₦airaland Forum

Typical.

lol, so uptight

[quote author=tpia@ link=topic=596427.msg7653517#msg7653517 date=1296657597]bro, you're older than me.[/quote]You can't be serious. You've already posted your picture here in that link that was in your signature. You've got to be at least 35.

as per mocking elders, are you planning to be an elder some day?

just asking.

I plan to live long. I don't condone rudeness to anyone or anybody unless they earn contempt through their own efforts. Don't try to extrapolate my life philosophy from a few jabs or jokes on an anonymous forum.

so, you're saying you insult elders because wole soyinka does so.

I don't insult elders just for being older (the topic of your post) and like I said before I've never seen an African insult an elder. Wole Soyinka's comment was just my theory about the people you may have encountered who behave oppositely and don't seem to give a damn.

and as for reaction, if i go through your posts, i'm sure i'll find some where you were foaming at the mouth with rage at something somebody said.

dont be a hypocrite.

Never said I don't get mad or angry, I was just laughing at the fact that you didn't take it as a joke but instead got all pissed off, which is kind of what I expected given your previous interactions with other members on here. It's kind of funny how you seem to have become more hardened (online, at least) and defensive just because of nairaland. 

tensor777:
“But Physics Master that is utter nonsense and a load of hogwash. Faggottry has always been illegal in Nigeria and it still is. Section 214 of the Nigerian Criminal Code already prescibes 14 years in captivity for a pair of consenting faggotts.
214. Any person who-
- has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or
-has carnal knowledge of an animal; or
-permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature;
-is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.
215. Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences defined in the last preceding section is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
The offender cannot be arrested without warrant.
216 Any person who unlawfully and indecently deals with a boy under the age of fourteen years is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
The term "deal with" includes doing any act which, if done without consent, would constitute an assault as hereinafter defined.
217. Any male person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another male person, or procures another male person to commit any act of gross indecency with him, or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any male person with himself or with another male person, whether in public or private, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years.

The laws in Nigeria are very clear and very stringent in their approach to those misguided elements of society that contravene public morality and common decency.

Another issue that you keep going on about is this your curious idea that we said faggottry was imposed on Africa from the West. What is that about?
Seriously Physics Master who here has said that homosexuality is a Western thing?? Something that existed in biblical times. Anyway faggottry has always been taboo in pre colonial African societies [/b]as well as in other jurisdictions so stop this strawman argument
What [b]is new is that some misguided elements in the West are actually trying to promote this disgusting perversion as something acceptable and which should be celebrated what with their evil repellent gay pride marches .

Sir Tensor, I am well aware that homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria and has been for a while now.

With regard to the part in bold, this is exactly why I asked you to come to terms with reality.

http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/f6/pre-colonial-homosexuality-africa-155071/#post2373370

"Among the last African cultures to be subjugated by Europeans, the Hausa peoples of northern Nigeria and the surrounding countries offer interesting examples of homosexuality among Islmaicized peoples of Africa. Conquered by the British only in 1904, they were studied extensively by British ethnographers within a decade and a half of the arrival of the British - having experienced very limited contact with Europeans in the meantime. These ethnographers included sexual practices, including homosexuality, in their survey. Thus, they give us a unique glimpse into a nearly pristine African Islamic culture.

The Hausa people have terms in their language that are used to describe homosexuals. Two terms are common, 'yan dauda, which is usually translated as "homosexual" or "transvestite" and 'dan dauda, which translates as a homosexual "wife." The 'yan dauda in Hausaland engage in stereotypical professions, much as marginalized gay men in the west often do. In Hausaland, they are often engaged in the sex trade - both as male prostitutes and as 'procurers' for female prostitutes. In the latter role, they do not behave as 'pimps' do in the west, maintaining 'stables' of female prostitutes under their subjugation, but rather simply as go-betweens, arranging, for a fee, liaisons for men seeking the commercial charms of female prostitutes. In this role, they often engage as male prostitutes themselves when the opportunity arises."




"But let's stay focused on the traditional attitude in Africa. In the Hausa tribes of present day Nigeria and Niger, the word "'yan daudu" was used to describe men who acted like women. They would for instance perform traditional female chores, such as cooking and selling food, use female names for themselves and each other, speak in high pitch female voices, and indeed engage in sexual and romantic relationships with "real" men. They build extensive networks among themselves within the Hausa people, extending as far as into Sudan. They consider each other as "girlfriends", and would never engage in sexual activity with each other. These men do however not make a conscious effort to look like women; many of them wear a moustache and short hair. Marriage and procreation are considered normal goals in life, regardless of sexual orientation, and so these 'yan daudu typically marry and conceive offspring. However, they may still choose to live away from their "families", and only visit occasionally, bringing gifts, money, or food. In their daily lives, they earn their keep through selling food on the streets, prostitution, or procuring. The latter two may sound harsh, but often translate into a close, committed relationship with the "customers", and often a 'yan daudu will have a steady client, to whom he will refer as a "boyfriend", and also live in a relationship-like situation with. inclusive of sex, friendship, and exchange of money and gifts. The 'yan daudu are very popular as entertainers at parties, since they are very good at singing, dancing, and performing (Geschiere 1994)."




