Soldiers easily identified Igbo who couldn’t pronounce Obalende during civil war – 80-year old Ope



Eighty-year-old Mrs Christiana Ope, who retired as confidential secretary from Wema Bank, takes ALEXANDER OKERE through her life’s story

Please briefly tell us about yourself?

My name is Lady Christiana Ope. I was born on December 16, 1941. I am from Ijebu in Ogun State and I retired as a confidential secretary at Wema Bank.

Having been born in the late 1940s, was your birth registered?

My father wrote it down. He had a register where he wrote down children’s dates of birth. So, when we went to school and were asked for our dates of birth, he gave us the register to check our names and copy out our dates.

What kind of parents did you have?

My father was a baale (traditional ruler). He could write a bit.



As a baale, how many wives did he have?

Ah, they (wives) were many. He had seven and my mother was the second wife.

How many children did he have?

In the olden days, one could not tell. We just lived by a stroke of good luck.

What kind of childhood did you have in a polygamous home?

My father was very strict but nice. In those days, when he flogged any of us to correct us, he also flogged our mothers. So, his children tried not to offend him so their mothers would not be flogged. We feared him more than our mothers.

Was your mother a trader?

She was a trader and a serious one. She used to sell cocoa, palm kernels and God blessed her. She used to sell to people on credit to enable them to raise money for their children’s upkeep. She later extended her business to Lagos and used to take her goods to Lagos in a lorry. I used to ride a bicycle to the house of the lorry driver to call him and my mother had centres where her goods were taken to.

What did you mean when you said you were lucky to have survived as a child?

I said so because of the kind of water we drank from the river in those days. But we were lucky because there was native medicine.

Did you have any near-death experience?

I remember one day I was sick at night with a stomach upset. My mother went out to call one man, Baba Watchman. He was a native doctor and a good man. Everybody approached him for medicine. When my mother met him, he gave us a black substance and told her to mix it with palm oil and give it to me. The next day, I could not go to school because I passed out live worms in my feaces. However, for a long time, I did not have any issues with worms in my stomach. It was when I grew older that I realised that baba was deforming people as of that time.

You just mentioned that you were a pupil. Were children, especially the girl child, encouraged to go to school?

In our house, my father allowed us to go to school but I did not start early. It was when I saw my younger sister writing that I insisted that I wanted to go to school. I attended a secondary school now called Adeola Odutola Comprehensive High School. We used to go to a farm to cultivate as pupils.



What did you do with your first salary?

I worked with the Federal Ministry of Health on Broad Street, Lagos, as a clerk, and got my first salary there. I gave it to my parents to share with my elder ones who prayed for me. I used the remaining money for my transportation to work.

How did you join Wema Bank?

I attended secretarial training. It was when I passed my examination that I applied to join Wema Bank (then known as Agbonmagbe Bank Limited) as a secretary. Working at Wema Bank was tedious. The salary was not big when I started but things improved over the years. I used to resume work at 7:30am and when I started working there we had a two-hour break from 12 to 2pm and didn’t finish working until 5pm.

As a secretary in a bank, did you go for further training?

I attended local training for a week or two until the bank started an academy.

Why did you leave the civil service for a banking job?

I left because of the better pay.


When did you retire from the bank?

I retired in December 1995. I retired as a confidential secretary to a Wema Bank branch manager in Lagos. My rise to the position of a confidential secretary was a bit slow because the bank had just started. I joined the bank in 1972 and left in 1995.

Was it your choice?

I wanted to go. When the bank wanted to retrench some workers, I was asked whether I wanted to leave. I chose to go.

What was your first day in retirement like?

After retirement, I still had to wake up early to prepare the children for school because they were still young.



What have you been doing since you retired 26 years ago?

I used to sell some foodstuffs like sugar and flour in a market but the people who used to buy items from me on credit didn’t pay. That discouraged me, so I stopped the business.

Did you marry early?

When I was in secondary school, suitors came but my parents said I was not yet mature. They said I was still studying. I went to one of the schools in my area to look for my cousin when I met my husband for the first time. We attended the same primary school but there was no interaction. On the day I went to look for my cousin, my husband asked me if I had seen one Olu that he was looking for but I told him I didn’t know where the person was. I had wondered why he asked me that question. Later, we became friends and started courting. I think God brought him to me. I got married early in November 1964, when we had the court wedding, and I don’t regret it. I was 23 then and he was 21 but we didn’t know because we were both young and in love and we continued. I accord him respect.

It is not common for Nigerian men to marry older Nigerian women. Should age matter?

Age does not matter. It is understanding and love (that should matter). For some women, if the man is older, there may not be love because they would fight all the time.

Among the suitors you got as a young lady, why did you choose your husband?

