BY DONU KOGBARA

I am asking this question because whenever I get involved in phone or face-to-face discussions with non-Igbos about the possibility of an Igbo Presidency in 2023, negative remarks are the norm.

Sometimes, an individual comprehensively insults Igbos, highlights their alleged character flaws and “crimes” and swears that they will never get near the top job. Sometimes, within group settings, several Igbophobes simultaneously launch harsh verbal attacks.

Sometimes those who regard the South East as politically unworthy restrict themselves to comments that are relatively mild but still extremely patronising and essentially damning, such as: “Igbos are OK but simply not ready for national leadership at the moment.”

Many people feel free to speak ill of Igbos in my presence because I have a Niger Deltan name, so they don’t know that my mother is from Imo State. And I’ve learned a lot about Igbophobia while conversing with bigots who aren’t aware of my mixed ethnicity.

I describe them as bigots because none of their reasons for wanting Igbos to be excluded from the presidency make sense to me.

Let me list the complaints I have heard and offer rejoinders:

COMPLAINT: Igbos tried to leave and destroy Nigeria via the Biafran civil war and continue to loudly support separatism via Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB, so have no right to ever seek to run a Nigeria that is in one piece today only because Igbos lost the civil war and only because Buhari’s government has clipped Kanu’s wings.

REJOINDER: Without wishing to stir up animosities by going into lengthy, complex, painful historical details, let me briefly point out that Igbos did not embrace Biafra for stupid or unfair reasons, that they were the greatest victims of the war and that most Igbos do not support Kanu’s secessionist agenda or fiery rhetoric.

COMPLAINT: Igbos are too clannish. They shamelessly promote each other whenever they can and have no times for other tribes.

REJOINDER: Nonsense! All Nigerians are clannish. This country is full of public-and private-sector organisations that are completely dominated by Yorubas or Fulanis. Meanwhile, we minorities can be just as bad when we get a chance to be blindly prejudiced. My cousin once begged me, many years ago, not to nominate a very capable professional for a job because he didn’t come from our village. Meanwhile, the candidate from our village was a village idiot!!!

COMPLAINT: Igbos are chronic mercenaries who don’t care about anything except money and would sell their grannies if they could.

REJOINDER: Sure, some Igbos are aggressively avaricious. But I know quite a few Igbos who are gentle, intellectual altruistic souls…and lots of non-Igbos who are irredeemably materialistic.

Also, let’s face it: Nigeria needs the entrepreneurial Igbo spirit and the numerous goods and services that Igbo merchants provide.

COMPLAINT: Igbos colonise every location they settle in.

REJOINDER: Have Igbo settlers ever tried to topple any emir or oba or amayanabo? Are Igbos not just true Nigerians who are ready to make themselves comfortable wherever they find a business to do? In any case, more fool any son/daughter of the soil who lazily sits back and allows a newcomer to take over his/her terrain!

COMPLAINT: Igbos are crude and brash.

REJOINDER: Some Igbos are definitely insufferably crude and brash. And so are some Yorubas and some Northerners.

COMPLAINT: Igbos are not united or well-organised enough within a political context, so why should anyone take them seriously?

REJOINDER: Disunity is rife in other parts of the country, so why fixate about it only when Igbos display it?

COMPLAINT: Igbos are innately Republican and don’t humbly bow to those who are above them in life’s pecking order and cannot be easily ruled.

REJOINDER: True! But are egalitarian tendencies a crime? Being Igbo is not widely regarded as an advantage…which probably explains why Rivers people with Igbo names insist that they aren’t Igbo…even though the dialects in which they vehemently denounce their roots are very similar to Igbo. So who is fooling whom?!

Igbos have been so demonised in this country that debates about who stands a chance of taking over from President Buhari next year mostly revolve around Yoruba and Northern aspirants.

Sometimes when I listen to such debates, I marvel at the fact that Igbos are barely mentioned. An alien who lands on earth and eavesdrops on these calculations and speculations might be forgiven for concluding that Vice President Osinbajo and APC chieftain Tinubu are the only runners and that Igbos don’t matter at all. And yet, if you believe in rotation and zoning, it is their turn!!!

Igbos themselves are part of the problem. Many seem resigned to being ignored. I’ve even heard some Igbos saying that they can live without political power and are happy to concentrate on commerce.

I have a couple of senior friends in Ohanaeze, the pan-cultural organisation for Igbos; and I pray that they will vigorously fight for a place at the high table for their beleaguered brethren because even if one does not believe in zoning or rotation, the status quo is not fair at all.

