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Over the past decade or so, there has been a lingering controversy over the desirability or otherwise of the emergent institutions of Eze N digbo in several locations outside the South East. How did this ‘problem’ originate?
Various sources point to the June 12 imbroglio in 1993, when Ndigbo fled their various stations en-masse for the South East.

The troubles they endured on that unscheduled exodus and the losses they suffered, brought to the fore a glaring dearth of non-partisan leadership to ensure and protect their fundamental rights and interests. Many traced the seeming cohesion of other ethnic groups outside their native homelands to the availability of such traditional offices. Hausa speaking settlers, for example, have a Sarkin Hausawa among them to provide the required leadership.

Neither Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, nor Aka Ikenga, a loose association of Igbo professionals could fill the gap. A growing number of young hawks who had made their marks in business and acquired chieftaincy titles from various communities in Igboland waited in the wings to assume the mantle. They reasoned, perhaps correctly, that though Ohaneze Ndigbo signifies the masses and leaders of the Igbos, the organization was flying like a one-winged bird outside the homeland: the masses, oha, were there, but the leadership, eze, was unavClilable.

They sought the support of respected elders across the Niger. One of such personages was Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi, who found willing allies in these men and encouraged them to form the Igbo Council of Chiefs (ICC) in Lagos in 1998. Furthermore, the ICC received the blessings of Igwe Emeka Nnaji, then chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers of the seven Igbo speaking states of the federation. At first, the ICC was led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, who would go on in latter years to form the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
Uwazuruike and the ICC supported the Ikemba in his quest to give de facto stamp to his undisputed place in Igbo history by foisting the title of Eze Igbo Gburugburu (Leader of all Igbos) on himself. Indeed, Ikemba Emeka Ojukwu and ICC were one and the same. Its motto read, OJUKWU BU EZE IGBO DUM (Ojukwu is Leader of all the Jgbos). ICC had its secretariat at 29 Queens Drive, the Ikemba’s resIdence in Ikoyi, Lagos. Nonetheless, the creation of the Gburugburu title tallied perfectly with the designs to fashion a new political reality for Ndigbo by creating the required machinery to uphold and protect their group interests outside their home region.

Ikemba Ojukwu gave every moral support to the ICC. An TCC report on “Consolidation Efforts” of the Council referred copiously to his advice for the adoption of a constitution for the Council and the Bill of Unity he had sponsored. The document spoke also of incipient disputes within the ranks of the ICC and several petitions to “Eze Anyi” (Our Leader, as the Ikemba was addressed).

These disputes arose from the ambitions of various Council members to be crowr,ed Eze Ndigbo Lagos (Leader of the Igbos in Lagos). Further leadership tussles down the line to the local government levels heightened tension within the ICC and raised serious questions about the need for such an institution outside the Igbo homeland. The ICC remained in a fractious condition until late 1998, when a constitution was adopted and Igwe Ohazulike Omereoha, a businessman residing at Ifako, Ijaiye, was crowned Eze Ndigbo Lagos. The ICC endorsed his selection for the stool, so also did Ohaneze Ndigbo, Lagos.

According to the ICC document earlier referred to, “without the Igbo Council of Chiefs” Igwe Ohazuluike Omeroha could not have been recognized by Ikemba Ojukwu. The document also declared that, “Ezeigbo Lagos filled a form and promised to obey the rules and regulations of the Igbo Council of Chiefs.”
These efforts prove very clearly that the Ezeigbo phenomenon enjoyed the support and blessing of prominent Igbos who had long since desired a non-partisan platform for the protection of their group interests. Soon, the institution spread to different parts of the country and various personalities were installed Ezeigbo of various towns and states of the federation. However, acrimonious squabbles among wealthy Igbo traders and businessmen for the position, notably in Taraba and Oyo states, made it extremely hard to defend the institution as a unifying platform. Arguments for the scrapping of the office began to make the rounds in the newspapers. Inevitably, some of these were the results of disenchantment between the Ohaneze leadership and Ike mba Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, who was rightly seen by many as architect of the Ezeigbo institution. Very many Igbo do not reckon with the highfaluting office of ezeigbo. The educated professional classes find it to be such poor comedy. “Ezecrap!” scoffs a computer engineer who would rather not be named in this write up.

Commentators such as Pini Jason, Livy Iwunze and others have inveighed against the phenomenon in their columns. Yet, there is no denying the pull of ezeigbo among segments of the populace, especially the petty traders and merchant groups.
Nonetheless, the office continued to thrive until recently when the Council of South East Traditional Rulers mounted sustained pressure on various states governors and traditional rulers around the country to withdraw their recognition of ezeigbos. These efforts paid off in Lagos and Osun states whose governors made policy statements to the effect that no one could parade themselves any longer as ezeigbo in these states. Not everyone agrees with the purported reasons for this ‘ban’ and the role of the Council of South East Traditional Rulers in this development.

“The power of any traditional ruler in Igboland should begin and end in his domain,” says Chief Jude Offor, a business man at the Computer Village, Ikeja. “The entire framework of ezigbo is a means of organizing our people for their social and economic progress. We even have ezigbos among the Tgbo student communities in the universities. How then can anyone say they are banning the institution?”
Chief Offor’s position is corroborated by Chief Dan Nwankwo, a clearing and forwarding agent with offices in Apapa. “You can not be eze in Igboland and eze in Lagos. They (traditional rulers) get subvention and allowances from government, but ezigbos in Lagos and other places spend their own money to support the cause of the people. They should be encouraged and not condemned.”

Both chiefs are members of the ezeigbo’s cabinet in Ikeja. Chief Offor is also peeved that when it pleases the authorities, they use the ezeigbos to rally the people. He avers that the ezeigbo was very instrumental to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s campaign efforts in 2003. “Through him Igbo people from all walks of life attended Obasanjo’s political rally here in Lagos.”
This organizational clout may now be working against the interests of the Eze Ndigbo in Lagos. Certain politicians pointedly accuse him of supporting the PDP gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos during the 2007 elections. His various business interests and overt involvement in land matters may also be a cause for concern in some quarters. Says Ifeanyi “Owelle” Ayoka, a general goods merchant in Amuwo-Odofin, “Our people always compare the ezeigbo to the sarki, but the Hausa leader does not involve himself in petty politics and land matters. He uses a lot of fronts to get things done. Our own people are too aggressive, that’s why they attract so much envy and hatred to themselves. Ezeigbos should insulate themselves from petty businesses so that they can maintain the dignity of their office.”

The generally boisterous attitude of the average ezeigbo may be attributable to their orientation as hard-headed businessmen with very limited formal education and sophistication. Some of them are also accused of carrying the toga of their achievement to their hometowns and villages where they conduct themselves as the equals, even superiors, of the homebred traditional rulers. This, say some observers, is the covert reason behind the campaigns against them by the Council of South East Traditional Rulers.

But the ezeigbos seem determined to keep their hard earned recognition among the people. When Igwe Ohazuluike Omeroha celebrated the 2009 New Yam Festival sometime recently, his fellow ezeigbos turned out enmasse from several locations around the country to give him their rousing support. This should send signal enough that the last has not been heard about this lingering controversy.

Perhaps, it is merely a storm in a steaming soup pot, but who really is afraid of ezeigbo? More importantly, why should anyone consider them a threat to their own political interests? If the Sarkin Hausawa and various other ethnic chieftains are allowed to carry on their assigned functions to the people they are supposed to represent, how can the Ezeigbos be stopped without infringing on the people’s rights to freedom of association?

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