By Kenneth Chukwuka
Public Forum
Something significant happened on Saturday, February 19, 2022, ahead of the inauguration on March 9 of the International Convention Centre (ICC), with 13,000 seating capacity, which is the largest of such centres in sub-Saharan Africa. Governor Willie Obiano went on the weekly inspection of the ICC and was welcomed by three dozens of the Rangers International Football Club members who played in the 1970s and 1980s. The list included Emmanuel Okala, Nigeria’s greatest goalkeeper ever, and Christian Chukwu, the most admired Green Eagles captain in his heyday, who later coached the national team. The fact that Chairman Chukwu, as he is fondly called throughout Nigeria, could come all the way from Enugu, despite his severe health challenge, which includes a full stroke, illustrates the importance of the encounter with Gov. Obiano.
The new generation of Nigerians, including those from the South East, may not fully appreciate the hallowed place of Rangers International in Nigeria’s history. For decades, Rangers represented renaissance to the Eastern Nigerian people, that is, hope, resilience, determination, confidence and triumph in spite of all odds. Formed shortly after the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, which the Igbo and the rest of the erstwhile secessionist Eastern Nigerian Region lost to the Federal Government, Rangers Football Club was formed by persons like Dominic Nwobodo, who was the first captain, Jerry Enyeazu, who later became director of sports in Imo State, Chief Ibe, a prosperous businessman based in Enugu, and Ukpabi Asika, the East Central State administrator, who did everything possible to promote the team, including naming one of the most strategic streets in Enugu for it.
Deriving its name from one of the most effective squads in the Biafran Army, Rangers started winning every major match in the country and the trophy of every major tournament in 1974. It represented Nigeria in international competitions. Half of the Green Eagles team always came from Rangers alone. Popular musicians like Chief Osita Osadebe and Ikenga Superstars of Africa waxed records in Rangers’ honour, and they sold out. The Igbo people considered it an obligation to attend any match involving Rangers in any African country and cheer it fanatically.
Rangers restored pride and confidence in every easterner, particularly the Igbo. The players carried the burden of a whole race with grace and great competence. As the late K.O. Mbadiwe, the pre-eminently flamboyant politician and wordsmith, would put it, Rangers lifted the easterners from a state of psychological defeatism to a state of psychological glorification. Administrator Ukpabi Asika, who was on the Federal Government side during the civil war, explained that Rangers Football Club was an eloquent testimony that Eastern Nigerians could always be a source of pride and inspiration to all Nigerians, conquering the country and, indeed, the African continent without firing a shot. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who led the Biafran secession but vehemently opposed Nigeria’s balkanization or division for the rest of his life since 1970, was to describe this mindset as “Biafra of the mind.”
Succinctly put, Biafra of the mind means pursuit of excellence in Eastern Nigeria, so that the region can be a model in governance and development.
Rangers International Football Club has declined greatly in recent decades, like Nigeria’s football. The boys who fought so spiritedly to restore dignity to their people that lost a civil war are now old, with many dead. They are frail and need a lot of medical attention. They are, unfortunately, very poor and mere feeding is a huge problem. All the government officials, organisations, rich individuals and even ordinary people who used to shower them with cherished gifts and money have long abandoned them.
The only top South East government official who has always stood with them since assumption of office in 2014 is Gov. Obiano. Each member of the Rangers of the 1970s and 1980s receives a considerable monthly stipend from Chief Obiano, who also seasonally provides them with foodstuff like bags of rice. This is regardless of their state of origin. Obiano invites them to every major event in the state as a mark of appreciation of their profound contributions to the development of Eastern Nigeria in particular and the country in general. In fact, on Easter Sunday of 2017, Gov. Obiano staged an unprecedented show at Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, which featured both Rangers of the old and leading musicians in the East in the 1970s whose songs far and near went a long way to revive socioeconomic life in the region after the war.
It is against this background that the presence of ex-Rangers at the International Conference Centre in Awka last Saturday can be fully appreciated. The former footballers heard from Willie Nwokoye, Gov. Obiano’s efficient and trustworthy principal secretary, that the governor was visiting the engineering and architectural edifice and decided to go there to show solidarity with this accomplishment and to thank him for his stupendous support to them over the years. They even followed him to his country home at Aguleri ,in Anambra East Local Government Area, where they presented him with an Ex-Rangers jersey, thanking him for history-changing projects and other achievements. Gov. Obiano directed his personal security to accompany the retired players back to Enugu, as a mark of respect to the former Rangers players who, in their prime, wiped away the tears of defeat off their people.
As Gov. Obiano leaves office on March 17 after eight meritorious years, Dim Ojukwu, the founding leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, must be smiling from above, satisfied that the outgoing governor has upheld his philosophy of Biafra of the Mind, through imaginative achievements, which have made Anambra the most competitive state in Nigeria.
Ikemba Nnewi must be feeling more accomplished that the incoming Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, will lift the development banner higher than any governor has done in Nigeria’s history. For the Anambra people, it is still morning on creation day.
•Dr. Chukwuka is a medical consultant in Nnewi, Anambra State