15 Jun 2009 |
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In the poem “The Second Coming" published in 1921, William Butler Yeats wrote that “… everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Kidnapping with passionate intensity is the only way one can describe the present situation in South Eastern Nigeria. The worst of Ndigbo appears to have arrived and taken control of their lives, redefining their value system, traditional believes, morality, and everything they used to know and cherish. While acknowledging that moral decadence in our society cuts across almost all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, the alacrity with which the worst in Ndigbo have pervaded their societies and are now seen as role models calls for a critical examination. I will use the recent wave of kidnappings in Igbo states to drive home my points. It is no longer news that the risks of kidnapping is now higher in south east Nigeria than in Niger Delta region. The passionate intensity with which some umu afo Igbo (sons of the soil) have taken to the act of kidnapping has left me bewildered. To make a clear distinction between why there is happening in Igbo land and not in the middle belt, northern Nigeria or western Nigeria, you need to try and answer this question; If the act of kidnapping is a reflection of the absence of law and order in Nigeria as a whole, why must it be in Igbo land that it has turned into a money making venture without any other cause or justification other than greed? What started in Niger Delta as an act of protest against the environmental injustices and struggle over resource control which later deteriorated to acts of vandalism, greed, and money making venture has been hijacked, redefined and perfected by “faceless” vandals in south east Nigeria. The worst amongst Ndigbo are gradually taking over reigns of power and as these vandals drives fear into the poor masses. Among the south eastern states, Anambra state appears to be the worst. There have been cases where the family of poor hostages who couldn’t afford to pay the huge ransom were snookered into selling plots of family land to raise the money by the kidnappers. There was a case where 20 million Naira was demanded and the captive’s family could only come up with 5 million Naira. And you know what the kidnappers did? The killed their hostage and told the family members where to go pick up the corpse and perform the burial ceremony with the 5 million. Just pause and think of that and the callousness. It all started with the erosion of the sense of shame, courtesy, right and wrong in the past three decades. Amplified with reorientation of the traditional core values of honesty, integrity, equity, communal social responsibility and replaced by greed to get rich at all cost. Very soon, the people that matters, listened to and worshiped in the societies and villages became people that got rich overnight whose sources of wealth, to say the least are most times questionable. Thus, Ndigbo had the era of Nnukwu Mmanwus (the big masquerades) and the Otimkpus (the praise singers). Igbu ozu became the yard stick to measure responsibility and acceptance in the society. They had the Otokoto era and the Edie Nogu scandals. Bakassi Boys have come and gone. The prestigious place of civil servants and teachers in the villages were displaced in a chemical reaction that has cash, cars and greed as catalysts resulting in an unbalanced equation. Men who wanted to belong ebe ife na-eme (where things are happening) fled the civil service and teaching. Those who remained turned their offices and class rooms to business centers. The 4th republic witnessed the first coming to age of the products of that greedy era. The Nnamanis, Mbadinujus, Kalus, Ubahs, Nzeribes and the likes. These acts of kidnapping is a graduation and marks the second coming of the beasts. Meanwhile, the innocence has been silenced and drowned in Igbo land. The political beasts have rigged their way into elective offices. The traditional value system has been eroded and replaced by greed. Things have fallen apart and anarchy is gradually staring Ndigbo in the face. I think it’s time for Ndigbo to re-evaluate their value system. Who do Ndigbo see as their role models? What do they cherish and value? What do parents wish for their children? What do a parent who takes a child out of a secondary school and pay their ways for the child to excel in exams through malpractice expect from that generation in ten years time? Now back to the act of kidnapping for ransom. What drives this present wave of kidnapping in Igbo land? It is greed to get rich in order to belong to that new class of people that has arrived in the society. What most Ndigbo has forgotten is that greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. The chieftaincy titles, the knighthood in the churches, the traditional leaderships, the spoke’s person and all the prestigious positions in all facets of Igbo society should size to be exclusive reserve of the rich. A nation that worships wealth they say shall live to destroy itself. Are these acts of kidnapping marking the climax of the destruction of Igbo Nation? Ndigbo should be worried at the directions the moral decadence in their society is taking them. This is the time for every Igbo man and woman to pause, re-examine those things they believe in and start making amends.
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