My name is Mbagwu Amarachi Chilaka. I was born in Maryland, Enugu state. I am 21 and I come from Mbaise.
Mbaise is a very large town in Imo state.
The name “Mbaise” was derived from five Cities: Agbaaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezi na Ihite and Oke Uvuru located in the three Local Government Areas, (Aboh Mbaise- Agbaaja and Okeuvuru, Ahiazu Mbaise-Ahiara and Ekwereazu and Ezinihite Mbaise) in which there are about 81 Autonomous Communities.
I happen to come from Ezeagbogu, Ezinihitte.

One day many years ago, I was in my class at Royal Primary School, Orji, when Sir Oliver asked that every student from Mbaise should stand from their seats. I did and another classmate of mine did too. It was just the two of us and we were thrown into a pool of shame by the eyes that starred shockingly at us.
Seeing me stand, Sir Oliver was shocked that I stood. Then he went further to say that if he was in a situation where a deadly snake lay just two steps away from him, and a man or woman from Mbaise stood about thirty steps away from him, he would go after the Mbaise fellow, destroy him first before going for the snake.
I didn't know how my Mbaise fellow felt but I felt pangs of shame and regret surround me as though I chose coming from Mbaise.

At a very young age, hearing the single story of "Mbaise", I feared telling people I come from Mbaise and my Enugu and Anambra dialect helped polished my lie, more.

In 2010, the MTN chat connected a friend and I and when he learnt I come from Mbaise, he said we would stop being friends. I begged. I cried. I left.

Once in my street, a young boy had stolen from his roommate and when the news carried it into ears, everyone chorused, "Ah! Mbaise people."
Still in my street, a young boy had also stolen from his neighbor and when he was caught, I waited for the them to tell stories but I heard nothing and that got me wondering if that guy grew in Mbaise.

Sometime ago, a cunning friend had played some tricks and cheated me. He's not from Mbaise, I am but I didn't try to pay him back even though he never felt remorse for whatever it was he did.
I have been stolen from, tricked, intimidated, played sense on and the funniest part of it all was that all who were involved hailed from Mbano, Enugu, Anambra, Delta, Cross river state, except for me. All those got me wondering if they all grew in Mbaise.
A friend of mine once called his mother and some of his sisters weeks ago and playfully told them that he was bringing home one Mbaise lady as a wife and they said "Tufiakwa gi!"

"Mba o!"

"Tufiakwa!"

I know a little story about the bad name-calling that has been tagged to Mbaise.
It is the story of two musicians, one Mbaise fellow and a non-Mbaise fellow. Let's call them Mr A and Mr B, respectively.
Mr B seeing how far his colleague had gone in his own music allowed jealousy to take over his love and he cheated Mr A with 'wicked and unjust oppression.' When Mr A got the opportunity and paid him back in his own coins, Mr B was greatly pained and then he began to paint the 'white' Mbaise-Gown black. He began to tell the many ears that cared to listen about how too sensible, unforgiving, cunning and wicked Mbaise people are.

There's another story of the white man, Dr. George Stewart, who was killed in Mbaise.
Dr Rogers Stewart, a medical doctor in the British Office who came to help them tackle Malaria during the Aro Wars, was said to have strayed from where they camped in Eke Nguru and lost his way. He was caught at Onicha and was killed while his bicycle was hanged up to a tree.
Stories began to grow and fly into ears and villages and cities and states about how ungrateful Mbaise people are, how wicked and dangerous they are.

I'm not trying to defend Mbaise people, I'm just trying to say that there's never a place you cannot find an evil heart.
Some months ago, I eavesdropped on a discussion between two friends who were arguing about the reason for the hatred for Mbaise people. One of the two friends happened to be from Mbaise and he said that Mbaise people are the most industrious which is the reason people say they trick their ways to the top. He went ahead to say that Mbaise people, especially their women, are hardworking and they make good wives(not all though but most) and mother.
Since I came out, stood under the sun with my head raised high, my face facing the sky up above, and thanked God for making me come from Mbaise, I have seen the beauty and the blessings that comes with coming from Mbaise.
You see, Mbaise people are very hardworking and independent... I don't need to call names because even a five year old knows.
I was moved when my Daddy Paul Allen Ephraim told me about Kimberly Anyanwu... I'm saying nada about her.

I'm not saying that other villages and towns and cities and states have no great and hardworking beings and great dreamers, I am just saying that every story has two sides, that you would find an evil heart or more in any place you go if you delete your single story of Mbaise from your mind and search.

Someone talked about our bride price.
Yes! Our bride prices may be high, maybe because of how great our women are, it all differs. You get the long list, do the needful(the important ones) and you have a wife. This is because Mbaise women are greatly valued and it all grew from the fear of sending their women into the home of lazy men to suffer.