He was gentle and came from a well-respected family in the area. He understood my lateness from work and I understood him as a clergyman. He became a clergyman after his retirement. We have seven children – two boys and five girls – and some of them are in the United States of America and London.

What would you say has sustained your marriage in the last 56 years?

It is love, patience, trust, and the absence of jealousy. There was a time he was in Abuja and I was in Lagos and I could tell anyone who asked where he was at any time because he would call me to tell me where he was, whether he was attending a meeting or on a tour.

Where were you when the Civil War broke out?

I was in Lagos with my second child. It was a petrol bomb that notified me that the war had begun. I saw the flame from my balcony. Many people died. There was a time I was at Island Maternity and I heard some Nigerian soldiers shooting. We were told that some people threw some bombs so the soldiers had to retaliate.

The war was terrible. War is not good. If a war starts in Nigeria, it would be worse than the Civil War. War is nobody’s friend. Getting out of it is a problem and things can never be the same. When there is a war, people flee from their homes.

When the war started, I was on a bus going to work when some soldiers entered the bus and ordered the passengers to identify their tribes. When an Igbo man claimed to be Yoruba, the soldiers told them to pronounce Obalende or toro (shilling). The ones that couldn’t pronounce the two words were easily identified and picked up. We were all living together before the Devil came in. Lagos was a place of merriment; there were parties in many places. If a war begins in Nigeria, it would be worse than the Civil War.



The younger generation in Nigeria has continued to decry the hardship in the country, with the high level of unemployment. As one who lived the heydays of Nigeria, do you sympathise with them?

Ah, they are not alone in that. What about me? Some of them have something to do but I don’t and don’t have a pension.

What are you most thankful for at 80?

I’m thankful for the grace of God.

What do you do to stay fit?

There is no special secret other than having confidence in oneself. I don’t think much about the world. I relax and have a good spirit dealing with people and praying to God. I don’t eat any special food but I like rice.

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Lou

How Igbos went from being penniless in 1970 to owning 70% of Lagos houses in 2021 should be studied in Harvard.


If you are Afonja & paying rent in Lagos, look into a mirror & tell yourself that you are a failure.

Abdul05:
they thought that they couldn't be identified


They ibos forgot that they were hiding behind a finer in the midst of the yorubas


Why did they have to attack sw in the first place ...was Lagos part of the north? a-won o-de


As it happened and still happening now... Any attack coming from the north against the ibo ..SW takes the blame

Your statements here vindicates igbos when they say that living with yorubas is same as living with a demon,,...but pls tell me,is badness truly in ur DNA ?

KillIgbohoN0W:
How Igbos went from being penniless in 1970 to owning 70% of Lagos houses in 2021 should be studied in Harvard.


If you are Afonja & paying rent in Lagos, look into a mirror & tell yourself that you are a failure.

point of correction, maybe 30% houses in festac and okokomaiko

[s]

tobillionaire:
point of correction, maybe 50% houses in festac and okokomaiko

[/s]

90% of Afonja landlords' fathers and grand fathers stole Igbo houses in 1967. Thieves.

Their genocide against igbo by coward Nigeria soldiers thy can’t face Biafra soldiers in war front but go after easy target

Conrod:
Your statements here vindicates igbos when they say that living with yorubas is same as living with a demon,,...but pls tell me,is badness truly in ur DNA ?

if that is what you thought about them ..why are you still living with them

Empty headed..if you see devil now you no go run?

KillIgbohoN0W:
[s][/s]

90% of Afonja landlords' fathers and grand fathers stole Igbo houses in 1967. Thieves.

it's better you people go back to d east now before it's too late, cos wat you claimed happened in 1967 might be child's play compared to what will happen if another war break out

Abdul05:
if that is what you thought about them ..why are you still living with them

Empty headed

That’s why we are agitating to leave
You so why are you stopping the agitation?

tobillionaire:
it's better you people go back to d east now before it's too late, cos wat you claimed happened in 1967 might be child's play compared to what will happen if another war break out

Says by a hungry loitering tout without a pin in his name
The last time we left
But now we will not leave
We will make sure every part of Nigeria feels the heat

[s]

tobillionaire:
it's better you people go back to d east now before it's too late, cos wat you claimed happened in 1967 might be child's play compared to what will happen if another war break out

[/s]

Unfortunately for you, records are digital now so it may be difficult for you to steal like your fathers did.


Go and look for meaningful work to do instead of waiting 42 years now for another civil war just so you can steal.

You are now closer to your death than your birth. What is your legacy? No child, no property, no investment.

KillIgbohoN0W:
[s][/s]

Unfortunately for you, records are digital now so it may be difficult for you to steal like your fathers did.

Go look for meaningful work. You've been waiting 42 years now for another civil war just so you can steal.

