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Uzoma Onyekachi L.May 12, 2014

The Philosophy of Conflict and Resolution in

Elechi Amadi’s

The

Great Ponds

Introduction

The German-American psychologist, Kurt Zadek Lewin,

(1890-1947) who was the first psychologist to experimentally

investigate conflict, concentrated on three major types of

conflict which confronts the human person in every decision

making –the approach- approach conflict; where the individual

is lured by two positive reasons to engage in an act,

approach- avoidance conflict; where there is an allurement to

as well as an aversion from taking an action, and the

avoidance- avoidance conflict; where the animus in the

individual is completely subdued by two negative reasons from

taking an action. (Kurt Lewin, Resolving Social Conflicts, New

York, Harper and Row Publishers, 1948,Web. 2 May, 2014). The

suicidal tendency which manifests in varied degrees in every

human person stimulates the acute aggression that results in

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conflict. This acute state of aggression can find its

satisfaction or soothing in an individual order than the

aggressor. This is referred to as ‘transfer aggression’ in

psychology. The instinct of self preservation, on the other

hand, leads the individual to refrain from as well as engage

in conflict, depending on the circumstance. Conflict can be

physical, spiritual, or moral. Humanity’s predicament today

lies in physical conflict, otherwise known as violent

conflict.

Our world today is bedeviled by violent political,

social, religious and cultural conflicts. The social dimension

of conflict constitutes the onus of this work which is

intended to be a model for understanding and possible

resolution of youth restiveness and kidnapping in Nigeria and

beyond. The word “conflict” derives from the Latin word

Confligere (to strike together. Microsoft Encarta, 2009. Web. 5

Feb. 2014). The Buddhists Second Noble Truth states that the

cause of suffering is desire. The suffering in the novel: The

Great Ponds is the conflict between the villages of Chiolu and

Aliakoro which ensued as a result of the desire to own one of

the Great Ponds -the Pond of Wagaba. According to Elechi Amadi

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, “The Ponds were important to the villagers because they

needed the fish for food” ( Amadi Elechi, The Great Ponds, Retold

by John Davey, London, Heinemann, 1976, p. 3).Print.

Every Conflict is First and Foremost an Individual

Conflict.

The individual in conflict is never comfortable in this

disturbed state of mind and attempts to comfort self by

seeking for and identifying other individuals in a similar

state of conflict. This leads to an association of individuals

with similar conflict. The synthesis of these individual

conflicts is “group conflict.” The individual in conflict does

not stop at the identification of comrades; but also tries to

win converts by convincing others not in the same conflict to

see things from the individual’s perspective. This finally

leads to community conflict (community here include village,

clan, tribe, nation, and allies).

The individual conflict in The Great Ponds has Eze Diali-

the chief of the village of Chiolu- as its protagonist. He

authoritatively convinced the entire community in these words;

“people of Chiolu, we have heard that poachers from the next

village of Aliakoro will go to the Great Ponds tonight. These

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men will want to steal fish from the Pond of Wagaba. The Pond

of Wagaba is full of fish and it belongs to us” ( Amadi, pp.

4-5).

There is no Serious Community Conflict in the World

Without an Authority behind it.

The authoritative influence of Eze Diali spell-bound the

people of Chiolu and enthused them. Having successfully turned

his individual conflict to community conflict, he instructed

them on how to lunch the attack on the Poachers from Aliakoro

village. The Obnoxious trade of Kidnapping is not a new

business in Nigeria. It is a lucrative business re- introduced

in a more radical way by the militants whose ancestors were

well skilled in the art, cherished by the unemployed,

sponsored by the rich and protected by some authorities. Eze

Diali enticed the youths in these words. “Tonight we must

capture some of these poachers and bring them back to Chiolu.

Then we can sell these thieves back to their own village. If

we capture some of these poachers, then perhaps the men of

Aliakoro will stop stealing fish from our ponds ( Amadi, p.5).

My octogenarian mentor and seasoned novelist -Elechi

Amadi- was not spared of the horror of kidnapping in Nigeria.

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In an article: “kidnappers forced me to lie on wet ground” by

Chux Ohai, published in Punch, April 25, 2014, he recalled- in

an interview with the ‘Meet the Author’ segment of the 2014

Word Book Capital event in Port Harcourt, Rivers State- his

experience the night he was kidnapped which he described as

one of the worst nights he ever had:

Although I came close to death several times

during the war, when I was kidnapped I found

myself in a position where I was completely

helpless. They made me to lie on a wet ground. The

dangers were many at the time. A snake bite could

have finished me off. I am slightly asthmatic and

lying on a wet ground on a cold floor can easily

trigger an attack I had no drug there and that

could have been it (Web. 25 Apr. 2014).

The old soldier further explained that the Governor and

the soldiers were aware of his where about and set out on a

rescue mission that was equally dangerous as he could have

been caught between cross-fire and easily killed. Not all

kidnapped victims were as lucky as our literary icon. Some

died in their hands and many were raped.

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A shocking revelation has been made concerning kidnapping

and oil theft in Nigeria. Onyebuchi Ezigbo, in his article,

“Alamieyeseigha: Nigerians, Expatriates Involved in Oil Theft,

Kidnapping,” in This Day Live, April 29, 2014, quoted the former

Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s

revelation to the National Conference Committee on Public

Finance and Revenue on the involvement of some ex-naval

officers and expatriates in kidnapping and oil bunkering in

Nigeria. He lamented that the former president of Nigeria,

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had a list of the names of oil thieves

in the nation but refused to prosecute them. Speaking about

the heinous crime of kidnapping he affirmed:

In fact expatriates are more involved in the

crime than Nigerians. In fact some of them even

offer themselves to be arrested so that when there

is Compensation they have a share of it. They are

also involved in kidnapping. They allow themselves

to be kidnapped. Oil companies are invited, their

home countries will shout that their men are

kidnapped, management of oil companies will now

make efforts and pay ransom (Web. 29 Apr. 2014).

