₦airaland Forum

pazienza:
Nigeria’s foremost novelist Chinua Achebe has claimed that Nigerians, especially of the Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba stocks, do not like his Igbo ethnic group because of the southeast’s cultural advantage.

He made this claim in his new book, There was a Country, which has generated controversy for his onslaught on the role of Obafemi Awolowo as the federal commissioner of finance during the Nigeria civil war. He accused Awolowo of genocide and imposition of food blockade on Biafra, a claim that has drawn rebuttals and contradictions of emotional intensity from some southwest leaders and commentators.

“I have written in my small book entitled The Trouble with Nigeria that Nigerians will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of the Igbo,” he wrote under the heading, A History of Ethnic Tension and Resentment. He traced the origin of “the national resentment of the Igbo” to its culture that “gave the Igbo man an unquestioned advantage over his compatriots in securing credentials for advancement in Nigerian colonial society.”

He observed that the Igbo culture’s emphasis on change, individualism and competitiveness gave his ethnic group an edge over the Hausa/Fulani man who was hindered by a “wary religion” and the Yoruba man who was hampered by” traditional hierarchies.”


He therefore described the Igbo, who are predominantly Catholic, as “fearing no god or man, was “custom-made to grasp the opportunities, such as they were, of the white man’s dispensations. And the Igbo did so with both hands.”

He delved into history with his claim, asserting that the Igbo overcame the earlier Yoruba advantage within two decades earlier in the twentieth century.

“Although the Yoruba had a huge historical and geographical head start, the Igbo wiped out their handicap in one fantastic burst of energy in the twenty years between 1930 and 1950.”

He narrated the earlier advantage of Yoruba as contingent on their location on the coastline, but once the missionaries crossed the Niger, the Igbo took advantage of the opportunity and overtook the Yoruba.

‘The increase was so exponential in such a short time that within three short decades the Igbos had closed the gap and quickly moved ahead as the group with the highest literacy rate, the highest standard of living, and the greatest of citizens with postsecondary education in Nigeria,” he contended.

He said Nigerian leadership should have taken advantage of the gbo talent and this failure was partly responsible for the failure of the Nigerian state, explaining further that competitive individualism and the adventurous spirit of the Igbo was a boon Nigerian leaders failed to recognize and harness for modernization.


“Nigeria’s pathetic attempt to crush these idiosyncrasies rather than celebrate them is one of the fundamental reasons the country has not developed as it should and has emerged as a laughingstock,” he claimed.

He noted that the ousting of prominent Igbos from top offices was a ploy to achieve a simple and crude goal. He said what the Nigerians wanted was to “get the achievers out and replace them with less qualified individuals from the desired ethnic background so as to gain access to the resources of the state.”

Achebe, however, saved some criticisms for his kinsmen. He criticised them for what he described as “hubris, overweening pride and thoughtlessness, which invite envy and hatred or even worse that can obsess the mind with material success and dispose it to all kinds of crude showiness.”

He added that “contemporary Igbo behavior(that) cab offend by its noisy exhibitionism and disregard for humility and quietness.

onuebonyi:
Basilio101 is Odogwu123, Ogbuefi2020 etc. Please members take note. Ya kpotuba

superlightning:
Nne,

Nnamdi KANU to me, is a symbol of the anger and frustration of the younger Igbo generation with Nigeria as they have been ridiculed and pushed to the wall.

He is daring, bold and passionate about what he believes in.

Deedem ka-obu, maka na anti bu ndi umuahia.

I like the fact that he shook Nigeria into bringing restructuring to the front-burner of national discourse.

He is my alternative to restructuring.

pazienza:
That's the full text of Achebe message.
mischievous fellows should stop quoting him out of context.

superlightning:
You were not here yesterday when we discussed about okpara who developed eastern region as the WORLDS fastest growing economy, not just africa. So I forgive you for that.

basilo101:
I suggest we discuss contemporary issues. There is nothing to celebrate in those ugly history. Let's talk about now and the future

BankeSmalls:
Dede m ka owu, make na anyi wu ndi Umuahia.

Google translator has its limits.

basilo101:
Zik didn't even do much. After Okpara the next serious development happened under shagari

BankeSmalls:
You are busted as anti Igbo and you want to discuss contemporary issues with who? Does this place look like ewedu thread?

BankeSmalls:
Predictable, now discrediting zik to support a fulani.

basilo101:
You are a baby here

superlightning:
You are fighting hard to redeem your honorific as an "encyclopedia" to some people here....

