Once a Nagrammite ...

As a small boy, I opted to study at the National Grammar School, Nike in Enugu by choice. Before applying for admission in the school, I had heard about their exploits: in sports, particularly football; in discipline; and above all else, in academics.

I was privileged to participate in the 2018 Inaugural Convention of the alumni of this great institution which took place in Atlanta, USA.

It was a massively successful event in terms of its organisation, the number and sheer depth of its attendance, and the resolutions adopted.

I can’t wait for a convention to be hosted by those of us over here in Europe, particularly, the United Kingdom.

I am sure Dr Azubuike Udoye and his versatile and talented team are keeping their eyes on the bigger picture.

Once a Nagrammite, always a Nagrammite.

#AmorEtFides

 Another Dot-in-the-Circle Statistics:

According to the Nigerian

Olympics

Committee (NOC), nearly 50% of the 60 athletes representing Nigeria in the on-going 2020 Tokyo

Olympics

games are Igbo people.

In fact, over 66% of the team members of the Basketball teams (both men and women with each having 12 members) are Ndi-Igbo.

This is not a bad record for the Dot-In-The-Circle nation.

The moral of the story?

You subjugate and suppress the Igbo race at your own peril!!!

K'OkwuaDiliChukwu

 My Son is also an ORIE Boy

I had been indulging in chest-beating, like the elated gorilla, in an effort to cheer myself up as an unrepentant and unapologetic Igbo irredentist. Not until my friend, Ichie Onodugo Nwafo Nwafo visited me earlier today.

In the course of our discussion, one of my kids served him some drinks. As the boy made for the exit, Ichie Nwafo called him back. Looking my boy in the face, Ichie Nwafo asked him: "Gini ka nna gi n'akpo gi?" (to the uninitiated, that means: what name does your father call you?). The boy smiled ignorantly, turned and looked in my direction as if saying "Dad, you did not teach me that". Of course, I ducked his prying looks.

Ichie Nwafo exploded with laughter. And after dismissing my son, the white-bearded visitor looked at me and continued laughing over his discoveries.

"That is the problem I have with you FOREIGN NDI-IGBO", he started. He took a mouthful of the Stella Artoirs beer, wiped his mouth, and continued. " You see, you people are killing our culture!" No, I wasn't prepared to stomach that, not after my contributions in promoting our cultural heritage.

So I challenged him. For the next ten minutes or so, he lectured me on the need for all Igbo people, both at home and abroad, to join in the propagation and retention of the "rich language and culture of the Igbo people."

I defended myself by informing him that my kids bear only Igbo names. "That is not enough!" he thundered. "They also need to speak the language."

As our conversations wore on, I sought to find out why he bore two "NWAFOR" names. He explained that his first name was "NWAFOR" having been born on an Afo market day. The second "NWAFOR" belongs to his family ancestry. I remembered (and told him so) that I was also born on an "AFOR" day hence my names also include "OKAFOR". He demanded that I spelt my own version of “OKAFO” which I did instantly, with an "R" at the end. He rejected that outrightly as being anglicised and therefore foreign because of the last letter. He informed me that none of his names contained the letter “R” at the end.

When he left, I googled Igbo Calendar and found out that the other name, which was not given, for my son is also “OKORIE” since he was born on an “ORIE” day. When I told the boy, while my wife looked on, he laughed it off. My wife? She was not amused by the name.

By the way, does your own child bear any Igbo market day names? If not, why?

 THE IGBO RACE: A TIME TO SEEK SOFT POWER IS NOW!!!

According to Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, those who successfully obtain political kingdoms (or powers) will have all else added unto them.

Ndigbo fell out of power after they lost what I call PHASE ONE of the Biafran struggle in January 1970. The fallout of that loss is still haunting the Igbo race till today.

Computer wares come in both HARD and SOFT. Hence there are HARDWARE and SOFTWARE. I will try not to delve into these two concepts too deeply here so as not to divert the focus and essence of this discourse.

Computer hardware is just a piece of equipment. Without the software, the hardware is useless waste of human energy, time, and space. Same goes for HARDPOWER in governance. SOFTPOWER is political power pure and simple, while HARDPOWER is economic power (and others). So, when the sage Nkrumah urged Africans to seek political power first and foremost, he was asking them to acquire SOFTPOWER.

Now, Ndigbo, especially the young, have successfully demonstrated that they have acquired the HARDPOWER. If you are still in doubt, please download and watch videos of OBI COBANA show which took place in Oba, Anambra State last weekend. That was the best physical demonstration and attestation of the ECONOMIC SURVIVAL of the Igbo race.

Furthermore, all over Nigeria (and beyond), there are physical testimonies of the Igbo man’s economic survival – in industries such as entertainment, real estate, manufacturing, etc, etc. So, from these perspectives, we have successfully banished the pains and insult inflicted on Ndigbo by the scourge of the £20 and abandoned property issues.

My worry, however, is that without a backup SOFTPOWER, all these “achievements” will come to nothing because, it takes just one depraved lunatic at the top of government destroy or reverse them.

And so, all the talks of marginalisation, referendum, restructuring, and presidency by Ndigbo will amount to nothing until we acquire, control, or influence political (or SOFT) power. If you doubt the veracity of this standpoint, then look no further than to what happened to Chief MKO Abiola’s political ambition. The man had all the economic (or HARD) power, in fact, more than any living Nigerian of his day Yet, he couldn’t secure the pollical power. I recall that, at one point, one notable Northern political bruiser, Umaru Dikko, was quoted as reminding MKO that the presidency was not for sale, even to the highest bidder!

Are you still in doubt of the supremacy of SOFTPOWER over HARDPOWER in governance? Even the imposition of £20 on Biafran returnees irrespective of the millions they had in Nigerian banks before the war is another case in point. Or, for that matter, why are we berating the ABANDONED PROPERTY issue 50-something years after the civil war?

What these and many other examples of how SoftPower controls HardPower litter the terrains of history. In America, there is the antitrust legislation which, on paper seeks to curb the monopolistic powers of large corporations. Additionally, however, this law is used by government in controlling and reducing the powers of individuals and businesses by splitting their empires into smaller less powerful units. This way, those affected can not muster enough resources and, yes, powers to challenge the government.

#K’OkwuaDiliChukwu

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