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The despicable art of kidnapping in Nigeria got to fever

peach on April 14, 2014, when the insurgents abducted about

275 girls (though the press is not precise with the figure)

from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State. In an article:

“US ‘outrage’ as calls grow to help rescue Chibok

schoolgirls”, published on May 6, 2014, Punch reported the Us

White House spokesperson Jay Carney saying: We view what has

happened there as an outrage and a terrible tragedy”. (Web. 14

Apr. 2014).

In Every Community Conflict, Youths are Used as Raw

Materials

By the Elders and Community leaders

Youths from both sides in conflict are driven to mutual

self destruction by mere appeal to their ego and chauvinism.

About seventy percent of the victims in every community

conflict are youths. They can easily be lured into conflict by

a promise of luxury and power even to the point of suicide. By

the expression “…we can sell these thieves back to their own

village” ( Amadi, p.5), Eze Diali brought the youths to the

level of approach approach conflict where the individual sees

two good reasons and advantages to engage in conflict. They

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are certainly to be rewarded with a share from the kidnap

ransom as well as safeguard their rich source of income. It is

pertinent to note here that neither the Chief nor the elders

went for the attack. All the fighters were youths.

Greed is an Instigator of Conflict in the Human Society

The men of Aliakoro were most probably driven by greed to

poach in the Great Ponds of Wagaba, not because they were

ignorant of the fact that it does not belong to them. If it

were theirs, the poachers would have been familiar with it

long ago but as the event proved; they were not acquainted

with the pond. This is implicit in the statement of one of the

poachers: “I’ve never seen a pond with so many fish in it”

(Amadi, p.6). This is followed by a confirmatory statement

from another poacher “I wish it belonged to AliaKoro” (Amadi,

p.8). The first poacher went on to postulate that the pond may

belong to them one day and when asked why he made the

statement he replied:” Eze Okehi, our Chief, wants it to

belong to Aliakoro” (Amadi, p.8).

The Indian philosopher and advocate of non-violence,

Mahatma Gandhi once said that the earth provides enough to

satisfy humanities’ need, but not enough to satisfy anybody’s

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greed. Because human wants are insatiable, greed will continue

to instigate conflict in a world with an exaggerated sense of

capitalism until the world’s economists are able to create a

new economic ideology devoid of Marxists materialism and

exaggerated capitalism.

Resource Control over the Wealth of the Nations is

The Main Cause of all the Major Conflicts in the World

When one of the men from Aliakoro said that they will

have to fight for the Great Pond of Wagaba another replied:

“The pond’s worth fighting for, isn’t it?” (Amadi, p.8). In

other words the man is saying ‘the pond’s worth dying for’. An

Igbo adage says ‘Onye ji oso agbakwuru ogu amaghi na ogu bu onwu’

(one who rushes into battle does not know that war is death).

This is true of the youths who always boost their morale with

the ‘win win’ mentality forgetting that they could also be

killed in the conflict.

A close look at the map of Africa (particularly West

Africa) depicts it as an archetype of Dolly Parton’s coat of

many colours. While Dolly’s coat covered her nakedness and

shielded her from adverse weather conditions, Africa’s coat

has exposed her and made her an easy prey to terrorism. The

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international law forbidding any country from carrying out

military expeditions beyond their territorial boundaries has

become highly advantageous to the terrorists who easily move

from one country to another through the highly porous African

boarders. Due to the patch-like nature and sizes of these

countries, especially in West Africa, the terrorists who at

the moment have established bases in various African countries

and are well armed with sophisticated weapons may decide to

lunch a coordinated attack on a small country from the various

countries surrounding it and successfully take over the

country. Some families in one country even have traceable

consanguinity with families in neighboring countries. The

consequences are obvious. A criminal from one country can

easily run to kith and kin in a neighboring country and there

receive every possible coverage. Gorilla war-far can be easily

carried out in such a place. The possibility and existence of

this ugly situation can be verified from the statement

authoritatively uttered by a renowned monarch in Northern

Nigeria, reported by Vanguard, March 26, 2014. The Lamindo of

Adamawa, Alahaji Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha told the National

Conference in Abuja that if Nigeria disintegrates, he and his

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kingdom will simply cross the border to join their kith and

kin in Camaroun (Web. 26 Mar. 2014). The unwarranted

scramble for and partition of Africa motivated only by the

desire of the Western powers to control and tap the wealth of

Africa, is yielding its bitter fruit at the moment. The

security agreement between Nigeria and some of her neighbors

in the past is no longer respected.

A more disturbing aspect of the matter is that these same

Western nations in their highly exaggerated sense of

capitalism see the conflict situation in Africa as a business

opportunity to sell their weapons. Pope Francis has been

dabbed ‘Marxist’ by them due to his relentless denunciation of

this sense of exaggerated capitalism and its incongruous

consequences. The high tax imposed on the companies that

produce arms makes it imperative that they make enough money

to pay tax and pay workers. For the youths, possessions of

these arms make them warlords and instill a sense of security

in them. To free Africa from this present quagmire, African

Union (AU) needs to begin to study the possibility of having a

United African Army. (UAA) This will make it possible for the

soldiers from one nation not only to chase hoodlums into other

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African countries, but also to be assisted in the exercise by

the soldiers in that country. This vital security

responsibility need to be executed now before it is too late.

