₦airaland Forum

Bittyend, your 1979 election example and by extension this research ( at least in the context of Nigerian Democracy) raises the question again;

Did the people actually vote for the leaders that emerged ?

If not, Can we blame them for a leadership that wasn't their choice?

Anyway this is part of the reason I'm so anti-Nigeria. . . by its very design it is kind of doomed to failure. I don't see how this thing will end up working out well.

I actually agree with this, although it seems counter-intuitive.

High intelligence is not the only thing necessary to be a great leader or decision maker. Empathy, compassion, wisdom, humility, tact, sensitivity, and a willingness to compromise all come into play and the people with highest intelligence do not always have the rest of these qualities in high amounts (for example, Lawrence Summers in the U.S.). Opinions/ideas informed not just by intelligence but by these other factors are why just putting a bunch of brainiacs in a room and giving them free reign isn't always the best idea.

During the regime of Buhari and even the short regime of Murtala, there were obviously more competent civilians who could have governed the nation and who probably would have taken a more serious approach to development and hired competent technocrats to improve the country.

Take a look at Buhari's cabinet, for example. In addition to having a bunch of military guys - soldiers rather than technocrats - holding sensitive developmental positions in his cabinet, he also put some square pegs in round holes: a veterinarian as minister of agriculture and a virologist as minister of energy. What was he thinking?

Prior to GEJ, Nigeria had a military man, OBJ, in government - which should never have happened. His first 4 years were a big failure. Ekwueme or some other educated civilian would almost certainly have done better.

In the case of GEJ, he has actually hired quite a few competent people already. His real problems are corruption and the deteriorating security situation in the country. Both of these things are problems that he is too meek and timid to tackle effectively. But in terms of economic and social development, I would put more trust in any educated civilian than these military guys.

Democracy isnt that bad if only we allow it work, but in Nigeria where every election is rigged on a massive scale, how do you even begin to asses its efficacy.

Bit of a simplistic analysis, innit?

Bittyend I posted before I saw your last comment.

But can we adopt that chinese model? Remember our ethnic, language and cultural issues.

Ok I see you suggested a kind of confederacy along ethnic lines. I'll welcome that, but remember these confederate units have to choose their leaders too. What method will you recommend?

That's a pretty good reason to opt for democracy. Look at the era of military rule in Nigeria. More than 2 decades of national development lost.

I know Americans don't particularly rate their politicians high when it comes to job approval, but I doubt they want to change their system for say the hybrid type of socialism like they have in China.

They preety much prefer their system to most other ones around, I presume. So maybe they are just too dumb to choose well or it's simply working well for them

The question now is what can work for us? What system can we practice to guarantee a better leadership selection practice than our current system.

Do we need a new homegrown system? Any ideas on what the system should look like?

During the last election, some political parties practiced a hybrid election/selection process. Do you think this is a good method? can we remove some of its flaws and improve on it? If possible.

But what about the failed dictatorships of Abacha, Babangida, etc? Where exactly did they go wrong?

Peaceful Democracy (Sweden, USA),

See I don't like Gadaffi either. I don't think the guy was exceptionally competent. What exactly did he do that anybody who is paramount ruler of an underpopulated but extremely oil-rich country couldn't do?

Gadaffi is just an ordinary guy. . . no remarkable talent or ability, imo.

You want a guy who can make something out of nothing, someone who adds a ton of value.

The problem with strongman is that 90% of the time you get a Mobuto Sese Seko or the equivalent rather than a Lee Kuan Yew

I lived in Lagos when the roads were 20X better than what is obtained today. I can understand how those born probably in the last 80/ early 90's could easily assume that the roads in Lagos today are the best Lagos has ever had, but that is far from reality.

Back in the 80's Lagos did not have 100th what it has today in revenue, let # of taxpayers actually willing to pay their taxes, but the state was still able to keep many of the roads in better condition. Even back then, people complained that the state was overpopulated -- but that did not stop progress. If anything, it aided progress as many of the companies you have today in Lagos, came in because of the population boom and they remain there even today still mainly cause of that.

