The Nigerian firmament, is replete with the stories of unsung heroes, be it in commerce, politics, enterprise, education, sports, medicine, traditional institutions and so on. Sanusi Adebisi Idikan was an enigmatic personality that traversed Ibadan’s landscape in commerce, engaged in philanthropy and humaneness in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
COMING OF THE OFI- CLOTHE WEAVING HERO
He was born in 1882, in Ibadan during the reign of Aare Latoosa, the Baale of Ibadan, and died in 1938, during the reign of his bosom friend and Father In Law, Olubadan Okunola Abass Aleshinloye. Despite being the biggest story of his time, Sanusi remained an unsung hero. Adebisi’s father, Adesina, migrated from Efon Alaaye (Ijesha Stock) in present day Ondo State. He was an itinerant Ofi clothe weaver- a traditional Yoruba clothe, earmarked for ceremonies, marriages, burials and so on. He moved to Ibadan with his paternal half-brother- Alabi and settled in Aremo, in the household of Lanase. Ibadan had become then, the most cosmopolitan city in Nigeria and perhaps black Africa. It was secure, accommodating and prosperous. Adesina whilst plying his trade of Ofi weaving, was also spiritual consultant to Alaafin Atiba, who had betrothed his most precious daughter- Princess Ogboja to him, in recognition of Adesina’s great spiritual impact in his life. Adesina, begat three children- Adetinrin, Adeoti and Adebisi. Adetinrin and Adeoti were 20 years and 15 years respectively, older than Adebisi. Adebisi grew up to join his siblings in the hawking of their father’s Ofi clothes in and outside the city of Ibadan. Within a short spade of time, he enlarged the space of the business by hawking the Ofi clothes outside Ibadan- Iwo, Ile Ogbo, Ikire, Oshogbo, Ife, Ondo and even the far flung place of Benin and before the age of 18 years, he became an instant success and even had to retire his siblings from the business.  
… AND THE COCOA PLANTATIONS FOLLOW
Aside Ofi business, he ventured into large scale farming, in Ashipa village, Mamu, where he developed a large cocoa plantation. Cocoa had been introduced into Nigeria since 1874 and had by the 1890s, become Nigeria’s most notable cash crop, most especially in Yoruba land. In Ashipa, he built a farmstead and numerous houses, for his farm workers. The success in the Mamu cocoa plantation, encouraged him to acquire about 200 Acres of land in Apata Ibadan, where he developed another cocoa plantation.  
ADEBISI BECOMES SOCIETY LEADER
In recognition of his success as a cocoa farmer and entrepreneur, he was made the Giwa Egbe (head of the society) by his other successful merchants, like Otiti, Ekolo, Afunleyin, Ladimeji from Isale Ijebu and Adeyemo Owonbuwo from Oopo-yeosa. As Giwa of the society, he added Giwa to his name, to become Sanusi Adebisi Giwa. Sanusi Adebisi Giwa’s acts of philanthropy were demonstrated in his first tax rescue effort in Ibadan. Payment of tax by every male adult was made compulsory by the colonial government. Most Ibadan adults were subsistent farmers, who could not afford the payment of tax and that the punishment for tax evasion was, detention in Mapo, which also served as the Treasury Office. A detained tax defaulter, usually found it difficult to get a contemporary who would bail him out, because most adults were tax evaders and an attempt by a tax evader to bail a tax evader, would certainly land such rescue effort into another detention.  
TAX EVASION: THE SUICIDE STORY OF BAALE’S SON
This tax problem became such an agony, that a Balogun of Ibadan- Balogun Ola, son of Baale Orowusi, would rather commit suicide, than to see Ibadan Young men in perpetual tax agony and detention. This valiant self murder, was recognized by the Ibadan people, who named him Kobomoje (the one who displayed gallantry against timidity) The payment of tax became a social symbol and tax defaulters were usually mocked and despised by the popular song-”Owo ori ti d’ ode o, o o’ode o baba wa loko san” –”payment of taxation has come, our fathers were the first to pay, the idiots and lazy ones who have not paid are in detention in Mapo”- “Awon ode ti o le san o, won nbe lati mole ni Mapo.” Adebisi was displeased with the tax situation in Ibadan. His philosophy had always been- (the rich must help the poor who are vulnerable) Adebisi had at this time been one of the first set of Ibadan elites, perhaps if not the first person, to ride a car, apart from his hordes of horses.  
