In “Igbo: A People In Search Of A Leader: Further Commentary”, NVS Friday, 16 May 2008, Sabella Ogbobode Abidde really ruffled my tribal feathers. And before the ember of his engulfing fire is extinguished from the public consciousness, an appropriate rebuttal of his misconception is now valid.

In as much as we should encourage unity and solidarity among the growing, not to say rebellious corps of Diaspora based internet warriors, that word again, we also have a sacred duty to censor some of our loose canons when there is obvious slippage from their journalistic grace.

Undoubtedly, when the siren of tribal jingoism whizzes across the public domain, there is a danger that such tribalist writer may morph into a villainous figure through unconscious desire to carry the torch for his clan. Perhaps, Abidde may have fallen into that trap. In the polity that we all fondly referred to as Nigeria, no tribe or ethnicity has a monopoly of knowledge. We are all inputting, weaving and contributing, no matter how little, to the new Nigerian genre of change, progress, democratic renewal, unity and peaceful co-existence. The Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa are all genuine stakeholders in the new vision, or shall I say, ongoing narrative of shared values, aspirations and a common heritage. Regardless of our tribal affiliations we are all in a historic mission to construct a virile and indivisible nation, at peace with itself, aware of its past failings and confident of the future.

I have to state the obvious that public commentators who are issue-driven have far more chances to receive public respect, adulation and honour than writers who carry the burdensome cross of tribal jingoism. The easiest way we could all demean, no, desecrate the challenging province of public discourse is when we all fall into primitive hallucination and recklessly make social, political, economic and intellectual comparison that are baseless but could only inflame and wound.

When we resort to tribal sentiment, we demean our education, we deploy venom-laden exchanges, we resurrect the ugly memory of our civil war and worse, we dishonour the gains and sacrifice of our pilgrim fathers like Awolowo, Azikiwe and Balewa. When we rush through that electrical, intellectual impulse to impugn, smear, denigrate and cast horrid aspersions on the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani people, the odious outcome could be unending distrust and vile hate that could lead to further polarisation.

Now let us sound out Abidde in his own inimitable words. “The Igbo nation had attributes most other Nigerian nationalities can only dream of; and are what most other nations were not. The Igbo made Nigerian better. Any wonder then that the Igbo can do without Nigeria; but Nigeria and her myriad nationalities cannot do without the Igbo? Take the Igbo out of the Nigerian equation, and Nigeria will be gasping for air.” Really? One cannot pretend not to feel particularly alarmed and outraged by his wholly ludicrous views of Igbo tribal superiority. There is a sign of unhealthy disdain for other people who constitute Nigeria by this rabid and arrogant statement.  I am sure mature and sensible ‘Odenigbos’ like Okey Ndibe, Peter Claver Oparah, Levi Obijiofor, Moses Ebe Ochonu, Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo and Ozodi Thomas Osuji, all brilliant minds would have pinched themselves to watch Abidde fall so shamelessly into such provocative innuendoes, vitriolic outburst and unedifying clannish suggestibility.

Further on he fulminates, “How did a people this intelligent, this savvy, and this contributive got shut out of the corridor of federal power and continually being deprived the chance to attain the highest seat in Nigeria’s political power?” To give Abidde a simple answer, it is all in our attitude. Would you vote for people who erroneously arrogate to themselves the highest IQ in Nigeria? Would you vote for a tribe, who, according to Abidde are omnipotent, omniscient and self-sufficient?  Would you vote for a tribe who have build an enduring myth around their valour, thus referring to Yoruba people as being cowards? Abidde’s comment here is self-defeating, retrogressive and a widener of the already festering wound of tribalism we all struggle to heal from our body politics.

Hear another brainwave: .....”mistrust of the Igbo by other ethnic groups, and the unspoken determination of the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani to deprive the Igbo of their rightful place in Nigeria polity.” That is a lovingly brilliant punch line! MISTRUST OF THE IGBO (caps mine) by other ethnic groups is a self-fulfilling prophecy when you consider Abidde’s colourful canvass of the Ndigbo as perfect, over intelligent, monolithic in temperament and savvy in business. Who will trust such collection of righteous, haughty and demi-gods across the Niger?

Abidde comes charging once more and bang, “Essentially, the North and the West have not rid themselves of their prejudices and hatred of the Igbo. They have been using jaundiced perception and misreading of history to thwart the Igbo presidential aspiration”. Answer to this Igbo political quandary will begin to emerge when the Igbo bury this sickening victimhood, which had been the agent of their stagnation and ruin since the end of the civil war. Politics is a gladiatorial combat but when you begin to marinate defeat, and in the Ndigbo case, denial of the centre, with cheap tribal sentiment and imagined hatred by other contestants, then there should be a new Ndigbo conversation and realignment of accommodating vision shorn of tribal animus.

