By Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu

If you know the circumstances in which the above was coined, you should not be surprised about Obi Alfred Achebe’s attendance of Atiku’s PDP visit to Anambra State recently and his culturally abominable behaviour there. It is in the character of Ndi-Onicha.

Some adventurous Igala individuals from a small town called Onicha sailed down the Niger River and settled by the river bank of Oboshi. With arrival of Christian missionaries and their activities in the Onicha settlement, Onicha grew in both population, education and commerce.

By the time of the inevitable land disputes between Onicha (Anambra State) and Oboshi, Onicha person was judge, Onicha person was prosecutor, Onicha person was court clerk, even Onicha person might have been the lawyer representing Oboshi people! It was then that it was said: “Adika/Anaghi amama Onicha gwalu Obosi/Oboshi”.

Long before Onicha arrived, original Igbo towns like Oboshi had been there in the millions of years of Igbo history. Forget that silly Adam and Eve story, Igbo are the first humans on Earth by many hundreds of thousands of years. And no one molded us out of any clay and breathed life into us either.

But Onicha used its advantages of education (especially legal education, which they had purposely specialized in for land matters) to take what belonged to Oboshi.

In the recent embarrassing event involving Alfred Achebe (current Obi of Onicha), Governor Charlie nwa Mgbafo and Atiku Abubakar, PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate, one is consoled by the fact that Onicha can only be Onicha – ancestrally and habitually opportunistic, even treacherous and shameless.

I mean, how can a First Class monarch of Igbo land leave his stool and domain to travel from Onicha to Oka to attend a party campaign meeting or rally?

To make matters worse, while he spoke standing up, Atiku sat beside him – clearly shocked by how such could happen anywhere in the land of the Igbo.

How much dollars had Atiku and nwa Mgbafo used to compromise Obi Achebe in this shameful manner? Should Onicha not return to Igala land or in the alternative be subjected to proper orientation in Igbo culture? Kedu ihe Onicha ga agwa Oboshi ta ta?

Dr. Chinedu Jideofo-Ogbuagu is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the National Coordinator of the South East APC Integrity Group.