The purpose of the nonpartisan, pan-Igbo Igbo Agenda Dialogue (IAD) is to mobilize, engage, and bring together Igbo stakeholders in Nigeria and the diaspora in pursuit of a common political goal. The Igbo Agenda Dialogue brings together respectable individuals, town unions, youth and women’s organizations, diaspora bodies, market and professional associations, and leaders from many political backgrounds who are dedicated to creating a more united and powerful political future for the Igbo Nation.
What role does Igbo Agenda Dialogue play in promoting peace, political awareness, and participation throughout the South East in the wake of the recent event in Anambra State where Governor Charles Soludo closed the Onitsha Main Market for a week, as well as the ensuing hues and cries that temporarily brought about relative peace?
The root of the problem—the inability to effectively include the public—remains the same. They also don’t appear to know how to deal with it. In order to contact these young men and women and determine whether there are any other ways to guarantee peace through communication, the question is: How can we get in touch with very well-known individuals? I’m not stating what I’m not doing myself, for instance. In order to address such circumstances, I started the Igbo Agenda Dialogue, which is rapidly expanding. Last year, we just launched this. Reaching out to our young men and women and explaining to them how they may reclaim their place in Nigeria by taking part in the country’s democratic process is the main feature of what we are doing. We are working to change Nigeria’s political landscape in opposition to those who wish to see us overthrown. There is no way for us to use force. We are reaching out to market associations and traditional institutions through outreach, town hall meetings, and persuasion and interface in order to negotiate with them on behalf of the Ndigbo people and secure their proper place in Nigerian politics.
Are Igbo Agenda Dialogue members of or endorsing any political party in the run-up to the elections next year and beyond?
No, it is an organization that supports democracy and is socially, politically, and politically progressive. a social, political, and pro-democracy organization that is nonpartisan, I reiterate. Thus, it is not a part of any group. A political party will go out and solicit votes, much like the All Progressives Congress (APC) currently does, by urging people to register to vote on behalf of their constituents. This one is putting pressure on Igbo people to get involved in politics. For instance, 11.5 million people registered to vote in the 2023 election, and the results were made public throughout all of Nigeria’s regions. However, during the election, you only cast two million votes for each of the presidential contenders, which means that almost 9.3 million Igbo people did not cast any ballots at all. Furthermore, we have stated that we aim to reach 20 million Southeast voters before to the election’s conclusion. Since Igbo people believe that you should secure the floor before looking for a place to lay your mat, it doesn’t even matter which party receives the 20 million votes; instead, the president should be chosen first. Azobute, Azotala, indeed. Thus, this is our purpose. I have been and continue to stay here for a long time. I helped the Igbo people form the APGA, their first political party. I was Nigeria’s first Igbo guy to launch a political party. And the justification for not using that party to run for president was because Chief Awolowo, Malam Aminu Kano, and Malam Waziri Ibrahim had all done so before me. As an extension of the NNDP, which was established in 1923, Azikiwe was a member of the NCNC, which was created by Herbert Macaulay. Therefore, I was able to establish a political party in Nigeria for the first time more than 80 years later as an Igbo man.
Exactly how many Igbo voters does the Igbo Agenda Dialogue hope to reach?
We are first aiming to get 20 million registered voters in the Southeast and roughly 15 million Igbo registered voters in the rest of Nigeria on the official INEC record, which is attainable. If this block is in place, the political parties will now need to determine how many votes they can win out of the total number of votes. Since I’ve learned from experience that the typical Igbo guy is logical, we are not here to encourage anyone to vote for this or that. Furthermore, he doesn’t need convincing to pick a candidate once he has made up his mind to cast his ballot. 1.9 million voters, or 89.6% of the 2.2 million voters that cast ballots in 2023, supported Peter Obi. However, that % is a great result on an exam. An A is awarded. However, in terms of political numbers, it is a bad pass because it falls short of one-third of the more than six million votes that the Igbo people cast for Jonathan.
How is Igbo Agenda Dialogue addressing the South East’s voter apathy with this admirable concept? This is due to the fact that many Nigerians, especially those from the South East, think their votes don’t always matter in elections, which causes them to abstain from voting.
We’re trying to do that. We have also held discussions with the police leadership to ensure that no one goes to claim that we are organizing the populace for subversion of any kind. The DSS, or National Security Adviser, has not yet met with us. In the meantime, Igbo Agender Dialogue has been registered in the United States, and we are meeting our people. I couldn’t believe how quickly our people overseas are contributing to it. A large network of groups and unions connects Igbo people, thus this is not an organization for individual membership; rather, it is an organization that links up with all recognized associations and unions worldwide. In this sense, the Igbo Gender Dialogue resembles a grid. Similar to Nigeria’s electricity grid, it is a political grid that hosts all of these associations and communicates with them in real time. Additionally, we receive feedback in real time for action. We are now active on a minimum of six social media sites. We were invited by the Inspector General of Police in response. We have written to all of our governors, including Soludo, explaining what we are doing and requesting their cooperation in order to improve our area’s peace and inspire our population to take pride in their citizenship and help reclaim their areas.
Returning to the topic of insecurity in Anambra and other South East regions, how do you believe the Igbo Agender Dialogue would be able to allay anxieties and give traders the confidence they need to resume trading on Mondays like any other day? Will there be a conversation of any sort with those who are reiterating the traders’ and others’ concerns?
