Prof (Mazi) Okoro Ojiaku,a native of Imo state and the author of the Book on “Before Nigeria was” described an Igboman as an adventurist and competitive in nature which pinches him with other ethnic groups in Nigeria.
In this interview with the Publisher of Daily Echoes Media, Ignatius Okorocha, Prof Ojiaku dived into the genealogy of the country known as Nigeria.

He speaks on other issues of national importance.
Excerpts:

Prof can you tell us the import of your book on “Before Nigeria was”

Well,good to tell you that I am from Imo State and I am the author of the “Book Before Nigeria was” which is now the subject of our discussion.
Actually, I started with a question ” Why are we (Nigerians) the way we are today.That was the initial interest I had and it was in the cause of the research that I discovered that the question could be the other way round, “how did Nigeria become the way it is and it was on that note that I started with ‘Ecology’ that is the study of an environment and human behaviour in this country, which is the subject of my research. That is how Nigeria became what it is today was conditioned by the environment in which the various communities live in, comprising; the Igbo,the Yoruba,the Kanuri and the Hausa.
In the case of the Fulani, I discovered that they were included into the society and they came into the society and because of their adventure into the society alot of things started going different ways.That is, if they had not entered Nigeria the way they did, possibly the other three ethnic groups would have gotten themselves together and Nigeria would have become a different country today.

What other things in your book do you think can attract Nigerians to long to read this book?

There are two things that differentiate this book from other books. One of them is the meaning of the word Nigeria. South of River Niger and Benue is not Nigeria.What is Nigeria is not Nigeria by Lord Lugard and his virtual wife. Anybody North of Benue, North of Niger is a Nigerian but the interpretation dies not include Anybody South of any of those Rivers. That is one.
The second is the word Nigeria actually is an insult to the people who are called Nigerians because they are not what Nigeria means. Since they are not what Nigeria means,the question is what does Nigeria mean by the people who founded and coined the country, that is Mrs Lugard Niger-Aria. We, are not in Niger-aria, we are in Niger and Benue aria. So, there is no need saying that we are in Nigeria because you are in Niger-aria. A person who is in Niger-aria can be a Nigerian but a person who is in Niger/Benue-aria can not get a Nigeria. And I insisted that the word Nigeria should not apply to people in the South and secondly that Nigeria has to find a name for itself, possibly something like Nock-aria, that is area in the North. The North civilization which was about 500 BC and existed in this country called Nigeria. So, if all of us are going to be Nigerians it is Nock- aria not Nigeria.
The title of the book is before Nigeria was. The Ecology of the Igbos, the Yoruba, the Kanuri. These are the , major ethnic groups that make up Nigeria and are really the major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Fulani are not.

Talking about the Igbo ethnic group,we discovered that there is this perceived level of hatred mated on the Igbos by other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Why is it so?

The Igbos are not hated rather they are misunderstood and the major characteristics of an Igboman tend to frighten others, especially because of their competitive nature, their resilience,and their adventurism, these are the things that others have not been able to understand and whenever they come across the Igbo people, these particular features tend to disturb them. So, there is resentment against the Igbos because of these qualities.
Like I said before, the seemingly hatred against the Igboman is born out of his characteristics nature. His right is built around competition and it is one of the major principles that really instill into his psychic-the struggle to survive by competition. You don’t expect things to come to you.You have to work for it and consequently,it became part of their lives to go anywhere and survive because, if you have to survive not just in your own environment, but you can survive in anyother environment and when they go to a different environment where the people are not competitive they do the best they can to survive. An Igboman will go to a place empty handed and by the time he lives he has accumulated a lot. An Igboman is one person in Nigeria that can go anywhere and make the place his home permanently, build industries, establish and stay there as his home and the natives find a way of resenting him. The question is ‘Why? It is not because an Igboman is antagonistic, no it is because of his competitive nature aside other tribes don’t know how to handle competition, it frightens them and it worries them.