Also, please peruse these:

http://semgai.free.fr/doc_et_pdf/africa_A4.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0312238290&id=ZjbESL6YWU0C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=WcnMQaNGuj&dq=Boy-Wives+and+Female-Husbands:+Studies+of+African+Homosexualities+By+Stephen+O.+Murray&sig=ZyvCsAJINJP9CBDqrSyTw365iVE#v=onepage&q&f=false

or ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312238290/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-0394736-4432001#reader-link)


And tell me honestly if you are not at odds with reality. (And please don't blow up and get all angry for no reason, like Sagamite, at the very suggestion that your perception of things is at variance with reality. When my perception of things is flawed, I can usually take correction or modify them, even on issues I feel strongly about.)

Sagamite:
Are you saying because legislation was not set up before 1990, homosexuality was accepted or tolerated by Nigerian law? You mean if some gay was caught in Nigeria before 1990, there will not be some legal code that can be used to jail his bastardised arse!

Lol @ this Sagamonkey b.itch getting heated. I'm saying your statement that "we had established that it is wrong and disgusting" is pure fabrication because there was only either TOLERANCE or obliviousness or some laws in some places in Africa. And for the record there was no way somebody could be jailed, whether in Uganda, Nigeria, or wherever for homosexual intercourse/relations in their own home or on their own property, so this talk about "some gay caught in Nigeria" is extremely daft.  Was there some official police gay patrol out and about searching the streets for gays in all African countries? And before you say some moronic sh1t about gays being easy to spot, let me remind you that in some African countries (not just in North Africa), grown men occasionally hold hands when they walk just out of friendship and not due to any gayness (https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-65296.0.html). Anyway, the simple fact that Nigeria was ruled by dictators (such as Buhari, who probably wouldn't tolerate homosexuality, or a goon like IBB) means anybody could be jailed for anything if the proper appeals were made by influential people, so I would never claim there was no way that homosexuals could be jailed!

Cretin, you show me a quote that specifies existence of homosexuality tens of years back and direct it is "not a western thing" at me and you are claiming you did not think I said it was only in the West. Are you really that daft!

Are YOU really this daft? I showed you a quote that showed not only the existence of homosexuality but also the blatant tolerance of it. HOW IS THIS TOO SUBTLE FOR YOU? I thought you had a "virtuosic" intellect?  Then, when you claimed I thought you believed homosexuality was only a Western thing, I explicitly said that I interpreted your quote from that thread from way back about "forcing it down our throats in Africa" to mean forcing tolerance of homosexuality down our throats in Africa (which is an extremely reasonable interpretation, in the context of the discussion that did take place), not the element/practice of homosexuality itself. Tolerance of homosexuality is NOT foreign to Africa. Saying "we had established that it was wrong and disgusting" is speculation. Deal with it.

Who said I was referring to Africa? Moooron, I was referring to the Gay Terrorists and media that suppress anti-gay views in the UK and dragoon creation of pro-gay laws.

This is hilarious. "Gay terrorists"? You explicitly said:

Sagamonkey: . That is why I am in full support of the criminalisation bill being proposed in Nigeria (that appears the West as clandestinely stopped and swept under the carpet).” – Sagamite, the crackmonkey

Which, by the way, is false.  

I am suppose to be impressed with your SAT scores? After seeing your comprehension level on issues on NL which can not be taught or coached? Ode!

Actually, you're the one that brought up my SAT scores and what university I got into in  the context of this discussion, not me. I could not possibly care less about my score (and certainly not think it gives me an edge in any argument) because it's not even going to matter for the rest of my life and I know people with scores higher than mine anyway that I don't feel have as much creativity or potential as me. And for the record, if a renowned professor of physics with an endowed chair at a first tier world class university can be impressed by that score and casually mention that his score was actually lower during a discussion on school and work, then your irrelevant, sewer rat self should pipe the fu-ck down. When you first said "passed the SAT" in your argument with SEFAGO with regard to his first 1440 score, I knew you were a complete dunce who was foaming at the mouth about things he knew nothing about, but to see you imply that top 0.7% (and for the second time, I could even have gotten higher  ) of all test takers could ever be due mainly to coaching (I didn't have any coaching, jackass, nor did all 4 of my friends in my high school physics class that scored higher than me), or that anything in this thread is beyond the realm of being taught, I really have to conclude that you're the messiah of all imbeciles. Pipe the fu-ck down Sagorilla.

Sagamite:
How does the fact I said "The point is that we had already established it is wrong and disgusting" imply I meant faggotism is a Western thing that did not exist in Africa? Mooooron, comprehension is your problem? [b]You did not know I meant it was always regarded as crime and it was decriminalised [/b]with poor and misleading arguments that dunces like you fall for?

Sagamite the London crackmonkey is heating up.