To everyone calling us names, you can continue telling your own single story of us, I believe you will delete the stories once you meet a good man from Mbaise, when your heart locates the heart of (an) Mbaise woman.

You see, I believe that whatever you look for in a person, you will see.

booked... but is this necessary?

I have experienced tribalism from Igbos in Igboland, that I'm becoming abit tribalisticIt wasn't until I came down to Enugu that I realised that you were firstly from your State (or even a particular region of your state), then Igbo.
I didn't even know that the dialects differed greatly. The food too. My people (my own side of eungu State) do put cocoyam in soup. Okpa, Abacha and ofe-akwu are our food. We call oil bean seed (or whatever it is called) ukpaka, not ugba like the abians. We serve guests Abacha not okapa. So, I've realised that Igbo is not Igbo. Igbo is fractionated.
That's why my mom would still get really mad at me if i bring someone from another Southeastern State home.
parents still complain about the character of 'Ndi Anambra' (or another southeastern state). That's why when you tell an Igbo man that someone is your sister, he'd ask, "is she from enugu too?" or you will hear some thing like "you are behaving like Ndi Abakaliki (or Nsukka or any other place)" is seen as a derogatory statement. i've met people that just disliked me because of my state of origin. I think 'hated' is more apt than 'disliked'. Full blown hatred.. Like racists or something!
I've heard things like " Imo people are.... bad" And "Abia and Imo are the same" in a negative context.
i feel your pain sis... we all share a quarter in dis institutionalize phobia and hate amidst ibo people.

igbo should stop hating themselves

My dear op, I hail from a royal family in umunama ezinihitte mbaise, while my mum was from oboama in d same l.g.a. My dear in d past people will tell me to be ashamed of coming from mbaise, I always ignore them, I have heard some bad things from other tribe especially from d north. I keep my head high, I AGUNWANYI no send. Nobody dare tell me such nowadays becos of I know who I am.

I don't insult people or their tribe so y shld someone try and make me feel bad about where I come from. The God who put me there dey craze? Abeg don't dwell on negative things, rather encourage urself and people who may find themselves in the same situation, ignorant people say we eat human beings and I ask them, have they actually seen or caught us in,the act? Abeg trowey trash.

Its well dear, keep ur head up
One love

Learnt something new today, thanks for educating us on mbaise.

OP, its called stereotyping.

This type of tribalism occurs all over Nigeria, among the Hausas, the yoruba (some yorubas hate Ijebus) and now among the igbos. I like to think of Nigeria as that great confederation as every tribe claims it is a Nation. My first experience of this spans from reading zuby's novel about his European sojourn, I learnt of the distrust that reign between Enugu and Anambra folks, the Osu culture, from things fall aparts, Chinua Achebe talks about Umudike's wars against Mbaise. By the way I am Yoruba from Lagos, I hope one day I or my children will be able to introduce themselves first as Nigerians.

calliope:
I have experienced tribalism from Igbos in Igboland, that I'm becoming abit tribalisticIt wasn't until I came down to Enugu that I realised that you were firstly from your State (or even a particular region of your state), then Igbo.
I didn't even know that the dialects differed greatly. The food too. My people (my own side of eungu State) do put cocoyam in soup. Okpa, Abacha and ofe-akwu are our food. We call oil bean seed (or whatever it is called) ukpaka, not ugba like the abians. We serve guests Abacha not okapa. So, I've realised that Igbo is not Igbo. Igbo is fractionated.
That's why my mom would still get really mad at me if you bring someone from another Southeastern State home.
parents still complain about the character of 'Ndi Anambra' (or another southeastern state). That's why when you tell an Igbo man that someone is your sister, he'd ask, "is she from enugu too?" or you will hear some thing like "you are behaving like Ndi Abakaliki (or Nsukka or any other place)" is seen as a derogatory statement. i've met people that just disliked me because of my state of origin. I think 'hated' is more apt than 'disliked'. Full blown hatred.. Like racists or something!
I've heard things like " Imo people are.... bad" And "Abia and Imo are the same" in a negative context.
i feel your pain sis... we all share a quarter in dis institutionalize phobia and hate amidst ibo people.

LOL, sorry about that. Which state are you from really?

Hmmmm. Tribalism one of the major cause of disunity in Nigeria. Was talking with one of my friend a girl from Mbaitoili in IMO state. Den I ask her abt anoda girl from mbaise IMO state. Wht she told me was frightful. She sed if I love my live I should not try it. She sed mbaise people are pure evil. Yes pure evil dat was wht she used to qualify them.

