The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email,
olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

The young Yoruba man was leaving office early to go and receive his visiting Igbo wife undergoing her
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) primary
assignment in a neighbouring town when he
encountered a co-worker who planted in him the
seed of doubts that eventually destroyed a beautiful union and set his own life crashing down.

The careless remark that would play in his head again and again was that he was being naive to believe that his wife would remain faithful, especially considering that “she is young, she is a corper…and she is Igbo!”
The predilection to stereotype and label people by
blaming the conduct of one person on an entire
group he or she belongs (whether by age, class or
ethnicity) is for me the central message in Tunde
Kelani’s movie, “Magun” (Thunderbolt). It speaks to a time like this in our nation when some Yoruba and
Igbo irridentists are promoting hate speech in the
name of a meaningless superiority war that glorifies
some distorted accounts of the past.

The cast of the movie written by Professor Akinwunmi Isola included seasoned professionals like Adebayo Faleti, Buki Ajayi, Uche Obi-Osotule, Lanre Balogun, Wale Macauley, Ngozi Nwosu and the late Dr. Larinde Akinleye. The story is woven around Ngozi, (played by Uche, one of Nigeria’s most versatile and adored actresses who for some
inexplicable reasons doesn’t feature much in
Nollywood) and Yinka (played by Lanre Balogun).

The duo met and fell in love at the NYSC orientation
camp. With the insinuation that an Igbo woman could not be trusted and feeling rather insecure and jealous--notwithstanding the fact that he actually met his wife a virgin--Yinka eventually sought the diabolical power of “Magun”- the mysterious chastity control which instantly terminates the life of any man who dares to “climb” a straying wife. The snag though is that if the woman played no “away game” within a certain period while still being laced with “Magun” she stood the risk of death. Being a faithful wife, it was Ngozi’s life that was in danger in the movie.

Magun is fatal and remedies are rare and often not
foolproof. So the efforts to break its life-threatening
effect on Ngozi provided the entertainment and the
drama of existence captured in the movie. But in the final analysis, Ngozi’s redemption came from the family of her irresponsible Yoruba husband, the
Yoruba native doctors, her local Yoruba guardian and finally the love-struck Yoruba medical doctor who offered himself as a guinea pig to test the efficacy of “Magun” on the altar of a five-minute enjoyment. He was lucky to survive with an experience he would never forget!

When her tribulation was over and she was
confronted with the prospect of another Yorubaman
as suitor, Ngozi, quite naturally, was hesitant but her father, who started out as a Yoruba antagonist, saved the day by advising her to follow her heart. He said it would be wrong to blame a whole ethnic group for the misconduct of one man, before giving us that memorable line: “A man is a man; and a race is a race”.


About four weeks ago, the Lagos State Government
“deported” some people to Onitsha in furtherance of its ill-conceived policy to rid the state of destitute. But despite that the action (which is targeted at vulnerable people within our society regardless of their ethnicity) has been condemned by many, including Yoruba people, some Igbo politicians would not let the facts get in the way of an opportunity for opportunism; they termed it a deliberate action against their kinsmen. To compound the situation, some “Yoruba defenders” would also latch on to it to tell some imaginary tales about the superiority of their ethnic group. And with that, we now have a war on the internet as to who between the Yoruba and Igbo can abuse, slander or curse more than the other.

It is obvious that because our nation has not
succeeded in establishing effective mechanisms to
maximize the potentials in our diversity, our fault
lines are ever exposed. But our leaders will do well to strengthen ethnic harmony and national unity by
safeguarding and protecting equal rights of all
citizens, regardless of their status or where they
come from. In the absence of such guarantee of
social and economic rights for all, it is no surprise
that our people have become easily susceptible to
the antics of political manipulators who deploy
ethnicity to advance their own careers.

I am an admirer of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola
but I believe that his approach to dealing with
vulnerable people in Lagos State is wrong-headed;
and as it has been most eloquently pointed out by Mr Femi Falana, SAN, clearly unconstitutional. I also
think he could have handled better the complaints
from the Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi.

However, that is also no excuse for some people to
make provocative statements about Lagos being a
“No-Man’s-land” or parrot one-sided accounts of the
civil war to rain invectives on the late Chief Obafemi
Awolowo with a view to provoking reactions from
Yoruba people. While I have no problem with whoever would fault Awo’s judgement on some of the critical decisions he made in the course of the war as then Finance Minister (which should always be open to debate, especially since he took personal
responsibility for the choices he made), I have
problems with anybody using that to stigmatise his
person or the entire Yoruba people.

Within the same context, I consider it unacceptable and indeed reckless that any Yorubaman would libel, insult or abuse the Igbo people to make any silly points.

However, what worries me is not so much the antics
of some Igbo and Yoruba juvenile adults who spend
valuable time on the internet trading diatribes but
rather the dangerous seeds they are sowing for our
children who read many of the intemperate postings which paint a distorted picture of who we really are.

