As we ride through the 'ember months of 2008, and as we prepare to jump into 2009, I ask you my brothers and sisters, have we not had enough?
Eze Anyankah was laid to rest 3 years ago- precisely on August 20, 2005.
So let's try to translate the situation as it is- we are unable to find an able successor in 3 years. That is BAD.
During his funeral, many speakers stated that the Eze Oha was irreplaceable. Little did I know that it was literally so. But can't we just try? Why should Okpofe continue to make appearances without a crowned traditional leader at cultural events (I hope we are being represented)?
On the other hand, I think we should be very vigilant. If and when we decide to move forward, the Eze we elect or select - whichever process we use- must be an Eze by all standards. It must be somebody we can and will respect as our leader. I don't want to have an Eze whom I could ask to 'shut up'. Neither do I want a bully as an Eze. Above all, like one of the contributors here stated, and I quote- "Service to the community for the general good should be the catch phrase" That to me, should be the number one qualification.
Come on people!! We have to take back our beloved Okpofe. It is fast slipping away from us. We all grew up to see a very united Okpofe, an Okpofe that was the dream of other communities. Where is the Okpofe that built the secondary school? Where is the Okpofe that built the town hall, the health center, the post office, and the community bank? The Okpofe that pulled electrical wires across towns without electricity to bring light to its people.
What have we done lately? Is it the water project? It didn't work out after millions of Naira was invested.
What of transformer installation? I am not sure the debate is over.
You see, my point is that we have achieved nothing in the past many years since we started bickering. Something is wrong with this picture, but we can only address it if we are determined to face the truth. The truth is that our current way of doing things has not worked. Divide and conquer will never help us.
In contrast though, within the same period, Okpofe has seen a record number of (new) successful individual sons and daughters. Thanks to the hard work of our people, we are still a force to be reckoned with as individual citizens of the world.
Some of our people are the ‘ofuta obie’ in their different fields of endeavor.
We are senior managers and policy makers in cooperate Nigeria and around the world.
Some of our people are top professors in and outside Nigeria.
Success in business is no longer for Anambra people alone but for Okpofe people too. We have some of the best physicians the world has to offer among us. Our people have succeeded in engineering, law, economics, science and technology- you name it. Religious men and women from Okpofe are all over the world.
Whereas we have succeeded as individuals, statistics has shown that we have actually failed as a people. We have failed the unity that we once had. We have failed to maintain infrastructures that we erected. We have failed to produce a leader among us. We have failed to translate our individual successes into community success. And I ask, is it a problem that we got smarter and more prosperous?
How do we want to hand Okpofe over to the next generation? Let us stop trying to move backwards into the future.