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Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by ceecee0703(m): 1:04am On Oct 28, 2015 |
Among the different ethnic groups
in Nigeria, the Igbo are without a
doubt, one of the most remarkable.
So remarkable, indeed, that some
have even traced their ancestry to
biblical Israel, as the far-flung
descendants of Jacob, the Jewish
patriarch. Gad, Jacob’s seventh son,
is said to have had three sons who
settled in South-eastern Nigeria.
These sons; Eri, Arodi and Areli, are
believed to have fathered clans in
Igbo-land and to have founded such
Igbo towns as Aguleri, Arochukwu,
Owerri and Umuleri.
Igbo Genius.
Even the bitterest adversaries of the
Igbo cannot but admit that, as a
people, they are very resourceful
and ingenious. Indeed, this has
often been the cause of their envy
and dislike by others. However,
more enlightened non-Igbo
Nigerians see this as a cause for
celebration. While today, the centre-
point of Nigeria’s manufacturing is
situated in the Lagos/Ogun axis,
there is no doubt that the real
locomotive of Nigeria’s indigenous
industrialization lies farther afield in
Aba and in the mushrooming
cottage-industries of the Igbo
heartland.
Igbo-menIn one of the paradoxes of
Nigerian history, the terrible civil
war provoked homespun
industrialization in the South-East.
Military blockade left the Igbo with
little alternative than to be inventive
in a hurry. While Nigeria as a nation
failed woefully to harness this
profitably after the war, it has
nevertheless ensured that the Igbo
are at the forefront of Nigeria’s
economic development today.
Indeed, the way we disregard
“made in Aba” today is the same
way we disregarded “made in
Japan” yesterday. For those of us
who believe against the odds that
Nigeria is the China of tomorrow,
we equally recognize that the
ingenuity of the Igbo is an indelible
part of the actualization of that
manifest destiny.
Hall of Fame.
The Igbo have been a great credit to
Nigeria. They have given us a great
number of our favourite sons,
including international statesman
Nnamdi Azikiwe; military leader
Odumegwu Ojukwu; regional leader
Michael Okpara; vice-president Alex
Ekwueme; mathematical genius
Chike Obi; literary icon Chinua
Achebe; world-class economist Pius
Okigbo; world boxing champion
Dick Tiger; international statesman
Emeka Anyaoku; and world-class
artist Ben Enwonwu. Permit me to
include in this illustrious list even
some of my very good Igbo friends:
Pat Utomi, Ojo Madueke, Olisa
Agbakoba, Joy Ogwu, and Stanley
Macebuh.
Let us get one thing straight:
Nigeria would be a much poorer
country without the Igbo.
Indeed, Nigeria would not be
Nigeria without them. Can you
imagine the Super Eagles without
the Igbo? Not likely! Who can forget
Nwankwo Kanu, Jay Kay Okocha and
our very own Emmanuel Amuneke?
Can you imagine Nollywood without
the Igbo? Impossible! Just think of
Stella Damascus-Aboderin; Rita
Dominic and Mike Ezuruonye.
And then there are the diaspora
Igbo who many are unaware are of
Igbo descent, including concert
singer and actor Paul Robeson; Oscar
award-winner Forest Whitaker;
mega-pastor T.D. Jakes; Olympic
champion Christine Ohuruogu; and
BAFTA actor award-winner Chiwetel
Ejiofor.
You may well wonder why I have
found it necessary to present this
small litany of Igbo who-is-who. I
think it is important to emphasise
how the Igbo have been very vital to
the Nigerian project. They have
more than represented Nigeria
creditably in virtually all walks of
life. This makes it all the more
absurd that this same people have
been consistently denied the
position of executive president of
the country in all but six months of
Nigeria’s 54 year history.
Civil-war legacy
Of course, a major reason for this
was the 1967-1970 civil-war which
had the Igbo on the losing side. But
that was over 40 years ago. If there
is really to be “no victor, no
vanquished” in anything more than
mere rhetoric, then the
rehabilitation of the Igbo back into
post civil-war Nigeria will not be
complete until an Igbo man finally
becomes president of the country.
That imperative should be of
interest to every Nigerian
nationalist, committed to the
creation of one Nigeria where
everyone has a deep sense of
belonging. The problem, however,
is that the Igbo themselves seem to
be their own worst enemies in this
regard. They appear to be doing
their very best to ensure that this
inevitable eventuality continues to
be denied and delayed.
The Igbo need to forgive Nigerians.
No one who lived through the
horrors that precipitated the
secession of Biafra and led to the
civil-war cannot but admit that the
Igbo were abused and maltreated in
one of the worst pogroms ever. It
was not just that they were
senselessly massacred in their own
country; it was that they were
butchered.
I remember vividly gory pictures of
scores and scores of the Igbo with
hands chopped up and with legs
amputated. And then there were the
ravages of the three-year civil-war
itself, resulting in the death of
millions of Igbo; many through
starvation and attrition.
The end of the war brought no
respite, as the Igbo were pauperized
by fiscal decrees that wiped out
their savings and their properties
were blatantly sequestered by
opportunists. All this is more than
enough to destroy the spirit of any
group of people. But God has been
on the side of the Igbo.