How are you so silly you are not comprehending that the bold part is flat out FALSE? Homosexuality was only illegal in Nigeria since 1990 and same sex marriage was successfully made illegal in the last decade. Sagamonkey, you've been trying to portray tolerated homosexuality as some foreign element and you know it but are now trying to twist my statement into saying that I think you believed only Westerners have homosexuality in their cultures. How are you not grasping this? Is this actually somehow too subtle for you? You've been portraying tolerance of homosexuality (homosexual rights) as some foreign garbage imported into Africa when gays and tolerance of gays have been extant in African societies for hundreds of years.

How does the fact I said "That is why I am in full support of the criminalisation bill being proposed in Nigeria (that appears the West as clandestinely stopped and swept under the carpet).” imply I meant faggotism is a Western thing that did not exist in Africa?

How are you so daft that you don't comprehend that I only posted this quote with regard to the part of my post where I identified you as blaming a Western cabal for foisting tolerance of homosexuality on Africa? I find the pathetic paranoia of the quote humorous and it matches up with my statements about your fear of a western gay mafia. Yet you're trying to state that I posted it so as to show that you were claiming that homosexuality was only a Western thing. Utterly pathetic.

Mooooron, I thought you were one of those saying the average US student is smarter than any other student in the world?

I actually said no such thing. Seriously, look through my posts again. I said the U.S. has a disproportionately high share of the best universities in the world, which it does. Please stay honest, you only look more desperate when you lie.

You did not know I meant the Western are trying to force and spread gay rights issue in Africa?

Oh I know what you meant. I also know that you also claimed that "we had established that it is wrong and disgusting" with regard to homosexuality. I laugh in Kikongo.

You did not know I meant gays groups (and their many supporters in the media) that harass public officials that are oppose to homosexuality to discredit them?

Name the gay groups from the West storming the African continent. No, really, name them. Come on, name em.   F-ucking clown. A handful of unknown groups here and there is equivalent to a gay mafia in Sagamonkey's eyes.

You are reeetarded!!! What did you say you got in SAT again? 14 . . ?

1530. Top 0.7% If I had retaken it could have gotten an even higher score.

And with your comprehension level, you got into Cornell? Fck me!  

Never mentioned anything about myself with regards to Cornell. Stay honest Sagamonkey. Stay honest.



I'll be back tomorrow Sagamonkey. Don't let me catch you giving more dumb opinions on this forum.

Calm down.

You reacted exactly like I thought you would. That's one of the key motivations obnoxious youths like myself have for mocking elders like you. It's just kind of fun.


On a serious note, I've never ever seen an African in America insult older people that they know, so maybe Nigerians in Nigeria are doing it out of contempt for the bad leaders in the country - all of whom are their elders. Wole Soyinka called his generation a failed or wasted generation. When you start to view them in that light, why not insult them?

Damn.

lol

It's not always the destination that matters. Sometimes it's the journey.

We're you insulted and humiliated recently?

Is this your way of releasing steam?

fstranger1:
I dont get your point, you actually believe all the hype about Soludo?

An ordinary mallam is doing better than Soludo, despite all his proclamations and fake analysis.

Very funny how everybody got sucked into this "Soludo is great" hype.

Hype? He delivered. And if he was still there, he could deliver even more.

And Sanusi is no "ordinary mallam." How many ordinary mallams read War and Peace, Marx, Keynes, etc.? Don't agree with a lot of his opinions, especially his bigoted ones (such as in here http://www.waado.org/nigerdelta/Essays/BalaUsman/Sanusi_Restructuring.html), but the guy is somewhat bright.

ROFL

I'm straight as an arrow.



And this thread was actually slightly educational, as far as universities, academic reputations (deserved or undeserved), careers, and occasionally human sexuality are concerned.

This was actually the best response he could have given ("Tell that to the investors! I'm busy.") so as not to let it escalate into a showdown in which he might lose.

Also even if he somehow won the debate he would still lose (lose-lose situation) because people would just say, "we're (the taxpayers) paying him to be finance minister and he's wasting time on debates about the economy instead of working on the economy" or some similar statement. Soludo is the only one that could gain from a debate.

The first intelligent decision from Aganga, apparently. He might be less dull and egotistical than I assumed.

[quote author=isale_gan2 link=topic=593966.msg7643547#msg7643547 date=1296529793]Thread Summary - page 3 to now:

Gays
Eku (but of course),
Jenifa (not Nigerian, not even African),
*FStranger (no surprise),
PhysicsQEDHMDPHDEDD (am shocked)

Hetero
Sagamite,
Katsumoto,
Tensor,
random posters

Sounds about right.

If I missed anyone, I'll update later. 

Check my siggy.

*technical difficulties?[/quote]LMAO.

My position is not much different than Katsumoto's in his first post on here actually. Don't know why you split it up like that, but I appreciate the humor.

fstranger1:
Very good conclusion. You must be a Bristol Alum, No?

lol

Ok, with regard to the Akintola thing, I guess he did try to warn others.


However, as much as I appreciate Omoigui's articles, such as that one the Midwest referendum or the Federal Military Blunders articles or the interviews of people from that era, I have to ask, is there is any actual source of an allegation that Omoigui references when he says "after allegedly being tipped off by his cousin"? Who's alleging?