For instance, I have Igbo friends who if anything
happens within their families I would be one of the
first persons to be contacted. This bond of trust is
also reciprocated by my family who care less about
the ethnicity of those friends. Even at that, I am also aware that this sort of relationships goes beyond the personal to the political arena, notwithstanding all the posturing to the contrary.

One of the most memorable assignments I covered
as a reporter with the defunct Concord newspapers in the nineties was the burial in Ikorodu, Lagos, of the late Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya. I had never
witnessed anything like that before or after when
thousands of people (including the high and mighty) from another ethnic group would rally to bury someone who is not their kinsman. But that is
because they considered him their kinsman; which
then strengthens the argument of Dr Chika Ezeanya
in her recent brilliant thesis on the issue and
supports the message in ‘Magun’: a man is a man; a race is a race.

There are critical issues facing our nation today that
should task us, beyond the infantile debate as to
which ethnic group produced the first person to eat
‘ponmo’ in Nigeria! For instance, ASUU has been on
strike for several weeks now but that is not
generating debate because the children of almost
anybody that is somebody in Nigeria today are either in private universities at home or schooling abroad.

Unfortunately, that speaks to the current issue. Three days after Lagos dumped the destitute in Onitsha, it was reported that one of them had died. The question to ask is: what were they still doing under the bridge? What has happened to the remaining of those unfortunates on whose behalf we all make noise? I will not be surprised if they are still under Onitsha bridge, left to their fate for the same reason that the Lagos State Government deported them in the first place: because they are poor, homeless people who live on the margin of society!

This “Igbo this, Yoruba that” argument is unhelpful
and detracts from what should be the focus of our
attention. I believe it will serve us well if we return to what the real issue is, or at least should be: Whether they are Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba and regardless of their “state of origin”, no Nigerian should be discriminated against in any part of the country on account of his or her social status. It is time we put an end to the on-going nonsensical debate between some Igbo and Yoruba commentators and face the real issues of poverty, development and national unity.

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/yoruba-igbo-and-media-warriors/156884/

"However, what worries me is not so much the antics of some Igbo and Yoruba juvenile adults who spend valuable time on the internet trading diatribes but rather the dangerous seeds they are sowing for our children who read many of the intemperate postings which paint a distorted picture of who we really are."

And this is my fear too with all these tribal bashings...the young minds are quite impressionable...it might not seem to have an effect now but it will further push forward any liberation for Nigeria because we are creating more 'monsters'

Brilliant piece ...

Good article from Segun Adeniyi. Unfortunately threads like this might not generate much interest since it is devoid of what normally generates debates on Nairaland - tribalism.

"However, what worries me is not so much
the antics of some Igbo and Yoruba
JUVENILE ADULTS who spend valuable time
on the internet trading diatribes but
rather the dangerous seeds they are
sowing for our children who read many of
the intemperate postings which paint a
distorted picture of who we really are.

They know themselves!! I don't want to call names

Baban la nonsense..

seanet02: Baban la nonsense..

Unadulterated bullsh1t!!!!

Too late. It already created a 'monster' in me. I don't mess with the other side and will definitely pay them back when the time is right.

Asoozy:

Unadulterated bullsh1t!!!!

Adeniyi or Azoozy?

seanet02:
Adeniyi or Azoozy?

Je ko ye e now.

Imo sinu, imo sikun.

Asoozy:

Je ko ye e now.

Imo sinu, imo sikun.

beni jare..
Mo fe go ara mi tele ni...
oro yin ti wa ye mi bayii

seanet02:
beni jare..
Mo fe go ara mi tele ni...
oro yin ti wa ye mi bayii

B'awo o ba gbawo nigbowo, awo a te, awo a si ya.

Asoozy:

B'awo o ba gbawo nigbowo, awo a te, awo a si ya.

Humm, Ayajo yii ni agbara o

When Segun was Spokesman of UMYA , how much did he promotes inter-ethnic relationship, was he not the one that was made to sow ethnic bashing between Abokis and rest of Nigerians ?



The mentality of average Nigerian can only be reshaped by Good Governance and Effective National Orientation ........


But people at the helms of affairs keep playing ethnic cards since thats the only way they can get home support, then what do we have .... Ethnic bashing !!!



Until those few whom we elected to manage we lots assume full responsibility of Government and Governance, Ethnic bashing is the beginning and some class of senseless politicians are deriving huge benefit from it !!!

This is what you call a brilliant and neutral article. Segun Adeniyi has always come across as a brilliant mind no wonder Yaradua employed him. I always wonder why GEJ chose the savages Abati and Ima Niboro previously over him allowing the APC to mess his administration up. I still maintain that the detribalized Yorubas (though few) are the most and only brilliant.