Says Ojukwu instituted Igbo Ezeship in Diaspora

His Royal Majesty, Amb.Chukwudi Ihenetu is the Diaspora king of Igbo community in Ghana. His 12 years on the throne is dogged by diverse accomplishments, elevation of the Igbo culture and traditions.

The Eze recently spoke in details about the activities of the Ndigbo in Ghana. Ihenetu in this interview stated that the late Ikemba, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, created Diaspora kingship for Igbos in other to preserve their culture in foreign land.

He also spoke on the annual New Yam festival that started in 2010, which has become a celebration of African rich culture from Igbo perspectives.

Over 12 years on the throne, and counting, would you say you have met your expectations as king of Ndigbo in Ghana?

Not yet, expectations of everyone is the day God is going to call you home. The purpose of Diaspora throne is that we are still on it as we haven’t fully achieved our goals, but we believe in God that we keep meeting our goals every day.

One of the things we have achieved very well now is that we have town hall meetings educating our people first of all to know that they are living in a foreign land, that we are foreigners living in Ghana and we must respect rules and regulations of the land, and not to violate it. We have achieved this.

If you recalled about 13 years ago, many at times people complained about Nigerian misbehaving, doing one or two things that are against rules and regulations of the land. For the past 12 years on this throne, we kept cleaning up the mind of the people to let them know that when you are a foreigner, you do what the owners of the land want and not to do what you like. We have achieved this and that’s very important.

One thing about education is that when you enlightened someone, you also transfer that knowledge to someone else. That’s why, as new people are coming in, those already armed with the knowledge are transferring it to the newcomers.

We have also achieved good relationships with our host nation, Ghana, in the area of tradition, culture, and government. we have been able to convince our host nation that we are not here to compete with the authority or challenge their laws, but to live in peace and harmony so as to engage in our commerce and trade, manufacturing, and entrepreneur.

Before, many years back, you see some Ghanaians fighting Nigerians on the streets and market because some of our people did not understand that they are not Ghanaians and that they needed to conform with the laws of their host country, Ghana.

So Ghanaians, most especially, those who had one or two things against Nigerians, should know that we are brothers and sisters. We are the same. We have been able to educate our Ghanaian friends who were disturbing us at the market that we are not here to challenge them but to engage in legitimate trade, which would also help to boost their economy.

When you talk about business, it is all about competition. What I have in my store may not be what you have vice versa. So we need one another in a symbiotic manners. My goods may not be the same as yours. The source may also differ. Some buy from manufacturers, others may buy from distributors. Price of people that got from manufacturers would certainly differ. We are strategic partners with the sole aim of growing the economy.
Again, we have achieved an introduction of Igbo culture to people across the world.

What is Igbo culture all about?

Igbo culture is all about celebrating our Igbo New Yam festival, celebrating unity, love among ourselves, celebrating peace and love among ourselves, and celebrating being your brothers keeper. Our culture and tradition are all about love and coming together. So, the history of Ndigbo is a powerful history that many people want to emulate.

We that are Igbos always want to give out goods to our brothers on credit, the same way we also give to some of our Ghanaian brothers. So we are not afraid of ourselves that our brothers would run away with the goods because we have structures, like local government meetings, town unions, and town hall meetings of our communities.
So, at that level, the chairmen of the community meetings can serve as guarantors for such a person to deliver on time effectively.

The introduction of our culture in Ghana has also given us a sense of belonging here. We thank the people of Ghana for accepting us even as we insist that Igbo culture is not here to challenge Ghana tradition but to enable our son’s and daughters to be connected to their roots.

Again, we have created strong legacies for our children unborn.
Most of us here married Ghanaian. My wife is a Ghanaian. She does not understand my culture properly, but establishing my culture within and around has made her understand my culture. My children and some other people of mixed parentage have come to know Igbo culture.
Now, the children are assimilating both cultures symbiotically.

So far how has your stay in Ghana been, and how has Igbo people relates with Ghanaians?

My stay in Ghana is so powerful.
Not just me alone but every single Nigerian who lives in this country. We are comfortable in Ghana because our host nation loves Nigerians, and we Nigerians like our host country Ghana. So our stay here has been comfortable, beautiful and nice. No insecurity here, Ghana is so wonderful that you can move from morning till night in your car without fear of being robbed. People in Ghana related well with us, so our stay here has been great.

Can you provide a little background history of Ndigbo?

From oral tradition, we heard that the Igbo people came all the way from Israel. From one country to another till we get to a country called Nigeria.
We are one of the strong pillars of this country and we are situated in the southeastern part of the country. Before, it was called the eastern zone of Nigeria, but now it is called the Southeast geopolitical zone. Igbo tribe is the only zone in Nigeria that the 5 core states speak only one language called Igbo. We are made up of 5 politically demarcated states.

That is Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi states. These five core Igbo states are one bloc. We speak one language, and the tradition of Ndigbo is the same. Our performance of breaking of Kolanut Ofo, marital rites, Umuna, chieftaincy, kingship, Ndieze Nwanyi, native doctors, and many other things that we have in common.