The bottom line is that a quality Igbo candidate should be as potentially electable as a quality candidate from elsewhere.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/02/igbophobia-what-have-igbos-done-to-other-nigerians-opinion/

I just love Igbos, they are a very loving and gentle people.

Igbos themselves are part of the problem. Many seem resigned to being ignored. I’ve even heard some Igbos saying that they can live without political power and are happy to concentrate on commerce.

What good has political power done anyone in Nigeria? The North that has held the Presidency, in military or civilian guise, for almost 40 years out of Nigerias 61 years of independence are today the centre of poverty, terrorism and banditry. They have nothing to show for 40 years except deprivation and destruction as Boko haram, ISWAP, killer herdsmen, to mention a few, are on the rampage up North. So what is the essence of political power in a failed country like that?

I have a couple of senior friends in Ohanaeze, the pan-cultural organisation for Igbos; and I pray that they will vigorously fight for a place at the high table for their beleaguered brethren because even if one does not believe in zoning or rotation, the status quo is not fair at all.

The bottom line is that a quality Igbo candidate should be as potentially electable as a quality candidate from elsewhere.

So the point of Nigeria is for everyone to be fighting for political supremacy? We need to fight for a place at the high table in our own country? If that is the case then Nigeria is a fraud. The essence of being a citizen of a country is that the country gives you a sense of belonging. That you can get up in the morning and feel that nobody is marginalising you and that you are not a third class citizen who is walking under a glass ceiling. Had Nigeria been a country built on the principles of justice, equity, fairness and equality, nobody will talking about where the president comes from. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton fought the Presidential elections in America, but nobody even remembered that both of them are from New York.

Nigeria is fraud and a failed state. Thats why we are today constantly fighting for the share of the national cake, insulting esch other, backstabbing one another all in a failed bid to up hold an almighty fraud known as "one Nigeria"

SHIT

IDK for some people oooooooooo, leave Igbo and their Igbos alone. Even we Yoruba need to solve our own problem.

WHAT DA BLEEP IS HAPPENING

What have other tribes done to warrant unnecessary attack from Igbo's?

Hmmmm......

ask those traitors and crooked below how they have been
make cynical and incendiaries remarks about our beloved nation.
they often celebrates when the Armed Forces encounter
snag in war against insurgencies and quick to hale
theirs ethics militias clandestine activities

FamTomx2
after4
Zorn


look @ the sin of the fellow igbos below..
the Igbos believe in blackmail and intimidate others to achieved their ambition instead of lobbying
now look at the sins of IGBOS

Ifeajuna led the massacre in Lagos and killed Balewa, Okotie-eboh .etc.

Nwobosi led the massacre in Ibadan & killed Ladoke Okintola in fanis presence.

Nzeogwu led the massacre in Kaduna dt killed Ahmadu Bello, Odemulegun & pregnant wife .etc.

22 people were massacred before daybreak & no one was assigned to the east. The top eastern officers in Lagos were spared.

The first ethnic group that usurped democratically elected govt in this country is an igbo man
the first rebel group in this country is an igbo man

my guy park well

Lol Ibo people and their victim mentality game.

—During Abiola era, they all claim he’s an Islamic fanatism, abused and failed to support him. No Yoruba claimed it’s Yoruba hate, we just swallow it and proceed.

—They call Buhari all sort of barbaric name, abused the man daily and even the lunatic Kanu called him Jubrin from Sudan. No one claimed it’s Fulani hate.

—They have started with Tinubu, calling the man unprintable names even to the extent of their highest cultural body Ohaneze threatening him not to run. No one calls it a Yoruba hate.

—Now the Northern people just gave the dosage of hate back on Obi Pandora the kleptomaniac, now all of a sudden it’s “Ibo Hate”.

There is one thing I like about the Northerners. They don’t have liberal “I don’t care” people like the Yorubas where we have people that will even kill their own to satisfy some non-tribalistic view. Hausa/Fulani will give it back to you as e dey hot.

Fulani has been killing ppl in all d 774 local govts of the zoo.
Now,will you see local Yoruba muslims complain about them?= No
Igbos are hated cos they're not the ones hawking agbo or doing shoeshine/gworo seller

Make of this info what you want.

