Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene, President , Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos, speaks to OpenLife Magazine on Ndigbo leadership issues in an exclusive interview
Does Ndigbo have a leader or is it that the people are stubborn to accept someone as their leader to enable them speak with one voice?
Now , this is a great question. It is a question I have been expecting from all the journalists I have come in contact with.
Especially those who come to my residence on Victoria Island and those who recently came to my private office in Ikoyi for interview as well as those who have met me at Ohanaeze Secretariat in Surulere, Lagos.
None has asked me such question. It is a difficult question but I have an answer.
First, I will start with reasons why Ndigbo stands today as an orphan in term of leader-a child without mother and father.
Presently, over 65 percent of Ndigbo is claiming to be white men more than the British and this translate to penny wise, pound foolish.
That is part of their suffering in Nigerian politics.
They deviate totally from their culture and tradition.
Today, you will see an Igbo man with his wife living in the south east and none of their children either understands or speaks Igbo language.
But the Yorubas and Hausas born in America, UK and other countries of the western world speak their dialect even more than the ones born at home in Nigeria.
Further more, it is only Igbo people that will gather in a town hall meeting to discuss something important that will improve their live and the master of ceremony will pick microphone and begin to read a profile of someone from nursery school to university including all the countries he has visited and his personal contacts and how many personality he has had handshakes with.
Most annoying of all is that the purpose that made the people to leave their home will disappear into the thin air.
And the meeting will be postponed indefinitely.
In addition, it is only an Igbo man that will claim and say he is from Israel.
If you ask him where is your family in Israel, he has no answer.
If you further ask, which community or town in Israel did your family migrate from? He has no answer.
Have you visited Israel? The answer will be no.
More so, it is only Igbo people that will be having a townhall meeting with traditional rulers including the council of chiefs, some of who do not understand English Language and the master of ceremony will go through all his dictionary in the night before the meeting to bring all ambiguous word to analyze the meeting in the front of his father who does not understand pidgin English.
That is just like someone who studied French, came back from France and begins to speak French to his father and sees the man who sponsored him in the school as an illiterate because he doesn’t understand French.
Majority of Ndigbo exhibit their quality, their success by compiling profile of many years.
Sometime, some of them will even come with security men with arms into a town hall meeting to intimidate others who have wisdom and better ideas that will liberate Ndigbo from the challenges they are facing in Nigeria politics.
This is as a result of lack of common sense and wisdom of God. We forget that when a professor in English goes to an Arab country, he cannot speak or write in Arab. Does that make him an illiterate in the circle of Arabians?
My dear Igbo people, wisdom and common sense are the master key of leadership.
Some of us claim all these unnecessary accolades stated above because they may have travelled to somewhere and succeeded or maybe because they were not born with golden spoon but eventually saw success.
However, an Igbo man is intelligent and can succeed anywhere in the world.
They are very accommodating and their contributions to the development of Nigeria cannot be downplayed by anybody.
The Igbos have shown one Nigeria in all their dealings. They are good people.
If there is a reincarnation, I will also like to be an Igbo man again.
But the kind of mistakes we are making in all our intelligence and wisdom are very harmful to our general progress.
No other tribe claims a tribe he does not come from.
Many of us claim that Ndigbo is from Israel.
Which country are the Indians, Lebanese , British, USA, Japanese, the Germans etc who produce all kind of today’s products, reincarnate from?
Where are the Spanish, Italians etc claiming? They can produce superior shoes and clothes more than the ones produced in Aba in south east?
No reasonable human being make himself franchise in a country that is not his origin.
Any body who does that have domiciled itself as a franchise. One can acquire dual citizenship and that is understandable. Which culture of Israelite does Ndigbo practice? Which place in Igbo land that speak Israeli language?
The unity of Yoruba people and Hausa is their culture and tradition in this country.
Importantly, the language of these two great tribes in Nigeria is their bond.
We have a leader in Igbo land who can equal the leadership quality of British monarchy.
He is Professor Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha and others that are not mentioned here including myself who has transformed Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State to an enviable height.
Now, people are fighting over who will take over Ohanaeze leadership because of my good work.
And it is the wisdom, sacrifice that is in me that I influenced both national and all the states where Ohanaeze operates.