Don’t mind the idi@t his children will continue where he stop
Awawa and one million agbero boys

Why Dem no go fit pronounce Obalende. I think they said they are our bigoten sons and daughters whom we yoruba have willed Lagos to. So them nor fit pronounce Obalende.

shigishege:
Why Dem no go fit pronounce Obalende. I think they said they are our bigoten sons and daughters whom we yoruba have willed Lagos to. So them nor fit pronounce Obalende.

Says a ritualist that committed genocide on igbo and stole their property yet can’t maintain it

Investigative:

That’s why we are agitating to leave
You so why are you stopping the agitation?

my brother see Nobody can stop you ibos from leaving nigeria fold.. The problem is majority of your people don't want to leave

Investigative:

Says by a hungry loitering tout without a pin in his name
The last time we left
But now we will not leave
We will make sure every part of Nigeria feels the heat

feel which heat Dot citizens be beating their empty dry chest

tobillionaire:
feel which heat Dot citizens be beating their empty dry chest

Are you still waiting for igbo property ?
Wretched being

Abdul05:
my brother see Nobody can stop you ibos from leaving nigeria fold.. The problem is majority of your people don't want to leave

Well I don’t know what is ibo

KillIgbohoN0W:
[s][/s]

Unfortunately for you, records are digital now so it may be difficult for you to steal like your fathers did.


Go and look for meaningful work to do instead of waiting 42 years now for another civil war just so you can steal.

You are now closer to your death than your birth. What is your legacy? No child, no property, no investment.

I'm in my region and state working, you should also go back to your region and state to work. Why is that too difficult for you to do

We no longer need your developing hand

Investigative:

Says a ritualist that committed genocide on igbo and stole their property yet can’t maintain it

sorry oo ndi deveRopers. Wna properties?? Eyahhhh u don suffer tru tru oo

So they left their inviable erosion desecrated landlocked bloodsucking forsaking land to fight in the west

shigishege:
sorry oo ndi deveRopers. Wna properties?? Eyahhhh u don suffer tru tru oo

Pain from a local dwellers
I can only take you serious when you leave your mother kitchen. And feed yourself

[s]

tobillionaire:
I'm in my region and state working, you should also go back to your region and state to work. Why is that too difficult for you to do

We no longer need your developing hand

[/s]

Oya, buy the properties na. Una fit?
Poverty accomodator.

tobillionaire:
I'm in my region and state working, you should also go back to your region and state to work. Why is that too difficult for you to do

We no longer need your developing hand

A coward said he is in his region because he is not brave enough to venture out hahahaha

KillIgbohoN0W:
How Igbos went from being penniless in 1970 to owning 70% of Lagos houses in 2021 should be studied in Harvard.


If you are Afonja & paying rent in Lagos, look into a mirror & tell yourself that you are a failure.

After the war most Ibos were already hardened by the war. When they arrived in Lagos they started armed robbery. That was how we started installing bulglary proof.

Even till now the criminal nature can be seen in them through drug trafficking

[s]

CUMIN:


After the war most Ibos were already hardened by the war. When they arrived in Lagos they started armed robbery. That was how we started installing bulglary proof.

Even till now the criminal nature can be seen in them through drug trafficking

[/s]

So you mean armed robbers stole from you to purchase your house away and rent it back to you?

That's not robbery, that's genius.

Investigative:
Their genocide against igbo by coward Nigeria soldiers thy can’t face Biafra soldiers in war front but go after easy target

Obasanjo conquest of uli air strip after the bastar,d ojukwu disguised as a woman.
Who is a coward between the two.

KillIgbohoN0W:
[s][/s]

Oya, buy the properties na. Una fit?
Poverty accomodator.

but if they don't sell land for you ppl, you'll start crying saying they hate you ppl... There are plenty hausas that have properties in Lagos but you won't hear them make noise. If Lagos was in the east, you ppl would have claimed to be Nigerias messiah

CUMIN:


Obasanjo conquest of uli air strip after the bastar,d ojukwu disguised as a woman.
Who is a coward between the two.

More gossip from gossiper that don’t even know where uli is in igbo land but can tell war story others fought

[s]

tobillionaire:
but if they don't sell land for you ppl, you'll start crying saying they hate you ppl... There are plenty hausas that have properties in Lagos but you won't hear them make noise. If Lagos was in the east, you ppl would have claimed to be Nigerias messiah

[/s]

Poverty is what made Afonjas sell off the properties they stole from Igbos. Igbos always make them an offer they can't refuse because money plenty and Afonja cannot reject owo owambe & sachet orijin.

Its either you sell to us or die of hunger.

The ones wey no sell dey Agege, Mushin, & co.
You see any development for those areas?