I challenge you to quote AT FULL LENGTH, the words of Achebe in PG 76.

What you posted was not directly from his book. Nwannem, QUOTE ACHEBE VERBATIM. I'm waiting.

basilo101:
Much of the credit goes to ekwueme

pazienza:
What are you on about.
You quoted Achebe out of context, and that's exactly what I corrected. Achebe praised Ndiigbo to high heavens, you know, the kind of praises that personally pains you, before offering a constructive criticism.

But what the likes of you want is for us to give away our praises and accept only condemnations.
You failed bro, move on.

BankeSmalls:
Maybe, but you are an afonja here.

superlightning:
You keep trying save face Mr. "Encyclopedia".... Lol... Oya show where I quoted Achebe out of context.

pazienza:
What are you on about.
You quoted Achebe out of context, and that's exactly what I corrected. Achebe praised Ndiigbo to high heavens, you know, the kind of praises that personally pains you, before offering a constructive criticism.

But what the likes of you want is for us to give away our praises and accept only condemnations.
You failed bro, move on.

ednited:
I agree with you totally! Europeans are evil and continue to be. They introduced tribalism to break Africa. We are still under modern colonisation! They did everything to destroy who we are and to look after their wrong belief.

A response to basilo01

Egyptians and Ethiopians are pure Africans. Europeans actually want other Africans to think that we aren't black so that other Africans like you could not take our achievement as an achievement of Africa. The ones who built that big Egyptian civilization were black. Many Africans have achieved many things but Europeans destroyed many. There are many Mali and Ethiopian heritages stolen and kept in Britain. Our statue of Axum was stolen and kept in Italy as it belongs to them.

Anyways, I hope you get it

BankeSmalls:
Red flame could be abagworo.

basilo101:
Nigeria does not want "igbo presidency", "hausa presidency", "yoruba presidency" etc. If igbos want to be president they should stop using that word because other tribes don't use it.

BankeSmalls:
And Jim Nwobodo

superlightning:
You keep trying save face Mr. "Encyclopedia".... Lol... Oya show where I quoted Achebe out of context.

pazienza:
Still exhibiting your mischievous character.

The part you highlighted were not made in isolation. They are a part of a long thought process. You can't take and present them in isolation in big to demonize Ndiigbo.

I had attached the rest of the thought process that led to the part you made bold.

pazienza:
Still exhibiting your mischievous character.

The part you highlighted were not made in isolation. They are a part of a long thought process. You can't take and present them in isolation in bid to demonize Ndiigbo.

I had attached the rest of the thought process that led to the part you made bold.

pazienza:
Still exhibiting your mischievous character.

The part you highlighted were not made in isolation. They are a part of a long thought process. You can't take and present them in isolation in bid to demonize Ndiigbo.

I had attached the rest of the thought process that led to the part you made bold.

pazienza:
Still exhibiting your mischievous character.

The part you highlighted were not made in isolation. They are a part of a long thought process. You can't take and present them in isolation in bid to demonize Ndiigbo.

I had attached the rest of the thought process that led to the part you made bold.

basilo101:
What's your point? A thought process that highlighted our negative side, should amending our ways not be the first before we can have genuine complaints?

Abagworo:
You are suffering from delusion. Your name alone gives you out as not being deeply rooted in Igbo culture and religion hence you have no right to write anything about Igbo. My stand on Igbo issues is that I am absolutely against inclusion of Ika or Ikwerre in confidential Igbo discussions and I write it as someone with half Ikwerre blood. Igbos don't need anybody outside those who accept being Igbos to succeed not to talk of someone who hates and has denied his roots. Each time I write Igbo what I have in mind is Southeast, Oyigbo and Egbema from Rivers, Aniocha and Oshimili from Delta.

Abagworo:
You are suffering from delusion. Your name alone gives you out as not being deeply rooted in Igbo culture and religion hence you have no right to write anything about Igbo. My stand on Igbo issues is that I am absolutely against inclusion of Ika or Ikwerre in confidential Igbo discussions and I write it as someone with half Ikwerre blood. Igbos don't need anybody outside those who accept being Igbos to succeed not to talk of someone who hates and has denied his roots. Each time I write Igbo what I have in mind is Southeast, Oyigbo and Egbema from Rivers, Aniocha and Oshimili from Delta.

Chef2000:
The woman is always pointing fingers on you as a suspect, why