Ikechukwu Amaechi wrote recently on the Eze-Ndigbo phenomenon and
the penchant by most for titles. He said:
"I remember telling someone who sat beside me at the gala
night (of Ezuruezu Mbaise in Dallas) that there seemed to be more chiefs and
lolos of Igbo extraction in the U.S. than we have in Nigeria. . .
In reference to the sprouting of Eze-Ndigbo in the American
diaspora, Amaechi used the expression "the burgeoning chieftaincy industry
among Ndigbo in the US." Whether we like it or not, this represents the
new reality, the new normal. Of course we do not have to fall over and
willy-nilly accept it.
Amaechi continued, "A few years ago when Eze Cletus Ilomuanya
was the Chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, the council
frowned at the idea of having Eze Ndigbo in the Diaspora.
"In fact, the council banned anyone from bearing the title of
Eze Ndigbo outside Igboland. The case went to court because the association of
Eze Ndigbos, particularly those in Lagos, kicked against the ban. . ."
Any keen observer would have noticed that Eze Cletus Ilomuanya and
his colleagues were more than 40years late in confronting this monster. They
were trying to secure the stable door long after the horse had bolted.
Incidentally I was at a meeting of the Association of Anambra State Development
Unions (AASDU), Lagos when the above letter/directive of South East Council of
Traditional Rulers was read. The matter was not even discussed. It is possible
that some of my fellow delegates at that meeting were aspiring Eze-Ndigbos. You
can't use Belzeebub to chase out the devil.
I have written elsewhere about just one of the several origins of
this now decried Eze-Ndigbo phenomenon. Here I am referring to the complicity
of the civil war era Gen Gowon led Federal Military Government in its effort to
win the propaganda war against Biafra. Certain "efulefus", stranded
outside Igboland, and far removed from the intellectual mould of the likes of
Ukpabi Asika, were elevated beyond their wildest dreams and presented to the
outside world each as a posterchild of Igbo survival and prosperity in what was
left of war-torn Nigeria. With the reintegration of Ndigbo in 1970 into
mainstream Nigerian society, otherwise busy and serious minded individuals came
to covet the titles. Simply because it paid.
Access to governors and the political structure of Non-Igbo states
was guaranteed. I do not know much about the pedigree of HRH Igwe Ohazulike,
the original Eze-Ndigbo Lagos. However the man definitely ticked and bubbled. I
had cause to be at his "palace" on an assignment I cannot now recall.
The other side of the coin is the fact that various administrations in Lagos
State, deliberately cultivated him. Similar scenarios played out all over the
federation. In the north with an entrenched culture of indirect rule,
Eze-Ndigbo were found quite handy.
Is it then any surprise that in the last two decades there has
been a proliferation of Eze-Ndigbos in all the LGAs of Lagos state? Ndigbo have
the habit of under-studying and ultimately copying any business model that
works. Think of Auto Spare Parts, Pharmaceuticals, Timber Retail Trade
(Enugu-Agidi ekenee mu unu!), Tokunbo Cars (latecomers here in copying the
Omo'Odua), etc. My point here is that this Eze-Ndigbo thing evolved from its
primordial origins into a business. Yes! Otherwise we would not have had the
supposed intellectual and professional class, medical doctors and engineers,
violently joining the fray in Ilorin, Ibadan and many other locations to the
dismay of most of us.
The bizarre manifestations in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Los
Angeles, Chicago and others, is a much different matter altogether. Ask
columnist like Dr Sabille Abidde. He can easily confirm that these our brothers
in diaspora work so hard in God's own country trying to stay ahead of their
mortgage payments, pay their car notes, raise reasonably well adjusted children
in a society where they are never going to be fully accepted as full citizens.
And they still have to deal with the ghost of Trayvon Martin, and the madness
in Charlotte, South Carolina. They and their kids are black and at the same
time not quite. Moreover Nigeria does not seem to need or want them despite
political noises to the contrary. The alienation is real.
What follows is a coping mechanism, an extreme exercise in pushing
the Nigerian, nay Igbo identity with all the external paraphernalia that seem
to go with it. Hence the loud regalia etc. In a typical Igbo gathering in the
US, there are often too many Chiefs & Lolos, and very few subjects aka
ordinary folks!
The long term solution or answer to the Eze-Ndigbo infestation,
(for that is what it is), is to studiously ignore the bearers of these and
similar titles. Each aspirant will be free to answer Eze in his own home in the
company of his wife (sorry Lolo) and his children (princes and princesses?)
Igboland has more pressing issues to engage our intellect and our
brawn.
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