From: Ezeani Emefiena <emefiena@yahoo.com>
Date: 11 February 2012 13:21
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Igbo Attacking Northerners In Onitsha, Asaba: Who are the IGBO?
To: teddyallanah@yahoo.com, asaba@yahoogroups.com, folasade85@hotmail.com, dmuthuka@yahoo.com, IgboWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, lagui_lae@yahoo.ca, nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com
Who are the Igbo? - The Psychology of the DispossessedDespite being regarded as proud, which is not a justification to hate and persecute any people, the Igbo, nevertheless, were believed to be one of the most welcoming, friendly, hospitable and tolerant people. They "are renowned for their hospitality … (and their) hospitality, friendship and welcome is encapsulated, defined and given cogent identity and expression in the Kola nut."[1]A stranger finds shelter readily in an Igbo family and a family member may often not mind days of inconveniences caused by unexpected visitor … The philosophical background to the idea of hospitality relates to common blood flowing in humanity. The main emphasis is hospitality to those without kinship in the areas they find themselves … a religious hallow surrounds visitors whether they are known or unknown … (Ndukaihe, 2006: 272).
Ndi-Igbo (the Igbo people) easily accept and mix with other people. They comfortably and easily adopt other people's way of dressing, food and language without bothering. When a stranger may be suspicious of an Igbo person, as a potential enemy, the Igbo, on the contrary, would see the stranger as a brother or sister from afar, and as a friend. This may explain why, while the Yakubu Gowon Government looked the other way while the people of Eastern Nigeria origin were being slaughtered in the North in 1966/1967, the government of Emeka Ojukwu provided free transport to Northerners in the East and made sure no single Northerner was harmed. The Igbo have a view of universal brotherhood of everybody. This belief is found in their sayings and adages such as Nwanne di na mba (A stranger from a foreign land is also one's brother or sister - universal brotherhood) and Oje mba enwe ilo (A stranger has no enemy, as everybody is a friend, brother or sister). For Acholonu (2009): Ndi Igbo happen to be among the few groups of people in the world whose core traditional philosophies of life consist of virtues rather than vices – Justice and fair play (Ikpe kwu oto), Impeccability (ikwuba aka oto/ijide ogu), Peace and the brotherhood of Man (onye biri ibe ya biri), right action and right judgment (ofo na ogu/ome ihe jide ofo), right is might (ofo ka nsi) (:7).
The Igbo philosophy of Nwanne di na mba which makes them take and settle everywhere as their home, and to offer special welcome to anybody in their midst, is so ingrained in the Igbo life that it could be misconstrued as an anomaly or illness by a non-critical observer. For if what have been happening to Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria - intermittent destruction of their lives and properties, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria - had happened to other people, they would have adopted, in the word of the former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a think home philosophy of life. It has been acknowledged that it was the Igbo people who, through individual efforts, have more than any group of people in Nigeria, developed different parts of Nigeria (See Isichei, 1977) even at the neglect of their own states in Igbo land. They build modern houses and modern market stalls in different parts of Nigeria, especially in the North and Lagos. Some state governments in the North and West have realised that this could be exploited. Some have therefore adopted the policy of constantly moving Igbo businessmen and women in their states to virgin grounds, after they had developed the previous ones. That the Igbo people are nation-builders seems obvious though not many other Nigerians seem to be willing to express it. In his key note address at the meeting of South East Elders and Leaders held in Owerri on the 5th of March, 2010, Emeka Ojukwu states the following: … (the) future generations and all who like us and even those who do not like us, shall appreciate that Ndiigbo are nation-builders not nation-wreckers, but that the strong Igbo moral sense, handed down to us by our ancestors, will always resent and rebel against injustice, inequity and mindless blood-letting.[2]
The Igbo factor in Nigerian politics has, undoubtedly, played a role in formulation of tacit policies that affect the Igbo people by different Nigerian governments. One of these policies is what may be termed here as dis-Igbonisation policy (disorganisation of the people). As some scholars have noted, "From the beginnings of colonial rule until the present, different sets of essentially artificial administrative boundaries have been imposed on Igboland. None of them has ever been coterminous with Igboland" (Isichei, 1977: 140). As Awolowo (1947) has noted, "Ibos (sic) who properly belong to the Eastern Zone are grouped with the Yorubas in the west" (:53). The dis-Igbonisation process of the Igbo nation or ethnic group began in 1907 under the British Governor, Egerton, before the amalgamation of different nations that make up what is today known as Nigeria. It started with the renaming of an Igbo area known as Obumotu/Ugwuọcha to Port Harcourt. "The area was the main farmland for several kindred of the Diobu clan, a branch of the southern, Ikwerre Igbo" (Isichei, 1977: 200). The name Obumotu in Igbo means, 'We are one.' The British wanted to use this area as a base for coal exportation. Different subsequent Nigerian governments have adopted different policies to divide the Igbo people in the Southern part of Nigeria. And the people seem to have fallen easy prey to the trap and have moved away from Obumotu (We are one) to Obuhuotu (We are not one).