If we are to take the special branch report as being mostly accurate on things like targets of the coup, this same report, which Omoigui posted and is aware of, says that Zik was never a target, so why would Zik even have to be tipped off by one of the coup members?

I think this is just rumor mongering, but I would happy to see evidence to the contrary.

Sagamite, my point was not to say you claimed it was only found in the west, but that you tried to present homosexuality as some foreign thing some Western cabal was trying to impose on Africans, which you clearly did in the very thread you posted a link to in this thread:

“This is where I am a maverick, civilised society can be wrong in their approach sometimes. But that is by the way.

The point is that we had already established it is wrong and disgusting, but some people changed it (in the West) or want to change it (in others) without valid points to back up the need to change it.

Let them prove it is moral and natural before we change the policy that it is not criminalisable.”

“I repeat, all evidence indicates it is not natural in my opinion (as they are struggling to prove it exists in nature considering the lame reports/documentaries gay-supporters could get after trying, and have used to convince some that don't critically analyse or are awed by PhDs). So based on this, the disgust level and the fact that I know giving them an inch would lead to forming some pressure group to go gazillions of miles BY FORCE (e.g. adopting kids), IMO, it should be banned. That is why I am in full support of the criminalisation bill being proposed in Nigeria (that appears the West as clandestinely stopped and swept under the carpet).” – Sagamite

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-279591.1152.html#msg4871918

“I never bothered about what homosexuals were doing before, but with the [b]gay terrorism that is sweeping the West and their obvious aspirations to force it down our throat in Africa [/b]and evry part of the world, I am in full support of making it a crime.” – Sagamite,

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-279591.480.html#msg3990191


Or will you now come with some dishonest bullshit about the “gay mafia” and “gay terrorism” of the West comments of before being only about what the “gay mafia” and pro gay media are doing in the UK or USA, when here you’re clearly shitting in your pants because they (the West  (side note: this same West , by the way, is also where those anti-gay evangelicals that went to Uganda in 2009 are from, so why aren’t you claiming Western Christian “terrorists” are trying to force anti-gay feelings down the throat of Africans with their anti-gay Christian “mafia”?  See how you think.) ) are trying to force “it” (it? tolerance of homosexuality? tolerance that has historically existed in parts of Africa independent of Western influence?)  down your throats in Africa? As if they need to force something on people who already have it and have had it. You want to talk about the approach to contentious issues of a civilized society? Tolerance is the hallmark of civilized behavior. Please go live in a cave if the thought of tolerance of what you don’t understand frightens you so much.  I could even provide more African examples than the Congo example if you’re silly enough to drag this out further. Homosexuality was in Africa without gay Western “terrorists” forcing anything down anyone’s throat (Forcing down throats? Freudian slip?  Sagamite, do you want to come out of the closet now? It’s okay, I won’t think any less of you.  )

“If you are a man and somehow you want to walk like a woman, behave like a woman, get excited like a woman, get agitated like a woman, accentuate your mannerism like a woman, take up careers more traditionally preferred by a woman, dress to gain conspicuousness like a woman, gossip like a woman, get banged by a man like a woman, you are one sick bleep.” – Sagamite

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-279591.768.html#msg4588007

I could devastate you here with historical examples of this among Africans, but if I did, you’d probably sh1t yourself so powerfully that you’d be bogged down and unable to move or even type a response.


“Don't ever be disparaging my intellect again. It is consistently a virtuosic exemplar in the arcane art of ratiocinating!” - Sagamite

Your supposedly virtuosic intellect led you to conclude that Bristol and Cornell were on the same tier. Do you smoke reefer?
Cornell with Bristol? Horseshit for brains. Stop watching those British soaps (which you claim the pro-gay cabal are promoting homosexuality through, don't make me dig up the post (by the way, what real man sits around watching soaps? Suspect )) that are weakening your already puny brain, stop listing bogus criteria to be met to show evidence of “natural” homosexuality in animals as a prerequisite for humanity tolerating it, and stop referencing that nonsense in your monstrously obnoxious posts.

For the record, the whole “natural” argument that you've been having with people using your silly criteria is colossal idiocy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is-ought_problem

Fu-cking street corner and public library philosopher, yapping about logic this logic that, morality this morality that.

naijaking1:
This is what one of my profs calls comparing apples and oranges in statistics.
Let's take it again:
Igbos 104
Yorubas 67
North 116

And your argument is that there were not mostly Igbo officers
You erroneuosly compared "North" with Igbos, Yorubas. If you had compared North vs east vs west, then we'll be ok, but you've tried to confuse the issue by trying to make us believe that the north is a single homogenous tribe like say the Igbos or the Yorubas.

If you really want to compare tribes, please begin thus: Igbo, Tiv, Berom, Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa/Fulani, Edo, Kanuri, etc.
While the north represents a geographic expression like the east and the west, it was by no means a single tribe of people, so comparing the Igbos with the whole north is a statistical and political fallacy---another reason why anti-Igbo forces cannot possibly win any argument based on intellectual honesty.

