IDEALISM VERSUS REALITY

LAWRENCE CHARLES NWANGWA 

NGWA/UKWA LIBERATION 

(CHARLES NWANGWA PLAN OF ACTION) 

IDEALISM VERSUS REALITY 

PART ONE 

IN THE BEGINNING 

A lot have been written, said and analysed on the problems of the NGWA/U 
KWA and her peoples, while I do not wish to repeat what have been said 
severally, I also consider it apposite to digress on some of our immediate 
past justifying the Ngwa adage that "one who fails to note where the 
rain began to beat him will not know where it stopped to beat him". 

NDINGWA operated an agrarian economy: mainly for subsistence. Consequent 
on this LAND became the beginning and ends all. Any one who did not distinguish 
himself either as a powerful farmer, physical prowess as a tiller of 
the soil or land owner who could do "kwoo kwoorom (a system whereby the 
landowner gives out some portions of land to another who is less endowed 
but with physical strength, to cultivate for him and in return he is 
given some as his reward or price) is disdained and regarded as an efulefu 
or nwoko nwanyi ka nma. 

At the advent of the Europeans (please read western civilization) it 
became almost an abomination for a blue-blooded Ngwa son or nwafodiala 
to abandon the ways of his father to embrace the strange culture of nwabekee. 
The few who did were the indolent ones in the family that were considered 
not very useful or supernumeraries, and therefore had to be donated to 
the white man. This was considered as a more humane method than the option 
of being sold into slavery or used handily in "ime ome". For a more detailed 
account see: NWANGWA L.C.; EVOLUTION OF CHIEFTAINCY INSTITUTIONS IN NGWALAND; University of Lagos, June 1989.

The Ngwaman and Ngwaland paid dearly for his inability to adapt to changing 
times as evident today. The attendant cleavages have continued to not 
only haunt us but also emasculate and asphyxiate our collective psyche 
in the present scheme of things. 

RELEVANCE OF THE ABOVE TO THE PRESENT. 

Emasculation and asphyxiation are precursors to anorexia. The fact that 
we are in a state of political and economic anorexia is not in dispute 
having been bequeathed thus by our ancien regime. This is why the Ngwaman 
did not make forays in the world of business/commerce. When it dawned 
on us to make hay we took to teaching, teaching only within our locality 
where we can watch our fathers’ lands and nkwu la ngwo. The ideal qualification 
was Higher Elementary pass out. In addition to guarding jealously our 
ala, nkwu and ngwo we had our local concubines (iko okpuru ulo) who were 
mostly the young spouses of our senile fathers and uncles to shower our 
libido on. 

Meanwhile, our landless ohuhu neighbours took to adventure thereby making 
enormous inroads to spheres we considered unimaginable to explore. The 
Ngwaman will do anything but take economic risk. He prefer being sent 
to jail for violently challenging his rival in a prurient adventure than 
be caught smuggling articles of trade or evading payment of custom duty. 
I stand to be proved wrong. 

Before I proceed let me give everybody reading this a mental assignment. 
Take a cursory look at economic or political development in your villages 
or community. You will discover that the ones who made break through 
in quick time were the mbiara mbiara or the landless ones. In my village- 
Umuomei in the former Mgoko Umuanunu Autonomous community, Obingwa L.G.A. 
for instance (I will give this example because I believe in removing 
the log in my eye first before removing that of my neighbour) we have 
four sections or sub-villages viz. NSULU, NVOSI, NTIGHA and OHUHU. The 
first three settled earlier hence appropriated all the lands. Ohuhu had 
no land resources. Outside the little piece they were given by mostly 
Nvosi and Nsulu to settle on, the rest were parchments given to them 
by their in-laws so that their wives (daughters of the landowners) will 
not starve. Surprisingly it was this landless part of the village that 
built the first zinc houses. While Ntigha and the others were busy chasing 
will-o-wisp, Ohuhu was busy doing kwoo kwoorom and engaging in long distance 
trade of all kinds. They infact produced "nde mere ihe ji". Macrocosmically 
this is Ngwaland for you. Prove me wrong! "ATUORA NWA OHOO YA AHOTA, 
ATUORA NWAOFEKE YA EFERE GAWA" 

OUR BANE (NEMESIS) 

Umu nnem la umu nnam, the fault O! Brutus sorry Ndingwa is in us. "Ihie 
la ahia oru di n’ulo, odigh n’ime oru". Our undoing have been: 

"OGBEDE UBI KA AVO AHIA NMA" 

SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS 

SELF DESTRUCTION 

"OJIRI GIRI KAM" 

"MELEWA YA" 

LACK OF ADVENTURE ("MA ANOO OKE M HA") 

"NDI IRI LA WHE GI" (ARE YOU FEEDING ME?) For your notice Charles Nwangwa 
wants whoever can or will feed him. 