With the defeat of the state of Biafra, some Igbo people thought it appropriate to indulge in self-denunciation, an act that is not self-ennobling. It is understood that some have done this to disassociate themselves from 'the rebel-Igbo', while others have done so to be 'rightful' inheritors of the euphemism, abandoned property. As David Hunt has pointed out, "In Africa nothing fails like failure, and the Effiks, Calabaris, Ibibios and others will be as anxious to disassociate themselves from the defeated Ibos as Austria was from Germany in 1945."[3] Some other Igbo may, in the future, do the same, leaving only Nnewi (the home town of the 'Chief Rebel') as the only Igbo-land left. Perhaps, some Nnewi people may also denounce Emeka Ojukwu and their Igboness, and then, Emeka Ojukwu will be left as the only Igbo man, because no other Igbo person will be proud enough to associate himself or herself with the defeated Republic of Biafra.
One is reminded here of Arendt's (1978) concepts of parvenu, one who seeks assimilation and pariah, one who believes that he or she should be accepted for 'what I am'. The parvenu are "like wanderers who have no idea who they are because they have developed the perfect obsession of disclaiming any kind of identity" (Heuer, 2007).[4] Arendt (1978) describes the experience and fate of the Jewish people in France: "During seven years we played the ridiculous game of trying to be Frenchmen – at least prospective citizens; but at the beginning of the war we were interned as 'boches' all the same" (:61). O man, of whatever country you are, and whatever your opinions may be, behold your history, such as I have thought to read it, not in books written by your fellow-creatures, who are liars, but in nature, which never lies. All that comes from her will be true...[5]
The Director of Legal Services, Niger Delta Human and Environmental Rescue Organization (ND-HERO) and the President of the Ikwerre Youths, Barrister Okwukwu (2000) on this issue explains, Well the truth is that because the greater Igbo nation lost the Nigerian civil war and if you must be a true Nigerian, you must be anti-Igbo. That entered the psyche of all Igbos (sic) everywhere ... The truth is that the Ikwerre people are part and parcel of the greater Igbo nation and they share a lot in common (:18).
