Jude Chukwuka, actor and social commentator rendered Naira Marleys's Ma Fo so beautifully that he got a million naira from the musician. I did not know Jude Chukwuka before the viral video and had not watched his movies. When I first saw the video I thought he is a yourba man for his good Yoruba diction.

Chukwuka's rendition of Ma Fo, however, is another example of the possibility inherent in our national aspiration. His video tells the story of the Igbo man: cosmopolitan, at home with his adopted culture and proud to adopt and express the culture, language and art of his host. Chukwuka speaks fluent Igbo but happily presents Yoruba programs.

Igbos assimilate the culture of his host. He invests, without hesitation, in the economy of his adopted home and becomes the ambassador of the tribe that allows him to settle and thrive. So much that the issue confronting Ndi Igbo as a people is the sustenance of our language and culture as the diaspora Igbo acculturate in their various abode.

Yet, the country mistrust the Igbos, if an Emeka says he wants Biafra, the country latches on it to generalize forgetting the Chukwukas and millions of Igbos across the country voting with their feet and wallet. They are building homes, businesses, raising their kids and investing in their adopted homes.

Sadly, every effort is made to impose what Chimamanda Adichie described as the single story on Igbo people. When Okechukwu cries against marginalization the troops rush to the barricade shouting bigotry.

Chukwuka's rendition is a reminder that Igbos are a diverse people with complex attitudes to the Nigerian project. The only issue that unites igbos is the increasing realization of the high cost of their ethnicity. The high cut off point, the absence of their kith and kin in the decision making positions across the political and bureaucratic spectrum, and the high-handedness of law enforcement agencies in the SE zone. The Igbos however, are not united in how to solve the issue.

The onus is on the government and the rest of the country to increasingly reduce the cost of being Igbo. The cost is currently too high.

It will be nice to see other Nigerians emulate the example of Chukwuka. His various public avowal of his mastery of yourba should serve as a pointer that the current campaign to profile Igbos as a monolithic bigots is misguided and should stop.

Osita Chidoka
July 2020

The ethnic coup by the igbos is the reason most Nigerians don’t trust them that’s the bitter truth they can also be very clannish

Osaze007:
The ethnic coup by the igbos is the reason most Nigerians don’t trust them that’s the bitter truth they can also be very clannish

2nded

Osaze007:
The ethnic coup by the igbos is the reason most Nigerians don’t trust them that’s the bitter truth they can also be very clannish

And you forget the civil war where millions of Igbos lost their lives.

I Don't hate them at all...

But if u see the way they chest beat on nairaland with passion.....lemme nor say much Sha

They are good people but few amongst them are narcissist and loud. The few chestbeaters overshadow the silent majority igbos.

NO according to some of them the cabals have promised them presidency 2023

Pigs among them are brainless

IGBOS CANNOT ACCOMMODATE THEIR IGBOISM(PRIDE). THEY CANNOT RESTRAIN THEMSELVES AND ACCEPT TO DO TO OTHERS WHAT THEY WISH FOR THEMSELVES.

They are like every other Nigerian, but not laid back.

But the extreme love of money though

Igbos are the causes of the mistrust of Igbos especially the ones here on NL, they are too loud and very razz, no iota of respect ,they chest beat anyhow, the good Igbos never call them to order, mean they have their backs, hence the generalization of them all.

edunwosu:


And you forget the civil war where millions of Igbos lost their lives.

It was reaction to the ethnic killing

1. Some said because of 1966 coup - that was carried out by few soldiers - it now means all Igbos conspired to carry out the coup - and million of lives were lost. So all the subsequent coups by Northern soldiers does not really count.

2. Some said Igbos like money. Really? I am yet to see which tribe on this planet Earth that hates money, not even Vatican or Medina, not to talk of Nigerian ones. May be a misconception of Igbos business aggressiveness? Or something else

3. Some said they're clannish. How? If you are looking for a tribe that is seclusive, I think you should look up North. Igbos goes everywhere and adapts and welcomes others to their place as well. I have seen some malams hawking whares in Igbo villages. Unless you travel from your comfort zone, how will you see?

4. Some said they are chest beaters. Well, if few, and only very few indeed, does that in Nairaland it doesn't mean all Igbos goes about doing same. Take a walk out of Nairaland to reality and see if that's how it is.

5. And why is it that some people here are too judgemental on Igbos with such a stereotypical bias that makes you wonder how did you end up co-joined in this marriage born out of British experiment.

Osaze007:
The ethnic coup by the igbos is the reason most Nigerians don’t trust them that’s the bitter truth they can also be very clannish

You are silly for saying that

Which coup by the igbo man

When did south south man become igbo?

We are going to Biafra we don't care

Jude Chukwuka is a good example of those Igbo that get along in Yoruba land or anywhere. They say when you are in Rome behave like a Roman.

Respect the culture and be grateful for their accommodation.

Jude is a class by himself, he reminds me of the Igbo I grew up with. Why are they not speaking up?

igbo are lousy, imagine if all tribe are like them there will be war all the time

Igbos re the cause of the majority problem we re facing outside this country . The getting money at all cost syndrome not minding what it will happen to the image of the country.

Jazzafizzy:
Igbos re the cause of the majority problem we re facing outside this country . The getting money at all cost syndrome not minding what it will happen to the image of the country.

I guess abacha, obasanjo, babangida and the other fantastically corrupt men like atiku who soiled Nigeria's image in corruption are from Ebonyi, Abia, Enugu, Imo, and Anambra

Kaypols:
igbo are lousy, imagine if all tribe are like them there will be war all the time

you live in kaduna, I guess if everyother tribe is violent like northerners who invented boko Haram and fulani herdsmen, Nigeria will be fighting war all the time.

No tribe is perfect in Nigeria. Definitely not the Hausa-fulani who have ruled the most. I especially prefer a lousy person to a terrorist and religious fundamentalist.

flyingpig:
I guess abacha, obasanjo, babangida and the other fantastically corrupt men like atiku who soiled Nigeria's image in corruption are from Ebonyi, Abia, Enugu, Imo, and Anambra

Maybe ......but the invitus ,the billionaire kidnapper ( Evans) and some funny ones are from the aforementioned states