By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
While growing up in Onitsha in the 80s, we saw the return of the Biafran warlord Sir Chukwuemeka Odimegu Ojukwu to Nigeria. My father told me that Luis Ojukwu, the father of the Biafran warlord, was the first millionaire in Nigeria and that his car (a Benz) was borrowed from him to drive around the Queen of England when she visited Nigeria.
Furthermore, he told me that the present (Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) office was the residential place of Ojukwu’s father. He said that because of the Civil War, the house has been seized by the Nigerian government, still in their possession to date. I did not doubt my father, but as time went on, as a senior seminarian studying at Bigard Memorial Seminary, I had the opportunity to meet Ojukwu one-on-one. One evening I was serving him cold water in the rector’s house, where he waited for the time to deliver his conference to the students.
I told him how we grew up hearing his name as the leader of the Igbo nation. And I said, “I have one question for you, Ikemba.” He looked at me and, without much ado, roared back, “What is the question?” I composed myself and allayed the fear within and asked, “Is it true that the JAMB office in Lagos belongs to your father?” He replied, “Yes, it belongs to my father, and many more properties that belong to my father were seized all over Nigeria.” I did not dare to ask about other properties because of the aura around him.
He asked me how old I was, and I was in my twenties then. He simply said that I was not old enough to understand and to know what was going on in Nigeria. He went on to say that the unity of Nigeria hangs on the marginalization of the Igbos. Surely, he was correct that I was not old enough to know and understand what was going on in Nigeria.
How can I explain to my younger brothers and sisters that a governor of a state would go ahead and demolish a building with a certificate of occupancy (C of O)? This single act by the Lagos state government is not worrisome to me, but what is worrisome to me is the calmness that enveloped the rest of Nigeria. Only the Igbo senators visited the scene of the crime, where multibillion-naira plazas were being destroyed.
No minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cared about the demolition of the people’s livelihood simply because they were Igbos. The unity of Nigeria hangs on the marginalization of the Igbos. Ojukwu did not say a lot to me, but he said all that needed to be said. First, the government of Lagos said that the building was on canals and waterways; that argument failed. Second, they said the buildings have no permits, and that failed, too. Now they call the Igbo traders immigrants in their own country. Why are we still married to Nigeria?The marriage is unholy. There is no basis for marriage to continue. The problem of the North is the Igbos. The problem of the West, Igbos. The problem of the South-South is the Igbos.
If the Igbos are the problem of Nigeria, the Nigerian people should be brave enough to let them go. If they would not let them go in peace, the day Moses would take the Israelites out of Egypt, the firstborn sons would die, and Pharaoh and his army would perish in the Red Sea. I watched with a broken heart how the beautiful buildings of Igbo traders were being demolished in the name of hate. My heart was bleeding.
I remember some months ago, it was Peter Obi’s brother whose house was demolished for flimsy reasons. Who knows what next that they are planning to do on the innocent Igbo traders? Between the Yorubas and the Hausa, if we are to pick a group to align with, I will suggest that we remain unmarried. But if nature has made it impossible to remain single, we should align with the north. Awolowo betrayed Ojukwu and Azikiwe, and Akintola betrayed Osadebe Denis. Was it not in Lagos that Zik won a senate seat, and the Yoruba people said no? Those Igbo traders in Lagos should come together and think about their home. Our people said that a stick cannot pierce your eye twice (Osisi adiro adu mmadu na anya ugbulo abua).
I am not a businessman, but I have a lot of brothers and sisters who are businesspeople. This event of September 2025 is a clear sign that this construction called Nigeria is sitting on the keg of gunpowder.
The commander-in-chief of the federation, who is from Yoruba extraction, has not said anything about what is happening in the trade fair complex. Maybe he has a hand in it. I remember the issue with the Landmark Hotel and Resort. The noise and clamor from the people saved a two-billion-dollar investment that could have gone down the drain because of hate. Our people should be the foolish proverbial man who doesn’t run away from the rain unless he is totally drenched.
Finally, I wish the governors of eastern Nigeria would be brave enough to map out a location for the traders in Lagos somewhere in the east. Whenever I pass by the international market built at Oba, my heart bleeds. I do not have the facts on why that place lies in ruins, but the governors can come together and make it work.
I remember when a stakeholder called the governors together and suggested a megacity around Okigwe in order to be close to the five states of the east. That idea died because the governors then did not like themselves. If the governors cannot do it, I think the traders who are buying and building mega cities, hotels, plazas, and shops in Lagos and Port Harcourt can put their resources together and do it. That will help them to be independent and have their destiny in their hands. The effort to get the Onitsha seaport working should be intensified. The Calabar seaport should be used by consensus.
The homogeneity of Lagos in the importation industry should be broken by all means. It is time to walk away from this unholy marriage, be it commerce, politics, or otherwise. Make no mistake about it, folks, it will not be an easy decision, it will not be an easy walk, it will not be supported by many, but it is a possibility. The Igbo people are the commercial nerve center of Lagos and, by far, any commercial city in Nigeria.
You cannot separate the Jews from the business of precious stones, gold, diamonds, and the like; on the same vein, you cannot separate the commercial prowess of the Nigerian people from the Igbo traders.