Following the footsteps of the British Colonial Government in political acts of gerrymandering and policy of Divide and Win, the Yakubu Gowon Government dissected and destabilised the Igbo nation by merging important Igbo places, like Port Harcourt and Obigbo, with a non-Igbo State and by so doing, made the territorial delineation problematic. One controversial aspect [of his government's policy] was Gowon's annexing of Port-Harcourt, a largely Igbo city sitting on some of Nigeria's largest reserves, into the new Rivers State, emasculating the Igbo population there. The flight of many of them to the 'Igbo heartland' where they felt safer would later prove to be a contradiction for Gowon's "no victor, no vanquished" policy, when at the end of the war, the properties they left behind were illegally occupied by some minority elements in Rivers State.[6]
By such drastic measures Gowon had reinvigorated the process of dis-Igbonisation of Port Harcourt, Ikwerre, Obigbo and other Igbo towns and villages with large oil reserves and with easy access to the seas. As Colonel Joseph Achuzia has noted, part of the effort to make the Igboman a second class citizen is within a plot used in the creation of states … the old Igbo territory starts from Obudu-Ogoja all the way (to) Bansara and all those places. Then all the way to Obubra down are all Igbos of Bantu stock. They have a particular facial configuration. Then you get to Rivers State, two third of Rivers State are Igbos and Igboland. But so as to reduce the Igbos in population, deprive them of their original lands, these were carved out and given states. To the Igboman, it makes no difference because, I look at Opobo, King Jaja, he was an Igboman. All these things we know. Midwest was created through the efforts of the Igbos and Zik and the others. After the West walked out on Zik after the elections and many of the Yorubas decamped, so they decided to fight to create the Midwest region. In other words, the Midwest region was meant to be another Igbo region, that is why Osadebe became the Premier of that region.[7]
One principal aim of Gowon's policy was to destabilise the Igbo by fragmenting their cohesion. "To the Igbos (sic), the new boundaries which cut them off from Port Harcourt – and some other southern Igbo clans such as Etche and Ikwerre – were unacceptable" (Isichei, 1977: 246). Njoku (2002) states, "While the eastern minorities were granted their long-sought autonomy, Port Harcourt, a predominantly Igbo city, was left outside the Igbo state. To the Igbo, this act was tantamount to an open challenge to secede" (:252).
Study, confirmed by Okwukwu (2000) shows that the dis-Igbonisation project was making some impact among the people there; some denied they were Igbo and others changed their Igbo names or the names of their towns and villages which were Igbo in name and in spelling. For example, Umuokolo (meaning children of Okolo) was changed to Rumuokolo, which in Igbo means nothing in essence. There was a case of one Mr. Nwachukwu (Igbo name for God's child) who, towards the end of the war, said to Olusegum Obasanjo, "'No, I am not Igbo. I am Port Harcourt tribe'" (Ojo, 1997: 142). Obasanjo was said to have been amused by that. Amusing to the oppressor but it is "the psychology of the dispossessed," which, in Achebe's (2000) words, "can be truly frightening" (:72). The Nigerian Government's policy which aims at the disintegration of the Igbo as a homogenous race or ethnic group also becomes apparent in the abandoned property issue. [1] See Teachers Without Borders: Hospitality - http://pcourses.teacherswithoutborders.org/certificate-teaching-mastery-5-courses/course-five/part-one-who-i-am...what-i-believe...how-i-teach/hospitality, Accessed 15/8/09, Time: 7.09pm. [2] Tribute to a Great Man: Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu http://www.elombah.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9068:-tribute-to-a-great-man-dim-chukwuemeka-odumegwu-ojukwu&catid=25:politics&Itemid=92 Accessed 27/12/11. [3] The National Archives (NA), POWE 63/238, Note for the Records: Nigeria 1967, Nigeria: Prospects for a Negotiated Peace, p. 2. [4] Heuer, Wolfgang, (2007), Europe and its Refugees: Arendt on the Politicization of Minorities, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_4_74/ai_n24377475/pg_4/?tag=content;col1 Accessed 1/12/09, Time: 12.08pm. [5] Rousseau, A Dissertation On the Origin and Foundation of Inequality of Mankind http://www.constitution.org/jjr/ineq_03.htm, Accessed 3/12/08, Time: 11.23pm. [6] See The Build-up to the Biafran War, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakubu_Gowon, Accessed 3/2/09. [7] Tony Ita Etim, Ojukwu's Death, not End of Biafran Dream - Ojukwu was Moses of his People –Achuzia, 10 Dec. 2011, http://www.champion.com.ng/displaycontent.asp?pid=14917 Accessed: 22/12/2011.
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