By Chuks Iloegbunam
Ihechukwu Madubuike’s new book is entitled Aka Ekpuchi Onwa: Ndigbo Unbowed, (Eminent Biographies Limited; 2024). Professor Madubuike devoted the book’s Chapter Five to demolishing the infantile thesis of Moses Oludele Idowu, a poseur with claims to political punditry and Christian evangelism. Idowu posited a fallacy on Ndigbo by arguing that "The Igbo political culture of compromises is at the root of the lackluster, unenviable position of the Igbo as a people in the political process and equation rather than any conspiracy as their scholars and hagiographers have always maintained.”
A sample of Dr. Madubuike’s rebuke
I am troubled that some of our Yoruba cousins keep drawing us backwards, because they believe the Igbo are their immortal political enemies. To make the above assertions about the Igbo without qualms by Moses Oludele Idowu in his Wages of Compromises: The Igbo Race As Object Lesson is pushing provocation and illogicality to the level of the absurd. The thesis is as unsustainable as it is otiose. If the article is intended to be seen as part of the continuing conversation to interrogate the Nigerian geopolitical space, to inquire into and understand the fundamentals of nation-building, and the overall importance of justice in determining the affairs of human beings, then it can be tolerated. But the write-up is about none of these.
The article is meant to reinforce
the usual negative profiling of the Igbo by her traducers and present him as
the perpetual fall guy in the polity. It is insensitive to attempt to rubbish
the political efforts of a whole ethnic formation to justify irrationality and
sophistry. First, Idowu says that there is nothing unjust in denying the Igbo
the presidency of Nigeria; second, he states the injustice at the level of a
fatal flaw – that is hubris, flowing from what he calls “the law of nature and
the principles that govern the earth.” He waxes spiritual and goes metaphysical
with these words: "Life operates on definite spiritual laws and
principles… that determine what goes to one and what comes to the other.”
Habba Moses! Which spiritual laws are you referring to?
Definitely not the biblical Mosaic laws, or the New Testament laws, which are
based on the remission of sins and forgiveness through the intercession of
Jesus Christ for his followers. Or is Idowu referring to his native Yoruba
spiritualism? Any spiritual laws the Igbo do not subscribe to cannot affect
them. We are averse to committing nso ani, and we are at peace with
our God. The preeminent spiritualism that drives the Igbo is one of constant
interface with our God, leading to the principle of Onye kwe chi ya
ekwe – the immortal force that drives NdiIgbo. Not done, Idowu goes
ahead to compare the political fortunes of the Yoruba tribe with the fortunes
of the Igbo. And all these to justify why the Igbo should not be president of
Nigeria!
He does not like partnerships based on compromises, yet he
condemns the Igbo for not forming an alliance with his preferred Yoruba party,
at least on two occasions. The first was during the contested British-managed
independence election of 1959 when the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) was
consulting with both the Eastern and Western parties to form a central
government. Next was in the Second Republic when the 1979 FEDECO-conducted
election did not produce an outright winner and there was a need to reach a
compromise. In the First Republic, James Robertson and the Colonial Office had
made up their minds about where power should go, and the choice of Mallam
Tafawa Balewa as the Prime Minister was a fait accompli. Neither Nnamdi Azikiwe
nor Obafemi Awolowo could have done much to change it, just as none did much to
change the rigged demographic head count. But more important was the fact that
many Nigerian leaders of the time were more interested in ethnic preservation than
in tribal integration…
For over five decades, the Igbo have been denied the “freedom”
of full participation in making unfettered inputs that would enhance their
political rights through the levers of participatory democracy, of which the
presidency is the highest representation. It is not for the lack of trying nor
for the deficit of the skills of bargaining, reaching out, merit, or the cliché
of belongingness. It is the result of a conspiracy of the power elite. It is
also to say that the “unfreedoms” that the Igbo have suffered since the civil
war era have nothing to do with Idowu’s dubious spiritual laws. They have to do
with man-made systemic obstacles. With representations far below their due in
the National Assembly, the Executive, the Judiciary, and the MDAs, the Igbo
power to make inputs that will improve political, social, and economic
well-being is highly circumscribed. The author of the Wages of
Compromises: The Igbo Race As Object Lesson sounds like a fink, a fin
de siècle raconteur of decadence at pains with how to handle a semi-fiction.
