By steve anyebe.
Dateline: 30th May 2026. Venue: The prestigious Ochacho Hotel, Otukpo, traditional Headquarters of Idomaland. Occasion: Idoma Centenary Celebration Lectures. Keynote Speakers: Architect Sonny Togo Echono PhD and Chief Godwin Odumu Obla SAN.
It was a day to behold. Every concerned Idoma person struggled to get a seat in the jam-packed hall, despite the damning heat as the standing fans could not keep pace with the continously flowing mass of thick black bodies. Traditional rulers, the Clergy, Youths, Women, Professionals, Academia, Students. Everyone was there. Not surprising for Idomas had come to listen to two of their most illustrious sons.
The politically emasculated Idoma people of Benue State in Central Nigeria gathered one more time to discuss, among other things, the greatest factors that have become the incubus inhibiting their collective progress towards reaching desired goals, and subsequently forge the way forward towards emancipation.
The grand entry of HRM Och’Idoma V, Elaigwu Odogbo Obagaji John PhD, and his wife kick-started the event.
Chairman Central Planning Committee of the Centenary Celebration, Prof Yakubu Ochefu, in his welcome address, informed the audience that the historic gathering was to witness the Idoma Division Centenary-Plus Lectures, the unveiling of the Centenary Brochure, as well as the Official Launch of the Programme of Events for the nine-month long celebration expected to end with a Grand Finale in December 2026. Explaining what prompted the Centenary Celebration, Prof Ochefu referred to the momentous creation of Idoma Division in 1923 by the British colonial administration, with Otukpo as its headquarters, adding that “before that defining year, our people were scattered across four different colonial administrative entities: the Ankpa Division of Kabba Province, the Nsukka Division of Onitsha Province, the Abakaliki Division of Ogoja Province, and the Nassarawa Division in the Northern Protectorate..”. He pointed out that the 1923 consolidation gave birth to what has now become the nine LGAs of Benue South, an enduring legacy of culture,resilience, achievements, and unity worth celebrating with the theme “Honouring Our Century, Forging Our Future”, making a passionate appeal to every Idoma man and woman to have a committed role in the celebration. Prof Ochefu concluded his welcome speech on an emotional tone with a charge: “…let us carry in our hearts the consciousness that we are participants in something much bigger than a single event. We are custodians of legacy. We are architects of a future. And what we do in the coming months will define how the next generation remembers us. Let us make them proud!”.
In his remarks, the Akanaba k’Idoma and Chairman of the occasion, Chief Mike Okibe Onoja, opined that the event was not just a ceremony but a declaration of identity, an act of remembrance, and a covenant with the future while affirming that the Idoma are a people of history, purpose and destiny. He paid glowing tributes to HRM Agabaidu, the two keynote Speakers, and called on all Idoma leaders to regard the Celebration as a moment to forge a new elite consensus built on mutual respect, shared goals, and the understanding that collective strength surpasses the sum of individual ambitions.
The first keynote Speaker was Architect Sonny Togo Echono, PhD, OON, Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Speaking on the topic “A People And Their Professional Choices: Engineering The Idoma Renaissance”, the former Federal Permanent Secretary relied on the thesis that “The professional choices of the Idoma elite across eight decades have been honourable in intent and individually distinguished in execution. But they have been structurally narrow, collectively uncoordinated, and strategically insufficient for the demands of Nigeria’s political economy. Unless we deliberately reengineer the aspirational architecture of the next generation, we risk handling them the same inheritance we received: outstanding individuals serving a nation that does not adequately serve them in return”.
Tracing the post-independence professional choices of the Idoma elite, Echono recalled that the period saw them becoming what he termed the steward class, civil servants who were indispensable to the State yet economically peripheral to it, mastering the machinery of the State but remaining strangers to the machinery of wealth.
Undertaking a forensic analysis of the past century, Arc Echono boldly asserted that the individual achievements of Idomas, as laudable as have been, have failed to translate to the collective prosperity, political clout, and economic sovereignty deserving of a people of such high intellect, discipline and warrior heritage. He recalled the great individual spirits of enterprise reminiscent of Idoma men and women during the colonial era, which manifested in very successful business empires which regrettably all died with their founders.
Making reference to the over reliance of Idoma elites on white collar jobs, without considering diversification, the keynote Speaker counted the cost of that to include political thinness; generational wealth gap; talent export problem; as well as aspirational ceiling.
