By Valentine Ozigbo
Remarks by VALENTINE OZIGBO at the Diocese of Nnewi (Anglican Communion) Igbo Leadership Conference with Theme: ‘Igbo Man and Politics in Nigeria – The Way Forward,’ held Tuesday & Wednesday November 10-11, 2024 at St Andrew’s DCC, Nnewi, Anambra State
PROTOCOL
INTRODUCTION
In Genesis 1Vs26, God, in His infinite wisdom, gave man dominion over the earth: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
From creation, God’s intention for man is to discharge this function of dominion over the earth through provision of leadership just as he subdues his environment at will. This divine leadership and the attainment of goals and realization of expectations is dependent on the leader and his leadership style. Which is the reason why we all that are gathered here and those not here should be worried about the quality of leaders we chose and the leadership available to us as a people.
Politics and leadership in most Igbo communities during the pre-colonial era was based on consultative assembly of the council of elders following after the then culture of Igbo Enwe Eze and Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya.
This means our traditional governance system, was decentralized and egalitarian, with councils of elders, age grades, and other collective leadership forms, instead of a centralized monarchical structure.
In these traditional societies prevalent before the colonial masters relegated our traditional leadership structure and culture, leadership of the Igbos was provided by members of the Council of Elders who were mainly heads of lineage groups, rich influential men, holders of certain titles and priests of important cults. Members of this Council, who traditionally adjudicated on issues in the community, were respected for their accomplishments and capabilities and often performed special functions as assigned to them by the members.
Members of the group were picked by maturity of age, great knowledge of traditional matters and above all, truthfulness in all matters. They take solemn vows and sacred initiation rites which forbade them from working against community interest. In addition, we also had other spheres of authority including Umu Nna, Umu Ada, Age Grade, the Ezemuos and masquerades especially the night ones (The Achikwu).
Today, we still have these traditional leadership structure in place. But they exist more as consultative and cultural institutions.
WHERE ARE WE TODAY IN CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP?
Based on our shared history, it is clear that most Igbo societies operated an egalitarian system with decentralized political authority as the Council of Elders exercised their power and authority to make and enforce laws on behalf of the people. But that era is gone.
In Igboland today, we all can agree that in terms of collective leadership generally, we deserve more than we are currently getting, especially from the political front. We cannot say truthfully that we are satisfied with what we are getting in terms of taking collective action on behalf of the people.
In my opinion, we have not done well with leadership. We even did better when we had the likes of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr Michael Okpara, Dr NwaforOrizu, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Mazi Sam Mbakwe, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, and a few more. More recently, we have seen a shining light with the inspirational effort of Peter Obi in the 2023 election. But overall, we seem to be performing worse today than we did in the past.
Evidence of this abounds, be in terms of collective result of hardship and insecurity, and even the unwillingness and inability of our key political actors to come together. And the big question is WHY?
Why has the concept of onye aghana nwanne ya disappeared?
Why are we so disrespectful to one another?
Why are we so selfish and greedy?
This takes me then to the wider issues on leadership, citizenship and values/culture. We need to investigate these to know ebe mmiri bidoro wee maba anyi.
WAY FORWARD
We need to follow some simple logic to be able to chart a good pathway forward.
First, is that there is still God Almighty who continues to rule in the affairs of men.
Second, is that we have the Israelites as a good sign post as to what is possible if we do the right things.
Thirdly, even with inadequate and harsh environment in Nigeria, we Igbos can evolve and progress better if we can be the change we yearn for.
Who is a typical Igbo Man and Woman, and what values should we pursue.
In terms of who we should strive to be, I will like to dwell on the concept of active and purposeful citizenship.
REINVENTING OUR CITIZENSHIP
Without our proper understanding and application of the essence of citizenship, we would not have a leadership that respects the people. Faithful citizenship is more than enjoying rights. It involves the activation of the power to resist injustice in your society, the knowledge that as citizens, we have the power to shape the future, to lead with courage and compassion, and to make a difference in the world.
This involved the due recognition of our past mistakes, taking responsibility for them, and committing to a better future. Faithful citizenship is more than a title. It is a call to action and this throws away the average Igbo attitude to governance. It’s all about standing up for justice, advocating for those who cannot speak for themselves, and working tirelessly to create a society that reflects our highest ideals.