The Primary Cause of Conflict in Human Society is

The Affirmation of Truth or its Denial

When Eze Okehi came to Chiolu to ransom his kidnapped

man, he greeted them in these words: “Men of Chiolu, who use

fish for firewood, Terrors of the Forests, Hunters with

Invisible Footprints, I greet you!” (Amadi, p.12). This

greeting indicates Chiolu has so much fish that they could use

fish for firewood implying that they may be the rightful

owners of the Great Pond of Wagaba with so much fish. However,

when Eze Diali demanded the acknowledgement of this fact from

the people of Aliakoro as a condition for reducing the ransom

fee from eight hundred manilas to five hundred manilas, their

chief warrior Wago, exclaimed “We will not say that” (Amadi,

p.13). This refusal to acknowledge the truth marked the red

line in the conflict between the two villages.

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Did the Nigerian President Goodluck Ebere Jonathan say he

will serve only for a single term? Former president Olusegun

Obasanjo and the Governors say ‘yes you did’ and the President

reply ‘produce the document’. The conflict resulting from this

affirmation and denial remains a torn in the flesh of Nigerian

politics at the moment. Nigerian politicians need to handle

this issue with an honest and patriotic spirit as any

mismanagement of it could be regrettable. The affirmation of

the truth and its denial lend to the Gulf War. Bush affirmed

that Iraq was in possession of chemical weapon and demanded to

search for and destroy it. Saddam denied the allegation and

refused to be searched. Having authoritatively convinced the

international community to see things from his own

perspective, the then first citizen of the world lead the

allied forces to war with Iraq. But the chemical weapon he

purported to have dictated in Iraq turned out to be the head

of his arch enemy, Saddam Hussein, whom he consequently took

to the gallows for war crime.

Mutual Sharing of the Earth’s Abundant Natural Resources

Will greatly Reduce the Rate of Community Conflict

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Eze Okehi, after asserting that the pond of Wagaba

belonged to Aliakoro later opened the door for an amicable

resolution in these words; “Perhaps we can share the pond”

(Amadi, p.14). Applying Solomon’s wisdom here, one would

definitely conclude that the one who first opted for division

is not the true owner of the child. Here, Eze Okehi was

almost begging their very rich neighbor, Chiolu, to share

their abundant natural resources with them. This could have

definitely averted the war between the two villages, but Eze

Diali refused, saying: “Never! We shall never share it in my

lifetime”(Amadi, p.14).

Ernest Chinwo, in his article, “Equal Opportunities Will

Address Conflicts in Nigeria, Says Amechi,” published in This

Day Live, April 28,2014, stated that the Rivers State Governor,

Rotimi Chibuike Amechi before a delegation of diplomats led by

the United States Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau for

Conflict Stabilization and operations, Washington D.C., Rick

Barton, and the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James

Entwinstle, said that giving equal opportunities to the youths

to go about their legitimate businesses to make personal

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income, will help curb the web of conflict and terrorism in

the nation (Web. 28 Apr. 2014).

Conflict in Africa is regrettably enhanced by

the Activities of the African Medicine Men,

Witches and Wizards, Otherwise Known as ‘African

Metaphysicians’

These metaphysicians prepare concoctions and charms for

these youths with the promise that no knife can cut their

bodies nor will bullets penetrate them. Being thus invested

with this illusive robe of indestructibility, they often

recklessly rush into conflict. Nevertheless, they still die.

This is not only peculiar with African youths. One would

recall here the story about Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Macduff.

As they girded themselves for battle, the men of Chiolu made

sacrifices to their gods and took from their bags the charms

they believed would help them fight well(Amadi, p.15). To

effectively resolve conflict in the world, the activities of

the medicine men, witches and wizard need be checked. So long

as war charm making remains uncurbed, conflicts will remain

unabated.

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But how can this be checked given the fact that there are

many who practice the art and they are more or less

independent? In the first place, some of them have organized

themselves into associations. It behooves on the government to

search for and identify these individuals and groups and have

them registered. Then a seminar will be organized in which

they shall be dully sensitized on the evil consequences of the

wrong use of their art. This is necessary because they seem to

think less of this but focus more on the success of their art

and the profit they make. If in the process of investigation,

it is discovered that they perform this art for pecuniary

reasons, then the government will need to provide them with

alternative means of livelihood.

The Back-Bone of Community Conflict is Allied Forces

Conflicts at this stage are capable of wiping out a

nation or even destroy the human race. The experiences of

World War I and World War II point to this possibility. With

the weapons of mass destruction at our disposal, should a

World War III ensue, it may not only affect humans but may

also destroy the eco-system as a whole. The effect left by the

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‘Little Boy’ in Hiroshima is a clear indication of this grave

possibility.

An Igbo Philomath Chief Oguegbe Ajero said, “agam ika aka

ala aga iru” (I will say it before the evil occurs). It is on

this cautionary note that the Nigerian permanent

representative to the United Nations, (UN) Professor Joy Ogwu,

raised a warning alarm against starting any civil war in

Ukraine. In an article, “Nigeria wants civil war averted in

Ukraine,” The Sun, April 30, 2014, quoted Ogwu who was the

president of the Security Council for April 2014, warning:

“the situation in Ukraine remains tense and the risk of

further escalation remains a matter of grave concern to the

international community. Utmost care needs be taken to ensure

that the crisis does not degenerate into a civil war. If it

does, it might become an international conflict, with its

attendant reverberations everywhere” (Web. 30 Apr. 2014).