There is another statement, but its import is not lost on me. “And Nigeria became what it was because of the Igbo. The Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba have been at the helm of Nigeria’s national affairs and the result has been dismal. It is time the Igbo take control and command of Aso Rock” Certainly, deadpan self-justification like this will induce the bitterness of every Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani. I can go on, but let me say that there is a constant danger when Abidde and his tribesmen remain shamelessly protective and lofty about their tribal achievements, even though he did not supply verifiable argument to justify his sentiment. If I may ask, in what area of human endeavour has the Igbo excel but the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani are found wanting?  Yoruba, if Abide may know, have deadly abhorrence for anybody who is too full of himself. Yoruba loathe anybody who is too full of vain gloriousness as the statement above suggests. What right has Abidde to use Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani as practice target for his denigrating and haughty vitriol?

This logic and Abidde’s intellectual inability to see beyond the dark prism of tribal jealousies have destroyed friends, communities and nations. Across Nigeria, we could still excavate the remains of charred bodies along the Ife-Modakeke tribal borderline. Then across the continent, the same orgy of tribal politics once destroyed otherwise peaceful nations such as Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan and presently Zimbabwe. Tribalism, no matter how fetchingly disguised, is emotive, corrosive and highly inflammable.

Having said all this, there is undeniably much that are admirable about the Igbo. They are clever, focus, fair, personable, longsuffering, patience, brave, shrewd, trustworthy, loyal and positively proud of their heritage. Would Abidde be kind enough to be so charitable with his praise of other tribes? However, it is a lie of the Igbo politician to point to Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani as the axis of evil denying the Igbo the overdue lordship of Aso Rock.  The reason why Aso Rock breakthrough is not forthcoming is located in this Abidde’e prophetic line.....’the infighting and unnecessary wrangling between Igbo power centers that adequately accounts for why the Igbo have been denied the presidency”.  So why would he provoke this tribal outrage when in his own words, and to put it neatly in Yoruba language, ‘kokoro to njefo inu efo lowa.’ The moth devastating the vegetable lives right inside the vegetable!!  Chineke........Mba nu!

Tijani, lives in London.

Robot  Villager

# 1 In “Igbo: A People In Search Of A Leader: Further Commentary”, NVS Friday, 16 May 2008...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 26.05.2008 21:37

ttonjo  Villager

# 2 “The Igbo nation had attributes most other Nigerian nationalities can only dream of; and are what most other nations were not. The Igbo made Nigerian better. Any wonder then that the Igbo can do without Nigeria; but Nigeria and her myriad nationalities cannot do without the Igbo? Take the Igbo out of the Nigerian equation, and Nigeria will be gasping for air.” Really? One cannot pretend not to feel particularly alarmed and outraged by his wholly ludicrous views of Igbo tribal superiority. There is a sign of unhealthy disdain for other people who constitute Nigeria by this rabid and arrogant statement. There is a Yoruba saying that put paid to the above statement from Sabella, that: 'Eni to gbon, to leni kan o gbon, owun ni baba were'. Meaning, 'A wise man who think he is the only wisest person, is a BIG FOOL'. No one has got the monopoly of knowledge and no one is indispensable, not even the Sabella Abidde's, Igbo tribe. We are all humans and we are all Africans. It is foolish and senseless thing for a fellow Africans to look down on other Africans as inferior, after all the oppression and slavery we have gone through from other races, including Arabs, caucasians, Indians etc. Please let's stop this stupid 'I'm better than you attitude' that is dragging the black race behind in the community of nations and focus on how to collectively move, not only Nigeria forward, but Africa in general. Posted by ttonjo| 26.05.2008 22:29

