Ikwerre: Matters Miscellaneous

Title: Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality And Political/Economic Developments In Nigeria
Author: Igwe Onyeche Wofurum
Publisher: Johnny Printing Press, Port Harcourt
Year of Publication: 2021
Reviewer: Boye Salau

It is an intriguing paradox that an ethnic group that has been in power for over 14 years is clothed in the garb of a marginalised. What a satanic joke? What metaphor does the author intend to invent and invoke? This is a riddle Igwe Onyeche Wofurum wants us to unravel in his book, Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality And Political/Economic Developments In Nigeria.
The book takes a cursory look at political and economic developments in Ikwerre land and comes to a debatable conclusion that the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, arguably the largest ethnic group in Rivers State, and currently the state’s beautiful bride, has not been given a fair share of the state cake.
As the author pleonastically puts it in the introductory part of his book, “Ikwerres have been compulsorily used and abused; systematically oppressed and suppressed; deliberately exploited and deprived; consciously marginalised and undeveloped and most of all, economically impoverished and destituted”. Wofurum, therefore, charges his fellow kinsmen to challenge and resist further marginalisation and oppression.
For any critical mind with a full grasp of the current infrastructure development in Ikwerre land, it is easy to dismiss the author’s claim as a mere ethnic rabble-rousing or a sarcastic joke from the pit of hell, more especially against the background that the three successive governors of the state from 2007 till date are from this ethnic enclave. But since Nigeria is a coliseum where the more you look, the less you see, we may as well give Wofurum the benefit of the doubt, or better still, consider his position as an intricate ploy to invoke sympathy and attract more political and economic development to his fatherland.
The book also takes a short excursion into an interminable debate about the origin of the Ikwerres. Relying on Professor Eric Amadi’s historical account, the author buys into the supposition that the Ikwerres, despite having strong cultural affinity with the Igbos in the old Benin Kingdom, have a distinct identity, and cannot be subsumed under the behemoth of the Igbos or any other tribe in Nigeria.
Given its intricate plot, Ikwerre Ethnic Nationality And Political/Economic Developments In Nigeria is, no doubt, an intriguing novel that should engender further interrogation if not debate by readers.
From its title, the book has two themes with the main theme centred around Ikwerre ethnic nationality, while Nigeria’s political evolution serves as an adjunct. Curiously, the adjunct triumphs the substance.
No doubt, the book gives a good account of Nigeria’s political evolution. But rather than concentrating and dwelling on its main theme which is the alleged marginalisation of the Ikwerres, it turns out to be an expository piece on Nigeria’s political dark past and other miscellanies. For lack of better words, the book can be described as matters miscellaneous.
Of the 107 pages, only nine pages are effectively devoted to the main theme, safe for the profiles of some Ikwerre heroes which occupy another 24 pages. The rest of the pages are consumed by the adjunct theme occupying four chapters that spread across 48 pages!
This is one of the major defects of the book, and of course, a major literary deficiency commonly associated with upcoming authors.
Wofurum is audacious and proficient in the use of words. However, his love for grandiloquent and highfalutin words diminishes the import of his message. The use of simple and clear diction which is the beauty of every good literature could have made the book much more appealing and appetising to readers, most especially to his primary audience which is the Ikwerres.
While a few proof reading errors diminish the continous flow of the text, the author’s long expedition into Nigeria’s political misadventure also detracts attention from the novel’s main plot.
Notwithstanding these deficiencies, the book succeeds in arousing the consciousness of its readers to the stark reality that one can be a major player in a polity and yet remains marginalised. A disturbing paradox of a sort!
More importantly, the book serves as a good research work for students of Political Science who may want to dig out the foundation of post-colonial coliseum that is contemporary Nigeria.
Editor’s Note: This review is being reproduced due to some errors contained in the first publication.

By: Boye Salau