It is a testament to their resilience
that, in spite of this terrible
affliction, they have survived,
bounced back and have even
triumphed in Nigeria. Forty years
have now gone by. The Igbo may
never forget what happened to them
and, indeed, should never forget.
But it is past time for them to
forgive.
We Are Sorry.
This is one voice in the Nigerian
wilderness saying to the Igbo from
the depth of his heart: we are sorry.
We are sorry for the way we
mistreated you. We are sorry for the
way we abused you. We are sorry
for starving your children to death.
We are sorry for killing your loved
ones. We are sorry for stealing your
properties.
We are sorry for making you feel
unwanted in your own country.
Please forgive us. It is time to
forgive us. It is way past time for
the Igbo to forgive Nigerians. We
beg you in the name of God.
There was a civil war in the United
States, but the defeated South rose
from the ashes. Five of the last nine
presidents of the United States have
been from the South, including
Jimmy Carter from Georgia, George
Bush from Texas and Bill Clinton
from Arkansas. The time is overdue
for an Igbo president of Nigeria, but
it is not going to happen as long as
the Igbo continue to hold a grudge
against Nigeria and Nigerians.
There is no question about it: the
Igbos cannot elect a president of
Nigeria on their own. To do so, they
have to join forces with others. They
have to form alliances with people
from other parts of Nigeria. That is
not going to happen as long as the
Igbo continue to bear a grudge
against practically everybody else.
The Igbo have a gripe against
virtually all the people they need.
They have this tendency to
antagonise their possible alliance
partners. They keep dredging up
the past, refusing to let sleeping
dogs lie. Until they drop these
gripes, they are not likely to realise
their dreams.
Demonising Yorubas
For example, the Igbo have this
tendency to demonise the Yorubas.
It is alarming when reading the
Vanguard blogs today to see the
animosity often expressed between
Igbo and Yoruba contributors. The
hatred is most unhealthy. Insults
are traded with abandon. What is
the point of this? For how long will
the Igbo demand emotional
retribution from every Yoruba for
the betrayal of Awolowo? Most of
the contributors were not even born
when the civil-war took place more
than a generation ago.
There is now even transferred
aggression against Babatunde
Fashola, who made the blunder of
repatriating some destitute Igbo
from Lagos back to their home-
states. The man has apologised for
the infraction. He should be
forgiven. Blunders are not the
exclusive preserve of the non-Igbo.
The Igbo have made more than a
few themselves and will yet make
others.
Paradoxically, the redemption of the
Igbos to prominent national office
moved apace under President
Obasanjo; a Yoruba man.
Recognising that Igbos are some of
the most seasoned, competent and
experienced public-servants,
Obasanjo relied heavily on their
expertise.
Thanks to him, we got Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala at Finance, Charles
Soludo at Central Bank, Obiageli
Ezekwesili at Education, Ndidi
Okereke at the Stock Exchange, and
Dora Akunyili at NAFDAC. Indeed,
Igbo statesmen came into more
prominence under Obasanjo than
did Yoruba statesmen. But for some
strange reason, this does not seem
to have succeeded in assuaging the
ill-feeling of the Igbos toward the
Yorubas.
Bad Politicians
Within the framework of Nigerian
politics, the Igbo also have a
fundamental problem. Out of the
three major ethnic groups in
Nigeria, the Igbo have by far the
worst politicians. They have no
recognizable leaders, and have no
discernible strategy as to how to
negotiate power at the centre. As a
result, the Igbo have tended to be
short-changed at the federal level. |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by AbuMaryam1(m): 1:06am On Oct 28, 2015 |
Igbo and South? |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by AbuMaryam1(m): 1:12am On Oct 28, 2015 |
Who shot the first bullet? |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by IGBOSON1: 1:43am On Oct 28, 2015 |
I could pick so many holes in this post, but i just can't be arssed to be honest! 'Let go of the past' indeed! |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by Khd95(m): 1:49am On Oct 28, 2015 |
Op,calm down cos nigeria will survive witouth d igbos. Dnt forget dat its not only ur region dat ve reputable pple both home nd abroad,so quit dat biliv dat ur region makes nigeria. Evry region make up nigeria one way or the other,if one region decide to leave,dat doesnt mean nigeria will crumble *sips agbalumo juice* |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by SmartMugu: 1:52am On Oct 28, 2015 |
I wish this writeup had at least a few paragraphs. I don't have the patience to read a long post in just one long paragraph. 1 Like |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by maverick24(m): 2:35am On Oct 28, 2015 |
Ok |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by ceecee0703(m): 4:02pm On Nov 09, 2015 |
Khd95: Nigeria can survive without the igbos agreed, the igbos can also survive without Nigeria so why can't Nigeria let them leave or atleast call a referendum ? Do you know our constitution is a military passed down document? yet we are in democracy. |
Re: Nigeria:nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos And The South. by speedyGonzales: 4:16pm On Nov 09, 2015 |
when you say survive, you have to give a duration! |
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