"ASI WO" (GOSSIP) 

"LA ODURU GBOO"(HASTY ASSUMPTION) 

"AMAKWAWO SI"(LET THEM NOT SAY…) 

AMATEURISHNESS 

LOW OR WRONG AMBITION 

SELFISHNESS AND TIGHTFISTEDNESS 

SELF PITY OR WHAT MARKETING REFERS TO AS "COGNITIVE DISSONANCE" 

ULTRA CONSERVATISM 

PETTINESS, MUTUAL SUSPICION AND HATRED 

ARROGANCE OR LACK OF HUMILITY 

MATERIAL POVERTY OR LACK OF WEALTH. 

INCIPIENT RUDENESS. 

LACK OF CENTRAL LEADERSHIP 

The catalogue of our bane is rather endless I will just make few comments 
bordering on the obvious and go to the menu of the day what I have referred 
to above as my plan of action. 

It is plain truth to say that one of the major things debilitating our 
liberation is finance, money, ego, ikpeghi, etc. If you take a cursory 
look of the above you will agree with me that it is almost impossible 
for us to have made money unless under miraculous circumstances. If you 
take an economic census of Ndingwa in the United States today, you will 
notice that 20% are not productively engaged, 60% are taxi drivers, 15% 
are nurses mostly engaged in the care of the affluent senile, the bedridden 
or terminally ill patients, 4.9% profitably employed or professionals. 
Only .1% is a business executive. I have no prejudice for nurses, rather 
I have my greatest respect for them as they and the taxi drivers are 
the ones mostly making meaningful impact right home in Ngwaland. I know 
of a seasoned Ngwa pharmacist in U.S. who was compelled to develop a 
property in his village after witnessing the giant structure his taxi 
driver kinsman had constructed. My statistic is not absolute; NNAUSA 
and NUCO can come to the rescue. 

Also take a census of our own in uncle Sam’s penitentiary sorry institute, 
mind you nobody is ever jailed in America rather they go on courses ha 
ha ha! You may find that hardly any of them is gagged for an effort to 
expropriate millions of dollars from Americans for further repatriation 
or appropriation to Ngwaland or evasion of tax and other macro economic 
or political crimes. You may be surprised that they are there for flimsy 
and whimsical offences. 

When you come to big time barons of any endeavour the Ngwaman is not 
there. Talk of people that have appropriated state funds, he did not 
partake. Talk of government contracts, the Ngwaman got non. I hardly 
know of any industrialist from Ngwaland who grosses $2million annually. 
Don’t misunderstand me; I am not saying that the Ngwaman should engage 
in big time criminal activity for the sake of making money. What I am 
saying is why don’t him emulate the others and find out what they do. 
"Njije bu uba" as an Ngwa adage says. If music were the food of love, 
what happens Je n’est scien pas! 

With the Ngwaman’s righteousness he is still being scorned and marginalized. 
Within Ngwaland itself, there is a particular section we call names and 
term that they are spoiling the good name of Ngwaland, yet each succeeding 
government have patronized them, the few appointees both at Federal or 
State level have always come from that particular segment. Why? The answer 
is not far fetched, they have by commission or omission provided or seen 
to be capable of providing the wherewithal to lobby at that point in 
time. Where is your righteousness then? 

I am saying without mincing words that Ngwaland has not at any point 
in its history produced anybody so sinister and dirty like some of the 
people at the helm of affairs of some State governments in Nigeria today, 
that we fall over each other to praise and serve. Were some of these 
people from Ngwaland we would have gone to CNN to dissect and pour putrid 
on him. 

ARROGANCE AND ACEPHALOUS POLITY 

This paper would end perfunctorily if I fail to comment on part of our 
inherent and ingrained social life, which has in no small way affected 
our growth and development. Though every society or peoples have their 
own idiosyncrasies, which could be overlooked that of the NGWA in this 
regard has hounded progress and cohesion out of our polity that only 
but the surgeon’s knife is now required. 