Why Do Igbos Always Go Looking For Trouble?
Written by Ozodi Osuji Ph.D


Why Do Igbos Always Go Looking For Trouble?

There is something in the psychological makeup of Igbos that makes them always go looking for trouble. In the calmest of circumstances they will always do something that would annoy those around them, create conflict and then live in conflict; they seem to enjoy living in conflicts.

As it were, they seem to have death wish and do things that would make those around them to attack them, and or kill them hence gratify their death wish (thanatos).

Consider their relationship with their neighbors. Invariably they would say or do something that even a child knows would irritate those neighbors and do it as if they do not know that such actions irritate people. Consider Obi Nwankanma’s concocted historiography. The man is apparently writing a history of Igbos (as gleaned from the snippets of it that he posts on the Internet). Invariably, he would make claims to the effect that Igbos stimulated what their neighbors did or he would make Igbos have credit for what other Nigerian tribes did. And he would make these self-serving bogus claims as if they are true. He is, of course, lying but presents his lies as if they are substantiated truths! The man writes history as propaganda!

Taking credit for what other tribes did diminish those tribes self-respect; they feel attacked and angry at him and by generalization at all Igbos. Thus, the man’s private behavior has negative public consequences for most Igbos, for other Nigerians who feel insulted by him (in a country where folks indulge in stereotyping behaviors, by all Igbos) attack any Igbo in sight.

And this misguided man is not the only one doing what he does; many Igbos do it. Consider their unreasoning response to Frederick Lugard and his British cohorts. Britons created what is now called Nigeria in 1914. Igbos who hitherto did not have a nation were for the first time placed under one administrative unit hence given a sense of being one people. But instead of being grateful to Lugard for hastening their sense of oneness some foolish Igbos call Nigeria Lugard’s cage; that is to say that they feel caged in a place they would rather not be in.

They flock to other parts of that Lugard’s cage to seek employment! The Yorubas allowed them to come to Lagos, a Yoruba city. Now many of them live at Lagos. Instead of expressing gratitude to their Yoruba hosts some of them now claim that Lagos is an Igbo city! Imagine that cheek!

Yorubas could feel insulted by squatters claiming ownership of their land and attack and kill a few of them and the rest of them would carry their loads on their sorry heads and march to the East. They would not even have the courage to stand and fight to death. When the going gets tough they always run to their tribal enclave.

These people routinely insult Hausas and Hausas, not being as patient as Yorubas are, often pick up their machetes and start slashing at any Igbo in sight.

These people literally ask other people to attack them and when attacked they turn around and see themselves as victims. Alas, the rest of the world does not come to their rescue!

The white man could care less if Africans murdered other Africans, if in doubt see the Sudan, Somalia and East Congo where Africans, as we speak, are butchering each other and the International community give them all the opportunity they need to get rid of themselves from the face of this earth (and leave the damn continent for animals so that white men come on wild life safaris in it).

If other Nigerians start murdering Igbos no African Union or United Nations would come to their rescue and even if they did they would send African soldiers, who are likely to be Muslims and hence participate in killing Igbos some more!

These people are not aware of the real world they live in and talk as if they are invulnerable supermen when in fact they are the most vulnerable group of Nigerians (other Nigerians hate their arrogance and could easily gang up on them and do away with them).

So why do Igbos do these crazy things when they could have peaceful relationship with their neighbors? Why do they go looking for trouble (as Fela Kuti said, trouble de sleep” iyanga” de look for am)?

Fela recognized that pride (iyanga)causes interpersonal troubles; Igbos are” inordinately proud” and out of their pride insult other folks and those folks also being “normally proud” human beings (all human beings feel proud, in degrees; the neurotic, aka narcissistic and or paranoid personality feels inordinately proud)feel degraded and attack them.

Fela was an insightful musician, not trained psychologist. There is a more psychological process at work in these people’s apparent irrational behavior. They do what they do because of their inordinate sense of inferiority.