Anybody telling you that he is against the igbos either because of Biafra or Nnamdi Kanu is just sprouting balderdash. Igbo hatred in Nigeria is like the Nazi hatred towards the Jews. It has been there before the Igbo genocide during the Biafran war. Google the interviews made by the Sarduana even before the first coup. He was so upset and agitated because of the forward social movements of the igbos that the British interviewer had to ask him why the "obsession" with the igbos!? It's a sort of village hatred that arises when you succeed where others fail. If you band together to achieve, they call it clannishness. If you work individually, they brand it selfishness! Head or Tail, you loose, because hate is the reason.. You can only get them to like you if you unmake yourself or by being lazy and unispiring like them and their cultures..

ajumma:
ask those traitors and crooked below how they have been
make cynical and incendiaries remarks about our beloved nation.
they often celebrates when the Armed Forces encounter
snag in war against insurgencies and quick to hale
theirs ethics militias clandestine activities

FamTomx2
after4
Zorn


look @ the sin of the fellow igbos below..
the Igbos believe in blackmail and intimidate others to achieved their ambition instead of lobbying
now look at the sins of IGBOS

Ifeajuna led the massacre in Lagos and killed Balewa, Okotie-eboh .etc.

Nwobosi led the massacre in Ibadan & killed Ladoke Okintola in fanis presence.

Nzeogwu led the massacre in Kaduna dt killed Ahmadu Bello, Odemulegun & pregnant wife .etc.

22 people were massacred before daybreak & no one was assigned to the east. The top eastern officers in Lagos were spared.

The first ethnic group that usurped democratically elected govt in this country is an igbo man
the first rebel group in this country is an igbo man

my guy park well

Recycled trash rhetoric from a Sanko Patient.. Fraudgeria we know, what is nigeria??

BIAFRA, the land of Umuchineke..

..

helinues:
What have other tribes done to warrant unnecessary attack from Igbo's?

Yoruba Muslim....................

[quote author=Masterclass32 post=109948040]BY DONU KOGBARA

I am asking this question because whenever I get involved in phone or face-to-face discussions with non-Igbos about the possibility of an Igbo Presidency in 2023, negative remarks are the norm.

Sometimes, an individual comprehensively insults Igbos, highlights their alleged character flaws and “crimes” and swears that they will never get near the top job. Sometimes, within group settings, several Igbophobes simultaneously launch harsh verbal attacks.

Sometimes those who regard the South East as politically unworthy restrict themselves to comments that are relatively mild but still extremely patronising and essentially damning, such as: “Igbos are OK but simply not ready for national leadership at the moment.”

Many people feel free to speak ill of Igbos in my presence because I have a Niger Deltan name, so they don’t know that my mother is from Imo State. And I’ve learned a lot about Igbophobia while conversing with bigots who aren’t aware of my mixed ethnicity.

I describe them as bigots because none of their reasons for wanting Igbos to be excluded from the presidency make sense to me.

Let me list the complaints I have heard and offer rejoinders:

COMPLAINT: Igbos tried to leave and destroy Nigeria via the Biafran civil war and continue to loudly support separatism via Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB, so have no right to ever seek to run a Nigeria that is in one piece today only because Igbos lost the civil war and only because Buhari’s government has clipped Kanu’s wings.

REJOINDER: Without wishing to stir up animosities by going into lengthy, complex, painful historical details, let me briefly point out that Igbos did not embrace Biafra for stupid or unfair reasons, that they were the greatest victims of the war and that most Igbos do not support Kanu’s secessionist agenda or fiery rhetoric.

COMPLAINT: Igbos are too clannish. They shamelessly promote each other whenever they can and have no times for other tribes.

REJOINDER: Nonsense! All Nigerians are clannish. This country is full of public-and private-sector organisations that are completely dominated by Yorubas or Fulanis. Meanwhile, we minorities can be just as bad when we get a chance to be blindly prejudiced. My cousin once begged me, many years ago, not to nominate a very capable professional for a job because he didn’t come from our village. Meanwhile, the candidate from our village was a village idiot!!!

COMPLAINT: Igbos are chronic mercenaries who don’t care about anything except money and would sell their grannies if they could.

REJOINDER: Sure, some Igbos are aggressively avaricious. But I know quite a few Igbos who are gentle, intellectual altruistic souls…and lots of non-Igbos who are irredeemably materialistic.

Also, let’s face it: Nigeria needs the entrepreneurial Igbo spirit and the numerous goods and services that Igbo merchants provide.

COMPLAINT: Igbos colonise every location they settle in.