So, until you find another source that show that Hausas, Yorubas, Beroms, Kanuris, or even Tivs were more in number in the army than Igbos at that time, my earlier statement that the superior numerical strength of Igbos in the officer cadre simply produced a statistical concidence rather than a tribal agenda remains to be debunked.

Not to join sides, because I actually disagree strongly with Katsumoto's theories regarding the coup, and we have argued it already in another thread, but this line of argument has already been run through here:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=583162.msg7516599#msg7516599


The truth is that there are 50-100 or more "tribes" (ethnic groups) in the Middle Belt + North (http://www.onlinenigeria.com/tribes/) not just the ones we always mention, so it could not possibly be the case that the author of that book could do an ethnic group based listing unless that author was okay with letting a list meant only to demarcate the military into 4 major blocks for the purposes of the discussion of Nigeria's politics to clumsily run into several pages of unnecessary detail just to mention that an individual from the Rishuwa  or Jarawa tribe is identified as being specifically from that tribe and not just from the North when that would not have any relevance to the author's purpose.

But if you really must have a source

http://books.google.com/books?id=XdWJXwp5v_QC&pg=PA98&dq=1954+lagos+western+region&hl=en&ei=3plDTfW2D9T1gAfsosiTAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=1954%20lagos%20western%20region&f=false

^^^

scroll down to p. 100 and you'll see the ratios.

The 1962 quota system which saw more qualified Eastern soldiers being passed over for promotion in order to roughly satisfy some officers quota was one of the contributing reasons for the coup, hence the tribal imbalance. If more Westerners had been in the same position, I suspect that more of them would have been involved in the coup, so I don't see the preponderance of Igbos among the coupists as being evidence of an "Igbo plot" for that and other reasons which I won't go into here. 

I suspect that even if the British had not made the army lopsided towards North and North-central since early colonial times, the issue of demanding that a certain amount of officers be Northern ("one of their own" to the non-officers) would still have arisen simply because of people like Ahmadu Bello and other "North first, then others" types.



@ topic,  Ironsi's defiance of that quota system was not the only thing that cost him his life. Promulgating a unification decree when the government already had a moderately strong center without any vote on such a decision is just extremely unwise.

Ok.

Ok then.



I was referring to that interview you posted with the Aro Council of Elders.

Revisionism?


[quote author=Bush Warfare – The Early Writings of General Sir William C.G. Heneker]The members of the deputation were blind-folded a day’s march
off, and were sometimes marched round the country for a week before being brought
to the sacred grove. A voice then spoke from the bowels of the earth, and astonished
the, wonderang applicants by the accurate knowledge possessed. A great many of the
members of the deputation disappeared, and were never heard of again; these were
popularly supposed to have been sacraficed to the god, but the Aros really turned
them into slaves. The power of the Aros grew, and the country about was parcelled
up amongst the 14 towns. The buying and selling of slaves, was the Aro merchants’
chief form of business. Towns outside the area were raided, and slaves, pro-cured in
this manner, should the “long juju” not produce a sufficient number. Shortly before the
operations of the Aro Field Force began, the town of Obegu, friendly to the Government,
was raided by the Aros, who massacred some 400 men, women and children. The
objects of the expedition were primarily to subjugate the 14 families of the Aro tribe and
destroy the “long juju,” then to capture the ringleaders in the Obegu massacre.[/quote]

asha 80:
physicsmhd thanks for the posts.

i can now understand the ill feelings towards igbos.it seems it is not a nigerian thing.why do i get the feeling too that the ghanian hostlity towards nigerians doing business in ghana is not because of the igbos there?

Yeah, it's a sad situation.

It was upon reading both of those articles in full that I saw the need for a "Biafra." Not the one of 1967, which included some Rivers people that did not want to be "tenants" on their own land, but a reduced one that was mostly Igbo, Ibibio, Annang, and some other groups. I had already seen the light (that Nigeria should split) before that point, but this made me see an Igbo republic more like Israel - a necessity.


If I'm Nigeria when Nigeria eventually splits I will do everything in my power to bring about the actualization of a sovereign state for Igbos.

EzeUche, Oyo controlled Dahomey at some point and then lost control of them when they got more powerful hence the ascendancy (expansion) of the Fon which cleaved away the Western Yoruba called the Nago (an insulting name given to them by the Fon) of Togo from the rest of the Yoruba.



How hard is that to grasp?


Also, who are that group called "Bini" next to the Ashanti and all those other groups on that map you posted? Who are they? I kind of want to know where they got that name.