MbagwuAC:
My name is Mbagwu Amarachi Chilaka. I was born in Maryland, Enugu state. I am 21 and I come from Mbaise.
Mbaise is a very large town in Imo state.
The name “Mbaise” was derived from five Cities: Agbaaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezi na Ihite and Oke Uvuru located in the three Local Government Areas, (Aboh Mbaise- Agbaaja and Okeuvuru, Ahiazu Mbaise-Ahiara and Ekwereazu and Ezinihite Mbaise) in which there are about 81 Autonomous Communities.
I happen to come from Ezeagbogu, Ezinihitte.

One day many years ago, I was in my class at Royal Primary School, Orji, when Sir Oliver asked that every student from Mbaise should stand from their seats. I did and another classmate of mine did too. It was just the two of us and we were thrown into a pool of shame by the eyes that starred shockingly at us.
Seeing me stand, Sir Oliver was shocked that I stood. Then he went further to say that if he was in a situation where a deadly snake lay just two steps away from him, and a man or woman from Mbaise stood about thirty steps away from him, he would go after the Mbaise fellow, destroy him first before going for the snake.
I didn't know how my Mbaise fellow felt but I felt pangs of shame and regret surround me as though I chose coming from Mbaise.

At a very young age, hearing the single story of "Mbaise", I feared telling people I come from Mbaise and my Enugu and Anambra dialect helped polished my lie, more.

In 2010, the MTN chat connected a friend and I and when he learnt I come from Mbaise, he said we would stop being friends. I begged. I cried. I left.

Once in my street, a young boy had stolen from his roommate and when the news carried it into ears, everyone chorused, "Ah! Mbaise people."
Still in my street, a young boy had also stolen from his neighbor and when he was caught, I waited for the them to tell stories but I heard nothing and that got me wondering if that guy grew in Mbaise.

Sometime ago, a cunning friend had played some tricks and cheated me. He's not from Mbaise, I am but I didn't try to pay him back even though he never felt remorse for whatever it was he did.
I have been stolen from, tricked, intimidated, played sense on and the funniest part of it all was that all who were involved hailed from Mbano, Enugu, Anambra, Delta, Cross river state, except for me. All those got me wondering if they all grew in Mbaise.
A friend of mine once called his mother and some of his sisters weeks ago and playfully told them that he was bringing home one Mbaise lady as a wife and they said "Tufiakwa gi!"

"Mba o!"

"Tufiakwa!"

I know a little story about the bad name-calling that has been tagged to Mbaise.
It is the story of two musicians, one Mbaise fellow and a non-Mbaise fellow. Let's call them Mr A and Mr B, respectively.
Mr B seeing how far his colleague had gone in his own music allowed jealousy to take over his love and he cheated Mr A with 'wicked and unjust oppression.' When Mr A got the opportunity and paid him back in his own coins, Mr B was greatly pained and then he began to paint the 'white' Mbaise-Gown black. He began to tell the many ears that cared to listen about how too sensible, unforgiving, cunning and wicked Mbaise people are.

There's another story of the white man, Dr. George Stewart, who was killed in Mbaise.
Dr Rogers Stewart, a medical doctor in the British Office who came to help them tackle Malaria during the Aro Wars, was said to have strayed from where they camped in Eke Nguru and lost his way. He was caught at Onicha and was killed while his bicycle was hanged up to a tree.
Stories began to grow and fly into ears and villages and cities and states about how ungrateful Mbaise people are, how wicked and dangerous they are.

I'm not trying to defend Mbaise people, I'm just trying to say that there's never a place you cannot find an evil heart.
Some months ago, I eavesdropped on a discussion between two friends who were arguing about the reason for the hatred for Mbaise people. One of the two friends happened to be from Mbaise and he said that Mbaise people are the most industrious which is the reason people say they trick their ways to the top. He went ahead to say that Mbaise people, especially their women, are hardworking and they make good wives(not all though but most) and mother.
Since I came out, stood under the sun with my head raised high, my face facing the sky up above, and thanked God for making me come from Mbaise, I have seen the beauty and the blessings that comes with coming from Mbaise.
You see, Mbaise people are very hardworking and independent... I don't need to call names because even a five year old knows.
I was moved when my Daddy Paul Allen Ephraim told me about Kimberly Anyanwu... I'm saying nada about her.

I'm not saying that other villages and towns and cities and states have no great and hardworking beings and great dreamers, I am just saying that every story has two sides, that you would find an evil heart or more in any place you go if you delete your single story of Mbaise from your mind and search.

Someone talked about our bride price.
Yes! Our bride prices may be high, maybe because of how great our women are, it all differs. You get the long list, do the needful(the important ones) and you have a wife. This is because Mbaise women are greatly valued and it all grew from the fear of sending their women into the home of lazy men to suffer.

To everyone calling us names, you can continue telling your own single story of us, I believe you will delete the stories once you meet a good man from Mbaise, when your heart locates the heart of (an) Mbaise woman.