ADEBISI SHOCKS COLONIAL TAX OFFICER
For effect, he had his horse dispatch rider- Ladimeji, to ride in front of his car, on his way to Mapo, to see the Chief Tax Officer for the Ibadan Colonial Office. In his meeting with the officer in the colonial office, he brokered an understanding- “I want to be paying tax on behalf of every taxable adult in Ibadan”. The officer was shocked, nonplussed and asked him, if he knew the financial implication of his gesture? But he still insisted on paying. Henceforth, the colonial officer would calculate the amount of tax expected from all Ibadan taxable adults and would go to Adebisi Idikan’s residence to collect the money.  
SALAMI AGBAJE JOINS ADEBISI
Ibadan of this era had certainly produced Salami Agbaje and Adebisi Idikan as its two wealthiest citizens. Salami Agbaje was born in Lagos in 1880, to Arowodu, an Arabic migrant from Iseyin. His mother was an Ibadan woman and he had begun his early life as a tailor, apprentice driver and later a sawyer. He eventually supplied all the timbers (slippers) needed for the Lagos-Ibadan railway, between 1898 and 1901, when fortune smiled on him. Ibadan train station was opened in 1901. His fortune in the timber business encouraged him to venture into the newly, money spinning cocoa market. However, whilst Sanusi Adebisi indulged his money in philanthropy, Salami indulged his own, in the education of his children and had produced the first Ibadan Medical Doctor- Dr. Saka Anthony Agbaje, Mojeed Agbaje, First Ibadan Lawyer, a retired Supreme Court Judge, Gani Agbaje and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria- Yekeen Agbaje. As an acknowledgement of these two great wealthy men, a notable Ibadan diarist- Akinpade Obisesan, in his diary in 1922 noted: “nobody in this town will revere anyone of no-means, he would be counted as no-man, the great presents made to us, forced me to recognise that Messers Agbaje and Adebisi are being held in high esteem- after all, what is our intelligence, our school going and reading of books, without getting money to back these three things” Akinpade Obisesan, after he retired from the Lagos railway, had returned to Ibadan, where he worked in many European mercantile firms and also made efforts to establish himself as a trader, like Adebisi and Salami. In furtherance of his aspiration, he ordered a book entitled: Six Hundred Ways to Get Rich” from a book seller in the United States. However, despite the book knowledge, the burden entrepreneur could still not make it in the way of Salami Agbaje and Adebisi Idikan. Fortune is a product of not only hard work, but mother luck.  
IBADAN’S FIRST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE
Bishop Alexander Babatunde Akinleye, was Ibadan’s first University Graduate in 1912 and founded Ibadan’s first Secondary School- Ibadan Grammar School in 1913. Two of Adebisi’s children- Azeez Zakariyyah and Salawu Adebisi had attended Ibadan Grammar School under Bishop Akinleye. There were usually, no higher schools in Ibadan, after Ibadan Grammar School.  
WHY ADEBISI REJECTED UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOR HIS CHILDREN
Bishop Akinleye had visited Salami Adebisi, to encourage him and also to intimate him, on the prospect of gaining a university admission for his two sons in Europe, who had just left his college, with the hope that it would be an encouragement to other Ibadan wealthy men. But Adebisi, whilst thanking Bishop Akinleye for his concern and also acknowledging his episcopal visit, told the Bishop and Principal, that he would not like to expose his children, to the danger associated with schooling abroad. According to him, the man of means would always employ the man of knowledge. Around 1920, the Miller brothers of the United Kingdom, arrived Ibadan looking for business prospects, opportunities and business associates. They needed a native of immense wealth, who could be an intermediary and associate. Sanusi even though unlettered, had secretaries and Personal Assistants, who were lettered.
THE MILLER BROTHERS ENGAGE HIM
