Sopuruchukwu B Ehidonye
Many moons ago, I had a chat with some Nigerians over drinks and the topic was; Which Ethnic Nationality is the most United in Nigeria? My friends who are Nigerians of the major ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria were very unanimous in their agreement that Igbos are not united. They were hell-bent on insisting that we do not love each other. WELL, TRUST ME, I DUG OUT SOME FACTS AND USED SAME TO PROVE THEM WRONG. All they could do was stare at me in surprise.
They can only confuse you when you do not know your story. WHAT A SHOCKING DISTORTION OF KNOWN Facts. This wicked distortion has been on sale in the Nigerian sphere with very few people able to counter it in years gone by and today. TODAY, I WANNA ADDRESS THIS Issue. Are the Igbos Disunited? You know, I have heard it from Nigerians of other ethnic nationalities that Igbos are not united or that we hate ourselves but the truth is that the above assertion is not true compared to the INTRA-ETHNIC interactions among the other major ethnic groups in Nigeria if empirical evidence is observed.
I see it as part of that psychological conditioning needed to exact divisions among this mostly entrepreneurial, confident, hardworking, dogged, mostly-positively-stubborn-attitude, assertive, outspoken, and immensely go-getter-persona of the people of my ethnic nationality. We don’t love ourselves but the rate at which we solider with each other when push comes to shove makes me wonder if we should UNITE in killing each other before some people would be able to see how united we are whenever the need arises.
Take the informal trade-apprenticeship thing for instance; I grew up with neighbors who were businessmen, who went to their villages back in the day (still happens today) to pick up sons and daughters of their communities to teach them a trade and nurse them on the ropes of buying and selling. Sometimes, strangers who are also Igbos are taught a trade as well. WHICH OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS DOES THIS IN Nigeria? My father told me stories of how my little village in ODENKWUME OBOWO LGA OF IMO STATE would contribute money to send the brightest kids to school to and through the university level and I can’t help but wonder what love means. WHICH OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS DOES THIS IN NIGERIA?
The solidarity showcased by Allen Onyema the Air Peace Guy on the Xenophobia brouhaha of about a year ago when he availed his plane for the evacuation of Nigerians in South Africa who of course, are mostly Igbos and other ethnic groups (See… our love also overflows and touches people of other ethnicities) is another wonderful empirical evidence that I hope our children and grandchildren will point at and say,- see, anyukoo mamiri onu, ogbaa ụfụfụ. Look at how the Igbo man came out and supported Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 general elections. I mean, this act was unprecedented. It is immaterial to ask if GEJ was the right choice because my main focus is the huge united front the Igbo man presented. Well, is Buhari the right choice?
Politically, I believe that we are all caged regardless of our ethnic groups. So, my focus is on the meaning of the words LOVE and UNITY. The Igbo man has always shown more love of themselves than any other ethnic nationality has shown to themselves in Nigeria. THIS IS A GIVEN !!The Igbo man simply does not wanna be seen as united in pursuing the concept of ONE-NIGERIA. ONE-NIGERIA has been canceled in heaven, purgatory, and hell. The wicked contraption does not deserve fighting for. We the Igbos have simply decided to unite in pursuing the agendas which are the BIAFRAN AGENDA. Unity must not be seen through the lens of ONE-NIGERIA. The ONE-NIGERIAN prism is a very wicked one and Igbos hate injustice hence we have always been republicans.
Free will, liberty, and freedom have always been a DNA thing to us. We are no FEUDALISTS. No one can talk about Unity or solidarity and exempt how we rallied around Nnamdi Kanu when it became imperative. It came to a point where both the everyday Igbo man and the so-called intellectual Igboman rose to be counted among the sons and daughters of mother Igbo. Well, a few did not lend their voice to the call but this is natural.
A Biafran referendum would have gotten an almost unanimous YES vote. Forget about the big-big grammar voices of decent online but we all know that when it comes down to it, Nnamdi Kanu or not, IPOB or not, ONYE OBULA GA AZARIRI AHA NNA YA..(Everbody go answer in Papa name)Stop blowing grammar, give us a referendum and see how it will pan out Give us a referendum and watch this wicked contraption we call a country disintegrate into the nothingness that it has always been and is still is. To hell with POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND PERVASIVE / DISHONEST PHILOSOPHIZING of mundane truths. When the shit hit the fan in 1967, Igbo land was the only home the Igbo man had and we united in fighting that genocidal war of attrition pushed our way. Men like Chinua Achebe, Pius Okigbo, and the greatest Igbo minds of yesteryear served their motherland. This is the inevitable and organic pattern of life. Forget big-big ogbonge grammar and you will agree with me.
Only a complete EFULEFU will agree that Igbo people are not united and as for people of other ethnic nationality who are hell-bent on preaching this despicable gospel of disunity among the IGBO, I have only one thing to say; we have deciphered how mind games are played and while you are busy playing this game, we will be busy proving you wrong by our actions and inactions.KEEP TALKING AND WE WILL KEEP Doing. Don’t come and tell me how Nigerians should unit and blah blah blah… That is a sugarcoated fallacy I will rather you dwell on how we can restructure this contraption so that we can go a beat apart and survive than “unite” and implode.
Don’t tell me about bigotry, tell me about how we can change that 1999 fraud that promotes official tribalism we like to call a constitution. Yes, let us change it and use it to fight bigotry and tribalism honestly.I
f you fail to argue against that fraud, then you are a pretender and might be part of the problem too. We are not United the way you want us to. We are united in the way we want and it is so obvious and crystal clear even to the blind
