Kenneth Okonkwo Explains Wike’s Name: ‘Azuka Means The Back Is Strong, Purely Igbo’

Nigerian lawyer Kenneth Okonkwo has challenged FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s assertion that he is not an Igbo man, following the emergence of Senator Azuka Mbata as Ohanaeze Ndigbo President.

In an interview with Symfoni TV, Okonkwo delivered a comprehensive linguistic and cultural argument. “Nyesom is Igbo, and so, by virtue of language, Ikwerre is Igbo,” he stated. “It is now in his constitutional right to say he does not want to identify as Igbo; that is his constitutional right, but he cannot say he’s not Igbo, because by language and by tribe, he is Igbo, and he doesn’t have a choice about it.”

The lawyer further highlighted the credibility of local leadership in defining ethnic identity. “If Wike, who is just a politician, talks about Igbo, and the president of Ohanaeze, who happens to be an Ikwerre man, Senator Azuka Mbata, talks on what concerns Igbo, and then Wike’s own political leader, who is Fubara – because the PDP concern is very clear, once somebody is a governor, he is the leader of the state,” Okonkwo explained.

He added a linguistic point to reinforce his argument: “From their Ikwerre language, Azuka means the back is strong, it is pure Igbo.” He further argued that if Governor Siminalayi Fubara had welcomed Senator Mbata as Ohanaeze president, he would rather believe the governor and the new Ohanaeze President because they have the political and cultural right to say where the Ikwerre people are truly from.

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