Earlier, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk had

accused Russia of wanting to start World War III by occupying

Ukraine militarily and politically, while the Russian Foreign

minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of wanting to seize

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control of Ukraine for their own political ambition rather

than the interest of the Ukrainians.

No one does evil knowingly, says the philosopher, when

one does evil, the good is the aim. Everyone who goes to War

aims at booty. Booty taking, as it were, is a legal stealing

at the moment of conflict. It is a candy chop the flavor of

which youths find irresistible and which serves them as reward

for hard labour. This is the raison d’être of Elendu’s refusal

to go home but insist on going to Chiolu in search of booty:

“I’ve lost many men and I haven’t even one prisoner” (Amadi,

p.19). The booty in this case will be the money which the

village of Chiolu shall pay him to ransom those kidnapped by

him. Being a warrior of the allied forces he saw it as

degrading to go home without booty: “What will I tell my Chief

when I get back to Isiali?” (Amadi, p.19) he asked.

Nature Amplifies Conflict

The earth rotates around its axis twenty- four hours,

causing day and night. The night is a terrible weapon of

warfare. It was at night that the men of Chiolu kidnapped the

poachers from Aliakoro: “And they were happy that is was so

dark because nobody could see them”. (Amadi, p.6). Elendu’s

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‘finish fight’ was equally executed by night as he said: “We

must go at night, when the villagers are asleep” (Amadi,

p.19). In time of conflict, the night which is naturally

designed to be a period for rest and peace after the day’s

huddles becomes the most terrifying period. It is imperative

therefore that the government, in the frantic effort to curb

the web of conflict and its concomitant evils in Nigeria,

provide constant power for the electrification of all

inhabited areas especially all through the night to enable the

security officers and the populace keep better security watch.

Amor habendi, habendo crescit. (the love of having

increases by having). The youths become insatiable with spoil

during conflict moment. No amount is sufficient for them as

ransom, the more you pay the higher they demand. This is

evident in Elendu’s covetous attitude after he and the

Aliakoro kidnapped the four women from Chiolu. He refused to

share the spoil with the men of Aliakoro but rather said: “we

want more than these four women as a reward” (Amadi, p.22).

Conflict contemns all Cultural Values and Norms

At the moment of conflict unusual evils become

customary. Such was the order of events when the Isiali and

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Aliakoro fighters kidnapped the women from Chiolu. As Eze

Okehi demanded four times four hundred manilas for each women,

the men of Chiolu were startled and said. “Never before had

women been taken away as prisoners and never before had they

been bought back” (Amadi, p.25). Besides, ransom is paid only

for prisoners of War and not for people stolen, as the Chiolu

people explained.

Here the rare conflict of gender equality in African

culture surfaced. Olumba and his men had kidnapped a man from

Aliakoro as they went in search of the kidnapped women from

Chiolu. Eze Okehi now demanded for the release of the man in

exchange for one woman. But Olumba, after having a tête-a-tête

with his men said. “One man is not equal to one woman. Our

village thinks that one man is equal to four women. If you

want your man, you must give us our four women in return

(Amadi, p.26). However, after some argument, the men of

Aliakoro convinced the Chiolu people not only that a man is

equal to a woman but that women are more important because

they give birth to children and if the children don’t have

their mothers, they die. The mistake Pharaoh made when he

wanted to reduce the population of the Jews comes to mind

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here. He instructed the midwives to kill the male children but

let the female live, forgetting that it is the women that

increase the population.

Conflict Defies and Defiles Moral and Religious Values.

Although the god of the earth, Ali, forbids the harming

of any woman with child, the Aliakoro and Isiali people went

ahead to kidnap the pregnant wife of Olumba, Oda. She most

likely had a miscarriage on the way to Isiali which could

explain the blood Olumba and his search team saw on the ground

the following day on the way to Isiali (Amadi, p.23). The

strong attachment the ancient Africans had to their deities

still made it necessary to appease the gods even when such

abominations were committed during War. But in this case,

restitution was the only solution to the problem. Thus the

dibia, (native doctor) Igwu, in proffering a solution to the

crime committed by Aliakoro and Isiali people instructed:

“first you must make a sacrifice to please Ali, the god of the

earth. Then you must return the women to Chiolu. Then Ali will

forgive you” (Amadi, p. 31).

The insurgents in Nigeria who claim to be advancing the

course of Allah have on several occasions set whole houses,

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churches, and mosques ablaze. Burning in these fires are

copies of the Bible as well as the Holy Quran which they claim

to defend. A thing cannot be and not be at the same time. For

the fact that the insurgents have no reverence for any holy

book goes to prove that some other factor order than religion

is behind the killings in Nigeria.

At the Moment of Conflict, Neither the Aggressor

Nor the Defendant Can Be at Peace.

The horrible experience of Chiolu and Aliakoro people

during the conflict moment affirms this: “Everyone in both

villages was frightened. Nobody went to work on their farms.

