I was moved by the frustration of fellow musicians who hail across the Niger. I was touched by the treatment musicians from the Niger are getting both at home, in Lagos and abroad.

When I was the de-facto Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the performing Musicians association of Nigeria, Christy Essien-Igbokwe was the national President. During our usual monthly general meetings, somebody brought a sad news to our attention.

We were all at the Village Inn when one of us announced that Prince Nico Mbarga had died. We were told earlier that same day that the Chief Priest, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, had also kicked the bucket.

While we were still debating how to send a strong delegation to Calabar in honor of Prince Nico Mbarga, whom every member knew was a strong member of PMAN, our brothers from the Western part of Nigeria shouted us down, saying " Baba Fela must come first before any other person." Late Fela, who was a legend we all knew, never regarded or recognized PMAN. Traveling to Calabar to honor Prince Nico Mbarga was swept under the carpet. Fela's burial became the main issue.

The next day, front pages of the Nigerian newspapers were covered with stories about how PMAN will play a front role in late Fela's burial. And before one could say "Jack Robbinson," Christy Essein- Igbokwe came with a banner to the headquarters and urged every member to take to the street and start singing the praises of Fela. As a president who loves publicity, PMAN playing a prominent role in Fela's burial was an opportunity for her and members of her disgraced regime to shine.

It was not too long after, another fine artiste from the Niger, Obi Okonta, died. His demise came almost at the same time Baba Aladura I. K. Dairo passed away. Every attention shifted to Surulere, where I. K. Dairo had died; nobody ever mentioned Eddy Okonta.

Within a space of time, Dr. Sir Warrior died. The national body of PMAN remained silent about it. They looked the other way, and nothing happened.

I could no longer stomach the one-sidedness of PMAN; hence, I started an association called "The Musicians of the Niger." Charles Oputa, the present President of PMAN, Onyeka Onyenu, the present President of PWOMAN, Bright Chimezie, Chris Mba, Stella Monye, Suuny Neji, Chris Hanem, to mention but a fee, all joined the association. Every great artiste from the East attended our meetings which went so well for months in Onyeka Onyenu's African Hall, until another sad news about the demise of one of Africa's greatest horns-man, Zeal Onyia, was brought to our attention.

Mr. Acholonu, who happened to be the former drummer of the defunct group known as Sweet Breeze band, brought the sad news to us. We were however planning to do a memorial concert for Dr. Sir Warrior and all the other great music heroes across the Niger who died unsung.

The music history in Nigeria started from the east. Yes, from Aba, in the then Imo state of Nigeria. The present generation of musicians in Nigeria were inspired by the then "Black Children, One World, Semi Colon, Sweet Breeze, The Wings formed by Spud Nathan, Celestine Ukwu, Iyang Henshaw, Rex Lawson, Peacocks International, Wrinkers Experience, (the guys who played "Fuel for Love"), the Apostles, the Doves, among other great musicians who made songs that later became the corner stone of the music industry in Nigeria today. These great heroes I mentioned were musicians from the Niger. Some of them died unsung, while some of them are living wishing death could come.

Dan Ian who made the famous "Fuel for Love" is somewhere in the east tapping palm wine. The former leader of Peacocks International is blind and living like a beggar.

Within my own generation, I have seen so many young talented Igbo artistes who died as a result of frustration, neglect, and hunger. In Nigeria while the musicians from other ethnic groups are given all the supports by their people, a fellow Igbo man treats his talented brother with disdain. Onyeiberiibe (good for nothing): that is the name a man gifted by God is called.

I once asked in the pages of Nigerian newspapers how many Sunny Ades, Ebenezer Obeys, Ayinde Marshals, Kollinton Ayinlas, Sir Shina Peters, Ayinde Waisus, Lagbaja omo baba moko-moko, to mention but a few, do we have across the Niger? I have visited the homes of these musicians I mentioned above; 95% of the musicians across the Niger cannot boast of eating high-quality three square meals the dogs in Ayinde Marshal's house are fed with daily; 98% of artiste across the Niger cannot boast of a guitar string, while artiste from other ethnic groups are showered with musical instruments worth millions by their people. Lagbaja, a Yoruba artiste, once told me how a man bought a sax worth half a million for him.