"They have been almost entirely phased out of the Cameroon Development Corporation and the entire civil service ranks, while private corporations are also responding to government pressure to nationalize their labor force. Despite the recency of Biafran separatism (1967-70) and the reluctance of Igbo refugees to return and reestablish themselves in their war-torn homeland, by 1972 most of them had reconciled themselves to the restoration of Nigerian unity and actively identified themselves as Nigerians. Throughout the Kumba area, they began to display miniature Nigerian flags and calendars with the faces of various national and state leaders under the motto "One Nigeria." They now boast about the size, wealth, and strategic importance of Nigeria in contrast to Cameroon, which, they argue, owes much of its development to their efforts. Thus, Cameroonian officialdom and Igbos themselves emphasize and maintain their separate national identity. Contact with the host population at all levels constantly reminds them of their status as foreigners and the fact that they live in the country at the sufferance of its citizenry. In response, they actively embrace their Nigerian nationality, which, in turn, reinforces and amplifies their ethnic identity and ethnocentrism. Since they are, by far, the largest Nigerian contingent in Cameroon, Igbos and Cameroonians alike use the labels Nigerian and Igbo interchangeably, while Cameroonians equate Igbo with foreigner. The efforts made by the government to guard the interests of Cameroonians against Igbos have given citizens a sense of power vis-a-vis this alarmingly large and threateningly successful ethnic group. Faced with a loss of status and control over events, the Igbos com- pensate by reidentifying with Nigeria. The reinforcement of ethnic and national identity in the face of competition with Cameroonians parallels the emergence of Igbo identity in Nigeria itself. There the Igbos did not identify themselves as a consolidated group prior to their migra- tion out of their homeland and entry into economic and political competition with other ethnic groups, such as the Yoruba, Hausa, and Ibibio. Precolonial loyalties were always to the local village and village group, and it has only been in the decades since World War I that the Igbos increasingly came to see themselves as one people. Migration to Cameroon and other foreign countries (Ghana, Niger, Chad, and Gabon) has been a continuation of this process of ethnic consolidation." - CONFRONTATION AND INCORPORATION: IGBO ETHNICITY IN CAMEROON by Gerald W. Kleis

"Despite this long history of migrancy, the great majority of Igbos in Meme Division maintain firm links with their villages of origin. They make periodic visits back to the homeland, especially when demanded by deaths, marriage negoti- tions or other pressing family obligations. Visiting the homeland is expensive relative to the income of most migrants so the majority would not be expected to return more frequently than once every two years. More affluent individuals, however, visit more regularly; a barrister in Victoria, for example, returned several times every year for professional and personal reasons. Many have additional wives based in the homeland where they can maintain themselves more easily and secure their husbands' claim to lineage land, validated through usufruct. Families will almost invariably negotiate marriages with women from the home village or neigh- boring area, which frequently involves trips back to the homeland on the part of several family members. The arrival of new wives is cause for great celebration since Igbos view it as a renewal of their ethnic heritage. The commitment to return to the homeland also expresses itself in the goal of virtually all migrants: to return to the natal villages for retirement and, if possible, to validate status by rebuilding or expanding the family compound. As Igbos in Cameroon do not consider themselves to be permanent residents in the migrant areas, they maintain Nigerian citizenship and do not seek to become Cameroonians. One Igbo pastor, resident in Cameroon since early childhood, married a Balong girl (much against the advice of fellow Igbos) but staunchly resisted his father-in-law's pressure to change his nationality. Furthermore, the Cameroonian government imposes formidable restrictions on anyone seeking to nationalize. Not only must the individual in question be of Cameroonian birth, but at least one parent must also have been born in the country (a requirement which few Igbos can meet). The purpose of the law is clearly to prevent Igbos from claiming the advantages of citizenship, a trend which the West Cameroonians sought to restrict through their separation from Nigeria in the early 1960s. Prior to 1962 Igbos in Cameroon enjoyed the same rights as Came- roonians, with the same employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors and the same freedom of maneuver in commercial activities. Since then they have been redefined as foreigners, which has radically altered not only their politi- cal and economic status, but also their social identity and self-image. At the political level, being a foreigner means that an Igbo resident in Cameroon is subject to regular scrutiny by the authorities. Police in Kumba check foreigners, especially Igbos, to see if they have paid their residence deposits (a fee of 10,000 CFA francs for official permission to live in Cameroon). They maintain, with some justification, that they receive more harassment and intimidation from authorities than most Cameroonians. At the economic level the redefinition of Igbos as foreigners has meant a drastic reduction in opportunities formerly available. The post-independence government has acted to restrict their activities in a number of areas including the lucrative middle-man role in the cocoa trade. Ex-cocoa buyers with outstanding credit to farmers are unable to use legal channels to collect their debts. Authorities have also banned Igbos from the wholesale trade in palm oil throughout the country. Kumba and other towns have prohibited them from operating intraurban taxis, a role which the Grasslanders quickly filled; Grasslanders are now competing with Igbos for control of interurban routes."