You see, I believe that whatever you look for in a person, you will see.

don't mind them. Remember if nobody talks about you them you're nobody.

alorax2:
My dear op, I hail from a royal family in umunama ezinihitte mbaise, while my mum was from oboama in d same l.g.a. My dear in d past people will tell me to be ashamed of coming from mbaise, I always ignore them, I have heard some bad things from other tribe especially from d north. I keep my head high, I AGUNWANYI no send. Nobody dare tell me such nowadays becos of I know who I am.

I don't insult people or their tribe so y shld someone try and make me feel bad about where I come from. The God who put me there dey craze? Abeg don't dwell on negative things, rather encourage urself and people who may find themselves in the same situation, ignorant people say we eat human beings and I ask them, have they actually seen or caught us in,the act? Abeg trowey trash.

Its well dear, keep ur head up
One love

nice one sis. Keep it UP. Let them keep hating.

AM FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENT. I

mbaise people are the pillars of imo-state.

mbaise people are just somehow.....anywhere you go they are the same even when they wanna do the right thing...the Mbaise in them will just come out and spoil everything..
the one in my office alone is a serious pain in neck...always claiming wise and coded

Anyhow sha one love to Mbaise nah Igbos all of we be Finally

Av always being looking for a thread like this...am a Yoruba girl and am married and heavily pregnant for an aboh mbaise man...I must admit they av big ego and always want things done thier way and I love men who commands respect ..but if God should tell me to pick a man in my another life i will always pick my mbaise husband...he sooo loving and caring and a pay master...a military man again. With a soft heart....i av every access to his money and am helping him too bcus what i heard from my mother in law who is an onitsha woman she said mbaise ppl are mostly witches and wizards and she wunt lemme go to d village cus she said they will harm me...am always praying for him and helping him channel his money to d right way like having assets and properties...d mbaise ppl av met are so generous wen it comes with money...all his brothers and sisters can spend thier last penny on ppl but am nt sure of his mum...i prefer him to d yoruba one i dated before i met him...IMO guys rock!!! And am a proud wife of an mbaise man

I believe that we should live, we should, we should strive, we should write and we should die for Nigeria. There are many Igbo People, Hausa People, Idoma People, Kanuri People, Edo People, Rivers People but very FEW NIGERIANS. Not until we start to see ourselves as Nigerians, we may never experience true change.
It doesn't matter where a person is from, what matters is the individuals perception and dispositions towards life and societal issues.

Impostors everywhere

Noneroone:
Impostors everywhere

Where they at?

calliope:
I have experienced tribalism from Igbos in Igboland, that I'm becoming abit tribalisticIt wasn't until I came down to Enugu that I realised that you were firstly from your State (or even a particular region of your state), then Igbo.
I didn't even know that the dialects differed greatly. The food too. My people (my own side of eungu State) do put cocoyam in soup. Okpa, Abacha and ofe-akwu are our food. We call oil bean seed (or whatever it is called) ukpaka, not ugba like the abians. We serve guests Abacha not okapa. So, I've realised that Igbo is not Igbo. Igbo is fractionated.
That's why my mom would still get really mad at me if i bring someone from another Southeastern State home.
parents still complain about the character of 'Ndi Anambra' (or another southeastern state). That's why when you tell an Igbo man that someone is your sister, he'd ask, "is she from enugu too?" or you will hear some thing like "you are behaving like Ndi Abakaliki (or Nsukka or any other place)" is seen as a derogatory statement. i've met people that just disliked me because of my state of origin. I think 'hated' is more apt than 'disliked'. Full blown hatred.. Like racists or something!
I've heard things like " Imo people are.... bad" And "Abia and Imo are the same" in a negative context.
i feel your pain sis... we all share a quarter in dis institutionalize phobia and hate amidst ibo people.

^^^^^^
Very interesting post... deeply
profound too...!

This segregation just needs to stop . .. i'm from Anambra but it pains to see a close pal of yours explain what they've faced so far in their life because they are from Mbaise

if YOU ARE FROM Mbaise pls hold your head high, no one should tell you Nada or belittle you, go where you are appreciated
keep been hardworking and independent . .. We Igbo's are the ones creating our own problems, i'v searched everywhere online
trying to find out why some igbos hate people from Mbaise, nothing tangible, Just hearsay, i can't say much i'm just pained at this.

Its called sterotyped is everywhere both in yoruba hausa and every oda major tribes in africa... In the world at large... Oyibo own is called recism... Talking about mbaise i've had cause to deal with both their ladies and their guys they're industrious and hardworking pple but they won't allow u cheat them for anything rather they would want to u... They're cunning and cliam they knows it all... In oda angle Mbano pple are termed to be 419ners then owerri pple are ndi arabanko pple... This is just only in Imo state no to mention odas from oda state from the East... Is everywere... Is not something you wanna kill yourself for just be urself and do ur things with self esteem...