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An Endangered National Specie; A Melancholic Cry To Okechukwu Buhari!

April 16, 2015

The just concluded general elections stand as yet another test to our over one hundred years history as a nation, perhaps the biggest test after the civil war. This precarious entity of divergent interests, religions and socializations may have survived the biggest torrent of probable obliteration of the national bond, even against by the fears and prophecies of the international community. Or maybe just not yet.

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In recent years, owing to the realities of our politics and the ethnic sentiments that constantly beleaguers the very essence of our subsistence as a nation, I have found myself tempted to align with the opinions of a few that this country has no business being together and the idea of ‘One Nigeria’ is a myth. The history of this nation traced from the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 may lend some credence to the postulates that Nigeria is probably the biggest geographical mistake ever made in history.  When one fully considers the aligning political, economic, and socio-economic factors that led to the union of the two regions as well as the history of colonialism and the very different impacts the colonialist movement had on these two regions, their socio-political and economic uniqueness and dissimilar values, a sufficiently sustainable argument could be held to the point that the Northerners and the Southerners aren’t exactly the proverbial birds of the same feather. However, having survived over a century together, it defeats all my senses of reason when people talk about disintegration and division. If Biafra couldn’t stand, I do not reckon any other movement against the unity of this nation that would survive. Like Siamese twins, we are stuck together by an inexplicable and inextricable connection , our interests have been so intertwined that the clamors for disintegration remains nothing but a fleeting illusion to be pursued by a few perhaps, but never attained. We have crossed the Rubicon and we have no choice but to move forward.

I sat down for a drink with some of my Northern friends recently, precisely from the middle-belt, and our heated political discussions and divergent thoughts awakened my consciousness to the actuality of the abhorrence that has built up against Ndigbo.  Clearly the Igbos have become what I have recently termed ‘an endangered national specie’. More recently an Oba clearly exasperated by the audacity of Igbos wished them off to the lagoon. With a dozen more lagoon wishes and their actual fruition, who knows, the Igbos may become history. Thank goodness for Ambode’s victory at the Lagos polls, we have no reason to further test the veracity of the monarch’s threats to the Igbos. Thankfully the ‘gods’ were not put to the test. I recall one of these my friends saying ‘the Igbos are a useless tribe, you are not united, I do not blame the Oba for his utterances…..”. However I think it only fair to Ndigbo to relate the present Igbo predicament with the history and political development of the Igbos. The plausible cause of the present political quandary of the Igbos is traceable to the historical and political development of the Igbos. History has it that the pre- colonial Igbo was a politically fragmented group. There were not many centralized chiefdoms, hereditary aristocracy, or kinship customs except some kingdoms like Arochukwu and Onitsha. This political situation of Ndigbo only changed significantly in the early 20th century with the introduction of ‘warrant Chiefs’ by Lugard. Precisely, the Igbo adage ‘Igbo enwe eze’ (the Igbos have no king) is a reference to the characteristic traits of the Igbo, though should not be taken literally as a total denial that any king ever existed anywhere in the entire Igbo land. This has affected the possibility of the emergence of any Igbo leader. Ojukwu, the Biafran warlord having gone the farthest in this quest. Despite these accusations of disunity and inability to politically strategize, I am one of those who hypothesize that these perceived incapacities of the Igbos may not be without its merits to the nation. The dexterity, investment acumen, and courage of the Igbo man, and I must admit the perceived love of the Igbo man for the legal tender has fostered the unity of this country. The Igboman is the only one who would invest in every part of the country, raise his children and contribute to the economic development of any settlement where they find themselves, even in the Sahara desert if they were given a chance. I have often wondered in utter disappointment why despite being responsible for a large percentage of the country’s economy and national productivity, the Igbos have been unable to form a strong economic and political force to be reckoned with in any deliberation on the growth and development of this country. Even the most acclaimed detractors of the South Easterners would agree that a well structured and organized economic and political formation of Ndigbo comprising of the daunting intellectual and human resources, as well as the deep pockets of our Anambra businessmen brothers, would be to say the least formidable.