Active citizenship means holding yourself and, in turn, your government and leaders accountable. Society falters when leaders are not held to account, and it is our duty as citizens to ensure that they serve with integrity and transparency. It means that to be a good citizen, each must operate within the law, strive for excellence, and let your actions be a testament to the values you hold dear.
The Office of the Citizen remains the highest office in the land as it contains the power to make a difference, to be a beacon of hope and progress. This involved ensuring that every voice is heard, every person is valued, and every dream has the chance to flourish.
As political leaders in the arena, we must understand this citizen responsibility both for our legacy and the people that we are privileged to serve. For us here, this demands the right deployment of knowledge, skills, and collective will to build a homeland that reflects our highest ideals.
OUR NEW APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP, THE 4PS
The idea of who we are and what kind of citizenship we exhibit is all the way more important when it comes to leadership question.
We need to understand the place of personality as the most important factor in leadership. What character does a person have, how compassionate he is and his track records are the most important factors in leadership. In the corporate word, it is often said that your level of educational knowledge and intelligent quotient will open the door, but what keeps you in that door and raise your leadership level if your emotional intelligence skill.
I will take my time to explain this.
The key points to take away here are:
1. All the values we hold dear, the most important commandments of God are embedded here. This must be the biggest reason we are failing.
2. This takes me to Proverbs 29:2 which I will like to rephrase as when emotionally intelligent leaders are in power, the people rejoice. Onye nwere ako na uche, nweekwa obi mmadu na obi chukwu.
Being a person of good personality is the most important but still not enough.
We must be leaders who will not only fight for rule of law, we must be able to hold ourselves and others accountable. Accountability means consequence management. When you get into office under a compromised condition, it diminishes your ezigbo mmadu, if you had any. This is why political platform and process of your emergency are two other necessary Ps we must note.
We should always strive to ensure that it is indeed the people’s will that is enforced and not corrupt systems in Nigeria. We can make sure this does not happen all the time or make us resort to blame games – looking for who or what to blame for the state of things.
This then brings me to the last P of Promise. While it is important to know the vision leaders have in seeking for an office, we must always do our due diligence well to assess the other Ps before even paying attention to promises, manifesto and Blueprints.
VALUES AND CULTURE
A lot has been said about erosion of values and some preach how important Omenana is. I don’t want to delve so much into the past. What I believe in is that we must enthrone seriously the culture of continuous improvement in everything we do.
With this, we can look at Ezigbo Omenana and Ajo Omenana. We basically challenge the status quo instead of celebrating one. This has been one of our major problems.
Japan used the concept of Kaizen to transform its country. We need to see how we integrate Kaizen to our way of life and raise our overall level of efficiency. It involves cutting wastes from our lives, work and governance. We need to challenge ourselves on how we can gradually and consistently question everything we do, and find answers on how they can be improved upon on a consistent manner.
CONCLUSION
The first thing to admit is that Igbos are respected worldwide for their business acumen which they have been deploying for the growth of the economy, whether in commerce, the professions, corporate world.
We have a long way to go nonetheless. To chart the way forward, we must get our political leadership right. We need to go the extra mile, we need to do the right things and we need to bring God into the equation in a very serious manner. We need to do our own bit more in being united, purposeful and be less transactional. We need to show love and less of wickedness and hate to each other. We need to demonstrate that we are indeed godly people. We need to behave right, to be more selfless and we need to hold ourselves and our leadership accountable; to hold them responsible for situations under them and not allow them to blame others.
We also need to look at the culture we are projecting out there. Are we putting the right vibrations on and showing forth the right way for our people? We need to interrogate our image and conduct and see right values to entrench and to project. We must keep rekindling the pursuit of excellence. We should enthrone a culture of continuous improvement and being strategic in everything that we do. We should also explore partnership that is well thought out with other individuals or groups that will be a win-win situation, not a sheep-lion relationship.
Let me end with rephrasing Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s phrase: Ndi Igbo should beware of people who may appear intellectually sound, and may have all the resources of this world, but lack character, because such combination is fatal.
Valentine Ozigbo is Labour Party chieftain and frontline Governorship hopeful in Anambra State in the November 8, 2025 Governorship election