The women dared not to go to the stream for water” (Amadi,

p.31). With the exception of natural disasters, humanity is

the architect of humanity’s horror. Both communities in

conflict trained the python that is now having a meal of them

and the youths are its most savored delicacy. The many who

were killed in the battle were youths, the first two men

kidnapped by Chiolu were youths. The four beautiful woman

kidnapped from Chiolu were youths. The man shot and kidnapped

by Olumba and his group was a youth. The three women kidnapped

from Aliakoro by Chiolu men most likely were all youths; one

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of them was just twelve years old (Amadi, p. 34). Okasi who

was found dead killed by the Chiolu warriors was a youth as

all the elders from Aliakoro had gone to collect their ransom

money from the people of Chiolu at the boundary. This depicts

the horrible experience of people in the troubled northern

part of Nigeria and the war-torn countries of the World today.

An Igbo adage says “Aru gbaa afo, o buru omenala “(when an

abomination last for a year, it becomes a tradition). The

abominable act of kidnapping women became a tradition during

this conflict. Though the Dibia, Igwu, condemned outright the

kidnap of Oda- the pregnant wife of Olumba, when Eze Okehi-

the chief of Aliakoro- asked: “Must I return the four women?”

He replied: “You must return the woman who is pregnant”.

(Amadi, p.31). Thus Eze Okehi eventually collected his cut-

throat sum of four times four manilas for one woman. This

encouraged the men of Chiolu to equally kidnap three women

from Aliakoro. Kidnapping of women now became a part and

parcel of the people’s tradition. The firm insistence of Igbo

tradition on “no harm” on the pregnant woman should serve as a

deterrent and a warning to the youths who often see pregnant

women as easy prey at the movement of conflict. Cases abound

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where youths disembowel harmless helpless expectant women just

for the fun of it. They should always remember that such a

grave atrocity always has its grave consequences. Just as the

earth (Ala) is one and extents to every path of the world, so

also the consequence of such unspeakable evil will ever hunt

the perpetrators wherever they may be on earth.

Conflict Leads to Extermination.

The parties involved would rather have the opponent

exterminated entirely or enslaved. Hitler saw this as the

final solution to the Jewish problem and this led to the

establishment of the gas chambers with the lachrymose result

that about six million Jews were exterminated. Chiolu and

Aliakoro were filled with such a terrible vindictive impulse

at a certain stage during this moment of conflict. After the

killing of the two men from Aliakoro with the head of one

chopped off, they decided to kill as many people in Chiolu as

possible: “Each village really hated the people of the other”

(Amadi, p 35).

The human person is a ‘being with.’ As such,

the adverse effect of conflict between two communities also

affects other communities. Such was the case in the conflict

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between Chiolu and Aliakoro: “The fighting become so bad that

other villages in the Erekwi clan also suffered” (Amadi,

p.35).

Dialogue should be resorted to at the Nascent Stage of

Conflict not as a Last Option

The meeting convened by the elders of Erekwi was rather

too late. Many youths had lost their lives and the living

suffered terribly from the effect of the war. The chief of

Isiala, who would have made peace earlier preferred to make

himself richer from the conflict by sending his fighters to

assist the Aliakoro people with the intention of kidnapping

some people from Chiolu for booty. It was when they lost the

war that Elendu decided to execute the abominable act of

kidnapping women, including an expectant mother. However, the

Aliakoro people were not faithful to the peace accord. They

resorted to diabolical means to achieve victory.

A similar meeting was convened in Aburi, Ghana, between

January 5th and 7th 1967 (about 49 years after the Erkwi clan

conflict resolution meeting) to resolve the political issues

in Nigeria, but it fail. One of the central super permanent

secretaries of the era, Chief Philip C. Asiodu, in his

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article, “Why Aburi Accord Failed”, April 11, 2012; published

by The Nigerian Voice, articulated that although many Nigerians

see the non- implementation of the famous Aburi accord as the

root cause of the crisis of structure and federalism in

Nigeria today, the decree 8 which altered it still gave 95% of

the substance of the agreement. He added that If Ojukwu had

accepted it; the civil war would have been averted. He

described the problem of Nigeria as failure of leadership and

blamed Ojukwu for engaging in war without adequate preparation

(Web. 20 Apr. 2014).

General Gowon who would have sniffed the little life off

me if not for the grace of God, as I was born in 1968 at the

heat of the war, has no remorse for the millions of lives he

and General Ojukwu wasted in the battle. In an article,

“Civil War: Gowon Says There Is No Cause To Regret,” published

in Nairaland Forum, October 13 2012, the warlord was quoted to

have told Vanguard that he has no regret for the civil war

that claimed many lives, while maintaining that Awolowo was

not the cause of the secession and therefore should not be

brought into the matter (Web. 3 May, 2014). In his cogitation

of the Aburi peace accord event, Chief Asiodu defended General

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Gowon whom he said was lured to Aburi by Ojukwu unprepared.

According to him, Gowon did not even go with his secretary

while Ojukwu was flanked with a battery of permanent

secretaries including one of the most formidable intellectuals

Nigeria has ever produced, Dr Pius Okigbo. As a result, he

signed the accord without understanding the full implications.

He stepped down as supreme military commander and discussed

about the divisions in the Nigerian army and other matters. It

was when he came back that his permanent secretaries explained

to him the full implications, which led to the altering of the

accord with the historic decree 8 (Asiodu C. Web. 20 Apr.

2014).