The Miller brothers made him their Factor. Whatever goods imported to Nigeria by the Miller brothers, would reach Ibadan, the main depot, for Adebisi to chat its mode of distribution and marketing, as its main distributor and marketer. Adebisi’s fortune soared and the Miller brothers, became a conglomerate and a multi-national. Adebisi later became a share holder in the multi-national and Miller brothers, later changed their name to United African Company (U.A.C)   HOW HE JOINED TRADITIONAL RULING CLASS
Adebisi, having traversed the world of business, commerce, enterprise and philanthropy, he needed to expand his frontiers, by joining the traditional ruling elites of Ibadan. As Ibadan’s notable wealthy man, he approached the reigning monarch- Baale Shittu Aare in 1924 for a Chieftaincy title, which Baale gladly obliged. Unfortunately, before he could be conferred with the chieftaincy title, Baale Shittu Aare was on May 1925, deposed by the Alaafin of Oyo- Oba Shiyanbola Ladigbolu, for “disloyalty and having an unsatisfactory attitude.” As the diarist Akinpelu saw the matter, Shittu was” wrongfully and wickedly deposed”. Baale Shittu Aare, remained in Oyo for a year and was then deported further north to Shaki where he died in 1935. His corpse was returned to Ibadan to be buried in his compound- Ile Latoosa. Aare was succeeded by Baale Oyewole Foko in 1925. On the 26th of November, 1926, Adebisi was installed, the Ashaju Baale of Ibadan, jumping about 10 lines on the rung of the ladder- Otun Olubadan (civil) line. Money “is the god of the world” rhapsodised Akinpelu Obisesan. In June 1925, the foundation stone of Mapo Hall was laid by Alaafin Shiyanbola Ladigbolu and the British Resident- Captain W.A Ross.  
ADEBISI UNDERSCORES THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY
At this impressive ceremony, Adebisi was gorgeously dressed in flamboyant traditional attires, with befitting caps to match, which caught the instant admiration of the British Resident. Alaafin Shiyanbola Ladigbolu accused Adebisi of stealing the show. Before Alaafin Ladigbolu left Ibadan, for Oyo, he dropped a message for Baale Shittu, that Adebisi must see him in Oyo and that when coming, Adebisi must come along with him, the apparel- clothes, cap and shoes used when he met the Resident governor-Captain W.A Ross. Sensing danger, Adebisi refused to go, but rather, sent a truck load of clothes, food items and drinks with an emissary, led by his senior sister- Adetinrin, who was a sparkling beauty. Having assuaged the ego of Iku Baba Yeye, he later paid him a visit where he was heralded with songs and drums. Adebisi who had earlier been targeted for extinction, became Alaafin Ladigbolu’s favourite friend, amiable consult and loyalist. Sanusi Adebisi having joined the Otun Olubadan line from the 11th on the rung of the ladder, of 22 lines, later shortly thereafter, rose to become the Ashipa in 1936, and was installed by the incumbent Olubadan- Abass Okunola Aleshinloye, who succeeded Oyewole Foko, in 1930 as the new Olubadan of Ibadan. Akinpelu Obisesan, again, dumbfounded by Adebisi’s meteoric rise, wrote in his diary_ “Adebisi rose from the rank of political servants to the rank of political masters. Surely, money is the god of the world; in this way, he fulfilled one of his life’s greatest ambitions.” With the Ashipa title in the Olubadan line, Adebisi had just few steps into becoming the Olubadan of Ibadan land. Oba Abass Okunola Aleshinloye in further recognition of Adebisi’s Wealth and philanthropy, also gave his beloved daughter in marriage to him. Oba Abass Aleshinloye, had promoted Adebisi three times, within six years. Adebisi having been impressed with the construction of Mapo hall in 1925, also started the construction of his own mansion in 1927- an edifice that looked like Mapo Hall in elegance, grandeur and splendour. The architectural design and construction of the Adebisi mansion, could only be found in Europe. The building/mansion was simply non-pariel, i.e. no equal, that it was the folk tale that “eni ti o ba fe ko iru ile Adebisi, ko tin i ile ko” meaning- “he who wants to build a house like Adebisi’s mansion, is not ready to build any house”. The top of the triangular dome was designed with an elephant, which is engraved “S.A.G” abbreviation for Sanusi Adebisi Giwa. The Mapo Hall was commissioned in October 5, 1929 and Adebisi’s Mansion was opened before the opening of Mapo Hall. Both buildings were constructed by Europeans, and a local Engineer- Mr Carew (Keru), with some foreign professional builders and Engineers working as a consortium.  
