Ned Nwoko, Anioma State, and Politics of Igboness

(Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe) - I AM MORE IGBO THAN NED NWOKO—ANIOMA-SOUTHEAST CONTRAPTION A POLITCAL SCAM DEAD ON ARRIVAL 

        Although several prominent Anioma interest-groups and personalities have defined their opposing positions against Senator Ned Abdullahi Munir Nwoko’s solo, wretched and narcissistic Anioma State creation mission, I have waited for the ultimate opinion of our revered traditional rulers, which consequently was delivered recently. 

         What most people don’t know is that unlike Southeast States, among Anioma people the opinion of the traditional rulers which often originate from the people through their ancestral heirlooms stand above the opinions of our mostly fraudulent political leaders. In other words, Anioma traditional rulers through their customary network of consultations with the people hold the ace in such matter as the creation of Anioma State. Senator Nwoko did not consider our traditional rulers noteworthy in this regard. 

        However, the cautious yet pungent position of our revered traditional rulers in their recent meeting over Senator Nwoko’s solo vainglorious political promenade clearly spoke the minds of Anioma people without the least equivocation. In part of their five-point communiqué signed jointly by the Chairman, His Majesty Obi of Owa Kingdom, Dr. Emmanuel Efeizomor 11, and Vice Chairman, Obi of Ubulu-Unor, His Majesty Dr. Henry Kikachukwu 1, the revered Royal Fathers subtly hit Senator Nwoko, who incidentally was present in the meeting as uninvited observer, below the belt in the following words: 

“We should stop washing our dirty linings in public. Senator Ned Nwoko, who is representing Delta North in the National Assembly and other elected representatives of the people, political class and other critical stakeholders should work together and engage the people to know what they want, rather than embark on what is perceived as personal aggrandizement.” 

Rethinking Unoka in Things Fall Apart

(By James Eze) - Is Unoka the Unsung Hero of Things Fall Apart? James Eze 

        “No artist of any art has his complete meaning alone,” argues T.S Eliot in his epic essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” 

        Nothing in literature reminds me of Eliot’s declaration with as much vivid clarity as the complexity woven into the character of Unoka in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.” Unoka is so intricately constructed that he leaves the unwary reader wondering if Achebe had the complete meaning of this character alone. 

        Achebe tells us that Unoka is lazy, imprudent and incapable of thinking about tomorrow. He is a spendthrift, a debtor, a failure, and a loafer who can barely feed his family or pay his debt. Perhaps, worst of all, he is a coward who cannot stand the sight of blood. He is a lover of “the good fare” who, even as a boy, often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky, which was regarded in Umuofia as a precursor for the return of the dry season with its heady festivities and merrymaking. 

        Had Achebe left things that way, everything would have been just perfect. He didn’t. In a way that only a genius could contrive, Achebe redeems this effeminate character with the story of the clever rescheduling of his pile of debt to Okoye, a fellow artist. Lending nuance to this otherwise simple character, Achebe made Unoka remind Okoye, with all the histrionics to boot, that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. Gently, the reader is offered a rare insight into the labyrinth of Unoka’s mind… a character whose depth is concealed by the veil of laziness and his love of the good fare.