IGBO, THORNY SITUATIONS AND ARROGANCE AS STATE FLAG BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
Two sets of people settled in the Anambra-Imo River Basin. The dominant empire in the region at that time was the Benin Empire whose influence spread from present day Edo state to the Republic of Benin in the West and Onitsha in the East.
The Nris were the first group of Igbo people that moved into the Imo River Basin. They are known to be highly spiritual and were involved in mathematics and astronomy. It is reported they are from the Nile valley civilization. They were peaceful.
Later on, the Aros arrived and invaded the Region. The Aros were warlike and had no time for finesse of royal courts. Their ethics were situational. They are described as coming from Northern Benin. This could mean castaway from the Benin kingdom and others from the Tiv area of present day Nigeria. They were mainly involved in catching slaves for the Portuguese in the Niger Delta area. They conquered Nris and sold a lot of them to the Portuguese. They had no official rule of conduct. Their incessant incursion into the Benin Empire on behalf of the Portuguese led to the Benin Empire invading them twice. They created a lot of havoc in the present day Niger Delta because they played the role of slave catchers for the Portuguese. Their activities and other internal factors led to the weakness of the Benin kingdom that was exploited by the British for colonization.
From the aforesaid, our great grandparents never had any cordial relations with Igbo because any dealings with the Aros led to enslavement. In Isoko language, the name for a slave is Origbo. This means someone who has been captured by the Igbo people.
A lot of the tribes in the Niger Delta have this history when they talk of their relationship with Igbo. So it is very confusing when an Igbo person says Isoko is Igbo. We have history. Our people got along very well with Nris. As times moved on, we could not differentiate those Aros who occupied the Anambra basin and the Nris who occupied Mbaise and other parts of Imo State today. Our great grandparents believed that all the atrocities in Igboland today are caused by the remnants of the Aros who have no respect for civilized conduct. This is as far as they could define the essential Igbo person of today.
With the risk of running afoul of historical folklore, most of the scholars in Igboland tend to be from the Imo axis. Those who tend to go into politics and non-intellectual pursuits tend to be from the Anambra basin. This is a subject that should need further studies.
If we assume that the majority of those who participate in politics and business are not Nris, then you can see that the Igbo people have achieved more in scholarship than in politics. So it can be seen that a lot of decisions that have resulted in shortchanging Igbo people were made without scholarly input.
From the outside, you will wonder why people who credit themselves with so much wisdom always choose the worst options in times of crisis. The scenario is that there is a crisis and the loudest person gets his way and disaster ensues. At the end, the Igbo people blame the onlooker for the bad outcome. Due to the lack of options, their politics is insular and excommunicates anyone with a contrary view. They find it difficult to work with others who are not Igbo because of their siege mentality. This has led to the retardation of their politics and business ventures.
The present cry for Biafra is actually a symptom of a disorganized polity. I have never seen a situation where a businessman will fight to decrease his market size. That is what Igbo people are doing when they orchestrate Biafra. They are willing to leave a market of 200 million people to ensconce themselves in a market of about forty million people. The corollary is when Joseph Kennedy tried to tolerate Hitler. He lost favor with the American people. To be fair to him, he was thinking like a businessman. He felt Hitler will see reason and as such there should not be war so businesses can go on and let the diplomats straighten the rough edges. That is the way most business men tend to think. They don’t want to rock the boat, because violence is not good for business.
When this corollary is applied to the Igbo people, they fall short. They always ask for war before negotiations. This should be the opposite because when you lose a war, you no longer have leverage. This is Nnamdi Kanu’s story and a lot of Igbo people are willing to hook their wagon to his fate. There is no day that goes without someone on YouTube tying the fortunes of the Igbo people to that of Nnamdi Kanu. We have seen this movie before and the Igbo people are rewriting the sequel which makes them the villains and us the victims.
Can Nnamdi Kanu win an election in Igboland? The answer is No. Why are they making him a martyr? It is possible they need someone as a unifying factor. For someone to be a unifying factor, his story must be sympathetic to people outside the group. It is a failure to seek collaboration with others that always makes Igbo politics difficult. The few times I have seen Nnamdi Kanu in court did not endear him to me. He was imperious and abusive towards his lawyers. His actions in court made me question the sanity of those who take instruction from him as a leader.
Before anyone will say he is being persecuted, they should also know that Mr Orkah who was vandalizing pipelines in Niger Delta is serving his jail term in South Africa. No one in Niger delta or Ijaw land considers him a martyr. We understand he broke the law and he was tried and convicted. The only thing we can do is render help to him and rehabilitate him when he is released. This is what is expected.
Instead of doing this, the Igbo people will make him a cause to celebrate. This is the problem. We have been here before and it led us to a civil war. The civil war could have been avoided. The actors like Nnamdi were young and thought that war was a predictable event. If negotiations had continued, those who caused the pogrom could have been brought to justice and those affected could have been massively compensated. Those who were in charge then thought they knew it all and also were being goaded by emotional subterfuge of the aggrieved. No one challenged those who were beating the drums of war. The first salvo was Nnamdi telling us he is going to Abuja with a million Biafra and he will return to Igboland with the head of Buhari. This amateur is making enlightened citizens in Igboland to grovel before him and have become emotionally suffused.
They should remember that this sequel will play out to their disadvantage if they don’t manage it well. I say this to make history come to life.
The Nigeria of today is the creation of the Igbo people. They drew the first blood. All other actions that ensued were a reaction to the initial injury. It was Ojukwu who arrested Isaac Boro for seceding. Why was Niger Delta secession not good and Biafra secession good?
We must calibrate our hubris. A perusal of the history we share should give us the humility to engage each other to unravel thorny situations that are created by those who use arrogance as a state flag.
DR AUSTIN ORETTE WRITES FROM HOUSTON TEXAS