His treatise that the Igbo have no political future is baseless and therefore
non-sequitur. Accepting his recipe would only bring further grief to the Igbo.
It is also ahistorical. Idowu has not also proved by statistics that the
average Yoruba man is better off than his Igbo counterpart in terms of per
capita Gross National Product. The opposite may be the case.
Indeed, internal group comparisons may shatter Idowu’s thesis, a
supposition that nourishes infantile fatalism. Observed Paul Anber in his Modernisation And Politics of
Disintegration: Nigeria and the Igbo: Eastern Nigeria had the highest
number of registered cars in Nigeria as of 1963 by a large margin. The number
of Registered Businesses in Nigeria as of 1963 was as follows: East 68,220;
West 5,716; North 2,407.” He concluded by saying that all the progress that the
East made was wiped out by the war. By the time Awo brought his free education
programme in 1953, Eastern Region was far ahead in education. Wrote Paul Anber:
Meaning, as good as Awo’s free education was, it was meant to catch up with the
East that was far ahead of the West, despite the fact that the East was still
paying a limited contributory fee. What if it were like in the West, the gap would
have even been "wider.” Western Nigeria embraced Western education before
the East did, because of its closeness to the sea, from where the missionaries
entered Nigeria and established the first schools, but the Igbo soon caught up
and became domineering in the field by the 1960s.
The following excerpts tell a different story from Idowu’s:
Although the Yoruba led the thrust for education because of their advantage of
first contact with the British, the Igbo since 1930 have shot ahead. By late
1940, the disparity between the Yoruba and the Igbo had virtually disappeared.
There were nearly as many Igbo students (115) as Yoruba’s (118) in the
University College Ibadan, by 1952. Even at the time universal primary
education was introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of
age who were literate was higher in the East than any other region: East 10.6%;
West 9.5% North 9%. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than
any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education.
Figures for elementary and secondary (education) indicate that the approximate
ratio of teacher to pupil population in 1963 was 1 for every 1500 in the East,
1 for every 2500 in the West, and 1 for every 10000 in the North….” The above was
taken from the research of an impartial scholar who is neither Igbo nor Yoruba
on the educational and other realities in Nigeria.
Why have I quoted Professor Madubuike In Extenso? It
is to point to Igbo bashing as Moses Oludele Idowu’s stock in trade. It is also
to stress that his efforts and those of his cohorts are immaterial to the march
of Ndigbo. In my dialect of the Igbo language, this Idowu fellow will be
described as an omekitolo, which means recidivist. It is this
incorrigibility that he exhibited on October 30, 2023, when he published an
article entitled Professor Nwabueze: And The Man Died. In it, he
execrated Professor Nwabueze, pouring invectives on the internationally
renowned constitutional lawyer’s casket. He claimed that it was Nwabueze who,
in 1966, imposed a unitary system of government on Nigeria. He claimed that it
was Nwabueze who nullified the June 12, 1993, presidential election. He further
claimed that Nwabueze destroyed the country’s university system. Because this
fellow’s claims are so thoughtlessly outlandish, it is important to report him
verbatim:
Three important occasions we recall when this man played
decisive role in Nigerian history and they were for the worse. First it was
Nwabueze who drafted the obnoxious, accursed retrogressive Unification decree
that Aguiyi Ironsi used to abrogate the Regional form of government that had
been useful and served each region well for the overall progress of Nigeria.
For reasons that were known to him and his kinsman in power they abrogated the
truly Federal arrangements in place for a Unitary government over which an Igbo
man would be head. This was shortly after a controversial coup of January 15,
1966 in which most of the leading military officers and political leaders of
other regions were dead but not a single blood was shed in the East. Despite
the fact that most of the Committee members opposed this abrogation and only
the Igbo members supported it, Ironsi decided to sail on and implement this
terrible decree destroying the federal arrangements and regionalism that the
founding fathers had put in place. We are still suffering for that blunder till
today.