Any one who counts those who have leadership quality of Ndigbo from Nnamdi Azikiwe, Akanu Ibiam
Michael Okpara, RBC Okafor, Odimegwu Ojukwu and others without mentioning Solomon Ogbonna Aguene in Lagos Ohanaeze, then you would know that the person is an enemy of Ndigbo because he would have done so based on his or her personal interest, jealousy and inferiority complex.
Major General and Field Marshal in the Army, Admiral in the Navy, Inspector General of Police , are all high ranking in the military but they don’t count . Professor is high ranking in education in the area of teaching.
Engineers, doctors are also high ranking in those professions.
They are all acquired from professional efforts and interest but they do not have much to do with leadership quality.
Education plays a good role to sign signature on behalf of the people under your leadership and to communicate with your foreign counterparts.
Those profile also endear values during citations by the master of ceremony in any event or a moderator in any meeting for proper introduction.
What Ndigbo lacks now is quality leader with viability in talking, initiating good ideas including practical exercise of those ideas.
That can bring Ndigbo back home and unity will be achieved.
For example, Ndigbo needs a quality leader who is working towards legacy instead of those descending so low because of money for politicians who use them as a ladder to climb and later dropped them and Ndigbo will continue going back to square one, over and again.
If we have a quality leader, what will be the agenda of Ndigbo today will be how Nnamdi Kanu will be released.
Three groups are suspects in what is happening in the south east.
But if Nnamdi Kanu is released, there will be answer to that confusion.
If he is released, we will know the group that is terrorizing Igbo land.
Is it Nnamdi Kanu’s members or the criminals using Nnamdi Kanu as an opportunity or is it Nigerian government that is terrorizing Ndigbo to disorganize them so that they will not settle to think of Nigerian political power?
Tinubu has so many friends of Ndigbo.
Again, if Ndigbo has a good leader, what will be most interesting to us to propagate Ndigbo future is to approach the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who I know is a good man, to release Nnamdi Kanu with a condition that will not be difficult.
In that case, what is your definition of quality leadership?
Leadership is by birth.
First, you must have the spirit of sacrifice, common sense and wisdom of God in you.
You must accept all, both good and bad with knowledge of managing them.
And you must know from onset that leadership is not an enterprise or limited liability company.
Then you must down play your status and relate with both the poor and the rich.
Why so some politicians and others in leadership position fail is that they believe only in billionaires and influential human beings to work with and the money they are going to make in office.
And many of them forget where they are coming from.
In Gods kingdom , success comes everyday and it is turn by turn.
So, the son or the daughter of the poorest person in a community can become the richest person in the world or president of his or her country.
So, everybody is important.
In leadership, you must exhibit 95 percent practical so that you can meet the needs of your people under the auspices of your leadership.
For example, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated some of these ideas for so many years and that is where he achieves his success.
Our past leaders, mentioned above, have demonstrated it.
Further more, there is no doubt that Ndigbo can listen to their leaders if the leader is transparent and carry them along.
In every 12, there is always a Judas.
And the Igbo Judas are more dangerous than the one that sold Jesus Christ in the area of blackmailing their leaders especially when they are in the mission of pursuing favour for their selfish interests.
Above all, some of our politicians , who retired from illegal business {419} and joined politics, contribute about 70 percent of Ndigbo not having leaders and followers. In contrast, other tribes like Hausa and Yorubas who may have been involved in unclear deals but later joined politics do everything possible to promote more of their culture and tradition.
But our Igbo politicians will use money to obfuscate areas of benefits of our culture and tradition because of their personal interest to acquire power either by hook or crook.
90 percent of them who dominate leadership through politics have no leadership quality.
That is one of the major problems Ndigbo is suffering today.
Many of them who succeed in their business areas ignore the calls of those they feel they are better than especially some of them who joined politics.
And some of these people they ignore their telephone calls are their school mates, peer group and those who campaigned and voted for them.
Ndigbo, we must come back home. We must give chance to the younger ones.
It is a shame seeing 80 years old man fighting for power or projecting only his biological son for position even when he knows that the child lacks wisdom for such position. We must get out of that idea.
Above all, our culture and tradition are the master key if we want to have unity and speak with one voice and bring quality leader on the board for the future of Ndigbo.
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