THE MAN OF GENEROSITY
Sanusi Adebisi was a man of excessive generosity, whose milk of human kindness was ceaseless. Coming from a visit from Ede, where he had gone to see the reigning Monarch- the Timi of Ede, he saw a handcuffed man, being taken to the Agodi prison yard Ibadan, by some prison warders. He stopped to ask for the man’s offence- he was a debtor. Adebisi there and then instructed the warders to follow him to collect the money and release the debtor. Despite Adebisi’s intervention, the freed debtor, refused to leave Adebisi’s household and stated that he would rather remain and live with him, as one of his boys and this Adebisi gladly obliged. Adebisi’s driver- Ereola, was reported to him by some jealous folks for stealing Adebisi’s money and had used proceeds of that theft in building a house. Adebisi promised to investigate the matter. The following morning, he challenged the driver- Ereola and asked him to take him straight to the house he was building. On reaching the site, he saw the building construction going on and the builders were shocked to see Ereola’s master. Unbelievably, Adebisi asked the builders to start dismantling the structure already constructed and start to rebuild it in the mode that would befit Ereola’s master- Adebisi. Adebisi directed the builders to go into his building material stores at Ogunpa and ordered them to go and collect thousands of blocks and all the necessary building materials, like roofing sheets and so on. At completion, Ereola’s house became a cynosure of all eyes and also broke the record, as the first lowly person in Ibadan, to build a house of blocks, that was incomparable. Adebisi had a legendary style of writing off debts, without being prompted. He would ask his secretary / personal assistant- Adesokan, to read out the names of debtors and how much they owed. He would tear the pages and order for a match stick. He would strike the match stick and burn all the papers containing the debtors names. He would write off the debts whilst saying- “nobody likes to be a debtor”. Aside from his foray into the Ibadan traditional ruling council, he also became the President of the Ibadan Land Court in 1936. At the Land Court, he displayed exceptional brilliance, humaneness and deep knowledge of the Ibadan traditional Justice system. He would rather arbitrate a dispute, and would always prefer a fine option to a jail sentence. At this period, Captain Ward Price, an Ibadan apologist, had succeeded Captain W.A Ross, as the Resident of Ibadan.
HIS GLORIOUS EXIT
Adebisi in ill health, had visited the then renowned surgeon- Dr Doherty in Lagos. He was advised by the surgeon, to stay in Lagos for three weeks in order to reduce his stressful activities. In order to stay in Lagos for three weeks, he bought a house at 34, Whitman Street, Ebute Meta in Lagos, to enjoy a well-deserved rest. In January, 1938, in his last few moments, he brought out money to assist insolvent debtors. He brought out the papers containing the debtors’ names, tore and burnt them, without anyone noticing any premonition. After a brief illness of some few hours, he joined the saints triumphant on Friday June 21, 1938, at the age of 56 Years, and such was the glorious exit of the unparalleled, uncommon benefactor and philanthropist, who had impacted on souls and communities,- the Ibadan communities, Ibadan societies, Western Region and Nigeria. In the Ibadan folklore- “Ile Adebisi lati je Malu tawo tawo, awa o je dodo, nile Salami”, meaning-it is in Adebisi’s house that cow meat is eaten wholly with its skin, while we have not eaten fried plantain in the house of Salami (another notable Ibadan wealthy man of Adebisi’s generation). This piece is in response to a clarion call for the celebration of the times and lives of men, who had impacted successfully on the society and who had also made life worth living for the less privileged of their times, as a demonstration of how best to live a worthy and exemplary life. Human memory being short, the likes of Adebisi Idikan must be continually applauded and celebrated at all times! Sanusi Adebisi Giwa Akanji Idikan, Omo Ogboja, may your soul continually find peaceful repose with the Lord.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/sanusi-adebisi-idikan-1882-1838-first-ibadan-notable-entrepreneur-philanthropist/