The history of Ndigbo is a tale that is so long that a lot of people would say if they start telling the story, it would take a long time for it to finish. Ndigbo are people who share love a lot because our culture and traditions are all about love and unity. So, the history of Ndigbo is very powerful, and people want to imitate them. Igbo are the only tribe in the world that anyway you don’t find an Igbo person, there is no life there, pack your load and run. Igbos work so hard to keep friendship and make people around them to be comfortable. They are the only people who want to build house in foreign land and establish businesses. Remember anybody that came into your land and invest, the person is part of you. He doesn’t want to create problem there because if he causes trouble there, he loses his business and property. So, the Igbos are unifiers. We feel comfortable wherever we are and also make people around us happy. Love is the first priority of the Igbo man. Unity is second, peace third, and making people around us comfortable and many more.

And looking at you as an Igbo king, meaning that you stand absolutely for the Igbos, do you allow other tribes to thrive or come to you for assistance?

Jesus is a saviour of the world, but he started from Israel. So the tribe that made me to seat where I am today is the Igbo tribe. I am a Nigerian, and Igbo is part of the country. We Igbo believes so much in our country. As soon as we cross the shore of our country, Nigeria, you don’t see yourself again as Igbo, Yoruba, or Efik. you see yourself as a Nigerian.

The Diaspora Igbo throne in Ghana protecting Igbos, defending Nigerians, in extensions also supports everybody that comes around us in times of need irrespective of the country you are coming from and the tribe you are coming from. Like I said, Igbo culture is showing love and peace with the people you live with, so I’m not only supporting the Igbo but the entire humanity that comes around me. And remember, my wife is also a Ghanaian. So Ghanaians are also welcome in my home. People you see all around here are Ghanaians.

For someone to take up this throne or be crowned as king, does he have to be from the royal family before he can inherit the throne?

No, this is Diaspora throne and it does not necessarily mean that you must come from a royal family before Ndigbo would choose you to be their Diaspora king. It is all about community decisions based on merit. The community can only decide for those who support the community. Before they do that, they will find out how hardworking you are. They look at the love you show to the people. They look at how you bring Igbo together, a whole lot of things they look out for before the community chooses who is going to lead them. It does not mean you must come from a royal home. It could be any Igbo man as long as the community love you and they want you to be their king.

How did becoming the Eze turn into reality and were there predecessors before you?

Sometime in 2010, Igbos in Ghana made me the first Igbo New Yam festival 2010. You can see the picture somewhere over there. You can see that was the first Igbo New Yam festival in Ghana.

Soon after this programme, the Igbos in Ghana realised by performance the type of love I have for our tribe. And they started approaching me to be the first ever Igbo Diaspora king in Ghana. I refused as of 2010.
What I looked at first of all was that my children were still little. I don’t want to go into a chieftaincy issue that would cause a problem for me, or that could lead to tussle. But they kept telling me that you don’t have territory that we are protecting. That is pure cultural issue.

Normally, being a king leads to death, litigation, and tussle, how was it like for you?

It all depends. There is always litigation over chieftaincy, so I look at all these areas. I don’t want to lose my life at an early age, I don’t want to put my children in danger. I told them I didn’t want it. That was in 2011.

In 2012, I accepted it to be the first ever Igbo Diaspora king in Ghana and to God be the glory, I was made the Igbo king in Ghana and as a foreigner, we also reached out to the owners of the land, the Ga traditional council, and paramounts in Ghana and we made ourselves available and introduce ourselves to them letting them know our intentions and the purpose of Igbo Diaspora king. That it was not made to challenge authority of the land but it is kingship over tribes like you have the Zamarawas, Malians and Yoruba Kabiyesi in Ghana and Sariki Hausawa and stuffs like that. So ours is called Eze the way you have areas in Ghana where some answered Nana, Nene etc like the great kingdom of Dagbon. So the Igbos is called Eze or Igwe so made the paramounts to know who we are and our objectives and by the special grace of God, the people of the land loves what we are doing and endorsed it.

To be made a Diaspora king after your people have chosen you have process, Our father from home has to recognise the Diaspora king. You know we have Diaspora structure that crowned Diaspora king. This was founded by Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu of blessed memories. There are king makers that he ordained and Diaspora kings that he ordained. From there many were also ordained so we also flew them in from Nigeria to come and establish the Igbo Diaspora. So they came here to crown me as the first Igbo Diaspora king and also gave me permission to crown other sub kings under me. The first ever sub-king I crowned was Eze Samuel Ekezie from Dansuma, second Eze was Kennedy Nwakanma in Madina, third was Eze Chuma Okadigbo, fourth was Eze Andrew in Amasama. And now he has been made king in his village back home in Nigeria. Fifth was Eze Victor Anyim in Aflao, sixth Tony Ulasi, seventh was Igwe Kingsley in Central region, eighth Eze Abuchi in Kasuwa, ninth is Eze Kingsley also in Ashiama. The last one we did on December 22, 2024, in Tamale is Eze Collins. All these are under me being their head.

