Only two reasons could make a person dismiss a clan of people as large as the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality as ‘a people without brain’. The first is ignorance, and the second is pathological hatred.
There is no doubt that many people pass through the four walls of academic institutions but refuse to allow the institutions pass through them. Such persons, not minding the number and length of certificates they may parade, or the offices they may occupy, remain mentally dark and enslaved. In whatever circumstance(s) they find themselves, they will always be driven by parochialism.
Hatred is a reflection of inherent psychological deficiency in the person that hates, which evolves from inferiority complex. There are persons who naturally feel inferior before their fellow human-beings, even persons that they should ordinarily be better than. It is possible to observe a Teacher who simply hates a student for no justifiable reason, other than a mindset of inferiority complex.
It is quite unfortunate that someone who allegedly claimed to be an Ngwa man and was brought up in Ngwa land, fed by Ngwa food, and protected by Ngwa traditional security network, could, in the confidentiality of one’s private discussion with someone he knew hailed from his/her geo-political zone, arrogantly confide in the person that ‘Ngwa People have no brain’. It only exposes the person’s depth of hatred and animosity against the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality. If the person has poison, he/she would not hesitate to poison any available Ngwa indigene.
Placing that very grievous accusation and unwarranted insult to the entirety of Ngwa People in it’s proper perspective, the question that arises is, are Ngwa People so disparaged the same People that gave birth to, and nurtured such eminent personalities as;
(1) the first Speaker of Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives, and first Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Most Distinguished Senator Dr Jaja Anucha Wachuku?
(2) Chief Marcus Wambu Ubani who was a First Class Eze Oha of Ngwa Land, and a First Republican Federal Parliamentarian?
(3) Erudite Barrister Ubani Ukoma whose exploits in the Eastern House of Assembly, and as a Legal Practitioner, were excellent?
(4) Chief Paul Omerenyia Ururuka, the assiduous Minister of Works in Eastern Region whose infrastructural revolution gave rise to physical urban expansion of such cities as, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Umuahia, Aba, IkotEkpene, etc, and whose commitment to efficiency, which reflected in Eastern Region being the fastest growing economy in the world, made him to be awarded the National Honour of Commander of The Federal Republic, CFR, in 1965 by Nigeria’s Ceremonial President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe?
(5) Dr Paul Agbai Ogwuma, the seventh Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, and the first Igbo Man to be so appointed and who served in that capacity for six consecutive years, 1993-1999, and who had earlier meritoriously served as Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank of Nigeria without leading it into ruins and eventual collapse like what happened to Diamond Bank?
(6) Elder Emmanuel Adaelu who distinguished himself as an Industrialist and Estate Mogul, leaving many Churches he single-handedly built for the Seventh Day Adventist as verifiable legacies?
(7) Mr M. N. Onwuma, a renowned Educator, Mathematician, and Physicist trained in Dublin, and Ireland, first Principal of Asa Grammar School, Asa, Chief Whip of Eastern Nigeria’s Regional House of Assembly, and Administrator of Aba Province in defunct Republic of Biafra?
(8) King Ananaba of the historic Obegu Kingdom whose mercantile influence dominated the legitimate trade in Palm Oil in Niger Delta Region after the abolition of trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807?
(9) His Royal Highness, Eze The Rt Hon Johnson Elewemba Nnata Nwaguru, Director of National Archives, Enugu, and Author of ABA AND BRITISH RULE?
(10) His Imperial Majesty, Eze Isaac Ikonne, Enyi 1 of Aba?,
(11) The most charismatic philosophical Eze Ukwu of Ngwa Ukwu, and Traditional Head of Ngwa Land, His Eminence, Eze Dr Bernard Onyenguzo Enweremadu?
(12) Most Distinguished Senator Enyi Abaribe? and
(13) His Excellency, Ambassador Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Royal Kingdom of Spain, and eight-year Governor of Abia State, 2015-2023?
That blanket quantification of every Ngwa Man as a brainless entity by whoever that made it is the worst insult unjustly, annoyingly, and unacceptably meted to the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality. That description conveys the hidden feeling of the person that said so, implying that Ngwa are, by intellectual classification, Idiots, Imbeciles or, at best, Morons. This is grievous! This insult is one, in the days of yore, capable of aggravating inter sub-ethnic conflicts, that could metamorphose into bloody wars.
Thank God, the Ngwa are educated, civilized, urbane and polished. The Ngwa that I know will not condescend to any primitive approach, even though attempts have been made in the recent times to infuriate them. Not long ago, probably on the insinuation of the same person that allegedly said that ‘Ngwa People have no brain’, a young cantankerous lady had publicly denigrated the Ngwa as ‘poor and hungry people’. My God, do Ngwa People really deserve this quantum of odium, animosity, and outright disdain!
The Ngwa Man should now appreciate the fact that his hospitality, generosity, and accommodating spirit have only earned him one thing, hatred. He should know that what is confronting him is nothing else other than generational hatred by his haters. He should not fail to know that the hatred against him is boundless. He should acknowledge the ridicule that his beneficiary has arrogantly asked him, ‘who are you?’ in a broad day light. He should know that by that single statement, the implication is obvious that, being brainless, he would vote for the stranger that mocks his intellectual capacity, even against his own kinsman.
In summation, the Ngwa Man has an opportunity to prove to the world that the person that labelled him as brainless is either wrong or right. How does he do that? The election of his brother, Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, Abia State 2027 Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, is a Golden Opportunity for him to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that he is, indeed and by any calculation, an intelligent and wise Man, like the famous Dr Wise of Ngwa Monarchy. But where the Ngwa Man chooses a stranger just because of crumbs expected to fall from a table he is not even sure of access to, to that extent, the Ngwa Man is brainless. It is hoped that the Ngwa, having been so subjected to all manner of caricature in the recent past, very close to 2027 Governorship Election, will not behave like Esau who sold his birth right only because of yam porridge and, consequently, lost both his integrity and dignity.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Okene Ukwu Nde Ngwa and Defender of the Ngwa Cause, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
Thursday (Eke) 17-09-2026.