History repeats itself. This very episode in Nigerian

history repeated itself in the event of the accord reached by

the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the

federal government. In his mediation, the senate President,

David Mark, explained that the strike conflict occurred

because the Nigeria government delegated duns to discuss with

the dons who consequently did not understand the full

implications of the agreement they signed. The Nigerian Voice in

an article: “Senate begs ASUU to suspend strike”, October 24

Uzoma 28

2013, quoted the Senate President saying about ASUU: “They

found that those who were sent there simply did not know their

left from their right and they just went ahead, and I think

that is not just fair” (Web. 20 Apr. 2014).

Ojukwu outwitted Gowon, ASUU outwitted the Federal

Government. These are lame excuses to justify the breech of

peace accord. It is now clear from the afore-stated facts

that it is not just enough to hold peace and unity

conferences, what matters most is the obligation in conscience

by the parties in conflict to respect and implement the

unanimous agreement reached at the meetings.

Conflict Breeds Corruption and Contempt even in the

Spiritual Realm

This is evident from the fact that sequel to oath taking

by Olumba over the ownership of the great ponds, chief Okehi

who also chose the deity by which Olumba swore had no true

fear and devotion to the deity himself. The priest of

Ogbunabali deity by which olumba swore, placed a curse on

whosoever shall try to harm Olumba: “Those who would harm

Olumba by the knife or the barbed arrow, by strange charms or

Uzoma 29

witchcraft, kill them Ogbunabali, king of the night, kill them

and show signs.” (Amadi, p. 37).

Despite this curse, the chief of Aliakoro, Eze Okehi had

the audacity to insinuate the dibia, Igwu, to make Olumba

behave carelessly. When this could not yield the expected

result, Igwu resorted to using a more terrible means to

achieve his purpose. He demanded for a piece of Olumba’s cloth

by which he used to cook Olumba: “He had never done anything

as bad as he was going to do now” (Amadi, p. 48).

The unprecedented evil that comes with conflict makes the

combatants to regret ever participating in the war. The event

of the golf war where soldiers were seen crying with deep

regrets is a good example. One of the youths, Ikechi, who

initially taught the war was an opportunity to show he has

become a man, now hated the war (Amadi, p.55) This may have

been the state of mind of all the other survivors- youths and

elders. Even the protagonist, Eze Diali, regretted having

started the war (Amadi, p 59).

Conflict Contaminates Physically and Spiritually

The prohibition of the people from fishing from a river

in which somebody has drowned himself may have originated as a

Uzoma 30

pure physical measure of hygiene, and to ensure the rule is

kept, it was presented as an order from the gods. The other

aspect of total prohibition from use of the pond could have

been an emphasis on the grievousness of the act of suicide in

the Igbo society. With the prohibition from fishing from the

Pond of Wagaba, it follows that whoever disobeys this rule has

become contaminated and ipso facto abhorring to the gods.

Physically, the number of dead bodies that litter a conflict

zone contaminates the environment and leads to the spread of

existing diseases and the evolution of new ones.

The disease wonjo (influenza) which ravished the Erekwi

clan was spread by conflict, it may be ad rem here, to briefly

discuss this disease. According to the Microsoft Encarta

Dictionary 2009, influenza which is also known as flu, is a

contagious infection primarily of the respiratory track. It is

sometimes nomenclated ‘grippe’ and is caused by a virus

transmitted through droplets that are coughed or sneezed into

air (web, 10 Feb. 2014.).

World War I saw the first massive global movement of

people from one part of the world to another including the

most remote parts of Africa. It equally saw the first intense

Uzoma 31

contamination of the air by a higher technology in warfare

that emitted so much gun-powder and poisonous gases into the

atmosphere and the concomitant littering of dead bodies at

various levels of putrefaction, with the living inhaling the

contaminated air. While it is not certain whether this

atmospheric contamination was the cause of the influenza which

had its first major outbreak in Spain and was ipso facto

referred to as Spanish flu, the spread of this virus was as a

result of the massive movement of soldiers from one part of

the globe to another during this allied community conflict

that lasted from 1914 to 1918. The flu itself continued to

ravish the world’s population until 1919 with 20 to 50 million

lives lost, about 2 to 4 times the number lost in the battle.

Without the global conflict, the virus would have remained an

epidemic in Spain or wherever it first broke out. A sneeze or

cough droplet could not have been borne by air from Spain to

the West African sub-region and other parts of the world

without a human carrier spreading it through direct contact.

As a result of conflict, the epidemic became pandemic killing

about 500,000 people in the United States alone. Although

there is no recorded history of the number of lives lost in

Uzoma 32

the Erekwi clan as a result of the conflict, an analysis of

its effect as recorded in Elechi Amadi’s work could place the

percentage at 2/3 of the population. This could be adduced

from the discussion between Olumba and Eze Diali. When Olumba

sadly asked, “What kind of world is this?” Diali answered: “It

is a world of the dead and the dying” (Amadi, p. 66).

Conflict Leads to Irretrievable Loss.

The Great Pond of Wagaba which led to the conflict

between Chiolu and Aliakoro with the allies was eventually

lost by both sides. Wago had decided to render both parties

losers in the conflict by appealing to the tradition which

forbids anyone from fishing from a pond in which someone has

drowned himself. “The Dibia told them that Wago had killed

himself. He had not drowned by accident” (Amadi, P.79). Both

parties lost their inestimable value – the Great Pond of

Wagaba- as a result of conflict. Wago was the Sadam Husein of

Erekwi. When it became Obvious to him that he was to lose the

great oil wells of Kuwait in 1991, Sadam decided to transform

the desert paradise into an environmental fire. A similar

incident took place in 2013 when the fleeing Malian Islamic

Uzoma 33

rebels burnt the library housing thousands of priceless

ancient manuscripts in Timbuktu.