The thunder generated by that precipitate action of a minority
report led to the counter coup of July, 1966 and the resulting pogrom and the
consequent Civil War. It
would forever be a stain on this man's intellectual capacity and career that he
was the instrument of the document that has brought so much pain, so much
sufferings to so many people for so long a time.
What will become of any society that has only Idowu’s ilk for
teachers? Decree 34 was promulgated on May 24, 1966. With General Aguiyi-Ironsi
assassinated and his regime toppled on July 29, 1966, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu
Gowon assumed the country’s leadership, repealing Decree 34 in his maiden
nationwide broadcast on August 1, 1966. Decree 9 of 1966, the legal instrument
of the decree’s abolition, was issued on August 31, 1966. This means that, on
paper, the controversial decree was in effect for just three months.
Now, Moses Oludele Ajayi blames Professor Nwabueze for the
decree, charging that “It would forever be a stain on this man's intellectual
capacity and career that he was the instrument of the document that has brought
so much pain, so much sufferings to so many people for so long a time.”
But Decree 34 was not Nwabueze’s. It belonged to General
Aguiyi-Ironsi’s Supreme Military Council (SMC). Yet, Idowu blamed Nwabueze and
Ndigbo for it. The silliness and illogicality of his position, which is often
parroted by dissemblers, is like saying that a mansion is a part of one of its
rooms. In his already mentioned broadcast of August 1, 1966, Colonel Gowon
claimed that the basis for Nigerian unity was nonexistent. My research showed
that his infamous speech was written by multiple hands, especially Mr. Justice
Mohammed Bello, who later became Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Major Baba Usman of
Military Intelligence, and Major Shittu Alao of the Air Force who died in a
plane crash on October 15, 1969. No one has ever blamed these
pseudo-speechwriters for Gowon’s howler. But Nwabueze must carry the can of
Decree 34 because of the story that he authored it. The June 12 presidential
election was nullified by virtue of an unsigned and undated statement written
on a piece of paper that bore no government seal. That document was distributed
to State House correspondents by Mr. Nduka Irabor, the Press Secretary to
Vice-President Augustus Aikhomu who knew next to nothing about its existence.
Why didn’t Oludele Idowu blame Nduka Irabor for the nullification of the
transparent election won by Chief Moshood Abiola?
Talking about Mr. Irabor recalls his arraignment, trial, and
imprisonment with Tunde Thompson, his Guardian colleague,
based on the infamous Public Officers Protection Against False Accusation
Decree 4 of 1984. It is generally known that Muhammadu Buhari was never a legal
draftsman. But till today, no one has named Decree 4’s drafter for pillorying.
Nor has anyone named the drafter of Decree 20 of 1984 by which Buhari
retroactively sent three young Nigerians to the grave by firing squad for hard
drug possession. These citations stress that impaling Professor Nwabueze
for Decree 34 is like the eye blaming a handkerchief for its tears.
Characteristically, Idowu claimed that “most of the Committee
members opposed” Decree 34, and yet, Aguiyi-Ironsi promulgated it with the
support of the Igbo members of a phantom committee! This nonsense creates the
impression that there had been a national referendum or plebiscite on whether
to adopt the Unification Decree. Decree 34 was decided by the Supreme Military
Council, a nine-member body made up of three Yoruba – Brigadier Babafemi
Olatunde Ogundipe, Commodore Joseph Akinwale Wey, and Lieutenant Colonel
Francis Adekunle Fajuyi; two Igbo – Major General Johnson Umunnakwe
Aguiyi-Ironsi and Lieutenant Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu; One Fulani in
Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Usman Katsina; One Izon in Lieutenant Colonel George
Tamuno Kurobo; one Urhobo in Lieutenant Colonel David Akpode Ejoor; and one
Angas in Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu Cinwa Gowon.