Don’t you think that this perceived antagonistic behaviour of other tribes in Nigeria against the Igbos may have been as a result of the civil war between Nigeria and Biafra?
You see Nigeria felt that she has defeated the Igbos in 1970 and destroyed everything they had. Do you know that in 1970 an average Igboman did not have upto N20 but from 1975 on, the Igbos began to resurrect. The question is why? How did they do it. The Igboman was the last…but 10years after the civil war he came to be the first. What held other people back, was it the Igbos. The Igboman was not in politics, he had no money, he had no power, he had no control because he was ostracised he sought of started working on himself. He was able to come back to life and Nigeria became very very disturbed by it because this somebody they thought they have finished but he is now back to life.Those people who were his destroyers are now still looking for a way to live.

Again looking at power equation in Nigeria by way of rotational presidency, it does appear that the Igbo have been shortchanged. Prior to the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu,it was expected that an Igboman would emerge as the president of Nigeria. And having lost that opportunity in 2023 that power may likely move to North after Tinubu. When will an Igboman ascend the seat of presidency in Nigeria?

There are two answers to it. In my own view I don’t think the Igboman should try to ask Nigerians to make a leader.I think Nigeria has to come and beg an Igboman to be his president because without the igbos Nigeria will never succeed. The only true Nigerian in Nigeria is an Igbo. That is he lives anywhere,anyhow, with anybody under any condition. An Igboman goes to Kaduna and becomes a Kaduna man, he goes to Abeokuta, he builds a house and becomes an Abeokuta man. He goes to Kafanchan builds a house and ,ives there. In otherwords he can go to any part of Nigeria and resides there as his own. Therefore he is the only one person who qualifies as a Nigerian. The other people are sort of fake Nigerians. They are more interested in what they can get rather than what they can give.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently accorded amnesty to some convicts in various Prisons in the country but our brother Nnamdi Kanu was not included among such people. What do you think could be the reason for denying Kanu prerogative of mercy by the Federal government?

Actually in my own view Kanu’s incarceration is not particular to Kanu it is the incarceration of the Igbos in politics. The average Igboman in Nigeria today is incarcerated because a Fulani person can not be incarcerated in Nigeria as Kanu has been, a Yorubaman can not be incarcerated for so long as Kanu has been neither a Jukun or even anybody from the North but this is one person whose own community is unable to bring out after so many years inspite of court judgement.
The question is why?
There are two reasons. The first is lack of unity of purpose among the igbos. The second is because of the Igboman’s personal ambition. This is because he doesn’t talk as a group. He is for self. They said it is the golebility of an Igboman. He can easily be deceived. Whatever position he holds he can easily be bought over but a Fulani can not be. A Yorubaman can not be bought over but if he is bought over,he can easily decieve you to the point that he can never be deceived or bought over.
The second in my view is that a person like Peter Obi should not be bothering himself with Nigerian leadership struggle. Nigeria has to beg Obi to be its leader because as long as Obi is fighting for Nigeria, they will take it forgranted that he owes them an obligation. They are the people who owe him an obligation because they know that his leadership can bring them out of life.

By Stacey Ukaobasi

Divorced women in Africa and even in western countries carry a weight heavier than the separation itself. Society often refuses to see them as individuals rebuilding their lives. Instead, people watch them with suspicion, pass negative judgments, or view them as persons with entitlement mentality, and this assessments are made especially by men who suddenly assume that divorce or separation from ones spouse makes her cheaply available as a plaything.

A divorced woman recently shared a painful but common story. After her divorce, men she respected,married family friends, trusted acquaintances, even people she once saw as role models suddenly began hitting on her. Some asked to visit her house. Others tried to position themselves as “helpers” but with clear ulterior motives.

This is a young, beautiful, God fearing,hardworking and well established woman who has her own values and knows exactly the kind of man she would ever consider. Yet these men assumed that because she is divorced, she must be desperate,lonely,available, or automatically attracted to them. And when she politely rejected them, they felt insulted.These men lacked the emotional intelligence to understand one simple truth.A woman being divorced does not automatically make you her type. People have a type or what modern people call my spec. Divorce does not reset that.

Too many men lack the awareness to know that a woman’s divorce does not suddenly make her open to anyone.They even feel insulted when she says, “You are not my type”and while some divorced women can boldly reject such men, many others become extremely vulnerable not by choice but by circumstance.

In Nigeria especially,many single mothers face lack of income and zero support from the child’s father,job scarcity and zero social safety nets.

