Hello everyone. I come in peace.
First off, I’m here to ask each and every one of you (and humanity at large) to pardon my shortcomings here on Nairaland and on the internet at large. I’ve really been childish and irresponsible in the past. My write-up isn’t a defense for my cyber irresponsibility. I just want to share this story because I believe the message in it is what we need to have a perfect world.
I did my kindergarten-Secondary School in Nigeria. Before leaving Nigeria 4 years ago, I was living the average Nigerian teenager’s life. But believe me; I love Nigeria right from when I started making use of my common sense. Then Buhari happened to Nigeria: and to me in particular.
I actually voted for Buhari in the 2015 Presidential Elections. I was 19 then and it’s been the only election I’ve voted in. All I knew about him (evidently based on hearsay) before voting was that he has zero tolerance for corruption. I was told he was once a Military leader and cured corruption in Nigeria with his strictness and merciless policies. I heard Fela Kuti was arrested during his military regime for violating a monetary policy. I don’t know much about Fela. Just his fame and the admiration the populace had for him. But I told myself that whoever that had the courage to arrest an admired icon will be fearless enough to heal Nigeria of corruption. Corruption was the only thing I wanted Buhari to deliver Nigeria from. I wasn’t satisfied by the precedent government’s performance. (But don’t mind me. The truth was that I knew nothing about politics and leadership in Nigeria even as at 2015. My analysis on leadership was borne out of my naïveté and the dominant societal opinion.).
I left Nigeria for Canada about two months after Buhari took over the presidency. Some six months later, my friends in Nigeria started complaining of existential hardship. During this time Nnamdi Kanu was arrested and the rest was history. IPOB and Biafran advocates started protesting anyhow and digging into past Nigerian history to convince the world the Igbos have never been welcomed in Nigeria. My junior brother, my only brother, was killed by a Nigerian army officer in a protest at Aba. They said it was a stray bullet. The pain of the lost was hell for me. (I wasn’t present at the burial). For the first time in my life, I started seeing myself as an Igbo person and no longer the “proudly Nigerian” guy I was. For the first time in my life I was moved to read about the Biafran war. I bought Chimamanda’s “Half a Yellow Sun” and Chinua Achebe’s “There was a Country”. I became drunk with anger and hatred for anything Nigerian after reading these books. I joined those other IPOB and angry Igbos calling for the freedom of Biafra on the internet. I abused and dissed people here on Nairaland for supporting Buhari and the Nigerian system. (This was why I started this write-up as a kind of plead for forgiveness. The thing is, this isn’t the account I started with. I can’t remember the name I used. I lost the email. This nick I’m bearing on my current account was created back then too in the intention to “flog” the Northerners and the Yorubas on Nairaland. Pardon that.). Even though things were exaggerated, we can’t deny that the Buhari’s administration during this period didn’t fuel the Igbo people’s hatred for Nigeria. No need to go into details.
In 2018 I was in Nigeria for my vacation. About 2 hours after Take-off from Jean Lesage Airport, Quebec, something happened that made me shed tears. It was stupid but you can’t blame me. A Black guy at my right (on the other side of the isle) was introducing himself to an Arabian beside him. I overheard him give his name as “Hamza” from Nigeria. This was what moved me. I looked at the guy and all I saw was a Buhari’s relative – an enemy of the Igbos – my enemy. At that instant I hated myself, I hated the IPOB, I hated Buhari and I hated all those who made me lost my love for Nigeria. I felt like a stranger to my own self. I cried. These people kind of psychologically affected my view of my fellow human, especially my view of the Northern Nigerians and the Yorubas. At the MMM Airport, when I look at people, I try to distinguish Notherners and Yorubas from Igbos. I passed my vacation in Nigeria like someone who was living in an enemy territory. It was a bad moment in my life. I came to Canada after the vacation and continued my education.
In 2019 I was so immersed in my studies I didn’t have time for the online abusing and ranting. At a moment I started finding it useless. I told myself: “I’ll just make it big in life, and live my own life. Whether my enemies want it or not: whether Nigeria wants it or not: whether Buhari wants it or not. I must be super rich”. That was my target. And that was how I got to forget about Biafra and Nigeria.
It’s 2020 and I’m totally changed. I see the world differently now. I’ve met a lot of people from different cultures, civilizations, ethnicities, nationalities, races that have taught me something about life. I realize that in this plurality of human denomination, the most important thing is “HUMANITY”. Before being a Hausa or a Northerner, Buhari is a human. If he hates Igbos, it is not a Hausa man that hates Igbos: it’s first and foremost a human hating a fellow human. The soldier that shot my brother is a human being first before being a Northerner. I realize human categorization is merely an accident on us. And we’re living in self-deception of being essentially different. Humanity is what is proper to us. More than being proper to us, it is our essence. Those of us that were abusing others just because they’re from a different ethnicity got it all wrong. We shouldn’t strive for the progress of our respective ethnicities of nations. We should go for the progress of humanity. I’m living thousands of miles away from my family, from those that I call my blood. Yet I’ve been shown the same love my family shows me. I realize my family doesn’t just treat me with love because I’m of their blood. It is principally because they’re humane. If not how can strangers who don’t share my blood linage give me exactly the same good treatment my family members give me? I realized if my family can do it, any other person can do it. If someone from my family can steal from me, some other person out there can equally steal from me. If someone from my family can lay down their life for me, someone out there who’s not from my family can do it for me. Now transpose this reasoning on ethnicity, nationality, race. Before you criticize an ethnic group, a culture, a region, a country or a race, find out your reason for your criticism. You’ll realize your reason can’t be generalized on the entire category of people. Proof is you haven’t met all the members of the said category of people. And whatever criticism you put forward, look deep inside you and see if someone from your own category won’t do such thing. 100 White fellows called you “Monkey” and you claim "Whites” are racist. Go deep inside yourself and see if you haven’t been called such name (or something similar) by a fellow from your proper race. It’s same with regionalism and ethnicity. Someone defrauded you doesn’t mean everyone from the person’s region is a fraudster. If you can be sincere to yourself, you’ll realize someone from your proper region must have defrauded you in the past. In summary, no human action is exclusively a character of a particular race, religion, country, ethnic group, etc. It’s a human action; so it can come from any human.
If we really want a beautiful world, this is how we should live henceforth. Next time you see news about a fraudster that has been busted, don’t comment: “I knew it can only come from this ethnicity”. Comment rather: “I knew he can only be a human being”. Next time you see news about a Nigerian that achieved great feat abroad, don’t comment “Igbo Amaka” or “Omo Yoruba”. Use the words of Neil Armstrong when he stepped on the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Let mankind/humanity take the praises of our achievements. When next you want to vote in an election, don’t vote for someone that will favor your family or your ethnicity or your country. Vote for the person that will take humanity a step further towards betterment. And lastly, if you want to kill someone, don’t kill them because they stole from you or from your brother, or from your country. Kill them because they stole from humanity. Let the evil you commit be justifiable by your love for humanity not your love for your country or ethnicity.
One last time, I give my apologies for not being humane with you all in the past. Peace be with you.

Nice write up.


I really love this