I asked Chief Gabriel Chike Michael Onyiuke, General Aguiyi-Ironsi’s Attorney General, why Decree 34 had to be promulgated without the consensus of the ruling body. His reply:
That cannot be correct. Unless any member of the Supreme Military Council had some mental reservations which he did not articulate, the decision to enact Decree No. 34 in terms of the Decree was the unanimous decision of the Supreme Military Council. I may mention that when this matter was raised at Aburi Ghana, according to the tape-recorded proceedings of that meeting, Commodore Wey (as he then was) stated categorically that Decree No. 34 was the unanimous decision of the SMC and so it was. Although I cannot lay my hands on the minutes of the proceedings of the Supreme Military Council, I am certain that various meetings at which all the members of the SMC were present were held on this matter. It was not a decision taken at only one meeting of the SMC. The draft of Decree No.34 was considered at various meetings of the SMC and amendments by way of additions and deletions were made. In fact, it was at one of such meetings that Section 4 Subsection 3 was introduced. By this subsection, the recruitment of officers below the salary group of 2272, that is to say, Senior Assistant Secretary, was delegated to the Provincial Public Service Commissions. This was designed to accommodate the unequal educational development in the Groups of Provinces. The meeting of the Supreme Military Council at which the Draft Decree was finally approved was held on a Saturday. I recall that the deliberations were carried on in a very relaxed atmosphere with members sitting around the swimming pool at the State House over dishes of Saturday palm oil chop. I remember that it was Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Katsina (as he then was) who suggested and it was agreed that the promulgation of the Decree would be delayed until the Military Governors had returned to their Capitals. In retrospect and with the benefit of hindsight it may be contended that Decree No. 34 was ill-suited for a country like Nigeria with its tribes and nationalities but this is a far cry from saying that the Decree was not the unanimous decision of the SMC.” (See pages 123/124 of Ironsi: Nigeria, The Army, Power And Politics; Eminent Biographies Limited; 2019.)
General Yakubu Gowon is still alive and well. He has a copy of
the Aguiyi-Ironsi biography in his library because I ensured that he got one.
Yet, to this date, he has never contradicted Chief Onyiuke. Decree 34 was less
than 100 days old when it was ostensibly repealed and had, therefore, not taken
root. Why did General Yakubu Gowon entrench the “obnoxious” unitary system of
government throughout his nine-year dictatorship? Was it because it was
expedient for military rulership or because he had two heads? Why has no one
ever blamed him for consolidating an administrative system glibly called
reprehensible by the likes of Moses Oludele Idowu?
All the military regimes Nigeria ever had operated the unitary
system of government. So, how come Generals Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun
Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, and Abdulsalami
Abubakar have never been excoriated for the cardinal sin of operating the
unitary system of governance? Could it be because no Igbo could be found in
their lot?
There is more on Idowu’s blasphemous trail. According to the
man, “It is equally sad that Ben Nwabueze had a hand in the advise that finally
led Ibrahim Babangida to annulling the freest and fairest election in the
annals of democracy in Nigeria. The book to read is Prof. Omo Omoruyi's book
THE TALES OF JUNE 12.” Well, I published The Tale of June 12. And I personally edited every one of its
350 pages. Therefore, I can authoritatively state and reiterate that Professor
Omoruyi never placed the blame for June 12’s nullification on Professor
Nwabueze’s doorstep. Professor Omoruyi held his bosom friend, President Ibrahim
Badamasi Babangida (and cliques of the military brass), primarily accountable
for the annulment. In addition, he blamed the following for various degrees of
culpability: the Democratic Structures, the Transition Council, the Traditional
Rulers, the Political Class, and the International Community. (See page 263
of The Tale of June 12;
Press Alliance Network Limited, Lagos; 1999)
As a matter of fact, the entire book, especially Chapters Four
to Seven, provides in every detail all the characters that, in various ways,
betrayed June 12. With its publication, Professor Omoruyi carved for himself a
richly deserved niche in the pantheon of the most seasoned African political
scientists. Anyone intent on understanding Nigerian politics must read the
book. It propounds the real reasons behind the nullification of June 12. It
explains, 24 years after its appearance, the fundamental set of circumstances
that commanded the trajectory of the February 25, 2023, presidential ballot.
