People's club building, Onitsha

In 2005, Okey Ndibe wrote a piece he called, "Thou Shall Not Rent to Igbo." In it he brought to the fore the discriminatory challenges Igbo tenants were facing in finding apartments to rent in Lagos. In a rejoinder titled, "Igboman can be a good Tenant,” Kola Akomolede's argued that it was not only Yoruba landlords who do not want the Igbo tenant but landlords of other ethnicities, including some Igbo landlords. He suggested that the real problem was the nature of the Igbo man and not the discrimination against Igbo tenants which he made every effort to justify. He suggested that Ohanaeze should advice Igbo men to "change their attitude and behave like gentlemen."

European intellectuals, including some Jews, made similar appeal to Diaspora Jews across Europe before Hitler came. Many Jews bought into it. They changed their names and many abandoned their religion all together. Some intermarried with Germans. But when Hitler came, it did not save them.

Instead of finding practical structures based on law and order to deal with universal issues between tenants and landlords, Akomolede made flimsy arguments like the one about the Igbo with "good background" being good tenants. Property consultants and owners, he suggested, should care about good background of tenants. He finally fell back on the popular refrain that the Yoruba are the most accommodating nation in Nigeria.

We have heard that line before. And we are hearing a lot of it today. Some have observed that beneath the issue of discrimination against Igbo tenants is the bigger and subtle issue - the battle for Lagos.

That battle for Lagos has actually come out in the open

Akalaka house, New Haven, Enugu

Common with all things Nigeria, Akomolede's greatest failure was in subscribing to the predominant Igbo stereotype on the basis of which he demanded a change in the nature of the Igbo. "Stereotypes are not necessarily malicious," once cautioned Chinua Achebe. "They may be well meaning and even friendly. But in every case they show a carelessness or laziness or indifference of attitude that implies that the object of your categorization is not worth the trouble of individual assessment." That’s how the action of a man or a group of people in Nigeria is often ascribed to the action of an ethnic or religious group.

The old conventional wisdom was that of Samora Machel: 'For the nation to live, the tribe must die.' The new conventional wisdom is that, the tribe can live as long as it wants. But for the nation to live, impunity must die; citizens’ rights must be respected; law and order must be established and enforced, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or creed.

On the one hand, since 1914, the primary question of Nigeria has been the Igbo question. There are other important questions, but in the answer to the Igbo question comes the understanding of all the other questions. On the other hand, the primary tragedy of the Igbo is that they are living in a Nigeria that is yet to come, if it ever comes.

The innocence of the Igbo ended long time ago. It ended before 1945 when some Northern elements in Jos first rose up and massacred Igbo people. When it was repeated in 1953 in Kano, the British inquiry reported that, "No amount of provocation, short-term or long term, can in any way justify their (Northern Nigerians) behavior." The British report went further to warn that "the seeds of the trouble which broke out in Kano on May 16 (1953) have their counterparts still in the ground. It could happen again, and only a realization and acceptance of the underlying causes can remove the danger."

Of course, it happened again. It happened in all of northern Nigeria in 1966, Kano in 1980, Maiduguri in 1982, Jimeta in 1984, Gombe in 1985, Kaduna & Kafanchan in 1991, Bauchi, Kastina, & Kano in 1991, Zango-Kataf in 1992, Funtua in 1993, Kano in 1994. Since 1999, over 10,000 people have been killed in more than a dozen incidents of religious/ethnic conflicts. And since 2009, over 4000 people have died in Boko Haram attacks. The dispossession and displacement of Igbo people once desired by the leaders of the Northern House of Assembly in the 60s have now been achieved by Boko Haram in the 2010s. In places like Maiduguri only death-defying Igbo stayed put. Even those types have sent their wives and children home.

Usually, before Igbo bloods were spilled, it was customarily preceded by arguments in several quarters, official and unofficial, in the media and in secrecy, about the disdain of the very nature of the Igbo and the need for Igbo to change. In Northern Nigeria of 1964, there were calls in the Northern House of Assembly to revoke forthwith all Certificates of Occupancy from the hands of the Igbo residents in the region. Lawmakers stood up in the assembly and promised to fid ways to do away with the Igbo. Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gashash, O.B.E and Minister of Land and Survey, told the assembly in March of 1964 the following.

"Having heard their demand about Ibos holding land in Northern Nigeria, my ministry will do all it can to see that the demands of members are met. How to do this, when to do it, all this should not be disclosed. In due course, you will all see what will happen. (Applause)".