Tony  Villager

# 3 @taju tijani: You are making a very serious mistake here by assuming that Sabella Abidde, the writer of that article is Igbo. Please be informed that Mr Abidde is an Ijaw chap who was just airing his own opinion. Now that you know that Abidde was not an Igbo chap praise singing his own ethnic group, I would advice you to modify the title of your aticle which is somewhat offensive before this thread becomes another ethnic battleground. Posted by Tony| 26.05.2008 23:43

waleodusote  JJC

# 4 Having said all this, there is undeniably much that are admirable about the Igbo. They are clever, focus, fair, personable, longsuffering, patience, brave, shrewd, trustworthy, loyal and positively proud of their heritage. Would Abidde be kind enough to be so charitable with his praise of other tribes? However, it is a lie of the Igbo politician to point to Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani as the axis of evil denying the Igbo the overdue lordship of Aso Rock. The reason why Aso Rock breakthrough is not forthcoming is located in this Abidde’e prophetic line.....’the infighting and unnecessary wrangling between Igbo power centers that adequately accounts for why the Igbo have been denied the presidency”. So why would he provoke this tribal outrage when in his own words, and to put it neatly in Yoruba language, ‘kokoro to njefo inu efo lowa.’ The moth devastating the vegetable lives right inside the vegetable!! Chineke........Mba nu! Bros, I like this part I quoted most. I have many Igbo friends and as their fellow Nigerian, I have come to understand their faults, just like I understand the faults unique to people of my ethnicity and other ethnicities in Nigeria. The way I see it is this: There is a little Yoruba, Hausa, Bini, Ijaw in some Igbos; There is a little Igbo, Hausa, Itshekiri, Nupe in some Yorubas; There is a little Hausa in Igbo, Yoruba, etc; meaning that: There is one trait common to all Nigerians. One is that we are the happiest people in the world; and we always come through when crunch time comes to working through our issues with one another. That, I admire and overlook everything else. Peace, Bro, Peace. Posted by waleodusote| 27.05.2008 00:37

docokwy  Villager

# 5 So, anybody that writes positively about the Igbo becomes an Igbo automatically? Where were you when Osuji was writing his own version about Igbos?. Look here, Tajudeen abi tijani abi kile nje(sp). You are a tribalist for going to war with Sabella on what he wrote about a different tribe than his. Sabella is not an Igbo. Sabella is Ijaw. What Sabella wrote was his opinion, just like I have my own opinion of the Yoruba, Ijaw and Hausa, etc. Thus, do not drag the Igbo into this. Biko, jo, please. Sabella can you come out and tell Taju that you are not Igbo but Ijaw, before he chokes in his hateful bile, please. :lol: Posted by docokwy| 27.05.2008 03:10

Agidimolaja  Villager

# 6 Sabella was not trying to remind us of what he thought we might have forgotten.Neither was he trying to teach us what he thought we do not know by his praise singing Igbos. It is an indisputable fact that Igbos need no further introduction.Igbos are already well known worldwide. I'm however surprised that Sabella, an Ijawman has taken it upon himself to crow so loudly at the rooftop about the greatness of Igbos.Who needs this kind of hypocritical crowing? No,Igbos don't need it. If Igbos are such a great people as Sabella painted them and if he truely belived so;why then has he not condemned his own Ijaw people for not teaming up with such a great people during the civil war instead of teaming up with Gowon's Federal Government?Charity should begin first at home.Igbos greatness must first be preached to Ijaws by Sabella before he could be qualified to preach same to us. If Igbos are so important to Sabella;why then has he not written anything about Igbos abandoned properties in Ijawland that Ijaws and other ethnic tribes are still sitting upon till today? Ijaws are crying over what they percieved as injustice done to them by Federal Government but Ijaws have not talked about injustices done to Igbos over the stealing of Igbos abandoned properties.Why is Sabella pretending as if he do not know about it? It was Sabella's own man,Chief Edwin Clark who told us after the civil war when he was Gowon's Federal Commissioner that,"There are no abandoned properties in Rivers State.All the properties that are in Rivers State belong to the people of Rivers State". It is almost fourty years now,still Igbos have not been given back their legitimate properties.What has Sabella done to assist Igbos in that area? Nothing, except needless praise singing. Gen. Ironsi, an Igboman was recently mocked and insulted on pages of newpapers by the very murderer {TY Danjuma} who brutally killed him.We did not read anything written by Sabella to denounce the heartless murderer,yet Sabella is a lover and defender of Igbos. Please allow me to disagree furthermore with Sabella on his assertion that Igbos are what every other tribes dream of being like. Maybe it is true with him and his Ijaw tribe but same is not true with us Yorubas. We Yorubas never dream of becoming like Igbos or any other tribe.We always want to be our very self and remained as Yorubas. Or can Sabella tell readers what is it that Igbos have and we Yorubas are lacking. Why then should we be dreaming of becoming someone else? We have no reason to, especially when we are pacesetters, we have numerous "Firsts", more than any other tribe in Nigeria. First TV Station,first University etc and the list is endless. It is others that are running to catch up with us,we Yorubas are not running to catch up with no one.Some shouted it out that they already caught up with us but only to discover that we have again outspaced them.Trust me,Yorubas are always in front except when injustice is applied to set us back. I also disagree with Sabella, that without Igbos,Nigeria shall be gasping for air.For real? Why or how? But between 1967-1970 Nigeria was not at the brink of death even though we missed our fellow Igbos who then relocated to their Biafran Republic. Without them,Nigeria shall still be; just as without Yorubas or Hausas Nigeria would still be as long as the rest decided to remain together. Igbos are great people but it does not mean that they are the greatest. Igbos numbered in millions but there are other tribes in millions too,including Yorubas. Igbos conributed a lot to Nigeria just as other tribes did including Yorubas.At the same time Igbos have their own share of blames for the poor condition of Nigeria as at today just like other tribes too, including Yorubas.The destruction of Nigeria's economy was a collective effort.Crooks are found all over the land.This sort of praise singing is therefore needless and it is laughable too. It is sad though that certain people would loudly proclaim themselves as friends of Igbos but when it is time to show that friendship especially when it counts most,they are never around. Posted by Agidimolaja| 27.05.2008 03:37

