By Abdu Abdullahi
The Saturday Sun, July 4th, 2015, featured an opinion column with
the above caption. It was characterized by the writer’s reflective and
expressive capacity for deep lamentation, protest, extolment and optimism about
the Igbo State
*Chinua Achebe Reads And Igbo Poem at 2011
Achebe Colloquium at Brown University, in Rhode Island
Thus, the writer was able to impressively and emotionally fix
significant areas of focus for the readers to digest with a view to
constructing sound judgments on the critical issues raised as enshrined in the
presentation. The writing was particularly outstanding because of its
linguistic strength to communicate effectively with our original mind.
Consequently, this impacted tremendously on my psychological make-up,
empowering me with the expressive zeal of picking my pen to offer this
contribution.
I particularly observed that the choice of the word “appreciate” in
the title might have been informed by the writer’s resolve to renew and boost
the collective image of the Igbo in the context of ethnic and political
supremacy context. In fact, the word appreciate is readily endowed with the
lexical power to assume the role of a persuasive agent.
In a way, the word appreciate possesses the driving force of
engaging the mind in sober reflections on the Igbo. Mr. Clem Aguiyi’s opening
paragraph was skillfully organized to deploy his message to the in-depth of our
mind, fostering a strong cohesion from the beginning to the end of the writing.
To drive home his profound feelings and belief about the Igbo, he
meticulously dwelt on historical, social, political and philosophical
dimensions to carry the readers along the course of evidence based analysis,
justification and verification. After scrutinizing the entire work, the central
themes captured and refreshed my memory on the period that I really appreciated
the beauty of Igbo land. My conviction about the productive attributes of the
Igbo was consolidated.