Through our actions, it has only just begun. Through communication with them, our people will be able to halt this on their own. by having a connection with them. through pointing out to them how their actions are harming the Igbo land economy. They aren’t doing us any good. Observe how our people, including my modest self, have responded to the Nnamdi Kanu controversy. It is how Igbo people ought to react when their own son suffers because they bear their cross. To turn around immediately, though, since I am aware that Nnamdi Kanu was not involved in this sit-at-home activity. It is wrong for a group to now turn around and claim that their justification for putting their people through this suffering is Nnamdi Kanu’s imprisonment. However, you can’t use force to persuade someone to agree with you, which is why I didn’t think Soludo’s strategy was sufficient. I’ve been around long enough to be aware of this. When Nnamdi Kanu was appointed chairman of the APGA in the UK in 2002, I was the one who gave my approval. About twenty-four years ago, that is. Everyone who formed IPOB in Europe was an APGA member in the diaspora, but their disillusionment with the political system was caused by APGA’s failure. No IPOB would likely exist today if the APGA crisis had never occurred. We are now utilizing a non-partisan technique, which is far more effective, to accomplish the same goal that APGA was unable to accomplish by using the same answer, which ironically preserved the organization’s soul. Knowing those who were upset at the time indicates that we may too, and they are older now because anyone who has gained 24 years in age is no longer a child. As a result, we can still contact them tomorrow if we knew them back then and still do. The good news is that they are aware of this past. Why not get involved with those who have gained your trust? If I become like Gumi and the other professor in Katsina, would they see that there are things we can do without betraying our people and putting them in needless danger?
Even if the South East’s markets appear to be operating normally right now, do you believe that the federal government or the governors of the area should do more to reassure traders by mobilizing and ensuring proper security in the markets? This is so because the goal is not to interact with the traders. When you confront them, they return to the marketplace, where their lives might still be at danger.
As I mentioned earlier, the traders are only victims. It is not their fault. Ask the person who is causing that insecurity. It’s a select few who carry the AK-47. We know them. Who claimed they don’t exist? We know them. Who would have thought that America’s planes could see where the rebels were staying in Nigeria? When they arrived and executed a single strike on a section of them in Sokoto State, I recall that they blasted fighter jets into the air to declare that they had reclaimed the Sambisa Forest, which they had been unable to do so for roughly 15 years. To assert, “We know where these people are,” only one man was needed. We are aware of the problematic Igbo lands, so you can’t claim that. Unlike me, our governors have access to intelligence facilities and capabilities. As a result, they are familiar with them. Also, these are mostly not herdsmen; they are not Fulanis. We have boys and girls like these.
Despite the apparent calm, are you in favor of deploying more Nigerian troops and other security forces to guarantee that the area returns to normalcy?
Nigerian military and other Federal Government security forces are being sent in, and we have already witnessed the harm they have caused. They have exacerbated our predicament by erecting toll gates everywhere and demanding money from our citizens. And the soldiers will perceive the chance to virtually clear a whole village when these individuals storm one station or one barrier. Nigeria’s security forces should therefore confront the war that threatens the country’s northern region. One feature is the native security systems for which Igbo people are renowned. Engaging with these individuals to help them control their aggression and voice is another factor. You don’t pose a threat. Together, you sit and talk. You will be able to learn the reasons behind their actions. There is nothing you can do, though, about the crooks among them. Some of these people actually think of themselves as freedom fighters. You will be able to identify criminals and deal with them as such after you have these out. The reason for dealing with such individuals is that you may negotiate with those who are fighting for freedom and you can identify them when you interact with them, rather than negotiating with someone who is already a criminal.
However, do you believe that the merchants in Anambra, for example, were justified in closing their stores at all times, and what do you believe to be their main concerns?
The governors shouldn’t be intimidating the merchants because they had legitimate concerns. The traders at the Onitsha Main Market had already lost their lives and property that should have been preserved. The problem in that market, where I’m referring to it and need to emphasize its position in all of West Africa, is not just taking the lives of those who have come there to conduct business. These enigmatic individuals have the ability to set one market stall on fire, causing trillions of Naira’s worth of damage. This is because, if you visit the market and observe what is there, you would realize that it is the heart of the Igbo people, not simply Anambra. As a result, a governor like Governor Soludo, who ought to be focusing on ways to boost domestic revenue—of which commercial activity is the main source—will not turn around and try to harm people and their businesses as though that were the only solution to the sit-at-home problem. Nobody in the Igbo community is rational enough to be content with staying at home. People of Igbo descent are not lazy. Even if they don’t enjoy extending their weekend till Monday, they are doing it because of the threats. After assembling his team, he was unable to resolve the issue. They caused more issues instead. One thing is for sure: the traders are not staying at home because of Nnamdi Kanu; rather, they are doing so for their own protection because they are always in danger and have no one to defend them from those thugs. All were aware of that. Their failure to comply is not a result of their desire to close their company. The hardship of people closing their businesses on Sundays is already too much. Then they do, as the majority of us are Christians, who worship God on Sundays and, for some, use them to rest and get ready for Monday. They must now spend Mondays at home going about their everyday business. Furthermore, the government’s primary duty, as stated in the Nigerian Constitution, is to ensure the safety and security of the populace; but, they now lay the burden for their wars on the victims. I hope they finally take action and make sure this problem is put to rest.
