Before the Presidential election, Presidential candidate of APC, Muhammandu Buhari had been clamouring for change. Luckily he became the winner of the Nigerian Presidential election. Now Nigerians believe him to bring about the change long waited for, most especially reviving the economy and solving the issue of unemployment rocking the country down. Nigerians are praying and will be happy to see his campaign slogan ‘CHANGE’ begin to reflect on our national development. Even though he needs some time to design his economic blue print.
However, among concerned and meaningful Nigerians that have congratulated Buhari for winning the presidential election is the youngest artwork collector, culture and traditional activist, Chief Solomon Ogbonna. He congratulated him for withstanding all odds and perseverance and emerged a winner.
According to him, leadership in most cases is God’s appointment to lead the citizens of that country to the promised land which Nigerians believe Buhari will do. Even as he encourages him to take time to understand ethnic groups in Nigeria as that will help his government to succeed, saying it’s obvious that no government rules well without understanding the culture and tradition of the people.
In addition, Ogbonna said, for Buhari to revive the economy of Nigeria, he must be careful in selecting people that would support his vision on development otherwise he will face a lot of challenges developing the country. The traditional activist also advised him to rule Nigerians with the fear of God and as well imbibe the spirit of oneness.
Ogbonna wished other leaders could learn a lessen from Nigeria’s case that sometimes it’s not all about your contact, wealth, riches as those things can fail you. It’s all about planning well and your achievement on ground that may convince people.
Speaking against contrary views in some quarters, Ogbonna stated strongly that the fact that some Igbos voted for Jonathan does not mean they hate Buhari. In a political environment anywhere in the world people make a choice to belong to one party or the other and that is why it is politics and after elections, political parties meet together to congratulate one another for success. That should not breed hatred of any kind. Buhari should carry everybody along to move the country forward.
The prolific artwork collector advised Buhari to invest in art, culture and tradition of Nigeria in order to promote tourism and foreign investment in the country. Ï’m an advocate for the customs and traditions of Africans, and I am convinced that nothing will strengthen a people as much as a proper appreciation and under-standing of their own history as recorded by their own people in their own language.”
Ogbonna said, if he had his way, one of the biggest and best museums in the world would be in Nigeria and this will be another way of creating employment for the growing population of Nigerian youths. He believes strongly that the country is so blessed with rich arts and cultural heritage that are not being given due attention.
According to him, ït is a shame that most of the states in Nigeria, despite the rich cultural heritage and artifacts in them, yet the country cannot boast of any standard museum that can showcase their ancient or modern arts or compete favourably with museums in other parts of the world.
Rather, our sons and daughters travel to the western countries and are proud to flaunt it that they saw one, two or more art works of their tribes on display in various museums abroad, that are raking in money for these western countries.
It is a known fact that Nigerian art works do not serve decorative purposes alone, apart from being priceless, they also convey important messages to the people, especially bronze, copper and wood works, which have been rated in the world as the best and most valuable African art.
Ï have over 6700 artworks including modern and ancient arts, bronze, bead works, wood carvings, paintings, batiks, ceramics, fibre glss works, some of them dates to 200 years ago. I have some terracotta (Nok Culture) works that are about 2000 years old.”
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