That the contents of this innovatory and scholarly tome have been wantonly
bastardised by an irreverent and myopic Moses Oludele Idowu recommends the
strongest of damnatory epithets. The man’s perfidy will leave Professor Omoruyi
writhing in his grave.
Idowu said that, as Education Minister under General Sani
Abacha, Professor Nwabueze “presided over the 9- month strike in which our
universities were shut without any payments and had to return back to job with
shame. That was when the university system died.” The appropriate response to
this balderdash is that Professor Nwabueze never served in General Sani
Abacha’s. regime.
Moses Oludele Idowu apparently allows himself to be described as
an evangelist, pastor, and even bishop. But his visceral fondness for bigotry
should raise the pertinent question of whether he would recognise the Bible if
a copy were thrust in his front. Was it Professor Nwabueze who decreed the
Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket? Was it the legal luminary that drafted the
Islamization of Nigeria script? Was it the professor of Law who drafted the
horrendous amputation of all known laws and canons of natural and statutory
justice that poured like destructive lava from the Presidential Election
Petitions Court and the Supreme Court? On September 21, 2023, the Enugu State
Governorship Election Tribunal sustained the “election” of the State Governor
even after the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps stated, and
his senior officials testified under oath, that the man had presented a fake
NYSC discharge certificate to the INEC, claiming that the certificate was not a
prerequisite for candidacy in governorship elections! Was it Professor Nwabueze
who drafted that travesty of justice? What did Moses Oludele Idowu, the
“Christian” prelate say on all the foregoing? Precious little! He busily chased
and roasted rodents while a conflagration reduced his home to cinders.
This is the point, though: If any rational Nigerian yearned for
knowledge of the country’s contemporary history and Professor Ben Nwabueze’s
role in it, the last thing they would do is listen to the incoherent rantings
of a conceited and disreputable ignoramus. They would rather drink from the
fountain of knowledge that is Professor Mike Ozekhome (SAN). In his tribute
entitled Professor Ben Nwabueze, SAN, LLD: The Exit of a Legal Colossus,
Chief Ozekhome wrote:
Ben Nwabueze’s dedication to legal scholarship was unwavering. His
contributions to the field of law were simply vast and varied. He authored
numerous books and articles, each one a testament to his keen intellect and
deep understanding of the subject matter he dealt with. His works on
constitutional law, administrative law, and human rights law have become
foundational texts for generations of law students, legal practitioners, and
members of the Bench.
One of his
most influential works, The
Presidential Constitution of Nigeria, delved into the complexities of
Nigeria’s constitutional structure, drawing attention to issues of federalism,
decentralization, and the balance of power. Nwabueze’s insights and
recommendations have guided discussions on constitutional reforms in Nigeria for
decades, serving as a blueprint for the country’s path towards a more just and
equitable society and governance structure.
In addition
to his academic writings, Professor Nwabueze was an active participant in legal
reform and advocacy. He served on numerous government committees and panels,
providing his expert input on various legal and constitutional issues. His
contributions to the development of Nigeria’s legal system were not only
profound but also instrumental in shaping the nation’s legal landscape.
Seekers of light would also listen to Dr. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a distinguished, US-based professor of Law, who in The life, loves and adventures of Obiefuna Benjamin Nwabueze wrote thus:
In July 2013, Akunnia Obiefuna Benjamin Nwabueze, the
extraordinary scholar, teacher, lawyer, winner of the Nigerian National Order
of Merit (NNOM), and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), applied to the Almighty
for another five years on earth. In keeping with the record of a man in whose
life Providence appears to have been both present and generous, he received
double the time he asked for, living another ten years…At the time of his
passing at the end of October 2023, Nwabueze was the most senior
lawyer in Nigeria. With a scholarly output that included over 30 books, 100
conference keynotes, and over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, he was
probably also the most prolific and influential legal scholar out of Africa.
Published between 1973 and 1977, his trilogy on Constitutionalism in the Emergent States, Presidentialism in Commonwealth
Africa, and Judicialism in Commonwealth Africa reshaped
the study and understanding of public law after colonialism.
*Chuks Iloegbunam is the author of The Promise of a New
Era, the biography of Mr. Peter Obi.
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