21/11/2025
What comes to mind when you see this bridge? What does justice feel like for Ndi Igbo? After the civil war in 1970, the "Aghaebego" generation left home because there was nothing to fall back on. Business and jobs were lost to the war.
As Ndi Igbo scattered all over Nigeria, many found their destiny in the north and Lagos, becoming businessmen. Over the years, their businesses prospered and the gospel of building home started. This is why in almost all villages in Ala Igbo, you will see mansions. The justice in these mansions is that sons and daughters who watched their parents' house burnt down and suffered from kwasiorkor can see the new glory in the land. Even if it means sleeping in that house for 1 or 2 weeks every year, it is a symbol of survival. For them, that is justice to the loss suffered all those years.
What does justice feel like for Ndi Igbo?
When I turned 8 years old, I moved to Lagos to complete my primary education. When I returned to Onitsha and enrolled in a boarding school for my secondary education, some of my friends who I played in the sand along the streets of Onitsha had gone to different parts of Nigeria and neighbouring countries as apprentices. They served their bosses in the Igba Boi system and on completion, became their own oga and started their business. When they made money, many returned to their villages and built mansions. A mansion that speaks life into the death experienced between 1967 and 1970. This justice provides opportunities for young people to learn and earn.
What does justice feel like for Ndi Igbo?
After my university education, I left the southeast. But I always returned because it was safe and I enjoyed driving around town with friends. Those who stayed back got into business as there are limited corporate jobs to cover the thousands of graduates produced each year in the region. So most people leave. But beyond that, it was peaceful and calm. The justice in this calm was that you knew no matter any part of the world where you lived, you always remember the duty to build at home.
However, this search for justice and healing from the events of 1967 to 1970 has raised many individuals who positioned themselves as leaders of the cause. From 2020 till sometime this year, Ala Igbo was bleeding because men who were fighting for this justice and healing decided to inflict more pains on their own people.
Then came the kidnappings and killings. From Orsu to Ihiala, people were crying out loud, "Are we not one? Are we not fighting for the same liberation?" Those who built mansions as a way of rebuilding what was lost suddenly realised they could no longer come home. To those who lost their loved ones, what will justice feel like for them?
It appeared like we started running away from home again, but this time, there was no war. So who was chasing our people?
In 2021, I wrote that the search for self determination and purpose for Ndi Igbo is beyond any one individual. From Ojukwu to Uwazulike, Ekpa to Kanu, Okafor to Okonkwo and you reading this, no one individual is greater than the duty we owe our ancestors who died fighting to ensure Ndi Igbo secured their land and voice.
For those who lost loved ones to the carnage in the southeast, justice for them will feel like bringing to book, the individuals who instigated and carried out such actions.
For those who still believe that Ndi Igbo who left home since 1970 deserve to have a peaceful home whenever they visit, justice for them will feel like coming home and not having the fear of being kidnapped.
When next you see this bridge and cross it to the southeast, remember we have suffered enough. We need to heal our land and everyone should speak words of healing.
Ala Igbo is bleeding. We need healing and I dare say: Ozoemena!
Copied:Martin Beck Nworah