The necessary Renaissance Framework propounded by Arc Sonny Echono to turn things around for the Idoma nation include what he described as the 40-40-20 Career Architecture; Mastering Generational Business Transfer; Idoma Diaspora Venture Fund; and the Iponu Protocol.
Bringing his treatise to a close, he said “What we must now construct is the institutional architecture that connects all of our individual excellence into collective power. The first hundred years were about surviving Nigeria. The next hundred years must be about Idoma leading”.
The second keynote Speech was delivered by Chief Godwin Odumu Obla, SAN, Founder and Chairman, Godwin Obla Foundation. In his characteristic manner, he was direct, punchy and down-to-earth.
Speaking on “The Political Choices Of The Idoma People Since 1950: Context, Consequences, And The Path Forward”, Chief Obla placed on record the the subjugation and systematic assault on the collective dignity of the Idoma people with the imposition of the Indirect Rule system by the colonial regime in Northern Nigeria, ever before the question of political choices arose.
According to Chief Obla, the first real political choice came in the 1950s as regional elections were held in Nigeria’s evolution towards independence. It was a choice between going with JS Tarka and his United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) or the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) led by Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto. For obvious reasons of political patronage, Och’Idoma Agabaidu Ogiri Okoh, and other Idoma leaders such as JC Obande and Abutu Obekpa influenced Idoma votes for the NPC. Following closely with that was the motion in the Northern House of Assembly for the creation of a Middle Belt Region in 1956, which Idoma politicians also helped to kill.
Deploying great historical investigative ability, Chief Obla traced the lack of spirit of consensus which has bedeviled Idomaland up till the present, to the days of Idoma Hope Rising Union(IHRU) in Lagos which were replete with internal contradictions.
Chief Godwin Obla, the first ever Senior Advocate of Nigeria to come out of Benue South, ably echoed Arc Sonny Echono’s position that Idomaland has always produced great professional individuals, who achieved sterling heights by sheer merit and the choices they made, but those individual breakthroughs have failed to elevate their Idoma community politically and or economically. Even with the military incursion into Nigerian politics, and with the plethora of high-class Idomas in very influential positions, the highest wish of every Idoma (ie creation of their own State) was not achieved. And the governorship of Benue, which idomas helped create in 1976, has eluded the second largest ethnic group till today. Chief Obla conclusively opines that the Idoma “…are, it seems, better at articulating collective grievances than at maintaining the discipline required to translate those grievances into collective political action”.
Considering that the consequences of the political choices by Idomas since 1950 stare every Idoma person in the face, the real juice of the presentation by Chief Godwin Obla, Idomaland’s foremost exponent of the giving-back-to-the-society philosophy, must be seen in his “THE PATH FORWARD– DELIBERATE STRATEGIES FOR POLITICAL ADVANCEMENT”.
Here, he proposed the establishment of a permanent, non-partisan Idoma Political Consultative Forum whose sole mandate would be to facilitate consensus on strategic elections before and not during such elections.
Secondly, massive investment in Voter Education and Civic Engagement, for which the Okwubi k’Idoma recommends a Voter Education and Protection Initiative to be funded by the Idoma diaspora and local philanthropists.
Third, is the building of Cross-Ethnic Coalitions on the Basis of Shared Interests. Leveraging on Chief Mike Onoja’s impressive political foray into parts of Tivland in the 2007 Benue State governorship race, Chief Obla said “Let the quality of our ideas, not merely the justice of our claim to rotation, be the basis of our appeal”. Afterall an Idoma Governor will not be elected by Idoma votes alone.
Fourthly, Leveraging the Centenary as a Reset Moment and rare psychological window to reset the Idoma collective direction, by launching a comprehensive global diaspora database to map every Idoma professional, entrepreneur, and scholar of note across the world, as well as a “People’s Charter” to articulate the development priorities of the Idoma people.
Fifth is the deliberate Cultivation of the Third Generation of Idoma Leadership, which should be done through the identification, funding, mentoring and preparation of younger candidates for political offices.
Sixthly, Institutional Foundations(traditional, civic, and cultural) must be strengthened, supported, respected and empowered to function as custodians of the Idoma collective interest.
Two great minds. Two exceptional expositions. Two life saving directives.
But one demand: ACTION!
It has always been jaw-jaw and no action.
Mustardpoint.com exclusively reached out to the brain behind the Centenary Celebration Lectures, Prof Yakubu Aboki Ochefu, who categorically stated enthusiastically that modalities are already being put in place for actionable timelines.
IDOMA WILL RISE AGAIN!
END. 02/06/2026.