"Although all Igbos are subject to the laws and authorities which regulate the activities of aliens, the jural significance of being a Nigerian varies between village and town. Those living in Kumba regularly encounter police, gendarmes, market inspectors, and other official personnel. The authorities regularly ask residents (especially Igbos) to produce tax receipts or residence permits, and, from time to time the police summarily round them up for inspection and interrogation pur- poses. This type of harassment has made Igbos (and many Cameroonians) highly resentful of the authorities, which, in turn, has given them the reputation of being uncooperative and disrespectful toward authority. Nevertheless, they clearly recognize that survival in Kumba involves accommodation and acquiescence toward the various forms of administrative intrusion into their lives. The majority are quick to show deference to authorities, befriend and flatter them, or use other such strategems to elude and maneuver them into serving their interests. Beginning in the mid-1960s the Cameroon government took a number of steps aimed at disrupting the Igbos' framework of sociopolitical organization and expres- sion of ethnic solidarity. Legislation was enforced banning ethnic organizations, including the powerful Igbo Union, which functioned as an exceptionally effective instrument for regulating the activities of its members, undertaking self-help pro- jects, and lobbying for Igbo interests within the territory. The authorities also out- lawed the celebration of Igbo Day, an event which glorified the ethnic identity and achievements of the Igbo people and inconvenienced Cameroonians by bringing commerce virtually to a standstill. Finally, national police razed Igbo Union Hall, which had long served as a center for Igbo activities (an action which Cameroonians applauded as symbolizing the dismantling of Igbo hegemony in West Cameroon. " - CONFRONTATION AND INCORPORATION: IGBO ETHNICITY IN CAMEROON by Gerald W. Kleis

"He stressed that it was the duty of members and officers of the Native Authority and Native Courts to uphold the law, and he warned that if they did not do so they might be deprived of their officers.24

The DO. was reacting to the fact that [b]early in February the Bakweri Native Authority had passed the following rules to control relations between natives and Igbo: (i) Nobody is allowed to sell his or her house to an Ibo, neither must anybody give his or her house for rentage to an Ibo. (2) No farm land must be sold to an Ibo or rented to an Ibo. (3) Nobody must allow an Ibo to enter any native farm or forest for purpose of finding sticks for building or for any other purposes. (4) Houses or farms already sold to any Ibo man shall be purchased by Native Authority who will afterwards resell same to some suitable person. (5) Nobody shall trade with Ibos for anything of value or not. (6) All landlords must ask their Ibo tenants to quit before IS March 1948.

(7) No Cameroon woman is allowed to communicate with the Ibos in any form. (8 ) Anybody disobeying these rules shall be liable to a fine of ?s or five months I.H.L. (9) Any Ibo native disobeying Rule (3) above will be liable to prosecution in the Native Court. (1o) All Ibo Government Officials are exempted from Rule (5) above[/b].25 The Government believed that the anti-Igbo sentiment had been or- ganized and encouraged in its early stages by two local politicians, Chief Manga Williams and Dr E. M. L. Endeley. Williams tried to restrain excesses and correct the more extravagant statements, but he found this difficult. Endeley, for his part, protested his helplessness in the situation, but the Senior D.O. for Victoria thought him not averse to allowing the growth of anti-Igbo feeling; the same official revealed in March that such feeling in Buea gathered new strength soon after the district had been visited by P. M. Kale, a local politician.26 In Victoria, the chief cause of anti-Igbo tension was criticism in the Nigerian press of Manga Williams, who was a member of the Eastern House of Assembly. Since several newspapers were owned by Azikiwe's Associated Press, Williams was prejudiced against the Igbo in general.27 A further cause of trouble in Victoria was the attempt by the Bakweri people to prevent the Igbo from entering the fishing trade. On 9 February 1948, a body calling itself the Cameroon Union asked the fishing heads of Mboko, Kongo, Mbome and Iseme to stop selling fish to any Igbo fish traders. The circular further directed the fishing heads to cease passing the Igbo through to any other near ports. In case the Igbo owned canoes of their own, the port ruler could arrange to obstruct the track in any way possible and suitable. Directives were given that anybody contravening the above instructions would be liable to a fine of k5. The quarrel over canoes and fishing ports was nothing but a trade war in which Cameroonians wanted to maintain a monopoly in the fishing industry. As usual, politicians like the members of the Cameroon Union always exploited such sentiments and urged the people into action.28 "


- The 'Igbo Scare' in the British Cameroons, c. 1945-61 by Victor Bong Amaazee

"The government urged responsible people to cease introducing unsub- stantiated generalizations into discussions. But the underlying causes of such propaganda were not easily disposed of: according to one British official they included resentment of the imperium in imperio affected by the Igbo Tribal Union; lack of Igbo respect for local institutions; vague apprehension regarding Igbo motives in the Cameroons; jealousy of Igbo success; a feeling of inferiority aroused by the Igbo through their proud speech and ways.22 Thus rumours of 'atrocities', real or imaginary, usually spread like wildfire over the country, and Igbo everywhere were victims of verbal or physical attacks by frustrated Cameroonians. The spread of anti-Igbo rumours in and after 1948 was partly due to the influx of Igbo plantation workers, traders and artisans which had followed the creation of the Cameroons Development Corporation in 1947. In January I948 the Buea Native Authority attacked the character and be- haviour of local Igbos and demanded their expulsion; it further charged that the government had deliberately encouraged Igbo recruitment for plan- tations. This the D.O., Buea, categorically denied. He felt that the people of Buea were constantly seeking reasons other than the true ones for the Igbo presence, which lay simply in their nature and economic circumstance.23 The D.O., Bakweri, decided to bring that Native Authority under control by publishing a notice on I6 February I948 in which he stressed that the administration had not, and would not, issue any order discriminating against Igbo or any other section of the community."