REJOINDER: Have Igbo settlers ever tried to topple any emir or oba or amayanabo? Are Igbos not just true Nigerians who are ready to make themselves comfortable wherever they find a business to do? In any case, more fool any son/daughter of the soil who lazily sits back and allows a newcomer to take over his/her terrain!

COMPLAINT: Igbos are crude and brash.

REJOINDER: Some Igbos are definitely insufferably crude and brash. And so are some Yorubas and some Northerners.

COMPLAINT: Igbos are not united or well-organised enough within a political context, so why should anyone take them seriously?

REJOINDER: Disunity is rife in other parts of the country, so why fixate about it only when Igbos display it?

COMPLAINT: Igbos are innately Republican and don’t humbly bow to those who are above them in life’s pecking order and cannot be easily ruled.

REJOINDER: True! But are egalitarian tendencies a crime? Being Igbo is not widely regarded as an advantage…which probably explains why Rivers people with Igbo names insist that they aren’t Igbo…even though the dialects in which they vehemently denounce their roots are very similar to Igbo. So who is fooling whom?!

Igbos have been so demonised in this country that debates about who stands a chance of taking over from President Buhari next year mostly revolve around Yoruba and Northern aspirants.

Sometimes when I listen to such debates, I marvel at the fact that Igbos are barely mentioned. An alien who lands on earth and eavesdrops on these calculations and speculations might be forgiven for concluding that Vice President Osinbajo and APC chieftain Tinubu are the only runners and that Igbos don’t matter at all. And yet, if you believe in rotation and zoning, it is their turn!!!

Igbos themselves are part of the problem. Many seem resigned to being ignored. I’ve even heard some Igbos saying that they can live without political power and are happy to concentrate on commerce.

I have a couple of senior friends in Ohanaeze, the pan-cultural organisation for Igbos; and I pray that they will vigorously fight for a place at the high table for their beleaguered brethren because even if one does not believe in zoning or rotation, the status quo is not fair at all.

The bottom line is that a quality Igbo candidate should be as potentially electable as a quality candidate from elsewhere.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/02/igbophobia-what-have-igbos-done-to-other-nigerians-opinion/ [quote]




So please with this elaborative rhetoric, an adage which says" whom the world dejected, doesn't do the same to one's self"..

It's point and clear that we have been sidelined from the scheme of the Zoo nation, the effect of loosing a mirage civil war, we will continue pushing our agenda, till then...

We are Biafrans, we move!

dokyOloye:
Fulani has been killing ppl in all d 774 local govts of the zoo.
Now,will you see local Yoruba muslims complain about them?= No
Igbos are hated cos they're not the ones hawking agbo or doing shoeshine/gworo seller

Make of this info what you want.

but they are not the one hawking gala and roadside trader and ndi ayiyo beggers

QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see...One question please. Between Ndigbo and Nigerians, who need Igbo presidency more?
Apart from having functional ports in Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri. what benefit would Ndigbo get from a presidency? Nigerians are afraid of what Ndigbo can become with power considering that even without it, no tribe has fared better. They're afraid of Ndigbo that would scale ahead on a level playing field.

Igbo like victim cry game. They hate political leaders from other tribes but want these people to love them

FamTomx2:


Recycled trash rhetoric from a Sanko Patient.. Fraudgeria we know, what is nigeria??

BIAFRA, the land of Umuchineke..

you are becoming senile
online citizen

FamTomx2:


Recycled trash rhetoric from a Sanko Patient.. Fraudgeria we know, what is nigeria??

BIAFRA, the land of Umuchineke..

you never see anything

ajumma:


you never see anything

BIAFRA mataz go soon send your numb brain to the room of dissecting,

and nobody will care about miserable existence..

Ona never see anything.
U were blind and deaf all these while abi?

ERockson:
Igbo like victim cry game. They hate political leaders from other tribes but want these people to love them

I dont even wish anyone to answer the OP.

He/she was blind and deaf when Igbos were running amok, threatening to bring down the country, killing and cannibalizing on police officials, beating politicians abroad, calling west ewedu and amala people, calling the north backward terrorists, calling the south ogoro and lazy people, insulting and disrespecting the number1 seat in the country, calling the number 2 houseboy,, disobeying constituted authority, beating and destroying people and their business and others too numerous to mention

Today they are asking what igbos did, rubbish

Michelle70:
I dont even wish anyone to answer the OP.