To hit the nail on its head, the NGWAMAN is not humble to his fellow 
Ngwaman. He hates to serve or go through apprenticeship. The Bende and 
other Ohuhu groups have an institutionalised culture of apprenticeship 
and tutelage, which every one of them passes through. Leadership is aided 
by age grade structure. Each age grade is linked to one another. Instead 
of unhealthy rivalry among the age grades, each is given specific assignment 
suiting the very period. NGWALAND is one place where "the Piper dictates 
the tune to his patron." You will notice that each successful businessman 
or trader from other parts of Igboland has a master he served under or 
"boys" that pass through him. Each boy will always remain loyal to his 
Oga and the Oga will always see to it that his boy becomes successful 
so he can pride with. In instances where the former boss or master has 
had a fatal economic loss or adventure for any reason the boys that passed 
through him have rallied behind such boss or Oga to avoid their master 
being disgraced or humiliated. 

Amongst Ndingwa in America there is visible schism or acerbity between 
the professionals and the casual labourers or lowly employed. Instead 
of the less endowed to appreciate the good fortune of his brother, and 
respect him for his achievement and remain humble to curry his favour 
and direction, he becomes envious; the next language becomes: "ndi iri 
la whe gi" "ojiri giri kara m". The higher endowed will then show him 
that "khaki no be leather". Imagine one who denied himself some good 
outing to save hard earned dollars for the sponsorship of a kinsman, 
once the person arrives, say a nurse secure a job with relatively good 
wage, he absconds from his brother. The next thing he tells them back 
home how stupid and unwise the brother has been all along. 

Lack of central leadership has not helped our cause. We must begin to 
evolve a leadership structure that will stand the test of time. We must 
change all these attitudes highlighted above. We have to tell ourselves 
the bitter truths or else we shall go nowhere. Let us accept these unpalatable 
truths, only then can we correct ourselves. 

PART TWO. 

PLAN OF ACTION 

I will be peripheral in this segment of this discourse considering the 
catholic nature of this medium, hoping that it will serve as guidance 
in mapping out strategies by our ime mkpuke or a Sanhedrin that will 
be constituted by committed patriots. 

A problem is half solved when it is identified. I therefore posit that 
the following steps should be taken before we become politically, economically 
and socially extinct. 

NGWA IRREDENTISM. 

Ndingwa should start to see himself or herself as endangered specie, 
a people marked for extinction from the administrative organs of the 
state. This consciousness should be the ligament to fudge us into a consanguine 
bond as divided the adversaries win, united we triumph. We must mould 
ourselves like an arrow that people should fear to rough or mishandle. 
We must learn or take a cue from the experience and travails of the Jews 
who today see Jewish irredentism as only next to their religion – Judaism. 
This will only be the beginning of any meaningful struggle. 

SENSITISATION AND MOBILIZATION OF THE HOME FRONT. 

In furtherance of Plan A we must sensitise the people, that is tell them 
the truth on the awry position of Ndingwa today. We must also lay the 
naked facts before them. I think if the Ngwaman in our different villages 
should know the fact and figures; he will be even more aggressive than 
you and me the elites. He will make more commitments in areas you and 
me will hesitate to. We must be at our wits end to do this. We must borrow 
the Biafran example in which Ojukwu sensitised the local populace to 
the extent that the people felt feeding soldiers were more important 
than feeding their own children. Gladly, our own Ngwa sons were at the 
forefront of the struggle. Our memory should not be too short to forget 
Late Brigadier-General Olehi, Captain Ahunanya etc. We must let the Ngwaman 
know how great he was in the past la adigh ata nti ya ata. We must let 
him know that his predicament today is a direct response to his policy 
of siddon look or "ma ano okem ha". He must be made to realize that no 
group had defeated him in history rather he summarily conquered his enemies 
and in some cases had them in permanent subjugation, hence the existing 
peoples the Ngwa found at the nascent stage of their migration was permanently 
absolved and in the process lost their identity forever. (See NWANGWA 
op.cit. NWAGURU J.E.N.: Aba and British Rule, NWANGWA O.C.: History of 
Owoahiafor. University of Nigeria Nsukka 1985. Also see the several works 
of Dr J.N. Oriji, G.I.C. Eluwa, Urenna Olehi etcetera.) The Aro invasion 
of Obegu as a reprisal attack on the perceived arrogance of Chief Ananaba 
was only made possible by the collaboration and acquiescence of his immediate 
neighbours, like Ihie and Umugo. In actual fact majority of the combatants 
were Ngwa people. Late Mazi Azuogu Awuda from Nvosi still kept his relic 
of the battle until his death not too long ago. Azuogu, an Ngwaman was 
hired to fight against Obegu; historians describe his ilk, as unconscious 
collaborators. The Ngwa should learn a lesson from history as he has 
continued to be an unconscious collaborator against his race. 

