My discourse last week on the impending leadership change in the apex Igbo mouthpiece, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, attracted a lot of feedback. I was glad it did. To a large extent, it meant that the Igbo people are beginning to take interest in their leadership recruitment process. For me, that is a new win. And I hope, like one feedback stated, that the new impetus eventually translates into something different in the political leadership of states in Igboland.

According to that feedback, the Igbo need some radical change in its political leadership at state levels in order to enthrone a leadership that is thinks for its people, not some persons. That is another journey which I believe that Igbo people are capable of especially now that everyone seems to have come to the realization that leadership makes the difference in both economic, social and political success of any nation, no matter how small the size.

Of the several feedbacks the discourse, last week, elicited, one was of special interest to me. It came via a telephone call and the caller, whose permission I do not have to publish his name and location, said to me: “I enjoyed reading your article. It was logical and your conclusions were apt. They are what the Igbo now need to push along. I believe that the Igbo people have come of age and must now begin to put forward their best eleven to lead them. The time has come for the Igbo nation to change the narrative on their leadership and run with their best”. The caller ended the call with a prayer that God would bless the Igbo people with the right kind of leaders that will help harness, and direct, their strengths for positive social developments. I could only but say “Amen”.

Another called and said: “I want to ask you a question. Is the Prof. George Obiozor you wrote about the same as the Obiozor that was Director-General at Nigeria Institute of International Affairs at a time?’ I said “yes sir”, he made a very short conclusion and said “then, he is good enough for the job. He has my vote”. Like this caller, many of those who called to endorse Prof. Obiozor may not be delegates and cannot vote at the election in January, they have however, added their voices to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership recruitment process, which I consider very important too.

They are also participants in the process. Those voices mean quite a lot to the process of re-awakening the giant in the Igbo nation. That process begins with the election of the right kind of leadership. Evidently, every Nigerian is now a witness to what the wrong kind of leadership means to economic, social and political progress.

This is why it is imperative that a Prof. Obiozor-led Ohanaeze is supported by a secretariat that is equally manned by a vital brain stock that also understands the importance of networks, diplomacy and tact in leadership. I am aware that Imo state’s sibling, Abia, is primed to produce the next Secretary-General of Ohanaeze.

That office is very critical to whatever success the group will achieve for the Igbo in the years ahead. Therefore, it demands someone who understands the nuances of running a strategic secretariat. I, therefore, believe that when the lot is cast, it will be cast for Ambassador Okey Emuchay, another essential diplomat who had represented Nigeria in the United Kingdom where he was Second Secretary and Personal Assistant to the High Commissioner, and in Austria where he was Senior Counselor and from there to Angola where he was Minister and Head of Chancery and later in South Africa from where he resigned after being Consul General from 2009 to 2014.

Simply put, Amb. Emuchay worked in Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry from 1983 to 2014. Those represent 31 years of experience now vital to the leadership of the Igbo nation. They were years spent building bridges that Nigeria and the Igbo nation in particular, must no ride on. The Igbo nation must begin to take advantage of these experiences.

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They must not sacrifice these vital links to emotions. An adage says when you want to find out how the earth beneath is, you ask the crab and if you want to know how safe the skies are, ask the eagle. This has become critical because the times are equally critical. Every nation, big or small, now thinks survival. Nations survive when they tap into the vital networks of their sons and daughters to build the relationships that help them achieve their goals.

The Igbo must reach out and embrace the world outside Igboland to achieve their cherished goals. Like Prof. Obiozor said, when the football match gets to penalty shoot-out, you approach it with your best penalty kickers. You don’t keep a Didier Drogba or a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Leonardo Messi on the bench during penalty shootouts and expect a win. You win only when you score. And to score, you must be at your best and with your best.

This falls squarely within the thoughts expressed by Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, the Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines and a governorship hopeful of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s guber election in Anambra state, in a paper he titled “Democracy and Development: A Prolegomena For Growth” wherein he argued that the right kind of leadership is essential to development. Okonkwo made reference to the Chinese political philosophy of electing the best from a selection of the best.

He said: “China’s rise has attracted global attention and many have focused on the economic model behind its rise, which is, of course, important. But China’s evolving political change has somehow been ignored by many. In fact, without much fanfare, China has established a system of meritocracy or what can be described as “selection plus election”, where competent leaders are selected on the basis of performance and broad support through a vigorous process of screening, opinion surveys, internal evaluations and various types of election. This is much in line with the Confucian tradition of meritocracy.”

He concludes his discourse on the paper saying: “What China has done, in essence, is to educate us to the fact that we could strive to design a democratic leadership recruitment process that is based on merit and competence, which alters the incumbent system. We must design and develop a leadership system that promotes meritocracy through a selection process that identifies, and elects, the best of the best and entrust them with the management of the commonwealth… we must return to the drawing board, redraw the map and bequeath to the next generation a system that promotes competence, rewards excellence and drives development through selfless service to the community. Meritocracy remains the solution.”

And, I haven’t seen any nation, or people, that vote merit, fail.

This is why, I believe, the journey to the change the Igbo now need, must begin with a carefully planned leadership recruitment which recruits the best of the best to man its affairs, develop its visions and national goals and also work with networks built over decades of loyal service to fatherland and friendship, to redraw the trajectory of the Igbo story within Nigeria.