Mbaise launches ‘Who Is Who’

Chairman of the 7-man book launch committee, Air Commodore Luke C. Ochulor (rtd), said the book, which he described as “a compendium of people that matter in Mbaise,” written by Prince Pascal Opara, has 850 pages with a long list of 650 very important persons in Mbaise.The senator representing Owerri senatorial district,  Senator Chris Anyanwu, […]

Chairman of the 7-man book launch committee, Air Commodore Luke C. Ochulor (rtd), said the book, which he described as “a compendium of people that matter in Mbaise,” written by Prince Pascal Opara, has 850 pages with a long list of 650 very important persons in Mbaise.
The senator representing Owerri senatorial district,  Senator Chris Anyanwu, said the book is for every Mbaise person whether born or yet to be born.
Turning to the author, Prince Pascal Opara, she said:“I feel very good to be here. We cannot pay you enough for this hard job. The core of the book is the spirit of Mbaiseness.”
But she regretted that in recent years, that spirit of “united action” for which Mbaise was known, had waned, getting even weaker because the Mbaise people “have been copying others that are not united.”
Challenging the people to begin now to think deeply about their affairs, Senator Anyanwu said: “Stop eating and drinking anyhow. Sit back and think deeply to recover that spirit of Mbaiseness. We must not forget who we are. Let us not forget those things that make us unique.”
But the book reviewer, a social and political philosopher, Professor Theophilus Uzodinmma Nwala said that Mbaise  occupies one of the most challenging and hostile environments in the world. He said the area is grappling with challenges of poor soil, small land space, food scarcity, and negligible federal and state presence, absence of effective infrastructure, urban centres and centres of development.
Prof. Nwala told the gathering that Mbaise people have had to rely almost exclusively on themselves for the development of the area that has one of the highest population densities in Africa comparable to the Nile valley in Egypt and the gold region in South Africa.
“There is hardly any part of the world where you do not have a remarkable presence of Mbaise people in search of survival,” he said.
Nwala lamented that Mbaise people suffer more than many areas from the inability of the Federal Government to organize a credible census. “The most notorious census in Nigerian history was the 1991 census which reduced the population of Mbaise from 374,000 in 1971 to 270,000 in 1991,” he said.
He alleged that the last census during former President Olusegun Obasanjo manipulated the indices of census compilation which failed to identify Mbaise citizens in other parts of Nigeria.
Nwala, who described the book as a personality guide, showing the outstanding members of the elite of the area, explained that the development of the society is primarily a function of the coordinating efforts of its elite.
“It is therefore a vital and needed instrument of our social development. It provides information that is motivational and guide in role-modeling for our youths not only from Mbaise but also from other parts of Nigeria.     It is indeed, an important up-date on our social history,” said Nwala.
Also speaking, Prof. I.T.K. Egonu, whose comment was entitled, “Talk of Mbaise Spirit,” explained that the Mbaise spirit in friendship is “most loyal in commitment, most reliable in understanding, most dependable in the pursuit of a good cause, most relentless in the fight for justice and fairness, most uncompromising and in the face of a foe most unwavering.”
The event which held at the Mbaise Secondary School, was attended by such personalities as former Governor of defunct Central Bank of Biafra and also running mate to Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention during the 1993 presidential election, Dr. Sylvester Ugoh; Senator Chris Anyanwu, Chief Nnana Igbokwe representing Ezinihitte and Ahiazu in the House of Representatives, Air Commodore Luke C. Ochulor (rtd),the chief launcher, Dr. Jude O. Amaefule, Prof. T.u. Nwala, former Minister for Establishment during the Earnest Shonekan led-Interim National Government (ING), Chief I.D.  Nworga, a manager in Zenith Bank, Chief Stanley Amuchie, a notable traditional ruler, Eze Desmond Oguguo of Udo autonomous community as well as other royal fathers,  Dr. Ekennia among others.