SETTING UP OF A MEDIA OUTFIT 

This is a sine qua non to our liberation. I need not emphasize on the 
efficacy of mass media that will be sympathetic to our cause. The importance 
of control of mass media for propagation of any peoples cause is underscored 
by the Jewish example. The Jews today control the international media. 
Internationally if you have not spoken to CNN you are yet to talk. Who 
are the owners? A Jew. Can you grant interview to an international print 
media without recourse to TIME magazine? Who runs it? Jews. Have you 
forgotten Murdock? Who was he? A Jew. Hence the Jewish struggle sees 
the light of the day and seeming atrocities are painted as act of defence 
by a people faced with threat of extermination. We must have our own 
radio station even if it is only aired in Ngwaland. We must establish 
a Newspaper with operational headquarters at Aba, Nbawsi and Omoba. If 
we cannot establish a television station, we must buy airtime or sponsorship 
of very popular programs or sitcoms that will be sympathetic to the Ngwa 
cause. The few of us that are handy can start a pilot program and the 
rest will buy shares, not for profit but as contribution to the cause. 
If along the line they break even, it becomes a double joy. 

HOUSE CLEANING 

The maggot that eats the cola nut lives inside the colanut. Our own brothers 
have turned into cankerworms eating venomously deep into our flesh and 
psyche. We must serve them notice. We shall tell it to their face that 
they are mortgaging Ngwaland and their children’s future. They are unconscious 
collaborators as I did explain above. They either repent or are repainted. 
Each person must stand up to be counted. We all know them. If you don’t 
know them tell us. We must move these people before they send us to Golgotha. 

NDE NCHE OBODO 

Please take note I have not suggested that we shall have a militant group 
that must enforce policies or directives of this struggle. But able-bodied 
youths must be on hand to sing praises and dance to the sweet music of 
our persecutors both external and internal. 

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE/PROTESTS 

All through history sovereigns have never had business with docile subjects. 
Rather, for any reason they are the ones used like rags. People take 
you serious when you pose a threat to them. I don’t want to repeat what 
I had said in the past, we must collectively register our vehemence on 
regular bases. We must come against obnoxious legislations aimed at giving 
us either temporary or permanent incapacitation. Just the other day an 
imbecile, who was fed with our jiapu, whose taste the waters of Aza River 
quenched had the temerity to ask what can the Ngwaman do. Ya diwa! 

ANNUAL OR QUARTERLY CULTURAL FESTIVAL AT OPKUALA NGWA OR ABA 

We must have a cultural revival or renaissance that will bring Ndingwa 
together. I was reliably informed that members of a particular religious 
group that has a separate day of worship has contributed in no small 
measure in suppressing our cultural reawakening, when we ought to relish 
in their achievements as the parent mission overseas created a lot of 
opportunities for our people in uncle Sam’s enclave. Local dance performances 
like the Emere nma - a peripatetic dance troupe consisting of young maidens 
oftentimes-complete virgins that traverse the whole of Ngwaland. This 
troupe specializes in sonorous songs laden with local idioms etc. We 
can use them at local levels to send our messages across. Our musicians 
must translate our struggles in their music. Culture should be used as 
a vehicle of political change. 

HIERARCHICAL OR REPRESENTATIVE ORGANISATION SIMILAR TO MOSOP WHERE EVERY 
VILLAGE WILL BE INVOLVED. 

Either we adopt one of the existing Ukwa/Ngwa organisations or evolve 
an umbrella body that we will surrender to the mantle of leadership for 
our cause. The organisation will be both home and abroad. From the village 
to the community, the community to the divisional headquarters etc. We 
must evolve a customized structure that will be commensurate to the needs 
of the moment. 

DIRECTORATE OF PROPAGANDA. 

Constant distribution of leaflets and other forms of provocative materials. 
This directorate will be the engine room of the struggle. It should be 
consisted of seasoned professionals and gifted individuals like orators, 
songsters and songstresses. 

SCREENING AND APPROVAL OF CANDIDATES IN ALL ELECTIONS AND REJECTION OF 
MERCENARIES BEING APPOINTED TO ANY KEY POSITION. 

The central working committee will give directive on how this will be 
achieved. 

INTELLIGENCE UNIT. 

This unit will work in tandem with the Directorate of Strategy and Planning. 
Details and their modus operandi will have to be worked out. 

PUTTING IN PLACE AN ORGANOGRAM FOR IMPLIMENTATION AND ACTUALIZATION OF SET OBJECTIVES. 

TO BE CONCLUDED. 

LAWRENCE CHARLES NWANGWA. 

Melchizedek Villa, UMUOMEI.