Poverty forces some of them into silence, dependence, or unhealthy situations simply because they need help. Hardship pushes many single parents and widows into being exploited, because so many of them are struggling just to feed their children.This is exactly what we see back home in Nigeria. So many single parents who come to my NGO have been through hell in the hands of predatory men,not because they want to, but because they have no choice. These stark realities point to the need for women to gain some forms of skills and acquire the capacities to become self reliant and an income earner.

That is why we see some mothers sending their little girls into marriages or into hands of older men.look at the public story of Regina.she insisted she wasn’t poor and later admitted she was the breadwinner of the family that God used to settle her mother.

When a child becomes the family survival plan,it is easy for society to push that child into adulthood before their time and this how childhood is stolen.

We need to do better and let kids be kids. It is not a child’s responsibility to provide for a family. It is a parent’s responsibility until the child becomes an adult, and even when they turn to adults, it is still not their responsibility to provide for the whole family.

Every woman should be proactive so she won’t become vulnerable in the hands of anyone. Because the truth is this: There are genuine good people and organizations who help the less privileged, especially disadvantaged women and children without expecting anything in return. I’m talking about people who give with pure intentions, who respect boundaries, and who offer support without turning a woman’s hardship into an opportunity for exploitation.

But there are far too many others whose “kindness” is nothing but strategy,whose real handwork is chasing after vulnerable women. These men disguise their intentions as charity. They pretend to be helpers, yet they prey on women’s weakest moments. They study women’s pain the way hunters study their prey, waiting for a moment of desperation to strike and these type of men are everywhere.

The difference is clear: Good men lift. Predatory men hunt.

This is why I always say: Every woman should have something doing,even if you are married to an odogwu.

Depending on someone 100% for survival is one of the most dangerous positions a woman can put herself in.Don’t just sit and wait for someone to decide when you and your children eat.
I cannot shrink myself into silence because the person feeding me today can also starve me tomorrow.

That kind of vulnerability is a cage,a beautiful cage sometimes,but a cage nonetheless.

A woman who has no income is one crisis away from begging,one heartbreak away from disaster and one disappointment away from loosing everything

Women need to hear this unapologetically.

Just stand up and build something,just anything that Carrie’s your name.
even if you are married the most generous man who gives you the world please still have something doing.
Because your income isn’t a threat to him but a safety net for you,a dignity for your children and a confidence for your voice.
It is a protection from exploitation,manipulation and disrespect.

Learn a handwork. Start a business, no matter how little. Be consistent. It must surely grow.

Financial independence is not just about money,it is about dignity because when a woman has her own money

1.Her voice becomes louder
2.Her confidence grows
3.Her choices expand
4.Her boundaries are respected
5.Her children are protected

Money does not buy happiness, but it buys options and options are everything. With income comes dignity. With dignity comes choice. With choice comes boundaries. With boundaries come peace and with peace comes the ability to raise innocent children.Children who are not forced to become adults too early.

Please mothers Protect your children from being sacrificed on the altar of poverty.By protecting your children you are restoring dignity where society has taken it. You break cycles many families never escape from.

And the truth remains
A divorced woman is not desperate.
A single parent is not weak.
A financially independent woman is not rebellious.
A child is not responsible for feeding a home.
A woman with income has dignity.
A woman with dignity has boundaries.
A woman with boundaries has peace.
A woman with peace raises children who remain children innocent, protected, and safe.

*MS. STACEY UKAOBASI is a Nigerian, USA based founder of the FORUM FOR CHILD RIGHTS PROMOTION, NIGERIA.

WRITTEN BY STACEY UKAOBASI .

For a long time, Nigeria has been trapped in a cycle of insecurity, fear, and corruption. Terrorists negotiate freely with politicians; they storm classrooms, abduct schoolgirls, and take them into the forest to do unimaginable things to them. Some of these girls escape — often with children born from their captors — while the rest never make it out alive. Their voices are silenced forever, their dreams buried in shallow graves deep in the forests.

