From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
The traditional ruler of Egede ancient kingdom in Enugu State, Igwe Polycarp Onyigbo, has been on the throne of his community for one decade.
In this chat with a select group of journalists in Enugu after the new yam festival, Igwe Onyigbo looked at his 10-year reign and the carving out of another autonomous community from his kingdom, the lot of his community in Enugu State and the Operation Python Dance mounted recently by the military in the South-East.
How has it been ruling the Egede Autonomous Community in the last 10 years?
It has been smooth in the sense that my people are happy now. This is because Egede has two blocs: Ibite and Ikeye. From time immemorial, from the beginning of Egede, all the traditional rulers have been coming from the Ibite bloc of Egede. So, this is the first time an Igwe is emerging from Ikeye which is my bloc and because of that my people are very happy for seeing what they have not seen in the past. Though there have been some grudges from the other side, but for now, everything has come to a smooth conclusion and the people are happy again.
How has your community been treated by the Enugu State government?
The government Mr Sullivan Chime treated Egede well because that was the first time a tarred road passed through Egede in its history. The other road that passed here was the one leading to Nsukka and is on the outskirt of Egede; it didn’t traverse through Egede properly, but this very one traversed through Egede. We saw for the first time government presence in our place and because of that our people held him in high esteem. Another thing he did was that it was the second time an illustrious son of Egede became a member of House of Assembly in the person of Johnbull. So, we are very happy with him and so the majority of the Egede people supported the PDP then. So, with the present government of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, we are still looking forward to seeing government presence in our area. Recently, Governor Ugwuanyi promised us a road network which will stretch from Ohum to join the other expressway that Sullivan did; he promised us that he will start by October. We went to the Government House sometime ago for something else and he made an open promise, so we believe that definitely he is going to do it. So, we are expecting another government presence as from October, which I believe he is going to fulfill.
The last new yam festival of Egede was unique as new a autonomous community joined your own, how do you see it?
Yes, it is a welcome development that an autonomous community was carved out from Egede. But it would have been done all this while if not for some inconsistencies on the part of some of the Ibite people. Because, I can remember, immediately I mounted the throne in 2007, some people from Ibite were not happy, and they never supported my government, never respected my throne because of reasons best known to them. They said because the Igweship rotation came to my side, that they will never support my throne. It lingered on for about 10 years. During that time, they were agitating that they wanted an autonomous community. They wrote the first application, I countered it; wrote the second one, we countered it, wrote the third one, we countered it. It was after Governor Ugwuanyi made some consultations with the people in Egede that we agreed that such could be done.I gave the governor my word that the autonomous community be carved out. So, he did it and I think the people are happy now. That was what made the last Iri-ji festival unique. The two Igwes were in the church because we are both from the same church, Roman Catholic Church, two of us were there, many of the religious leaders in Egede were there, the Catholic priests, Monsignors, reverend sisters, many of them who are Egede indigenes, some from Umuoye clan, many of them were there, so it was really a big event and people were happy. So, after the church ceremony, each Igwe went to his palace and continued the other rites because it is now two different communities.
Do you subscribe that specific roles be given to traditional rulers in the country?
The fact that definite roles are not given to the Igwes constitutionally, progress, development, security matters in the different communities are hampered because when someone is working and has no point, something I call point of departure; when somebody is doing what is not determined by his rights, to say, this is your duty, the person might not live up to expectations or he might do things that are wrong and might not understand this. The Igwe is supposed to have some constitutional rights, properly entrenched in the constitution that will give him that opportunity to perform even better because in the traditional institution, Igwes have a lot of things to do. When you come into a community, for instance, in security, we are told that we are the chief security officers of our respective communities, but somebody like me, I need to ask questions. If I am the chief security officer of my community, with what will I perform that function as a traditional ruler and the chief security officer? I have not been empowered to perform that function. If there are proper recognitions the Igwe will know what he is supposed to do as the traditional ruler and there will not be problem in the community. You will know who to assign what responsibility to. When you come to a town, there is the town union, there are institutions, like in my own community, we have the town union, the Igwe-in-Council, the Ishianis, who are the immediate elders that represent the various villages and kindred; these people in the Constitution of Egede have their determined functions they are supposed to do. Once the Igwe is there to direct all these things there won’t be problem. So, I think the Igwes should have definite constitutional responsibilities they are supposed to take.
How do you see the present Operation Python Dance in the South East mounted by the military?
You called it operation python dance, wonderful! Why should the military launch an operation on a particular sector of the country? Now, if they launch operation python dance in the South-East, what did they launch in the North-Central? What did they launch in the North-East? What did they launch in the South-West and South-South? Why South-East? So, I don’t even understand the operation python dance and what it si intended to achieve. What are they dancing for? To my understanding, if it has come to this stage the South easterners, all the South; we are doomed. Why? Because what has been happening in the South is something that has never been seen in any part of the country. I move around the country and I don’t know why the South should be an exception. I don’t know what type of constitution they are applying in the South. Is it Nigerian constitution? I don’t know whether the military has a different constitution from where they picked out that Operation Python Dance. So to me, it is not supposed to be done. If they discover that there is a particular problem, we will know, the people will know. They should tell us the reason they should move troops to a particular place.
You can’t just move troops without people knowing because our people will be scared. Troops are moved when there is war. When people see soldiers, they will run because it is not done. How can you just move troops?
They said it was to curtail kidnapping and other crimes in the region?
How many kidnappers have they arrested? How many of them were prosecuted? How many are in the prison now? Do you understand what I am talking about? To my understanding, moving troops to the streets will not go a long way in checkmating that type of high organized crime. There is a way such things could be done like use of the secret police and the CIDs. When the government wants to stop crime, they will use the secret police, CID, police without uniform because if you say that you want to catch a criminal and you are with uniform, armoured vehicle, he will identify you and run away. The best way to combat such an organized crime is by using the secret service and it will yield results. There was a time when one governor in Lagos, the way he combated crime was that he was using commercial buses with police in plain clothes, before six months, he was able to reduce crime rate to the barest minimum in Lagos because when you see a bus moving, you might say it is a passenger bus. So, to me, the best way to tackle such an organized crime is not by moving troops to a place.