THE IGBOS AND THEIR UNHEALED PERSECUTION COMPLEX - Austin Emaduku

In a recent article titled “IGBO-HATERS, THE AREWA ULTIMATUM AND OUR NATION ” Ruben Abati, former Presidential spokesperson said in the opening sentence: “Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the federation called Nigeria.” Dr Abati went on in the article to build on this statement as the reason for the Igbo agitation. As is with everything written by erudite Abati, the piece was written in the highest delectable prose. He gave several instances, some of which sounded far fetched to give credence to this opening statement of his article.

Austin Emaduku

I am minded to believe that Abati is just playing to the gallery. It is not easy trying to integrate into the popular side after a not so savoury sojourn on the other side. I wish to disagree vehemently with the opening statement that seem to suggest that the Igbos are yet to be fully accepted or integrated into the Nigerian society. Unless integration and acceptance means a different thing from their ordinarily known meaning. But if the Igbos of today Nigeria still do not feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety anywhere in this country, then it is as a result of a lingering persecution complex that the Igbos have refused to let go or due to some other undisclosed reasons. And if this feeling persists and has permeated even Igbos born after the civil war, then we have the Igbo elders to blame for ingraining in their youths a pain they should let go.

It is false to say that the Igbos do not feel a sense of belonging, acceptance and safety in Nigeria. If this assertion is true, then they will not be everywhere in the country. If they feel unsafe, they won’t be in the innermost villages of other tribes where even indigenes of such tribes fear to dwell. There is hardly any swat of land, hamlet, village, town or city in this country that an Igbo man is not found. They live, dwell and do business amongst their host communities. Their children attend the same schools as the children of their hosts. When they want to marry, they go back home to bring Ibo wives. How can a people so accepted this way claim otherwise. The truth is, the Ibos are accepted more than any other tribe in Nigeria.

They belong to this country more than other ethnic groups because they own a larger slice of this country more than any other people or group. They are the drivers of the federal spirit more than any other tribe. Whether they have reciprocated this acceptance of them to other tribes is what should even be debated. How many non Ibos have attempted living permanently or doing business in Ndigbo land and succeeded? Rather, they are the ones who have looked at others with suspicion because they are yet to get over the pains of war or forgive the rest of Nigeria for the calamity that befell them and which was largely self inflicted.

 The folly of it all is that they are yet again on the trajectory to another self imposed calamity for undisclosed reasons. They especially, have not forgiven the south south minorities for what they consider a betrayal that’s why they still want to annex them so that they can teach them a lesson. This can be seen from the forceful inclusion of other minority ethnic groups into their proposed map of Biafra. The Igbos by nature are “territorialists'” who, while being very protective of their enclave, like to explore the spaces of others.
It is true that the Igbos and the South East have not enjoyed their fair share of benefits commensurate to their contributions to building of the Nigerian federation. It is also true that the Igbos have also rightly desperately wanted to rule this country. The failure in all these have been due more to their own attitude, body language, perception of other ethnic groups, and lack of unity of purpose than the fault of other Nigerians.

The Igbos must first and foremost realise that the war is over and nothing can be done about it. Clinging on to that memory as a blackmail tool will do them no good.
Yes! The South -East can shout marginalisation in terms of infrastructure and federal presence. But this does not set them apart for special treatment or prove their non acceptability, and safety by other Nigerians. We must get the narrative straight and put our agitations in right language and perspective. Who isn’t marginalised? Will the South – South claim today to be free from marginalisation because it held the Presidency for 6 years? Besides if we were practising true federalism, who will cry about federal presence?

I like to believe that the current struggle is the Igbos own attempt to use the same method that the South-West and South- South used to get power and which the North used to get it back, through various regional agitations that put pressure on the nation to award them the Presidency. But if the aim is to follow the lunatic Kanu secessionist dream, then, the Igbos are a fatalistic people without a sense of history.