Owerri, the Imo State Capital on 30th November, 2019, played host to numerous distinguished Nigerians who stormed the city for the 2019 Ahiajoku festival.
They included: the Obi of Onitsha -Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (Retired), ex-governors Achike Udenwa and Peter Obi, former FRSC Corps Marshal Osita Chidoka, King Jaja of Opobo, governors of Abia and Akwa Ibom States- Okezie Ikpeazu and Emmanuel Udom, Nnia Nwodo, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, other Igbo traditional rulers while the governors of Ebonyi, Delta and Bayelsa States sent representatives.
Former Nigerian Ambassador to USA and Israeli Professor George Obiozor, Professor O.C Nwanna, Captains of Industry, religious leaders, members of the academia where also in attendance.
Renowned academic and Professor of Literary Studies – Michael Joseph Echeruo, in his lecture entitled “OGU ERI MBA”(WE SHALL SURVIVE) disclosed that slave trade in Igbo land was the most social event/crisis that destabilized the Igbo society.
Unlike in Yoruba land and Dahomey where slavery was part of the process of state formation, the Professor of Literary Studies noted that slave trade in Igbo land was strictly a private business.
“People went into slave trading the same way they entered the palm Oil trade when that became the going line” adding that in Igbo land, it was a straight forward entrepreneurial effort financed and promoted by brave daring men, using funders and capable field agents.
He argued that nothing more was expected or gained than the accumulation of wealth and the personal power that usually came with it and the public recognition which followed.
Echeruo, who delivered the 1st Ahiajoku lecture in 1979, some 8 years after the Nigerian-Biafra war, warned that the Igbo stand to gain nothing by claiming a Jewish identity parallel to that which they already have as Ndigbo.
He stressed that what they need to do is to understand the history and aspiration of the Jewish people and to participate intelligently in a spirited way in discussing issues concerning them.
“Our people need to understand that they do not convey any advantage to Jews (In Israel or elsewhere) by claiming to be Jews. They need only our show of goodwill. (Zionism) was also a conservative movement within Jewry that sought to erase one of the problems which starred the Jews in the face that they could not until the Napoleonic reforms have the rights of citizenship”.
The Obi Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, speaking on the occasion praised the late Chief Sam Mbakwe for initiating the Ahiajoku lecture series in 1979 which he described as a celebration of Igbo intellectual harvest.
“In 1981, as a Divisional Manager of shell, I visited Mbakwe here in Owerri and he asked me if I had established an Igbo village in Holland”, noting that the Igbo are lucky to have a home and called for stronger focus, cohesion and team work to enable them to attain greater heights in developing their home.
Governor Emeka Ihedioha on the occasion regretted the neglect of the Ahiajoku lecture by the immediate past administration in the state and assured that the 2019 edition was in accordance with the spirit of his “Rebuild Imo Agenda”.