Now before you think I deviated, Zeal Onyia would have been the only Ibo artiste who would have made it during his time globally but, when the man died, the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) was never represented in Asaba. They never cared. Sunny Ade and his General Secretary gave me their word that they would be in Asaba, but they never made it.

In veiw of what was going on, we came together as a body to fight what had been a generational problem in Igbo land. We wanted to be a voice to lament on the neglect we suffer from our fellow Igbo brothers and sisters and lack of respect and recognition from our national bodies, which is as a result of lack of empowerment by own own people.

Do you know that Igbo musicians cannot sustain an organization because members cannot afford transport fares to meetings? Do you know that most Igbo artistes drop their surnames so as not be identified as Igbo?

See the case of Chioma Ajioma, the first West African that won an Olympic gold medal; it was a Yoruba man Segun Odegbami that sponsored her. What happened to Damian Anyawu, that great native scientist who with nothing invented a radio station? The guy is rotting somewhere till date because nobody helped him.

While some of us who were touched by what is going around us were running here and there to see that we have a forum where we can discuss our problems, the press owned by our western brothers went to work, painting us as an ethnic group that sets out to destroy PMAN. We have the 'JUBAL,' which is the Juju band owners association, the FUMAN which represents the Fuji Musicians Association of Nigeria. All these groups are ethnic groups that operate within PMAN. When I was an executive of PMAN, I attended their meetings; no single person across the Niger was a member. We also have the Edo brothers association; the Igbo man has no group to identify with. The Igbo musician has no where to lean to because of poverty.

You need to visit PMAN'S headquarters to hear the plight of fellow Ibo musicians.

As a well-traveled artiste, I realized that the same way Ibo musicians are treated at home is the same way their fellow brothers treat them abroad. When I arrived America some two and half years ago, I made about $2500 featuring for twenty minutes in a show organized by a non-Igbo organization; but, when the Imo State association had their summer dance, not only did they invite a non-Igbo man to play for them, the opportunity they gave a seasoned artiste like me was for me to come and mime to my sound tracks. Without paying me a dime, after the show, they took half of the spray I made.

Till date, I have not recovered from the shock I got from my own town association based right here in New York. I had arrived here full of hope that my own people would promote and support me. I got the shock of my entire musical career when I was told that the only way they could promote me was for me to come and mime at their summer dance. While they were debating to pay a dancer $800, I was relegated to the background; I was offered $200 and told, "If he does not want it, let him go to hell."

I made about four hundred dollars from this show where yours truly became an "Ajasco dancer." That money was split into two. It means for sure that I was never paid any money by them, since they took half of my sweat from the dancing floor. Till date, that performance has been one regret I have, living and playing music in the USA. Even when I became a member of this association, a non-Ibbo, not even a Nigerian, still plays for them.

I have survived as a full-time artiste in New York by the grace of God and through the Yoruba, who have been giving me shows.

It is a shame that in this 21st century, an average Igbo man still treats an artiste as a nobody because of the inborn hatred, sheer jealousy, selfishness, and envy that is ever present in the soul of the majority of the Igbo. It is has been our bane; it is has been the same reason the Igbo land still remains underdeveloped. It is for this simply reason of "Igbo-enwe-nwanne" that Igbo artiste must strive, struggle to make a success out of their God-given talents. You must rise like dust. You must endeavor to forget for a moment that you have a brother or a sister because "Igbo-enweghi-nwanne."

'They will rather see you starve, walk the streets naked, so as to buttress their argument that you are "Onyeiberiibe" {a good-for-nothing}.

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