In his article, “War is not the answer,” published in

Punch, 25 April, 2014, Fola Ojo reminded Nigerians of the most

regrettable evil consequences of another civil war in Nigeria.

He quoted the former Head of State, Dr. Yakubu Gowon who

opined that we need to pray and work with the government to

end the ugly circle of violence in the nation that our unity

may not be threatened. He added that the present trend of

violence in the country was the state of affair during his

administration (Web. 25 Apr. 2014).

Ojo equally quoted former Chief of General Staff, General

Diya, who warned that no nation has ever survived two civil

wars (Web. 25 Apr. 2014). He lamented that Nigeria is heading

toward the abyss of unquenchable self-set inferno. He

articulated the ugly situation thus:

I hear militants in both the North and the

South on television and radio Blustering and

bragging about how they intend to subdue their

enemies. Gunshots are rattling in far-away

forests, bombs are booming in busy cities, and

Uzoma 34

there is confusion pervading the landscape. The

North wants to go to the Cameroon, T(t)he South-

West wants to stand alone, the Niger Delta wants

the Oil to itself, and the South-East wants out of

the amalgamation(Web. 25 Apr. 2014).

The Great Ponds Represent the Wealth of the Nations

The Pond of Wagaba is a microcosm of any wealth of the

nations that have become an apple of discord. The Pond of

Wagaba is just one of the numerous ponds in Erekwi clan, it

does not contain different species of fish. Its distinctive

value lies in the fact that it contains more fish than any of

the other ponds. If the Aliakoro people had put megalomania

behind them and be content with the fish in other ponds at

their disposal, there would have been no conflict.

In Nigeria, the Great Pond of Wagaba is the great oil

wells of the Niger Delta. Nigeria is blessed with several

other sources of wealth and even oil wells besides those in

the Niger Delta. Yet these wells seem to be the only sources

Uzoma 35

of income yielding resources of the nation. The

diversification of the economy to include other sources like

agriculture and more so of technology that is nothing to write

home about in the country today, will go a long way to engage

the youths gainfully while distracting them from violence and

restiveness.

The disease wonjo was believed by the Erekwi clan to be a

divine punishment from the god Ogbunabali. This is seen in

Olumba’s statement after the return of his kidnapped wife Oda:

“Never before has a god punished a whole clan, how sad the

Erekwi is now!” (Amadi, p 70). But was the Erekwi clan of

Eastern Nigeria alone in the belief in the divine origin of

influenza? Nequaquam! (By no means) The term influenza derives

from the Latin word ‘influentia’ (influence). The Italians

whose ancestors worshipped several astral divinities believe

such outbreak of unknown course is as a result of the

influence of heavenly bodies (Encarta, Web, 10 Feb, 2014).

Theological Implication

The primary ecological task given to man by the Creator

is to maintain the earth and not to destroy it (New Jerusalem

Bible, Gn 1:28). War is highly destructive. Conflict distorts

Uzoma 36

the ontological equilibrium. Modern warfare is one of the

major factors responsible for the increase in the green-house

effect and adverse climatic change that could be more radical

in the coming years. Jesus understood this so well that he

gave his disciples not the gifts of silver and gold but of

peace, as he said, “Peace I bequeath you, my own peace I give

you, a peace which the world cannot give. This is my gift for

you”( John 14:27 ).This ipssima vos Jesu (very words of Christ)

reiterated by the priest at every Mass, is an empowerment not

only for the youths but for all co-tenants in planet earth, to

pull our resources (spiritual, material, and financial)

together to maintain world peace which is a foretaste of the

everlasting peace to come.

The proliferation of violent conflicts in the world today

posits a serious challenge to the Christians who night and day

eagerly wait in joyful hope for the coming of their divine

master- Jesus Christ. But he may not come unless there is

peace in the world because he is the King of Peace.

It is therefore spiritually obligatory that Christians

leave no stone unturned in the frantic effort to maintain

world peace. The Christians in Nigeria in particular need to

Uzoma 37

wake up to the reality on ground. Daily Sun, April 14, 2014,

reported that on Palm Sunday 2014, the minister of Power,

Prof. Chinedu Nebo, hinted that he was told to advise

President Goodluck Jonathan to go fetish if he wants to end

the insurgency in the country.(Web. 14 Apr. 2014). This goes

to indicate that people are beginning to think that military

action alone is no longer enough. Time and again the President

and other well meaning Nigerians have solicited for prayers to

end the insurgency in the country. The type of prayer needed

in the country now is not a ‘let us pray’ type of prayer but a

fervent supplication charged with penitential practices. That

is, if the citizens dully understand with the President that

the nation is presently at war. Femi Fani-Kayode almost

prophetically articulated the present predicament of the

nation in his article, “The filth called Boko Haram and season

of shame”, published in The Sun 26th April, 2014. He

emphatically said:

Let us make no mistake about it: Nigeria is in

for the fight of her life. What we are faced

with in our country today is nothing less than

a full Scale war. It is a war between the

Uzoma 38

forces of light and the forces of darkness. A

war between the islamists and the secularists.

A war between the agents of the devil and the

servants of God. It is a war fought in the 19th

century in Turkey and that was fought in the

early 1990s in Algeria…. And whether we like it

or not we must fight this war and we must win

it (Web. 26 Apr. 2014).