The Northern People's Congress, NPC, followed Alhaji Gashash's promise by issuing a booklet called SALAMA: Facts must be faced. This booklet portrayed the Igbo in a very bad light and gave the masses in the North the sense that the Igbo were the source of all their problems. At the same time, the government of Western Nigeria also issued their own booklet called UPCAISM in which the Igbo, called "strangers," were depicted as land grabbers who must be removed from Western lands and government positions. The booklets also displayed pictures of shops and stores owned by the Igbo and indulged in undue character assassination.

The military coup of 1966 presented a pretext to carry out a plan that had been laid out years before. It was a plan that aimed at a total extermination of the Igbo or, at least, their containment. The pogrom and the brutal war that followed was the final solution to the perceived Igbo problems in Nigeria. When Anthony Enahoro traveled round the globe arguing that starvation was a weapon of war, he was following the script for the total extermination of the Igbo. When Benjamin Adekunle boasted to foreign reporters, "I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary and no UN delegation. I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the centre of Ibo territory, we shoot at everything even at things that do not move...," he was following the same script.

Just like the once accommodating and charitable and hospitable and generous Germany became a graveyard of Jews when Hitler came, Nigeria became a graveyard of Igbo when Gowon came. And, equally, like Germany, Nigeria failed to accomplish the final solution plan. The only difference was that the Jews learnt from that horrible Holocaust experience and formed their own country while the Igbo failed in that struggle for Biafra and returned to embrace Nigeria as if nothing had happened. Thomas Sowell, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and a renowned scholar on Races and World Economies wrote that, "Most of the great mindless slaughters of the 20th century -- whether of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the kulaks in the Soviet Union, the Jews in Germany, the I[g]bo in Nigeria or the Tamils in Sri Lanka -- have been slaughters of those who dramatically eclipsed the accomplishments of others."

This is New Haven, Enugu

Imagine Jim Nwobodo is who you have as notable person, this is a shame. An ordinary governor who was actually installed by Zik. You people need education so you can begin to develop proper human capital. Lol

Thanks18:


Yes likely, he is an impostor. I responded earlier because some gullibles might swallow his lies hook and sinker without enquiry. When he said that Jim Nwobodo is a local champion, I realized that it is vain to argue with him. Jim Nwobodo that defeated all the aspirants in the second republic and governed the old anambra(comprising present day Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states) for 4 years followed by chief CC Onoh. Chief Nwobodo was among the G34 that formed PDP contested for the presidential flagbearer in 1999 with Obj and Ekwueme. And was the major reason, Ekwueme lost the ticket to Obj because of what he did to him in 1983. Dr Barth Nnaji is an academia and technocrat known in the globe.

The kulaks were liquidated. The Armenians, the Jews and the Tamils are struggling and still fighting to keep the memories alive and stop it from ever happening again. The Igbo on their part, forgot what happened and why. But the Nigerian elements, disappointed in their unfinished job, have not forgotten. Instead, they are busy preparing for the final battle. Those in doubt should listen when they remind the Igbo openly that “history will repeat itself.” In ways subtle and covetous, they are laying the ground work for what we all know must come. They are making public and closed door speeches in which they are promising that "how to do this, when to do this, will not be disclosed." The seed of the trouble, as far as these Nigerian elements see it, is in the nature of the Igbo. As long as Igbo will not denounce their Igboness, it will happen again. And this time, it may be a total annihilation, from Port Harcourt to Lagos on to Gusau via Abuja.

Acknowledged, it has been difficult, and will always be difficult, for the rest of Nigeria to interpret the Igbo life and worldview. There is a big difference between what the Igbo think and what others think the Igbo think. This misunderstanding, in many quarters, has continued to be transformed into inert hatred. The myth of the Igbo constantly in the face of Nigerians everywhere, has proved very difficult for many to decipher.

In a 2005 Igbo Day keynote speech titled, The Primacy of Political or Economic power: The Igbo Dilemma, Professor Anya O. Anya noted that:

“There is an inherent paradox and contradiction in the lgboman's place in Nigeria. On the one hand given his industry, his intelligence and his enterprise, the Igboman is a desirable gift to Nigeria and the stuff of which great nations and great civilizations can be built. On the other hand, given his presumptive confidence in his abilities and his unabashed hunger to succeed at whatever cost, he engenders fear and unwelcome visibility amongst his compatriots. His lack of subtlety, his drive to overcome and his insatiable "greed" for material progress engenders resentment and often inexplicable, and perhaps, undeserved hostility in the host communities. His "loud" style of Life and the facility with which he can adapt to and adopt new ways can also be unsettling to foreign cultural formations that have come in contact with the lgbo including the colonial masters. There is thus an underlying sense of conflict in the lgbo presence in Nigeria.”