 

So to the President elect, Muhammadu Buhari I ask of thee for the sake of the unity of this country and the fortification of the national and economic development, to salvage this tribe from the loathing and revulsion that threatens its existence and relevance in your rescue mission for this country, which is clearly unachievable without the Igbos in the South East just like every part of this country. As you have been christened ‘Okechukwu’ (God’s gift) by one of ours, please make your administration a gift to the Ndigbo as it is to the country at large. For the sake of some of us who supported you ardently despite the disapproval of our kinsmen, please run an all inclusive government for all including the Igbos who did not support you as a group. Rather than a socio-political vendetta which you may be advised towards, teach Ndigbo the true meaning of nationality and national rebuilding by  constructing the second Niger bridge to enhance trade and commerce in that region. Do this not because you promised it, but because you didn’t and would teach us a lesson in unity and nationhood. My brother told me of an octogenarian   he met at a polling unit in Umuowa Orlu, Imo state who he tried to talk into voting for Buhari. Unknown to him, the old man’s mind was already made up to vote for Buhari. According to the old man, the only benefit he has ever gotten from the government was when the Northerners ruled. He said the Northerners and the Igbos had progressed together and done business together in the past before the war, and despite the massive killing of the Igbos during the war, some Igbos were still able to reclaim some of their properties in the North after cessation of hostilities. He summed up by saying, ‘you younger ones will not understand, but I want Buhari to be president’. Very touching intuition you may say, so I ask the General not to disappoint the likes of Mazi who may have only a few more years to see his dreams of a better government become a reality. Only people of your age may be able to comprehend exactly what this old man meant.

Believe it or not, to the average uneducated Igbo man, the Hausa Muslim is typically a dagger-wielding mallam ready to stab anyone at the slightest chant of ‘Allahu Akbar! Or anyone who remotely disrespects his religion or he considers an infidel. Some Igbos only remember stories of religious crisis in the North that took the lives of their loved ones in the North but forget that the eastern part of Nigeria would be hell without the food that comes from the north or the ‘abokis ‘who have left the comfort of the North to call Onitsha, Enugu and Aba home, and by who’s graciousness we can enjoy ‘suya’ in Owerri, the south east. The southeast and south south is probably the part of this country with the lowest presence of Islam, perhaps even non-existent in these regions. The Igbos are more scared of the impact of Islam than they despise Northerners, seemingly oblivious of the Christians of Northern origin. In fact the average Igbo respects the Northerners and consider them very honest in business, perhaps due to the same religion that petrifies them.  If we remain victimized   by the political dispensation, how assured are we that our freedom of religion and other civil rights aren’t under threat. So perhaps the Igbos should not be blamed totally for the idea of the North which picture, the Islamic fundamentalists in Nigeria and around the world have painted to the detriment of the religion. I therefore beseech the General to consider the sensitivity of religion to the affairs of this country and ensure that religion plays the least part in his administration.

I implore our President elect to assure the Igbos in words and deeds that the unity of this country which lies in his hands and the existence and relevance of Ndigbo is not diminished to that of a minority tribe. Despite our peculiarities and incongruities, I have tried to preserve my objectivity and protect it from the dictates of political affiliations, being neither a politician nor an activist. As a son of the Igbo soil, I have come to adopt my Northern and South Western friends as brothers and cannot even imagine life without them in my business and acquaintance circle. They say the Hausas love power; the Yorubas love the name and identity, the Igbos love money. I have no qualms with that but only add that we all love money, the Igbos are just the only ones who are not pretentious about it.

Our dear president elect, while we await your ascension to the throne come May 29th, please know that the loathing and despise for the Igbos is boiling in the hearts of many and is growing to become an acceptable ideology. Its catalytic eruption is nigh. As claimed that the Igbos have no leader, Okechukwu Buhari can now assume that position.

Nnamdi Ekwem is a legal practitioner and social analyst. He writes from Abuja

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