Feeling totally inferior and wanting to seem fictionally superior to other persons they make claims that would seem to make them seem superior to other people. Those absurd claims naturally make those they belittle angry, and those attack them.

INFERIORITY FEELING

I am saying that Igbos go looking for trouble because of their sense of inferiority and paranoid level of compensatory superiority (according to Alfred Adler, all human beings feel inferior and compensate with some superiority feeling and quest for power over their world, but the neurotic over does it).

DEATH WISH (OR FREUD’S THANATOS)

It is as if these people have a death wish and must attack other people so as to generate other people’s counter attacks on them, and when attacked they feel persecuted hence feel alive. The pathological ego feels alive when persecuted!

The paranoid person feels alive when he feels attacked and is defensive; if not feeling attacked and persecuted and defensive he does not feel like he is alive!

The paranoid person has not yet learned that a person can feel even more alive by loving himself and those around him. If you want to truly feel alive do what loves other people and what serves people’s interests.

The alternative to Christian agape love for all people is the paranoid attacks on people that generate counter attack for him and he gets attacked and in defending his self feels falsely alive.

For the longest time I could not quite understand this oddity in many Igbos behavior. Finally, I understood it. They engage in their apparent self-defeating behaviors because of mental disorder. They suffer mass delusion disorder (follies adieu, aka group paranoia).

The deluded person takes his private interpretation of reality as reality. He wants to seem superior and powerful, which he is not; he imagines that he is superior and powerful; believes what is not true as true hence is deluded.

The mentally ill person is not operating in the real world; he is living in his personal world, his fantasy world where he is all powerful and invincible.

The sadist part of it all is that even if you understand the dynamics of what is going on in the deluded person’s head and tell him about it he does not get it and continues doing what he does that gives him certain results and continues to get the same results while expecting different results.

Igbos insult other people, make them angry; they get attacked and or killed. They do not want to be attacked and killed; that is, they want different results but they keep doing what generates the old results and get it. This is the definition of mental disorder: doing the same thing while expecting different results. An alcoholic keeps drinking but does not expect to damage his liver and health; poor soul; as long as he is addicted to his drug of choice he must be slowly damaging his liver, brains and killing himself even though he wishes to be healthy and live.

I know that these people are not going to change for part of mental disorder is not to see what is obvious to the normal person. The normal person, as if instinctively, recognizes that if you insult folks that they would be angry at you and that some of them would attack you, but these bizarre folks keep attacking others (by insulting them) and not expecting them to counter attack them in self-defense.

They do not know what they are doing and one is wasting one’s time trying to get them to recognize the obvious.

I suppose this is my mission: to keep stating the obvious until those who wear blinders finally remove their veil and see it; remove the mask over their eyes and see reality as it is. I will never give up on them after all they are my people, and attacks on them, even if self-brought, are attack on me (when folks begin attacking or killing Igbos they will attack or kill me, too). The sins of fathers are visited on their children’s heads. Therefore, I must keep trying to help them smell the coffee and roses.

A FINAL WORD ON OBI NWANKAMA’S PRETENSIONS

Obi Nwankanma, apparently, is writing history, make belief history of Igbos. He has been talking smack about Nri as core Igbos (obviously a self-serving claim). His idiotic talk is irritating me. One of these days I would unleash my fury at him. I generally allow annoying things to simmer for a while and when I become sufficiently angry I unleash a ferocious attack and will keep attacking and nothing would stop me. By and by I will take Obi Nwakanma up and attack to destroy his pretensions.

These clowns write 419 histories that make their people the head of Igbos while ignoring the obvious, that the core of Alaigbo is Owerri. When I have some time I will do rigorous research on Igbo history and then refute their make believe history (I just read Elizabeth Isichie‘s version of Igbo history; she is not pretentious and haughty; she honestly believed what she wrote; she is a scholar, not a propagandist pretending to be a scholar).