Pazienza is an encyclopedia.

Awka

For those who care but do not know and those who know but do not care, the Igbo are not perfect. Like so many other groups, the Igbo have those uncommon human frailties and foibles as well as unique virtues and wisdoms. When their sense of vanity is heightened, their sense of modesty is diminished. When their sense of belonging is enhanced, their sense of variance is lessened. The Igbo know that things others did to them were many but the things they did to themselves were more. (Apologies Prof. Chieka Ifemesia). But the Igbo history warrants that the Igbo must keep eternal vigilance – chasing away the prey while scolding the chick.

In trying to find an answer many observers of negativity in Igbo life seek, I stumbled on "The Focus of Igbo Worldview," a paper presented by Prof. Donatus I. Nwoga. In it he wrote:

“The opportunity which the present times have given for the predominant attributes of the Igbo to blossom into the ugliness of materialistic indiscipline, and lack of grace and finesse, must not be taken to represent the all-time behavior of the Igbo. A characteristic which could have been favorable and positive in one phase of the history of a people, which could again be positive and beneficial in another phase, could present the greatest negative consequences in a transitional phase. In practical terms, the attributes which make the Igbo appear vulgar and materialistic at this phase, could be the same attributes that made them achieving and titled people in the past. The present could merely be revealing the impact of new, uncharted times to the chaotic instinct in those who had been restrained by the limiting structures and facilities of the ordered past. And it is important to retain then the diachronic consciousness that transitional people have the handicap of having lost the grace and poetry of their past, without yet acquiring the grace and poetry, or at least the discipline and sanctions of the modern.”

We must go to work

“The opportunity which the present times have given for the predominant attributes of the Igbo to blossom into the ugliness of materialistic indiscipline, and lack of grace and finesse, must not be taken to represent the all-time behavior of the Igbo. A characteristic which could have been favorable and positive in one phase of the history of a people, which could again be positive and beneficial in another phase, could present the greatest negative consequences in a transitional phase. In practical terms, the attributes which make the Igbo appear vulgar and materialistic at this phase, could be the same attributes that made them achieving and titled people in the past. The present could merely be revealing the impact of new, uncharted times to the chaotic instinct in those who had been restrained by the limiting structures and facilities of the ordered past. And it is important to retain then the diachronic consciousness that transitional people have the handicap of having lost the grace and poetry of their past, without yet acquiring the grace and poetry, or at least the discipline and sanctions of the modern.”

The duty those who believe in Nigeria owe to this transitioning Nigeria is to give her a structure. In a structured Nigeria where there is law and order, people will be treated as individuals according to the laws of the land. Those who currently take advantage of the disorder in Nigeria would have to get in line or face the letters of the law. In a just and equitable society, those who are industrious, honest and creative will soar. Until then, those who dream of changing the nature of the Igbo or any ethnic group for that matter are confounded with many paradoxes.

Very good article, all parts are important, but the part I made bold, gave meaning tomany fundamental issues bedevilling Igbo nation today.
For example, the part below, perfectly explains the psychological trauma of those groups and individuals suffering from identity crisis.
Sunday Oliseh outburst in that Interview where he told Nigerians that they shouldn't assume he was Igbo because of his Igbo names, is exactly captured below. He did that because he wants to be seen as a good person in the eyes of Nigerians, and in the eyes of Nigerians, being an Igbo is already a crime. So you can't appeal to Nigerians and still be Igbo, therein lies the root of Identity crisis in Igbo communities in SS.

"For many, a good Igbo is one who is only Igbo in his home; who is not Igbo everyday and everywhere; who is apologetic for being Igbo, and who wears the following expression on his forehead: "how dare you assume I am Igbo?"

Bede2u:
they allowed eritrea and south sudan.

But they didnt allow catalonia and confederate states of america.

Its simple...once two ppl agree to part ways, europe will support them

who told u that Eritrea was allowed to go in peace. Go and read about the Civil War Eritrea fought and the last time I checked. Peace was made this year afta 29 years of bitter rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Eritrea is landlocked and the Ethiopians barred them from using the sea ports and placed troops there but still Eritrea was booming and later peace was made..

Bede2u:
they allowed eritrea and south sudan.

But they didnt allow catalonia and confederate states of america.

