Global Advanced Research Journal of Management and Business Studies (ISSN: 2315-5086) December 2017 Vol. 5(10), pp 354-359

Copyright © 2016 Global Advanced Research Journals   

Original Research Articles

Republicanism in Igboland: A Critique Of ‘Igbo Enwe Eze’

Okoye Chinasa Regina1 And Dr. Victor Okoye2

¹Department Of Social Sciences, School Of General StudiesFederal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, Nigeria

²Chief Lecturer, Department Of Banking And Finance, School Of Management Sciences, Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State-Nigeria

Email: okoyevictor26@yahoo.com

Accepted 18 January 2016

Abstract 

‘Igbo enwe eze’ is a language of Igbo detractors and destabilizing agents who have continuously sought ways of disuniting and destabilizing the Igbos knowing fully well that with  the ‘Igwe bu ike’ and ‘Bunu bunu, ibu anyi danda’ phenomena, under one leader, the Igbos would be as forceful as any other world acclaimed super power. This paper is a clarion call to the Igbos to vehemently reject  this view, surreptitiously sold to us starting from the colonial masters who had to fight for several years in order to bring the Igbo land under control. History has it that it is only the Igbo race that gave the imperialists the toughest time before being subjected to the demands of colonialism. As a matter of fact, the imperialists had to invent the obnoxious ‘warrant chief’ and indirect rule’ system, employing some considered as renegades in the land, as a ploy to penetrate the Igbo land beating the drum of ‘Igbo enwe eze’. The two other major ethnic groups in Nigeria have equally followed the same pattern having been adequately tutored by the British imperialists on the ways of keeping the Igbos permanently divided and disunited. This paper seeks to give practical meaning to republicanism with the view to bringing out the fact that it is not diametrically opposed to the ideology of ‘Igbo enwe eze’. The paper concludes with a call for the Igbos to wholeheartedly reject this view, forge a common front, in order to give the country Nigeria the much desired leadership and direction which have continued to elude the nation. Igbo republicanism is panacea for the many ills bedeviling the nation. 

Keywords: Igbo, Republicanism, Colonialism, Imperialists, Leadership