Though the use of the derogatory adjective, ‘filt’ to

qualify Boko Haram need be discouraged as it may further fuel

the already flaming conflict, the utterance of Kayode is a

martin bell beckoning on all Nigerians to wake up and unite in

this penultimate fight against one common enemy- terrorism.

Though he hopefully asserted that we must win, this victory

may elude Nigeria if rather than put heads together to find

the real solution to this real problem, we devote ourselves to

threading blames on one another. The Boko haram members are

our brothers and sisters and we need to unanimously pray for

their liberation from the spirit of violence. The words of

Martin Luther King: “We must learn to live together as

brothers and sisters or perish together as fools,” need be

Uzoma 39

reconstructed for Nigerians thus: “We must learn to pray

together today to live together in safty tomorrow.” Pray

together, to live in safety together. This is my clarion call

to my fellow citizens.

CONCLUSION

The peace of the world is in the hands of the youth.

Failure of the youth to maintain world peace is failure of the

youth to safeguard the life of the youth. It is in this vein

that the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, while declaring

open a youth summit to mark the nation’s centenary in Benin,

reminded the youths that Nigeria’s future is in the hands of

the youths. (Punch, January 18, 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014). From

analysis of conflict in the Great ponds, it is apparent that

there is hardly any serious conflict without an authority

behind it. The realization of this fact made the Borno youths

vow to target politicians who sponsor violence. (This Day Live,

January 17, 2014. Web. 17 Jan. 2014). Here again it is still

youths killing youths. The politicians themselves seldom fall

victim.

For there to be sustainable peace in Nigeria, it is

expedient to organize a national youths peace forum in which

Uzoma 40

modalities for the formation of a National Youths Peace

Movement (NYPM) shall be discussed. Consequent fora after the

formation of the movement shall focus on the sensitization of

the youths on the need to avert all allurements by some over

ambitious elements who see the youths as unwary elements whose

lives can be bought cheap and used to actualize their violent

dreams. Since the effect of conflict in other countries in one

way or the other affects Nigeria, the formation of the NYPM

shall not be limited to Nigeria only but should be evangelized

to other countries of the world. In this way, a World Youths

Peace Movement (WYPM) will be eventually born. If the youths

in the world could unanimously say “No to conflict and

violence”, no other human force will be capable of igniting

any remarkable conflict in the world.

There is an urgent need to organize a five hundred

million match not against the proliferation of arms, but

against the production of arms. It is high time we advance

from the treatment of the effects of a disease to the

eradication of its root cause. Without the unwarranted mass

production and commercialization of arms, there will be no

proliferation of arms. Arms are not among the essential

Uzoma 41

commodities necessary for human sustenance. The establishment

of factories for the production weapons by private companies

who must sell in order to pay tax to the government should be

totally condemned by lovers of peace. The leaders of the

nations should set out a World Year of Peace (W YP). in which

the production of arms by public and private companies will be

banned with due penalties meted on defaulters. As difficult as

this task may look prima face, it is possible with an adequate

task force under the United Nations to monitor its

implementation globally.

The culmination of Elechi Amadi’s The Great Ponds to a

historically accurate fact-the 1918 influenza, and above all,

its ability to address a current national and global problem-

conflict, as well as its provision of a logical platform for

the formation of a philosophy of conflict that could help in

no less measure to the most desired solution to the problem,

of conflict, kidnapping and gender inequality facing humanity

today, proves the novel the most scientific and pragmatic of

all African novels ever written.

Uzoma 42

WORKS CITED

Kurt Lewin, Resolving Social Conflicts, New York, Harper and

Row Publishers,1948. Web. 6 May, 2014.

Microsoft Encarta Dictionary, 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Elechi, Amadi. The Great Ponds, Retold by John Davey, London.Heinemann Educational Books, 1978,Print.

Ohai Chux, “kidnappers forced me to lie on wet ground” inPunch, April 25, 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

Ezigbo Onyebuchi,“Alamieyeseigha: Nigerians, ExpatriatesInvolved in Oil Theft, Kidnapping,” in This Day Live,April 29, 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

“US ‘outrage’ as calls grow to help rescue Chibokschoolgirls”Punch, 6 May, 2014. Web. 6 May, 2014.

Vanguard, March 26, 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Chinwo, Ernest “Equal Opportunities Will Address Conflicts inNigeria, Says Amechi,” in This Day Live, April 28, 2014. Web28 Apr. 2014.

Uzoma 43

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Kent: Wordsworth Editions

Limited, 2000. Print.

Asiodu, Philip C. “Why Aburi Accord Failed”, in The NigerianVoice, 11 April, 2012. Web.20 Apr. 2014.

“Civil War: Gowon Says There Is No Cause To Regret,” byNairaland Forum, October 13, 2012. Web. 3 May, 2014.

“Senate begs ASUU to suspend strike”, The Nigerian Voice, October24, 2013. Web. Apr. 20, 2014.

Ojo Fola, “War is not the answer,” in Punch, 25 April, 2014.Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

New Jerusalem Bible, Obras, London, Darton Longman and Todd, 1985.Print.

. Nebo, Chinedu, “I was told to advise President Goodluck

Jonathan to go fetish if he wants to end the insurgencyin the country.” In The Sun, 14 April, 2014. Web. 14 Apr.2014.

Fani-Kayode Femi, “The filth called Boko Haram and season ofshame”, in The Sun 26 April, 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

Punch, January 18, 2014. Web. 18 , Jan. 2014.

This Day Live, January 17, 2014. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.