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months:
Dont tell me black woman like the one he married cannot be found in the whole of yoruba land.


When they run to the other side of the fence, their children go turn halfcaste or is it not the same black as devil they will born.


Nyway, let all the yorubas marry from ss/se, let their women marry ghana and togo plus white, like i said, they are losers.

These igbos are the most tribalistic and hate-filled people I've ever seen. Always priding themselves in some fable thoughts to just feel good about themselves. Always bad-mouthing others for no reason. I've travelled the length and breadth of this country and neighbouring countries and I tell you the Igbos are the worst people I have come in contact with.
They hate on other tribes, yet they are the ones who find it hard to stay in their region, just sit your ass in your region since you don't find anything good about other tribes. Their behaviour is really pathetic and I strongly believe their is something ìn their DNA that makes them behave as if they are some yet-to-evolve apes.
Nigeria will do herself a lot of good to actually let these people have their own country where they can keep their hatred and arrogance before they spread it to other people

Flexherbal:
What is happening in Nigeria?
Is this the first year Muslims are fasting?
Can't they do it without disturbing others?
Where is the love?

It beats my imagination, people just like causing unnecessary problems

Flexherbal:
We lack true love in Nigeria.

How do you mean bro

I want to use this medium to bear my mind on a looming religious crisis that may come out the activities of beggars and miscreants that have besieged the Rayfield, Jos residence of erstwhile Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa.
Every year, during the holy month of ramadan, Ahmed Musa gives 'Zakat' mainly by provision of foodstuff and other items to the poor and needy.
For those who know Jos, the city has suffered series of religious crisis in recent times, an aftermath of which different areas in the city are delineated according to religion as either a Christian area or a Muslim area.
Rayfield is majorly for the elites and have a mostly Christian population.
What I have witnessed since the fasting started this year is unprecedented (probably due to the economic downturn) as the access road to Ahmed Musa's house (the street name is Daniel Shaga Drive) has been turned to a Mecca of sort with different kinds of people mainly keke riders, old women, destitutes and so on make life difficult for road users by blocking the road with keke and human presence on a daily basis, some ladies have also complained of harassment by some of the hausa boys. It was so bad this morning that my neighbour couldn't go to church in his car because the road was completely blocked.
This ugly trend if not put to check has the potential of sparking a religious crisis in the area and the state at large.
In the light of this I want to plead with Ahmed Musa to find an appropriate means of carrying out his religious obligation without causing hardship for other residents as this is fast constituting a big nuisance to residents of Daniel Shaga drive in Rayfield area of Jos; just as a saying goes "good things when not properly done will always have a bad effect"
Mods please help move to front page to get the much needed attention.
cc: lalasticlala mynd44 obinoscopy