For now let me just say that it is irritating to one to see those who are not even fully Igbos to keep talking as if they are real Igbos and worse present themselves as the leaders of Igbos (they were influenced by surrounding non-Igbo folks; the real Igbos are in core Igbo land, in the Igbo heartland, Owerri/Orlu axis. (Owerri must eventually become the capital of one unified Alaigbo state in Nigeria or Alaigbo republic should Nigeria breakup).

The time allotted to foreigners, such as Onicha/Edo folk, rule over Igbos is over.

Most history books are written as songs of praises to the people they are written about hence are hardly objective. That been said, if one is writing a history of one’s entire people one ought to make an honest attempt to be fairly objective rather than write claptrap that sings the praises of one section of the people. Just imagine it: everyone knows that Owerri is the core Igbo but clowns from non-Owerri area pretend to write Igbo history and not give central place to Owerri.

Even the much maligned white colonial folk recognized that Owerri is core Igbo hence made Owerri dialect the central Igbo dialect in their books on Igbo language. But buffoons from non-Owerri area write as if their peripheral areas are central to Igbo history and in their idiocy expect Owerri folks to accept their nonsense. Why, it is supposed to be Igbo history and every Igbo ought to accept it even if it is a bunch of lies.

When I am free to pay attention to history I will descend on these clowns like a ton of hot coal. Their contrived, 419 scam history of Igbos cannot be allowed to stand



Ozodi Osuji Ph.D

Ozodi Thomas Osuji is from Imo State, Nigeria. He obtained his PhD from UCLA. He taught at a couple of Universities and decided to go back to school and study psychology. Thereafter, he worked in the mental health field and was the Executive Director of two mental health agencies. He subsequently left the mental health environment with the goal of being less influenced by others perspectives, so as to be able to think for himself and synthesize Western, Asian and African perspectives on phenomena. Dr Osuji’s goal is to provide us with a unique perspective, one that is not strictly Western or African but a synthesis of both. Dr Osuji teaches, writes and consults on leadership, management, politics, psychology and religions. Dr Osuji is married and has three children; he lives at Seattle, Washington, USA.

He can be reached at: Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org ; ozodiosuji@yahoo.ca (206) 853-4245

Why Do Igbos Always Go Looking For Trouble?
Written by Ozodi Osuji Ph.D




Why Do Igbos Always Go Looking For Trouble?

There is something in the psychological makeup of Igbos that makes them always go looking for trouble. In the calmest of circumstances they will always do something that would annoy those around them, create conflict and then live in conflict; they seem to enjoy living in conflicts.

As it were, they seem to have death wish and do things that would make those around them to attack them, and or kill them hence gratify their death wish (thanatos).

Consider their relationship with their neighbors. Invariably they would say or do something that even a child knows would irritate those neighbors and do it as if they do not know that such actions irritate people. Consider Obi Nwankanma’s concocted historiography. The man is apparently writing a history of Igbos (as gleaned from the snippets of it that he posts on the Internet). Invariably, he would make claims to the effect that Igbos stimulated what their neighbors did or he would make Igbos have credit for what other Nigerian tribes did. And he would make these self-serving bogus claims as if they are true. He is, of course, lying but presents his lies as if they are substantiated truths! The man writes history as propaganda!

Taking credit for what other tribes did diminish those tribes self-respect; they feel attacked and angry at him and by generalization at all Igbos. Thus, the man’s private behavior has negative public consequences for most Igbos, for other Nigerians who feel insulted by him (in a country where folks indulge in stereotyping behaviors, by all Igbos) attack any Igbo in sight.

And this misguided man is not the only one doing what he does; many Igbos do it. Consider their unreasoning response to Frederick Lugard and his British cohorts. Britons created what is now called Nigeria in 1914. Igbos who hitherto did not have a nation were for the first time placed under one administrative unit hence given a sense of being one people. But instead of being grateful to Lugard for hastening their sense of oneness some foolish Igbos call Nigeria Lugard’s cage; that is to say that they feel caged in a place they would rather not be in.

They flock to other parts of that Lugard’s cage to seek employment! The Yorubas allowed them to come to Lagos, a Yoruba city. Now many of them live at Lagos. Instead of expressing gratitude to their Yoruba hosts some of them now claim that Lagos is an Igbo city! Imagine that cheek!