The purpose of all this is to bring our people together and close to themselves because I alone can not see to everyone. So we appoint Eze in different regions and towns to oversee the affairs of our people. Before we did this, we visited the paramount traditional king of such communities for endorsement of the new Igbo sub kings. They would tell us the rights and thereafter induct the new sub Diaspora kings. and we then perform our own traditional rites after they have completed theirs. That shows that the owners of the land have welcomed you to be a foreign chief in their land.

Looking at the Igbo apprentice system, would you say it has contributed to the successful ship that we see among Igbo people?

The apprentice scheme has brought wealth among people of the Igbo. The reasons: If Igbo man come, maybe here in Legon. Maybe he has come to sell beds in a small shop. Tomorrow, he will travel home to bring someone, not from his family but very different home to come and teach him trade. They may be living in a small room, next time, he brings another person, maybe within 6 months, he has brought in 3 persons to teach them how to sell these beds. Now this is my home, I take someone from neighbouring villages and towns for apprenticeship. Within 4 years of apprenticeship, I gave him money to go and start his own business. You are no longer serving me. Now, you have learned and mastered the trade. You can now stand on your own.

But during the service, any payments?

During service, there is no payment because you come to learn and I will take care of your welfare for four or five years, depending on what you signed as an agreement with the parent or guardian of that person.
Remember that once you settle him and he set up his business, you have also brought wealth into that family.
Thereafter, he would also take in one or two persons. That’s how the wealth creation scheme is replicated across Igboland.

That is why in Igboland, we believe in service and when you serve diligently, you receive blessings to go and prosper, and that’s why wealth is spreading fast in Igboland. We are so much into trade and manufacturing, it has brought a lot of benefits to Ndigbo home and abroad.

New Yam festival celebration. Give us the historical background, planning, and why the date is fixed at a particular time of the year?

First of all, the Igbo believes that yam is the king of all crops. Our forefathers established a new yam festival to be the best festival, bigger than other festivals, and they celebrated yam bigger than other crops.Thats why in Igboland, we have those crowned as king of yam. Your yam barn in those days determines your worth in society. If your yam barn is big, then you are a rich man. Just like in Ghana here where Farmers’ Day is celebrated and the winner goes home with a car, farmer would also be crowned king of yam. This is a festival that started way back from our fathers, and we don’t want it to die.

The Igbo New Yam festival began several years ago, and to date, it is still in existence. To cut the story short, the festival is a thanksgiving that we celebrate yam from June to October. This is the time to harvest yam, so we are now coming together to say God, we thank you for a successful harvest and pray for bigger yield and bumper harvest in the next farming season.

We Igbo that live in Diaspora celebrate New Yam festival when our fathers back home have celebrated starting from June, July through August, then we from Diaspora continues. It would also interest you to know that it is not only in Nigeria here that we have Igbo Diaspora king. We have them in other parts of the world, too. So they celebrate the festival too. Here in Ghana, we started in 2010, but since I ascended this throne on August 30, 2012, till now, we have celebrated the festival for 12 years. We are also going to celebrate it this year. We do it third Sunday of every September and it would hold September 21. It would also interest you to know that this year we have about 20,000 people in attendance. The venue we often use is Efusutaland Children Park, so I’m using this opportunity to invite you and your crew member for the grand occasion that would feature masquerades and the best of Igbo culture. Those things you see in African magic are what we display live.

Do you accept the gift or sponsorship of this programme?

Igbo New Yam festival is a programme that costs us a whole lot of money as we invite people from all over the world. Last year, we had over 1,000 people from Nigeria. Remember, we take care of flight tickets for the royal father coming for the programme. We take care of hotel bills and other logistics to make their stay in Ghana comfortable. We are open to receiving financial support from people. We need sponsorship so that the festival can continue with its razzmatazz. It is a programme that attracts people from all over the world.

How true is the insinuation that one man can marry two sisters? is that truly part of Igbo culture?

In Igbo tradition, one man never married two sisters of the same parentage. Infact, it is seen as a taboo. But your brother can marry the sister of your wife, your brother can marry other females from your wife’s family. Some family would also tell you that they don’t want you to marry siblings of your wife it all depends on what that family wants.

Kindly tell us about the Queen Mother, your wife?

I met my wife here in Accra in 1998. we met around May and we married in August of that same year. This is my 26 years in marriage, She is from Central region. She is also the Queen Mother in her community Birwa, Central region. We are blessed with five biological children and nine adopted children. My wife’s name is Ugoeze Liberty Ihenetu, Nana the first. She is a humble, beautiful and great Ghanaian and I want to use this medium to tell my wife that I love her.

What excites you about Lagos City?

Lagos is the New York of Africa. A city where everyone is up and doing. A city where whether you are pregnant or old, you jump into moving bus, a city where nobody cares whether you are moving fast or slow. A city where you can pick money in the streets not physical money but opportunity. A city where you live for one year and can survive in any part of the world. A city where you can meet your destiny helper. Lagos is the best city in the world.