He/she was blind and deaf when Igbos were running amok, threatening to bring down the country, killing and cannibalizing on police officials, beating politicians abroad, calling west ewedu and amala people, calling the north backward terrorists, calling the south ogoro and lazy people, insulting and disrespecting the number1 seat in the country, calling the number 2 houseboy,, disobeying constituted authority, beating and destroying people and their business and others too numerous to mention

Today they are asking what igbos did, rubbish

And you guys don’t have derogatory names for igbos,we named ourselves Inyamirim,Omo ibo,afghanestern,IpOb even Ajeokutamamumi is ibo language too right?
anything Igbos have done,Yoruba and Hausa people have done triple
You guys should stop acting as if you don’t know how the country is
Nigeria as a country is full of hate,you guys should stop acting like you love the Igbos while we hate you back in return,it’s a two way thing,you can’t hate my people expect love back
Please spare us the sermon

non igbo dey fear make igbo man no reach the number one seat of power, they (non igbo) be like what if they never forget about the war......na trust issue

agadez007:
And you guys don’t have derogatory names for igbos,we named ourselves Inyamirim,Omo ibo,afghanestern,IpOb even Ajeokutamamumi is ibo language too right?
anything Igbos have done,Yoruba and Hausa people have done triple
You guys should stop acting as if you don’t know how the country is
Nigeria as a country is full of hate,you guys should stop acting like you love the Igbos while we hate you back in return,it’s a two way thing,you can’t hate my people expect love back
Please spare us the sermon

when did all these nyamiri and omo igbo came up? I could still remember I was the first person to use the word afghaEastern and that was just last year.
The betrayers u call Yoruba's was far back as 2015 election cos of their choice of voting.
The north doesn't answer u yet u always insult them, thanks to igbos and their fowl mouth. People can't comment on Muslim thread again.

Michelle70:
when did all these nyamiri and omo igbo came up? I could still remember I was the first person to use the word afghaEastern and that was just last year.
The betrayers u call Yoruba's was far back as 2015 election cos of their choice of voting.
The north doesn't answer u yet u always insult them, thanks to igbos and their fowl mouth. People can't comment on Muslim thread again.

Thats your business,if you like claim inyamirin and Ajeokuta is from 2019/2020,it’s your hand and your internet
I am not against tribalism,I just hate how you lot make it seem like Igbo insult you guys and you guys are saints and do not use derogatory terms on us too

If people can’t comment on Muslim thread how is that our business,or is an Igbo man the mod of that section?

agadez007:
Thats your business,if you like claim inyamirin and Ajeokuta is from 2019/2020,it’s your hand and your internet
I am not against tribalism,I just hate how you lot make it seem like Igbo insult you guys and you guys are saints and do not use derogatory terms on us too

If people can’t comment on Muslim thread how is that our business,or is an Igbo man the mod of that section?

if igbo had respected Yoruba's choice in 2015, the antagonistic relationship between the two tribes wouldn't have surfaced.
If Igbo's had respected the SS that they dont want to be Biafra, the antagonistic r/ship wouldn't have surfaced.
Igbos insults, mock and ridicule the Hausa's daily.

u dont have to agree with someone, their values, believe, fashion, taste etc but at least u should respect it igbos lack respect, period.

Michelle70:
if igbo had respected Yoruba's choice in 2015, the antagonistic relationship between the two tribes wouldn't have surfaced.
If Igbo's had respected the SS that they dont want to be Biafra, the antagonistic r/ship wouldn't have surfaced.
Igbos insults, mock and ridicule the Hausa's daily.

u dont have to agree with someone, their values, believe, fashion, taste etc but at least u should respect it igbos lack respect, period.

I can’t believe I am actually talking with a toddler here,so Nigeria’s problems started after 2015 elections,meaning that before then Nigeria was pristine and perfect
Nobody is forcing Ss to join Biafra,especially not me, but there were to be a new country,I have always wanted a Igbo only republic
On the Hausa issue,in Yoruba land,anybody acting like a fool is called mallam[molla in Yoruba accent],and Gambari[Yoruba names for Fulani/hausa(],you guys should stop acting like you are not guilty of insulting and ridiculing others,many Yoruba comedians like seyi law etc still make jokes about how Hausas are not wise,stop accusing Igbo please

I don’t blame you,Yorubas think respect is only when you prostrate like agama lizard to greet elders,we igbos know that is hypocrisy and we don’t indulge in such