Posted By Elliot Uko
MAY MUSINGS, SEASON ONE
ON REDISTRIBUTION OF COVID 19
Shock, anger and trepidation has, once again,
enveloped South east Nigeria in recent days. Why? Truckloads of street urchins,
popularly known as almajiri, are streaming into the South east by night,
bearing nothing other than hand pans.
Large trailers are cleverly designed to
display goats and other livestock atop wooden platforms, while beneath the
platform, are hundreds of almajiri hidden from plain sight.
The movement is usually done at night. The
usual refrain when accosted, is that they are headed to a mosque in Owerri,
Aba, Umuahia etc. Nobody resides in a mosque, a mosque is a sacred prayer and
worship centre. Who invited them? Who arranged their discreet journey? Why
travel only at night?
Now, given the fact that several of the same
almajiri deported to Kaduna state from Kano, tested positive to covid 19 virus,
there's every reason for alarm.
It beats reason why some northern state
governments will choose this season, when the spiralling numbers of sudden
deaths are yet to be categorically explained,to redistribute almajiri, in the
guise of sending them back to their states of origin.
Given the fact that the east hadn't been
invaded by the almajiri in large numbers before now, this discreet movement
calls for investigation. Why now? How come the authorities are not putting
their foot down, to ensure strict compliance with the lockdown, in respect to
the almajiri migrating to the South east in droves,for over a fortnight now?
What does this strange development portend?
Although, it's unthinkable that some people
would deliberately spread covid 19 all over the country, incidentally, that may
turn out the painful outcome, if this ugly trend, is not checked right at the
source, where the uncomfortable journey begins.
ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR AGAINST NDIGBO
I had a conversation last night with a high
school classmate, someone I love and respect. Topic of discussion: Precarious
condition of Ndigbo in Nigeria. I lost my cool when he recited the unkind
refrain enemies of Ndigbo, forced upon unsuspecting folks, including Ndigbo
ourselves. That Ndigbo hates themselves. What a fallacy.
Not a few Ndigbo have in conversation, even
with non Igbo, blurted out same unkind refrain over the years. Ndigbo hates
each other, they usually chorus. Over the years, a lot of people have swallowed
this wicked fallacy, unwittingly accepting same as truth. Ndigbo are bad,greedy
and mean, they add.
If the Igbo are so bad and terrible, that
would be suggesting that the Yoruba are so sweet, reliable trustworthy etc,that
the Fulani are so accommodating, tolerant, pleasant, and that the Edo,Ijaw,
Hausa etc, are all so hardworking, intelligent sweet people. That also suggests
that the over 300 ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria, so much love each
other and could be said to be sweet, kind, generous and very good people, save
for the Igbo.
Now, not only is the assertion illogical, but
nothing could be farther from the truth. It is against the nature of man and
against every law of nature for a particular race, ethnic nationality or tribe
to wear a uniform behaviour at all times, in every situation. It's like
asserting that all German are thieves, whereas all French men are kidnappers.
Love for others is a character trait,
pronounced more in some people, than in others, regardless wether they are
Eskimos, Zulu or Mongolian. Religiously spreading ugly fallacy, that the
indomitable Ndigbo, hate each other is nothing but, one of the handiwork of
Ndigbo's adversaries, who hope to give Ndigbo bad image, just to subvert and
undermine us.
All through history and all over the world,
oppressors, when they invade other lands, to occupy and exploit, either as conquistadors
or disguised as colonialists, usually resent and despise every gifted tribe
they encounter. Every thing is done to blackmail, subdue and hold down such
seemingly smart people out of fear that they would trouble the conquerors.
Everything is done to smear and paint them bad in order to instigate and
probably sustain mutual mistrust among the occupied, exploited and oppressed
aborigines.
Because it is in interest of the colonial
master that the different nationalities, they clobbered together, into one
artificial country don't rise up as one to challenge the master, everything is
usually done to encourage suspicion and distrust amongst the natives. This
strategy was replicated in India, South east Asia, middle east, South America
and all over Africa. Colonialists deliberately manipulated aborigines to be
suspicious of each other, while he dutifully rapes the land.
There's usually a preferred tribe,usually the
indolent, deal-making one who fearfully obeys and depended on the colonial
master. There's also a resented tribe, usually the resourceful, independent
minded sharp witted tribe, accused of being cheeky and difficult to manage.