yashuaib1  Villager

# 7 Weldone Taju. Your choice of words too in the language of mass-communication, devoid of soyinkaism is added advantages for easy comprehension of timely admotion. You may find Igbo Politics and Hollywood... YAShuaib Posted by yashuaib1| 27.05.2008 04:23

Abraxas  Villager

# 8 =Tony;4295046770>@taju tijani: You are making a very serious mistake here by assuming that Sabella Abidde, the writer of that article is Igbo. Please be informed that Mr Abidde is an Ijaw chap who was just airing his own opinion. Now that you know that Abidde was not an Igbo chap praise singing his own ethnic group, I would advice you to modify the title of your aticle which is somewhat offensive before this thread becomes another ethnic battleground. Hi, Taju Tijani! Actually, some non-Eastern Nigerians, mostly Western Nigerians, honestly believe that anybody from any place east of Benin City is Igbo! In other words, it really may not matter to you whether Sabella Abidde is Igbo, or Izon, or Effik, or Ogoni, or Ibibio, or Ikwerre, or Ibani, or Anang, or Okrika, or whatever, as far as your mindset is concerned, they are all Igbo: Okoro; Kobokobo! And even if they are NOT Igbo, {ehen?}, and so, what-the-effff? Does that change your opinions about the earth being called Sabella Abidde? No! In fact, maybe, even seff, paa~paa, Sabella Abidde could be a convenient smokescreen for hauling unwarranted abuses and insults at about 30 million NdiIgbo worldwide! So, there you are: In the process of scripting a suitable ethnic baiting melodrama, while posturing like you were addressing a specific issue traceable to Sabella Abidde, you made direct and indirect snipes and jabs at NdiIgbo, and predictably, set the stage for our very own resident chauvinists and Village ethnic warlords to converge to the Square for some good old finger-licking soul-refreshing ethnic dog fight. I hope I have not spoilt your fun. Please forgive me, if I may have brought rainstorms on your parade. I am only wondering aloud whether this business of ethnic baiting and bashing has a sadomasochistic dynamic about it: someone has to do the baiting, and someone has to bite (i.e. fall for) the bait! Someone has to do the bashing, and someone has to be willing to be bashed! So, really, whether Sabella Abidde is Izon or Igbo, or Kwale, or Igala, or Kanuri, or Wawa, or Kalabari, or Itshekiri, or whatever, is irrelevant. The damage that was supposed to be directed at an individual, at the very best, is now smeared recklessly on a whole people, in one fell swoop! These are the unproductive games that many Nigerians love to play, as a matter of bad habit. I never cease to wonder about what particularly motivates people like you (playing the role of the sadist, metaphorically speaking), and your victims (who always willingly come out of their rat holes to play the role of the thoroughly maligned masochist)! We go see, sha. Make I come go. I dey come-o, (yoo hear?) Muchas gracias. Don Juan-Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas| 27.05.2008 05:54

docokwy  Villager

# 9 These people are really miffed at the development. As far as they are concerned, every other Nigerian should hate the Igbo and only say vile things about them. You guys have failed, even Agidimolaja (or is it Ekomolaja) who wants to begin a new war between the Igbo and the Ijaw by his senseless insinuations. I for one can see through your gimmick. Posted by docokwy| 27.05.2008 06:34

truthsayer33  Villager

# 10 lets keep things simple...where do those big army men men go to to find wives to improve their gene pool?The answer should end the debate. Posted by truthsayer33| 27.05.2008 06:45

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