gain or learn much from the horrors of the 1960s which resulted to the civil war. An important gain would have been the recognition of the Igbo as equal partners within the Nigerian political and economic contexts. But this has been quite elusive. It has been a little over 41 years since the end of the war and the phony declaration of “no victor, no vanquished,” yet no Igbo has ruled the country ever since. As at the moment, that possibility remained in the distant future. While it is true that the Igbo are partly to blame for their lack of organization and strategic coordination to attain this goal, there is no question that other ethnic groups, especially the bigger two, have some lingering reservations against an Igbo leadership of the country. It was only just recently that an army general of Igbo extraction was ever appointed as the chief of army staff since the end of the civil war. Yet, one wonders whether the Igbo have learned anything from the civil war. Although they are aware of the enduring animosity against them and the fact that they have not been fully accepted back into Nigeria, the Igbo assumed otherwise. Thus, they returned back to the North in droves only to become targets and victims of wanton killings again and again anytime their host communities got upset over often flimsy and mundane issues. Time and time again since the end of the war, the Igbo run back to the East only to return to run yet again. Who said the Igbo have learned from the civil war. Naively they still believe that hatred and animosity against them would disappear at dawn only to be disappointed at sunset.

Your teaching and research focuses on modern Africa. Is Africa developed by way of technology compared to the West and a fast-paced growing Asia? And if not, what seem to have been the problem?

When I use the term “modern Africa,” in my teaching and research, I focus on the period from 1800 to the present, and this encompasses the colonial and the post-colonial eras. Africa’s post-colonial condition is linked to its colonial past, and this colonial past laid the foundation for the development of Africa’s underdevelopment. There are a variety of indices of measuring a country’s or continent’s development and the lack of it. If development is defined as improvement in human welfare, quality of life and social wellbeing especially as they relate to technology, it can be argued that Africa is still a developing continent – the best way to state that the level of this development is low just as its pace is slow in comparison to the West and Asia. Technologically, Africa still remains a consumer rather than producer of technology. There is almost no type of technology you see in the West and Asia that you cannot find in Africa; the difference, however, is who produces the technology. Of course, it is the producers rather than the consumers that profit from it! Here lies the problem – colonial legacy, which created and continues to sustain unparalleled dependency syndrome in Africa. For example, Africa is one of the largest cell phone consumers today but how many of those phones are made or patented in Africa. None! It is also the low level of technology in Africa that compels Africans to ship their raw cocoa to the West only to turn around to buy chocolate that have been processed elsewhere with improved technology. Unfortunately, there is now no end to this economic pattern since under globalization, no continent or country can successfully close its door as Japan did in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries. Such isolationism in today’s world can only spell doom for a country since economic, social, and technological processes are intertwined in a complicated fashion with serious political consequences.