By VIVIAN ONYEBUKWA
She is a woman of many parts. She is a writer, activist and politician. She is not just a member of Ndoni Traditional Council of Chiefs, but also the only female member of the council. Her primary role therefore, is to help maintain peace in the oil rich community of Rivers state.
In this interview, she spoke about her life and expressed her views on the current situation in the society.
What inspires you to write?
The Nigerian environment that I grew up inspired me to write. Growing up as a child, I saw my fellow Nigerians suffering in the midst of plenty. I had the privilege of seeing what was going on in my community. I saw that many aspects of our traditions tend to punish the people. In fact, as a youth, there were many cultural challenges ranging from harmful traditional rites meted out to widows and some cultural issues that kept women and girls in the background.
I left my Ndoni village in River State for Jos when I was 11 years old. I spent a few years in Jos and relocated to Lagos in 1961. I began to watch the environment as a teenager, I was told a lot of stories about the white men and colonial rule. I had to compare all the experience I had gathered from other parts of the country including my village Ndoni.Initially, I was angry with the white men who colonised Nigeria because of the foreign culture they had exported into our environment.
They made us lose our identity. Everyone wanted to imitate the white and that was where it all started. These foreign morals that have replaced our African values took its roots from there. As a young girl, I was baptized in the Catholic Church and christened Suzanna but at 20, I consciously dropped off the name. However, It affected my marital name, I decided to add my maiden name, Uzorka and became Uzorka Whyte. Thankfully, it didn’t change anything. Over the years I watched Nigerian political landscape and discovered that the colonial masters didnt do us any good.
How did you become the only female chief in the midst of men?
The life that we are living today, not just today, from the beginning, is for men. From my youth days, I saw that women were often relegated to the background while the men were given prominence. So, in our community, I founded the Ndoni Women Organization where I found out that our women were not interested in community development.
Hence, I joined the men in a group known as Ndoni Community. It is open to men and women. I was 18 years when I joined them and attended the first meeting in my uncle’s house in Jos. Here, I discovered that those men were more positive, more active in community affairs than the women. I tried to find out why our women were so docile but till today, I have not been able to get an answer.
I am talking about the grassroots and you find that whenever there are positive things to do, the women are more interested in uniforms. Where two or three women are gathered, they want to make uniform. Men can wear their T shirts, shorts and finish the job. So, you find that from the grassroots level to the Federal, women don’t really know what is happening in Nigeria.
From that early stage, I continued to get involved in politics. I continued to drag our women. When we go to political meetings, you would find that there were no women on the high table. I found that our duty was to sing choruses and dance for politicians. I became worried on the political side but in my community, I still continued with the meetings. It was because of my involvement, fighting social ills in the community and political activism that I was elected the Deputy President-General and later the President- General of the organization in1993.
You have helped to maintain peace in Ndoni land. How have you been able to achieve this?
I started working with the menfolk from my days as a youth when I was living with my late uncle, Mr. Stephen Odili, who later became the traditional Prime Minister, Iyasare Onowu.
It may sound strange but its true. My people always regretted that I was born a woman. I observed that men are more positive than women in community matters. I also observed same as I grew older and joined politics.
My interactions with the menfolk in community matters were some of the reasons I was elected the first woman Deputy President General of Ndoni Community, later, I became the Woman President General and the first Woman Chief.
All these took their roots from the type of family I was born into. Again, my parents who were community leaders brought me up in such a way that I knew the tradition, custom and history of my people. I was also determined to work for the good of the community. I knew the politics. I knew I had the courage to face people and fight injustice.
I was more determined to serve my people and move the community forward as well as make it better than I met it. So, I set out for it. One must be equipped with the knowledge of a subject matter before delving into it. I started about 24 years ago when the Kingdom went through the Ogene and Onowu chieftaincy crisis.I have not looked back since then. Working with my people gives me joy.
Do you think that women have not being given the opportunity to participate in nation building?
Previously, people traveled long distances carrying loads on their heads. The experiences were terrible because of the excruciating pains that came with it. Some of them had sores on the heads, legs and shoulders depending on the weight of the load. The images and woes Nigeria experienced as a nation were etched in my mind. This was what led to the writing of my book of lamentation entitled How Africans Vandalise Africa with a focus on Nigeria.
Women have not be able to contribute to national development because a lot of things usually compete for their attention. Poverty has lingered because women are not empowered. They do not know their rights. Even, the few who know cannot speak up especially in the black race where there are lots of cultural limitations.
Our women have been occupied with fashion display and merriment while the privileged politicians ripped off the resources that was meant for all of us
The old black woman taught her children to be disciplined, hence we had less societal menace and youth un restiveness. While the new African women simply laugh it off when when children misbehave. She is not interested in instilling values anymore on her children. That’s why the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions have become breeding grounds for thieves, cultism among other social vices.
At what point did you join mainstream politics?
In 1999, I became very active in PDP but before PDP I had joined other political parties. I worked with CNC, under Dr. Olusola Saraki, the father of the current Senate President. I led my people under him and I admired him because I saw that he cared for the poor. But when I left his group, I started working with other groups.
It is from my involvement in politics that I got to know that the black man is wicked . All these I have documented in my books. I say this because I see how politicians squander the National treasuries. It is not supposed to be so. The government money is not meant for the citizens’ development. It is meant for the development of the country, communities and the states.
When I got involved in politics, I started attending political programmes and I was sad about the things that I saw. All our politicians do is during elections, they go to the grassroots, rural areas, all the corners of Nigeria, give peanuts to those poor people and after that they would go away with their votes, take the votes to the Government Houses and from there they continue to gather all our contracts, money that is supposed to be used for development. All they give us are abandoned projects.
From my research, I found out that the black man had been wicked from the onset. Even before the white man came to colonise us. All these are what I captured in my latest book titled, “How Africans Vandalise Africa”.
Our politicians have established themselves as slave masters and have completely taken over from our white colonial masters. It may shock you to know that the White men only came and met us in indigenous slavery.
Before they came, we were exchanging 20 human beings for one horse. We were castrating the strong slaves to be eunuchs, so they could preserve the harems for kings to protect their wives. But we tried as much as we could to hide our secrets and expose the white people. By the time they came, we were already enslaving our people and that is why today, after many centuries, we are still kidnapping our brothers.
At 79, you are still able to do all the things you do. What is the secret?
Just as I started, stocktaking is vital in human existence. When I take stock of my life at 79, all I have is thanksgiving to the Almighty God. I am full of surprises. When you ask of secret, it means I did the planning. No. It is God who did all the planning. He led me through the wilderness, gave me water in the desert, led me across bridges, ferried me across oceans, etc.
But now, I am getting weaker, which is natural. My final request to Him, is to liberate the children of Africa from vandalizing government funds, and that religious leaders should give the church and mosque monies for the empowerment of the poor members. The church money is not for the pastor. It is for the poor.
What drives you in life?
My driving force is my quest to learn new things and gain knowledge to help improve the lot of my people