Its simple...once two ppl agree to part ways, europe will support them

did u say that Sudan agreed bfore south Sudan went on the way?so u didn't hear of the Civil War that decimated the country and u. N and co had no choice than to divide the country

ghostfacekillar:
who told u that Eritrea was allowed to go in peace. Go and read about the Civil War Eritrea fought and the last time I checked. Peace was made this year afta 29 years of bitter rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Eritrea is landlocked and the Ethiopians barred them from using the sea ports and placed troops there but still Eritrea was booming and later peace was made..

Eritrea has sea access. Ethiopia became a landlocked country immediately Eritrea seceded.
The rest of your point stands.

pazienza:
In a 2005 Igbo Day keynote speech titled, The Primacy of Political or Economic power: The Igbo Dilemma, Professor Anya O. Anya noted that:

“There is an inherent paradox and contradiction in the lgboman's place in Nigeria. On the one hand given his industry, his intelligence and his enterprise, the Igboman is a desirable gift to Nigeria and the stuff of which great nations and great civilizations can be built. On the other hand, given his presumptive confidence in his abilities and his unabashed hunger to succeed at whatever cost, he engenders fear and unwelcome visibility amongst his compatriots. His lack of subtlety, his drive to overcome and his insatiable "greed" for material progress engenders resentment and often inexplicable, and perhaps, undeserved hostility in the host communities. His "loud" style of Life and the facility with which he can adapt to and adopt new ways can also be unsettling to foreign cultural formations that have come in contact with the lgbo including the colonial masters. There is thus an underlying sense of conflict in the lgbo presence in Nigeria.”

"Lack of subtlety" is the beginning of igbo failures. Igbos really need a change of attitude. Nobody will fold their hand and watch you overrun them if you are too loud.

"Let it be known that the original sin of the Igbo has not changed and will never change - it is the sin of being Igbo. It is from it that all other sins emerge and get magnified. The Igbo have nothing to prove and must not begin a defense of that right or a discussion of their Igboness on the terms of others. It is a matter of expediency for the Igbo to know this and for the Igbo to understand its implication in their final battle for survival".

This is the sin of the Igbo man. Being Igbo. This is why those who wish not to partake in this sin, rushes first to denounce their Igbo identity.

ghostfacekillar:
who told u that Eritrea was allowed to go in peace. Go and read about the Civil War Eritrea fought and the last time I checked. Peace was made this year afta 29 years of bitter rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Eritrea is landlocked and the Ethiopians barred them from using the sea ports and placed troops there but still Eritrea was booming and later peace was made..

Its the other way round. Eritrea blocked Ethiopia from the sea

pazienza:
"Let it be known that the original sin of the Igbo has not changed and will never change - it is the sin of being Igbo. It is from it that all other sins emerge and get magnified. The Igbo have nothing to prove and must not begin a defense of that right or a discussion of their Igboness on the terms of others. It is a matter of expediency for the Igbo to know this and for the Igbo to understand its implication in their final battle for survival".

This is the sin of the Igbo man. Being Igbo. This is why those who wish to partake in this sin, rushes first to denounce their Igbo identity.

Oga 4get talk.

Handsomegod:
Bede what I asked was books you read. Names of the book and possibly chapters which support the views you expressed so far. Please I ask you first. Have you seen excerpts from Senator Buka Abba ibrahim's lastest book "POORLITICS" where he described Ojukwu and the forces that pushed the war? The Fulani senator committed tribal suicide! He shot truths that will give Buhari heart attack. I am waiting sir.

i want that book.. I ave been seeing people like baron. Agha egwu and co talking about the book.. Is there any of it in pdf format

basilo101:

"Lack of subtlety" is the beginning of igbo failures. Igbos really need a change of attitude. Nobody will fold their hand and watch you overrun them if you are too loud.

Nope. Those are excuses used to justify the original sin, which is "being Igbo".

Are the Yorubas subtle? They live flamboyant lifestyle, throw Owambe up and down, wear the best clothes even with empty bank accounts. They are loudmouthed and boastful too. They tell whoever that care to listen How they are the most sophisticated group in Nigeria, how they lead in Education, entertainment, etc. How they produced many firsts in Nigeria, how they built first TV station, first tallest building, etc. I have heard it all from them.
It was on this forum we were all told and insulted on daily basis about how the entire Osun IGR is supposedly bigger than those of the entire SE, until the recession came, and they couldn't pay salaries, only then did the loud mouthed ones crawl into their caves.