I want to use this medium to bear my mind on a looming religious crisis that may come out the activities of beggars and miscreants that have besieged the Rayfield, Jos residence of erstwhile Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa.
Every year, during the holy month of ramadan, Ahmed Musa gives 'Zakat' mainly by provision of foodstuff and other items to the poor and needy.
For those who know Jos, the city has suffered series of religious crisis in recent times, an aftermath of which different areas in the city are delineated according to religion as either a Christian area or a Muslim area.
Rayfield is majorly for the elites and have a mostly Christian population.
What I have witnessed since the fasting started this year is unprecedented (probably due to the economic downturn) as the access road to Ahmed Musa's house (the street name is Daniel Shaga Drive) has been turned to a Mecca of sort with different kinds of people mainly keke riders, old women, destitutes and so on make life difficult for road users by blocking the road with keke and human presence, some ladies have also complained of harassment by some of the hausa boys. It was so bad this morning that my neighbour couldn't go to church in his car because the road was completely blocked.
This ugly trend if not put to check has the potential of sparking a religious crisis in the area and the state at large.
In the light of this I want to plead to Ahmed Musa to find an appropriate means to carry out his religious obligation without causing hardship for other residents as this is fast constituting a big nuisance to residents of Daniel Shaga drive in Rayfield area of Jos; just as a saying goes "good things when not properly done will have a bad effect"
Mods please help move to front page to get the much needed attention.
cc: lalasticlala mynd44 obinoscopy

EasternLeopard:



I don't blame Buhari but one particular people in the south who kept chanting CHANGE without asking if it will be + or -
Thank God we the 5% never fell for this trash.

The SW people are the only ones who didn't vote along ethnic lines, stop this illusion of grandeur, the APC and PDP got over 40% votes each from the SW. Even if the results from SW had turned in favour of the PDP they wouldn't still had won! But u people always twist facts just the blackmail the good people of the SW. I'm sure the narrative would have changed to the fact that the North brought Buhari to power if things had been rosy just to undermine the SW votes. You don't give a dog a bad name just to hang it!

Naija9090:
Yoruba suffering and smiling like it's fun....as long as it's Hausa-Fulani inflicting it on them. Had this been under GEJ? God! Hypocrites...problem with Nigeria!

You're a demented f00l, you obviously need a reality check, who are the most critics of this administration, ain't they yorubas? You Ibos are obviously the ones suffering and smiling as I'm yet to see anyone from your region say a thing about this government....bloody hypocrites!

You'll never see such in an Oyinbo church, only in Africa! SMH

AdaNri1:
Even the hate filled nairalanders that do not want Nigeria to divide are doing so out of their hatred and bigotry. They don't like igbos but they do not want them to go. I thought when a husband does not want a marriage anymore he divorces his wife, this one they're forcing husband to remain married to a woman that is bent on killing and destroying him.

You're a fool! Is it the 'hate-filled nairalanders that have prevented you from achieving your secession? And who told you Nigeria don't want Igbos to go? Rather it's the Igbos who have refused to make any concrete move towards achieving what they 'want'.
Believe me, all you need do is to quit all this online charade, make less noise about it, rather take actions like serious people do and see if Nigeria will waste any time in doing away with you awful lots like a piece of garbage. The country will be better off without you greedy mofos

The IPOBastards always supporting illegality, anything that causes hardship for the nation, anything that has the tendency of causing division, for their own selfish gains. They keep on shouting Biafra but they have not initiated what serious-minded secessionists put forward to drive home their demands, I would have expected their reps in the National Assembly initiate the process of conducting a referendum. All they do is protest and rant on Nairaland, I really can't wait for them to actualise their Biafra so we can all have peace (even though I know it's all hogwash and an attempt to arm-twist the FG for political gains)
PS: I don't respond to mentions

VickJames:


if you really want to start comparing states, please dont compare anambra state and osun state again, please.

there has never been a time since last five years that the igbos complained of hunger and starvation in anambra state.

but osun state has one the highest tears in the world this year. from lawyers, to lecturers.

i remember a lecturer who fainted when he saw his alert to be 150naira, that is to show you how poverty has killed a lecturer in your state.

we will not go into the different sectors of the economy of the state.

almost all the states in the southwest are debt because they have too many people to feed than anything.

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” [/b]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.

[b]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.