You didn't have to read the memoirs of Harold
Smith or fortunate enough to access the secret document,HOW BRITAIN RAN COLONIAL
NIGERIA, to understand the uneven display of love and affection towards the
natives, to understand the deliberate institutional disparity in colonial
preferences with regards to laws, infrastructural development and
administrative regulations introduced in the Southern protectorate and the
Northern protectorate.
It is self evident that the colonial master
preferred the region where a feudal few made deals to cooperate fully with the
colonial master in exchange for protection and support to sustain the feudal
structure. That would clearly make governance quite easy and smooth for the
colonial master, in contrast to the egalitarian and Republican culture of the
Southerners, who craved advancement for himself and his family. Especially
after the colonial master had tried everything, including introducing warrant
chiefs, unsuccessfully.
This same troublesome Southerners,
engineered, led and sustained the struggle for independence, while the
preferred region, remained docile, all through the struggle for independence.
The "Iboes" fought colonialism to a standstill. Azikiwe established
several newspapers all over Nigeria, exposing and battling the colonial master.
They would never fall in love with him. They taught him and his people a very
bitter lesson. After all, he forgot they were the ones, who would supervise
both the headcount and the elections before they hand over power to the
natives. They will declare the figures of the census and also declare winners
in the elections. Ok.oh! That's alright.
The result? Your guess is as good as mine.
What is truly worrisome in all these, is the disturbing gullibility and naivety
of even our educated brethren, who childishly assume the colonialists were
saints and angels from heaven, who can see no evil nor do any evil. Honest and
upright heavenly beings, who do not harbour any interests of their own,
whatsoever, except for the well being of their colonies and their peoples. It's
unbelievable that some people believe that oyibo came here because he loves us
so.
This preamble is important, before I
introduce the meat of the issue. If there are any doubts about the discreet
deal to hand over Nigeria to the preferred region by rigging both the national
census figures and the elections results to their favour, such doubts
disappeared immediately one notes the role British citizens in the North,
especially those in the employment of the Zaria institute, later to transmute
to Ahmadu Bello University, played in the early months of 1966, to inspire the
three wave pogrom of 29th May to 3rd June 1966, 29th July to 3rd August 1966
and 29th September to 3rd October 1966.The rest as they say is history.
The Ifeajuna, Ademoyega and Nzeogwu led
putsch of January 1966,sealed the fate of Ndigbo. Every thing was done to label
it, an Igbo coup.
The deep resentment towards the Igbo, quickly
metamorphosed into some sort of xenophobic hatred from the colonial master,
(who just reluctantly gave up power 5 years earlier), towards the Igbo ,whom he
believed should be taught a big lesson for attempting to seize power (so he
thinks),behind his back.
High treason! Unpardonable! Every thing must
be done to put them in their proper place. The 30-month fratricidal and
internecine bloodbath was actually choreographed by anti Igbo hawks in Whitehall.
They blocked every effort by the breakout republic to gain powerful
international friends, monitored and frustrated every peace parley, supervised
the total blockade of the embattled enclave and strangled the still borne
nation. They didn't stop there.
After the war, fear of Ndigbo reverberated
all over the world? They shocked the world by their inventions during the
war.Boy, everything has to be done to put them in check.
Dateline January 1970. The victorious
Nigerian government didn't argue when the same colonial master asked to help
develop strategies to hold down the notorious and impetuous "iboes".
Enter the intelligence service. A lot of
people don't know the origin of NSO.Nor the role the colonial master played at
its formation. The police E branch, military intelligence and other services
merged to give birth to a narrative, a line of thought that should be protected
for as long as its possible to hold on. A certain region must not taste power.
They must be blackmailed, castigated, blacklisted and painted black.
Their own too much, them no fear oyibo,them
no know say oyibo get grand plans for Naija oyel? Oyibo go teach them bitter
lesson.
M D Yusuf was mandated to select the
beneficiaries of the first course at Scotland yard to develop, finetune and
design the naija intelligence engine. Holding down a component part of the
country, was part of the menu.Developing a revolting story around them, would
make sure they are consistently despised by others.
Highlighting their weak points and their
faults, and presenting them to all, as power mongers and trouble makers.