Yorubas could feel insulted by squatters claiming ownership of their land and attack and kill a few of them and the rest of them would carry their loads on their sorry heads and march to the East. They would not even have the courage to stand and fight to death. When the going gets tough they always run to their tribal enclave.

These people routinely insult Hausas and Hausas, not being as patient as Yorubas are, often pick up their machetes and start slashing at any Igbo in sight.

These people literally ask other people to attack them and when attacked they turn around and see themselves as victims. Alas, the rest of the world does not come to their rescue!

The white man could care less if Africans murdered other Africans, if in doubt see the Sudan, Somalia and East Congo where Africans, as we speak, are butchering each other and the International community give them all the opportunity they need to get rid of themselves from the face of this earth (and leave the damn continent for animals so that white men come on wild life safaris in it).

If other Nigerians start murdering Igbos no African Union or United Nations would come to their rescue and even if they did they would send African soldiers, who are likely to be Muslims and hence participate in killing Igbos some more!

These people are not aware of the real world they live in and talk as if they are invulnerable supermen when in fact they are the most vulnerable group of Nigerians (other Nigerians hate their arrogance and could easily gang up on them and do away with them).

So why do Igbos do these crazy things when they could have peaceful relationship with their neighbors? Why do they go looking for trouble (as Fela Kuti said, trouble de sleep” iyanga” de look for am)?

Fela recognized that pride (iyanga)causes interpersonal troubles; Igbos are” inordinately proud” and out of their pride insult other folks and those folks also being “normally proud” human beings (all human beings feel proud, in degrees; the neurotic, aka narcissistic and or paranoid personality feels inordinately proud)feel degraded and attack them.

Fela was an insightful musician, not trained psychologist. There is a more psychological process at work in these people’s apparent irrational behavior. They do what they do because of their inordinate sense of inferiority.

Feeling totally inferior and wanting to seem fictionally superior to other persons they make claims that would seem to make them seem superior to other people. Those absurd claims naturally make those they belittle angry, and those attack them.

INFERIORITY FEELING

I am saying that Igbos go looking for trouble because of their sense of inferiority and paranoid level of compensatory superiority (according to Alfred Adler, all human beings feel inferior and compensate with some superiority feeling and quest for power over their world, but the neurotic over does it).

DEATH WISH (OR FREUD’S THANATOS)

It is as if these people have a death wish and must attack other people so as to generate other people’s counter attacks on them, and when attacked they feel persecuted hence feel alive. The pathological ego feels alive when persecuted!

The paranoid person feels alive when he feels attacked and is defensive; if not feeling attacked and persecuted and defensive he does not feel like he is alive!

The paranoid person has not yet learned that a person can feel even more alive by loving himself and those around him. If you want to truly feel alive do what loves other people and what serves people’s interests.

The alternative to Christian agape love for all people is the paranoid attacks on people that generate counter attack for him and he gets attacked and in defending his self feels falsely alive.

For the longest time I could not quite understand this oddity in many Igbos behavior. Finally, I understood it. They engage in their apparent self-defeating behaviors because of mental disorder. They suffer mass delusion disorder (follies adieu, aka group paranoia).

The deluded person takes his private interpretation of reality as reality. He wants to seem superior and powerful, which he is not; he imagines that he is superior and powerful; believes what is not true as true hence is deluded.

The mentally ill person is not operating in the real world; he is living in his personal world, his fantasy world where he is all powerful and invincible.

The sadist part of it all is that even if you understand the dynamics of what is going on in the deluded person’s head and tell him about it he does not get it and continues doing what he does that gives him certain results and continues to get the same results while expecting different results.

Igbos insult other people, make them angry; they get attacked and or killed. They do not want to be attacked and killed; that is, they want different results but they keep doing what generates the old results and get it. This is the definition of mental disorder: doing the same thing while expecting different results. An alcoholic keeps drinking but does not expect to damage his liver and health; poor soul; as long as he is addicted to his drug of choice he must be slowly damaging his liver, brains and killing himself even though he wishes to be healthy and live.