What about the Hausa-Fulani. They threatened fire and brimstone, should power not return to the North. On daily basis, they made inflammatory statements.
They told their Yoruba partners how they should forget Kwara, should they attempt to go for independence from Nigeria, they went to news media and told the Yorubas How they conquered and converted their pagan clans to Muslims in Ilorin and continue to rule Ilorin today, how is that for subtlety?
Buhari threatened baboon and Monkey getting soaked in blood should he lose the election in 2011,how is that for subtlety?
The current emir of Kano, had the temerity to openly tell the Yorubas that they are the trouble with Nigeria. How is that for subtlety? Yorubas didn't do anything about it. Imaginre if it were Ndiigbo that made that statement, what the rest of Nigerians would say.

None of those groups are subtle, don't let them "psycho bully" you into accepting that Ndiigbo are overdoing things more than they themselves are.

Bede2u:
wat is my opinion? These are hard cold facts. U think europe cares about any aftican tribe? Europe wants africa to develop. Thats part of the reason they colonised us and allows us to come study their science...but that they are somehow afraid of us is laughable....dem never fear china finish...na divided africa they will be fearing.

They wish us well. But they are tired of carrying us like babies

mr.. I don't agree.. The European didn't colonise Africa to develop us. They saw us as black monkeys who could walk upright... They used us as sports.they sent some of my fathers to untimely grave... Some was thrown into the sea. Some raped. Castrated and burned alive. Neva u justify their coming as a good thing in Africa. Europe wrecked Africa. They subdued us and tuned us into clown for four hundred years..... European are evil... Pale skin devils... They told us that African was not developed. That we couldn't write. That we were animals living in the Bush and they came and taught us good thing.... Europeans introduced tribalism in Africa...they are evil.. Pale skin devil... They destroyed Africa civilization. Imagine Egypt. Ethiopia. Igbo nsibidi... And lots of other things. European are evil

pazienza:


Nope. Those are excuses used to justify the original sin, which is "being Igbo".

Are the Yorubas subtle? They live flamboyant lifestyle, throw Owambe up and down, wear the best clothes even with empty bank accounts. They are loudmouthed and boastful too. They tell whoever that care to listen How they are the most sophisticated group in Nigeria, how they lead in Education, entertainment, etc. How they produced many firsts in Nigeria, how they built first TV station, first tallest building, etc. I have heard it all from them.
It was on this forum we were all told and insulted on daily basis about how the entire Osun IGR is supposedly bigger than those of the entire SE, until the recession came, and they couldn't pay salaries, only then did the loud mouthed ones crawl into their caves.

What about the Hausa-Fulani. They threatened fire and brimstone, should power not return to the North. On daily basis, they made inflammatory statements.
They told their Yoruba partners how they should forget Kwara, should they attempt to go for independence from Nigeria, they went to news media and told the Yorubas How they conquered and converted their pagan clans to Muslims in Ilorin and continue to rule Ilorin today, how is that for subtlety?
Buhari threatened baboon and Monkey getting soaked in blood should he lose the election in 2011,how is that for subtlety?
The current emir of Kano, had the temerity to openly tell the Yorubas that they are the trouble with Nigeria. How is that for subtlety? Yorubas didn't do anything about it. Imaginre if it were Ndiigbo that made that statement, what the rest of Nigerians would say.

None of those groups are subtle, don't let them "psycho bully" you into accepting that Ndiigbo are overdoing things more than they themselves are.

Did Buhari arrogant stance take him anywhere? Dude had to humble and carry Bible to Church. Igbos must learn when to compromise at least until they get what they want

ghostfacekillar:
mr.. I don't agree.. The European didn't colonise Africa to develop us. They saw us as black monkeys who could walk upright... They used us as sports.they sent some of my fathers to untimely grave... Some was thrown into the sea. Some raped. Castrated and burned alive. Neva u justify their coming as a good thing in Africa. Europe wrecked Africa. They subdued us and tuned us into clown for four hundred years..... European are evil... Pale skin devils... They told us that African was not developed. That we couldn't write. That we were animals living in the Bush and they came and taught us good thing.... Europeans introduced tribalism in Africa...they are evil.. Pale skin devil... They destroyed Africa civilization. Imagine Egypt. Ethiopia. Igbo nsibidi... And lots of other things. European are evil

Egypt and Ethiopia are not really Africans. They had been part of global politics since Bible days. Secondly, the colonist are gone, we have no excuse now

pazienza:


This is the issue.
Every Nigerian is innately a hardcore tribalist, that it is political suicide for us to not be one. Each time I see an Igbo man that professes nationalistic deposition, I see a calamity that must not be allowed to hold a political post in Igboland.

don't mind them. Efulefu that's what they are. Eventually when such post is giving to them which they neva xpected. They will start using it to oppress his people to impress his masters and then u hear words like I am a "detribalised Nigerian"..