It didn't stop there. 29 books were written
by paid writers, including the quite repulsive LET TRUTH BE TOLD, by the
equally repulsive DJM Muffet. Falsehood, propaganda and half truths were weaved
into frightening tales about the wickedness of the Igbo. The best Igbo are
cannibals, very selfish and patently ruthless. And of course, they hate each
other so much, they will never come together again.
Amidst the strategies and narrative that
would bury the Igbo permanently, emerged this line: Convince the Igbo
themselves to believe the lie that they hate themselves and would never come
together and the threat of Igbo resurgence is permanently buried. Once the Igbo
themselves are made to believe and glibly mouth the big lie that they hate each
other and therefore can never work as a team, then can everyone be sure that
Ndigbo will never rise again.
Money was dutifully voted and spent to make
the propaganda gain traction. For decades, everything was done to make the next
generation of Ndigbo believe they are vile, no good tribe of vicious criminals
who hated each other and hurt everyone else.
It was a deliberate psychological assault on
Ndigbo. Designed and articulated by the colonial master, who deeply despised
Ndigbo's guts, self confidence and power and speed of advancement. He had to
first of all blackmail Ndigbo, effectively get him out of the way, before they
could suck Nigeria's bonny light, straight from the off shore rigs, straight
into waiting tankers in the high seas. Well they truly had their way for
decades.
Now, how does carefully spreading the
repugnant fallacy that Ndigbo hate each other, help hold Ndigbo down
perpetually? Simple: Once every Igbo youth believes Ndigbo hate each other and
can't unite for any purpose, then, the Igbo nation is belittled, degraded and
made unattractive. Next the Igbo will begin to hate each other, distance from
each other and even deny each other. Then they will admire other ethnic groups,
secretly wish they were Yoruba, Fulani, Hausa etc. They will adopt other
Nigerians as leaders and godfathers. They will slowly but surely accept that
they are not good enough to lead Nigeria, and therefore will spend their entire
lives worshipping others. It's called inferiority complex.
Next, future generations of Ndigbo will
automatically accept their place, much the same way African dark skinned
citizens of countries like Yemen, ( trafficked centuries earlier as slaves from
Zanzibar, Djibouti etc ) have been culturally forced to accept that they are
inferior and no good.Nobody would want to be Igbo, so gradually Igbo cultural
identity disappears and the great Igbo nation would DIE. Every Igbo would want
to distance themselves from the despicable Igbo identity.
This obviously, hard-to-believe agenda of
fellow Nigerians, aided and supervised by the colonial master, was painfully
funded with resources acquired through the oil wells of Eastern Nigeria. Media
practitioners, teachers and other professionals were hired into the operation
paint Ndigbo black and effectively get them out of the way. Nothing was left
undone to finish Ndigbo up, by irreparably damaging his image. Just the same
way jealous and envious adversaries, at the individual level, would go to every
length to run you down in order to paint you bad, thereby limiting your chances
to attain success in life.
The discreet psychological war to unbrand and
isolate Ndigbo, was anchored on the arrowhead of "convince them that they
are terrible people and by all means, let it stick".It would turn out a
major miracle if Ndigbo survive the onslaught.
Well, judge for your self, if they did.
Today, the younger generation of Ndigbo have
rejected the blackmail of the enemy. Today, they have built synergy,
articulated their agenda and are marching on.They defeated the adversary by
believing in themselves. Today, the never-say-die spirit of the Igbo man has
lifted him up once again. His impact is felt all over the world, as globally
acclaimed merchants and also as highly regarded professionals the world over.
Yes, through the grace of the Almighty, we
have survived the worst, but there still remains a huge task ahead. We need to
dutifully prepare for the task ahead. Yes, we have our shortcomings, but so do
others. We are good people, hardworking people, visionary people and great
adventurers. We believe in justice for all. We have suffered so much, but most
of all, we hate oppression.
Next time, they tell you that Ndigbo hates
themselves, kindly remind them that, we know that's our adversaries famous
narrative, which he's been working so hard to sell to us unsuccessfully for 50
years. Tell them we remain the only people in the world, who built over a
hundred schools through self help, thereby catching up and overtaking others
between 1940 and 1965. Tell them that more than half of the hospitals, schools
and other developmental infrastructure in Igboland, where built through
community effort
Remind them that people who hated each other,
cannot come together to achieve such great things. Never you let them fool you
baby. Truth remains: NDIGBO LOVE EACH OTHER. Cheers.
