Tinubu, Nigeria and Igbo glitch (1)

I still insist that the Great Zik of Africa and Nigeria’s all time legendary political evangelist, still remains the most visionary leader/ politician ever to have emerged from the Igbo country.

Nigeria’s sociopolitical, cultural as well as sports and even economic revolution had their sparkle the moment Zik returned to Nigeria from Ghana in 1937. Nationalism and statesmanship blossomed the same way journalism grew with new idea and styles. Everything about Nigeria’s journey to independence was practically centred on Zik.

Even his arch business rivals, political opponents and nationalistic enemies attested to this fact. The Yoruba legend and one of the great nationalists, Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave credence to this claim in his autobiography, with the title, AWO.

In chapter 11, page 133, the inspirational Awo said., ” When Dr Azikiwe returned to Nigeria in 1937, with his idea about new nationalism and new Africa… he proved to be an asset to the Nigerian Youth Movement, NYM. He was one of the famous, volcanic nationalist quartet: Mr Ernest Ikoli, Oba Samuel Akinsanya, Chief H.O. Davis and Dr Azikiwe… He (Zik) brought with him a new propaganda technique which was new in politics and journalism in Nigeria, and which further boosted the popularity of the Nigerian Youth Movement and disarrayed its opponents”.

Yet, Awo was outrageously brutal and caustic on Zik. In the same book quoted above which had 336 pages, after the first 132 pages, from page 133 till the end, Awo shockingly wrote about Zik as if the first Nigerian president was the central theme of his topic. He called Zik unprintable names, squarely blamed him for all the ills that besieged the country right from 1937 till when the book was written in 1960.

Awo’s sordid description of Zik was amazingly copied by virtually all other writers on national issues, surprisingly, including Ndigbo! For instance, the Legendary Ojukwu, in his 1989 Best Seller, BECAUSE I WAS INVOLVED, in part four, page 157, took an inexorable horrifying hard stand on Zik. It was most wondrous as Ojukwu, after paying glowing tributes to Zik as a warrior in the colonial era, ruthlessly crushed him as a colossal failure after independence. It was a beautiful sore reading what Ojukwu wrote against Zik (that is, Zik of post independence era of 1960/66). From here, the Igbo youths believed Ojukwu and began insulting the Great Zik as the architect of thier problem in Nigeria, although that school of thought had gained ascendency immediately after the civil war in 1970, it became more pronounced after Ojukwu launched his missiles on Zik in 1989.

In a way, the failure of The Guardian newspapers to give Zik even a page in its THE WHOLE TRUTH publication, meant to celebrate 20 years of the Flagship (1983 – 2003) through selected editorials, was grandiosely irritating. The work which was published in 2005, edited by Reuben Abati, never considered it worthy to celebrate Zik, the pathfinder who led the country to independence. Rather, it had reasons to write about almost all of Zik’s contemporaries and even those whose actions and inactions contributed to the present slum state of Nigeria. I never saw it as mistake. It was deliberate. I was only consoled when Haruna Mohammed who was invited by The Guardian managers to review their 496 paged work tore the book to shreds on its “northern marginalization” outlook.

Almost at the same time of The Guardian’s shun of Zik, the almighty Newswatch magazine, in the same 2005, published its Newswatch BEST, a compendium of its excellent articles by the magazine’s editors and columnists. Almost all prominent Nigerians were covered except Zik. I was not disappointed but surprised because it was coming from Newswatch, not TELL or The News magazines. What is more, the 446 paged book was edited by Ray Ekpu, an international award winning journalist with rich national and foreign historical background.

The question is, why was Zik buffeted by Awo, scorched by Ojukwu, drenched by The Guardian and disregarded by Newswatch?

These are a part of our discourse in the next article which will ultimately connect with the headline of this essay.

By Ori Martins