"The Government's inability to ensure equal opportunities for Cam- eroonians in Eastern Nigeria made the Cameroonians so desperate that they felt that their only hope of salvation lay in political separation from, at least, Eastern Nigeria. The need for separation was increased by the fact that even in the commonest posts like those of messengers and headmen, the Cam- eroonians had to go through Departmental Heads who were Igbo, and these Igbo preferred their countrymen to Cameroonians. Salvation would only come with an autonomous Cameroons region. While the Europeans wanted to reduce tensions in the larger interests of the territory, Cameroonian businessmen and politicians usually exploited all misunderstandings in their own private interests. They claimed that isolated cases of Igbo misbehaviour, real or merely alleged, were typical of Igbo in general. Cameroonians were all too ready to see malice, rather than mere accident, in cases such as that of an Igbo nurse in Victoria who in 1948 administered carbolic acid into the eye of S. A. Atabong, a Cameroonian.17 Then the hand of a man missing from the Bambuko area was found with a party of Igbo traders. There were references to mysterious disappearances in Bakweri country, which could not all have been the fault of Igbo. In early January I948, a Court Messenger from Muea bought fish from an Igbo at Tiko. He and all who ate any of the fish were taken ill enough to need attention from the dispensary. The Court Messenger in question was produced before the District Officer, and the former seemed none the worse. The D.O. explained, as best as he could, the nature of food poisoning, but he did not make a good impression on the Bakweri Native Authority. 18 In the same year, quite unproven accusations were made that Igbo stole church bells in order to make counterfeit coin; they introduced corruption into public offices; they assaulted local women and made them sterile; in the medical department, they deliberately mistreated local patients; they desired to get the Cameroons into their control; they were violent people who conspired together to cause injury to local people; they sold poisoned food; they conspired together to assist each other to obtain public appointments; they profiteered and charged excessive prices to Cameroonians; they sold drugs, such as aspirin, quinine and M & B in adulterated form."9 In 1951, a wild rumour had it that an Igbo man had killed and eaten a girl at Missellele. Police investigations proved the rumour false, but tracing such a rumour to its source was practically impossible.20 The police advised the Igbo that rumours of that kind, implying ritual murder, had been known to occur in many parts of the world where trade and business had been taken over by a race or tribe not indigenous to the locality. The Jews, in particular, had suffered for centuries from such a calumny. All the same, the police advised the Igbo to resist provocation and refrain from being themselves pro- vocative. 21 Anti-Igbo propaganda was so effective that passionate outbursts by speakers carried the day at meetings and made rational discussion difficult. "

"Tiku eventually went to Ibadan for training in forestry, but after eleven months of unemployment. The principal also enquired at the hospital about openings, but they could only offer the job of nurse, which any primary school-leaver could get. As for the United Africa Company, they said that they got all their employees from Nigeria, despite advice to the contrary from headquarters.13 Injustice of this kind was so glaring that the senior British administrator, the Resident, expressed sympathy with the Cameroonian cause. In 1948 he commented thus on the charge that attempts by Cameroonians to control Igbo immigration amounted to racial discrimination: , It depends on what is meant by discrimination. It might be called discrimination if we in England were to impose an immigration law forbidding the entry of all Irishmen, but it would surely be understandable if the Irishmen were capturing all our trade, filling a very large proportion of our public offices, and to cap all, we had to go to Ireland to get all the training necessary for a job in the public service. It might be said that the shoe was on the other foot and that it was the Cameroons people who have been discriminated against in that they have only to go to Nigeria to get the education, or enter the jobs, but apart from any other considerations, how were they to get there? Communications between this Province and Nigeria have been ludicrously inadequate for years, and still are. I would emphasise that the Cameroons people are not generally against strangers as such, and it is very much in their own, and our, interest that they should not be. But they do wish to have the power to stop undesirables entering, persons who recognise no local native authority and behave as if they were a law unto themselves. It is essential that they should have this power if they are to feel free of the danger of being swamped." There could have been no better summary of the relationship between the Cameroons and Nigeria. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that the natives of the Cameroons were given every opportunity of obtaining employment in Government service, the Governor of the Eastern Provinces of Nigeria had directed that the Eastern Provinces school-leavers Registry (which functioned under the aegis of the selection committee) should register the names of all those passing out of St Joseph's College. The Governor further recognized that the poverty of communications with the Cameroons made it difficult for a selection committee located at Enugu to interview candidates from the Cameroons. He therefore proposed, with the concurrence of the selection committee, that a sub-committee be set up at Buea, which would both register applications from Cameroonians for appointment and also, after interviewing them, forward the applications, together with the sub-committee's views as to their suitability for appointment, to the selection committee at Enugu.15 This was obviously a weakness in the Administration's positive measures because the new arrangements still meant that the final decision had to be taken at Enugu and not in Buea. The preference for Igbo to Cameroonians in employment would continue in an atmosphere dominated by Igbo. "