Putting An End To Igbophobia

By Ralp Egbu

I had a choice to begin the dissection of national disorganization from reconciliation and unity but I told myself that the right way to enduring reconciliation and national unity would be to first of all discover the unit problems so we can put whatever solutions we come up with in their proper perspective. When this is done we get to the root of the problems.

The bane of national development has had to do with two basic approaches, take problems from the superficial level of the symptoms. World organizations lead us to run with the slogan “wipe out malaria by 2027” and when we want to start we begin with spending very huge national resources to purchase foreign made mosquito nets.

We lose the funds, very scarce foreign exchange in what is called capital flight, grow the economy of the  country or countries that produce the mosquito nets; help them to create jobs for their citizens while we lose so many things in the process. The open gutters where the mosquitoes breed and multiply remain the same or go worse. We have cultivated this penchant to wake up and throw money at challenges and it is no surprise we are not getting the results we expect. 

In building up the country we have taken the same approach, over and over again. we have been getting negative outcomes. Trillions have been spent to find peace yet it has remained very illusive and the question is why is this so?

The answer is very easy to give. We have been used to leaving substance to chase shadows. We have diversity which ordinarily should confer advantages but unfortunately we have turned things upside down and what ought to be a strong tool for change has turned an albatross on our necks.

The national attitude to the Igbo of South East hasn’t been the right one from independence. The Igbo resisted the colonial rulers and other incursions before that and when the colonialists thought of creating Nigeria and ran with the idea of including the Igbo people, they never resisted. Everyone looked forward to a very bright future for the new country to emerge and indeed it did finally come through. 

But a few months after independence things began to change until it got to the point the centre couldn’t hold again. Igbo in Nigeria became victims of repeated pogrom. They were killed at random. Yet, Igbo had gone to live in other parts of the country in their numbers in the spirit of brother and progress. Their good gesture wasn’t reciprocated by many of their host communities and local authorities who thought they were too aggressive and full of ambitions.

Things got to a head with the outbreak of a civil war which lasted nearly three years, all of it fought in the South East territory. It would seem the other parts of the arrangement were waiting for the Igbo to step foot forward for them to react in the most brutal manner. The war afforded the rest the opportunity.

At the end of the war, Igbo got no Marshall plan for the quick reconstruction and rehabilitation of the people and their area. The people lost human resources and their material possessions. Those at home were targeted and destroyed and the ones outside Igbo land were seized and branded “abandoned property”. Local persons who scrambled for those assets converted them to their own. Government policy supported or rather gave credence to a bad development. This further impoverished a people who had been wrestled to the ground.

If no huge industrial concerns are found in the entire Igbo territory, the reason is partly because even while the war was to completely come to an end the victorious party had enacted an indigenization decree which transferred ownership of companies from foreign control to local ownership and control. It was an open bid quite alright but what could a man already conquered  in war and stripped of all his possessions do in the circumstance?  

States were created about the same time and the objective for the creation was to bring the “hegemony” of Igbo over the old Eastern region to an end. Create states and give the South East minorities their states and implant in their mind the idea that the Igbo are their worst enemies who never wanted them to grow. They fell for the bait and it has remained potent. It is equally very important to reveal the zone known today as South East got only five states while the rest had six with one having seven. 

Many ask the question: Are the Igbo in Nigeria today truly marginalised? A scholar made a quote that is instructive. He said: “If you don’t know a truth exists you are a fool but if you know and fail to say it you become a criminal.” Many Nigerians on this score have tended to cross the boundary and this is very unfortunate. 

States in the country have become the basis on which everything revolves: revenue sharing formula, employment, admission into public institutions, nearly everything, yet the Igbo with comparable high population, a majority tribe on its own right, have had their architecture cannibalised in such a manner that besides disadvantages imposed on them constitutionally and otherwise, they have been turned into a “minority.” They have lost voice and presence. 

Governments across the other spheres outside Igbo heckle and treat them as materials with no consequences. In the northern apart from the derogatory name calling, Igbo were often targeted and given terrible treatment even when people of other tribes committed infringements for which they should be held responsible. In Lagos where the Igbo did much to transform the land, their shops and residential apartments are being pulled down with reckless abandon and no one is raising a voice of restraint.

Igbo have been pushed to the wall and naturally they should cry and do cry. Their new generation is questioning the discredited order and wondering why such should have happened at all. Nnamdi Kanu’s case is situated  within this prism. The intriguing thing is why the youths say “embrace us, accept us fully or leave us to go form a new country for ourselves”, a vast of the older generation seem to say if any opportunity to dialogue throws itself up seize the chance and make the most of it. The gap is yearning to be filled but it would seem the “conqueror’s mentality” is still running very high.

The successive federal governments were never interested. General Olusegun Obasanjo ran with a victorious army mindset only to become a new convert for peace after he left office. Goodluck Jonathan afraid of the north didn’t know what to do. By the time he woke up he was on his way out. President Muhammadu Buhari was a disaster. President Bola Tinubu too hasn’t seen a need to consult and negotiate peace. 

We know the ostrich story: it buried its head in the soil and thought it had full cover until the hunters dealt it a final blow. The truth about nation building is that nations that get into the nation state ranking don’t enter by coercion. No, they undertake constructive engagements. It is about engagement, dialogue, and disagreement, compromise, consensus and final agreement.

If we took this path some of the factors that have hindered development of the country would just disappear. President Tinubu, engage Igbo leaders, halt Nnamdi Kanu’s trial and quickly authorize his release from detention. Truth is if he stays on trial it is the entire Igbo race who are on trial. It would still be the same if he is convicted. The anger would be much more and long lasting.

For the Igbo it would then be the final sign they are not wanted in Nigeria. This won’t portend well for the new Nigeria we earnestly want. We must understand that Igbo abhor violence, no right thinking person would want lives lost, any life for that matter but things do happen once any country is walking the path of nation building. Nations ignore some things for the  achievement of peace and growth. If Boko haram insurgents can be talked with and pardoned, what more? Igbo want equal rights and justice. It is the right panacea. 

*Egbu is a commentator on public issues