I know that these people are not going to change for part of mental disorder is not to see what is obvious to the normal person. The normal person, as if instinctively, recognizes that if you insult folks that they would be angry at you and that some of them would attack you, but these bizarre folks keep attacking others (by insulting them) and not expecting them to counter attack them in self-defense.

They do not know what they are doing and one is wasting one’s time trying to get them to recognize the obvious.

I suppose this is my mission: to keep stating the obvious until those who wear blinders finally remove their veil and see it; remove the mask over their eyes and see reality as it is. I will never give up on them after all they are my people, and attacks on them, even if self-brought, are attack on me (when folks begin attacking or killing Igbos they will attack or kill me, too). The sins of fathers are visited on their children’s heads. Therefore, I must keep trying to help them smell the coffee and roses.

A FINAL WORD ON OBI NWANKAMA’S PRETENSIONS

Obi Nwankanma, apparently, is writing history, make belief history of Igbos. He has been talking smack about Nri as core Igbos (obviously a self-serving claim). His idiotic talk is irritating me. One of these days I would unleash my fury at him. I generally allow annoying things to simmer for a while and when I become sufficiently angry I unleash a ferocious attack and will keep attacking and nothing would stop me. By and by I will take Obi Nwakanma up and attack to destroy his pretensions.

These clowns write 419 histories that make their people the head of Igbos while ignoring the obvious, that the core of Alaigbo is Owerri. When I have some time I will do rigorous research on Igbo history and then refute their make believe history (I just read Elizabeth Isichie‘s version of Igbo history; she is not pretentious and haughty; she honestly believed what she wrote; she is a scholar, not a propagandist pretending to be a scholar).

For now let me just say that it is irritating to one to see those who are not even fully Igbos to keep talking as if they are real Igbos and worse present themselves as the leaders of Igbos (they were influenced by surrounding non-Igbo folks; the real Igbos are in core Igbo land, in the Igbo heartland, Owerri/Orlu axis. (Owerri must eventually become the capital of one unified Alaigbo state in Nigeria or Alaigbo republic should Nigeria breakup).

The time allotted to foreigners, such as Onicha/Edo folk, rule over Igbos is over.

Most history books are written as songs of praises to the people they are written about hence are hardly objective. That been said, if one is writing a history of one’s entire people one ought to make an honest attempt to be fairly objective rather than write claptrap that sings the praises of one section of the people. Just imagine it: everyone knows that Owerri is the core Igbo but clowns from non-Owerri area pretend to write Igbo history and not give central place to Owerri.

Even the much maligned white colonial folk recognized that Owerri is core Igbo hence made Owerri dialect the central Igbo dialect in their books on Igbo language. But buffoons from non-Owerri area write as if their peripheral areas are central to Igbo history and in their idiocy expect Owerri folks to accept their nonsense. Why, it is supposed to be Igbo history and every Igbo ought to accept it even if it is a bunch of lies.

When I am free to pay attention to history I will descend on these clowns like a ton of hot coal. Their contrived, 419 scam history of Igbos cannot be allowed to stand



Ozodi Osuji Ph.D

Ozodi Thomas Osuji is from Imo State, Nigeria. He obtained his PhD from UCLA. He taught at a couple of Universities and decided to go back to school and study psychology. Thereafter, he worked in the mental health field and was the Executive Director of two mental health agencies. He subsequently left the mental health environment with the goal of being less influenced by others perspectives, so as to be able to think for himself and synthesize Western, Asian and African perspectives on phenomena. Dr Osuji’s goal is to provide us with a unique perspective, one that is not strictly Western or African but a synthesis of both. Dr Osuji teaches, writes and consults on leadership, management, politics, psychology and religions. Dr Osuji is married and has three children; he lives at Seattle, Washington, USA.

He can be reached at: Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org ; ozodiosuji@yahoo.ca (206) 853-4245