The world once cried out for the Chibok girls, but that cry faded. Many of them are still missing. Some returned as mothers of the very men who destroyed their innocence. Others were never found, becoming nameless victims of a system that moves on too quickly. These girls symbolize the forgotten pain of thousands of Nigerian children abducted, abused, and abandoned while their government negotiates with their oppressors and calls it “peace”

Bandits roam freely across the country, protected by silence and political complicity. Christians in the north are slaughtered in their homes, children and pregnant women butchered like animals, churches, and schools burned down. Nowhere feels safe anymore not classrooms, not highways, not even churches and it this is not new.The Fulani herdsmen have taken over the roads, kidnapping travelers, demanding ransom, and still killing their victims even after payments are made. Mothers are murdered on their farms, and their children left to fend for themselves. To make matters worse, the gang of kidnappers have a way to add human organ harvesting as part of their assignments. The question to be asked is who are the patrons of these human organ harvesters and armed kidnappers? How did these semi-illiterates able to carry out surgical operations on their victims who couldn’t meet up with their ransome demands, or do they work closely with some surgeons?

Yet the politicians do not care. Their children are safely studying abroad, funded by looted national wealth hidden in foreign accounts. They live far removed from the pain, fear, and hunger of ordinary Nigerians. When the president of the united states recently spoke about bandits, their reaction was that he wanted to come for their “resources”— the very resources that have never benefited the citizens.

While these bandits are protected, activists are locked up.
One of the most prominent examples is Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He spoke out fearlessly about injustice, marginalization, and the growing insecurity in the southeastern region and across Nigeria. He questioned the government’s silence on killings, kidnappings, and the systemic neglect of his people. His voice became a rallying cry for millions who felt forgotten — the poor, the oppressed, and the silence.

But instead of listening to his message, they chose to make him a prisoner. He has been detained for years without access to a fair trial or his lawyers, despite court rulings ordering his release. His case is no longer just about Biafra — it is about freedom of speech, about the right to question authority without being branded a criminal.In Nigeria today, telling the truth has become a crime. Those who destroy lives walk free, while those who demand justice are thrown behind bars.

Even religious leaders have become afraid to speak. Many of them tread carefully, fearful that one wrong word could make them the next target. The killings, the kidnappings, the destruction — much of it never makes it to the media. Countless massacres are buried in silence because showing the truth would expose the magnitude of the nation’s rot. The media is either censored, threatened, or paid to look away.

Meanwhile, the poor masses continue to suffer. Families can not afford three square meals. How can a child focus in class when hunger and fear are constant companions? Countless children are displaced, their parents killed, their futures stolen, and yet, our leaders boldly claim that Nigeria is not a country of concern.

Unemployment has driven the youth into despair. Young men do whatever it takes to survive. Young girls are pushed into prostitution, not out of desire, but out of hunger and hopelessness.

Even worse, the same men in power those meant to protect the people are often the predators. They encourage and practice child marriage, using money and influence to silence families. I once had a neighbour in Abuja who would let a powerful man come pick up her 16-year-old daughter. He gave them money-alot of it. Years later, this same man married a 16-year-old actress. It makes you wonder what it is about underage girls that attracts men like this?

When these girls try to escape the marriage, they are threatened, their families intimidated, and some of their families are even arrested until the girls return to the marriage. This cycle happens every day in Nigeria “pedophiles in power preying on innocent children while hiding under the cover of tradition and wealth.

In Nigeria, there is no real law protecting the child. How can there be when those in charge of enforcing the law are the very ones violating it? The practice of child marriage continues openly because the same people in government are the beneficiaries.

Now, hopelessness has reached its peak. Many Nigerians dream only of leaving the country,a desperate escape they call “japa”For those lucky enough to get a visa, it’s not about luxury or comfort; it’s survival. They leave because they see no solid future in a nation that has failed to protect its own. But countless others are denied visas and forced to stay behind, trapped in a system that crushes ambition, talent, and hope.

THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD RESTORE HOPE BY PROTECTING THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE.

It doesn’t have to stay this way. Nigeria can still be rebuilt but not by words by action.
1. Justice and Accountability-
Those responsible for killings, abductions, and abuse of power must face justice, no matter their title or position. Selective silence must end. Activists and truth-tellers like Nnamdi Kanu deserve fair treatment, not indefinite detention. Freedom of speech must never be treated as rebellion.
2. Child Protection Laws:
Nigeria must enforce a national ban on child marriage and pedophilia, with clear penalties for offenders — no matter how influential. The Child Rights Act must be fully implemented across all states, with dedicated agencies to monitor and prosecute violators.
3. Security and Truth:
The military and police must be depoliticized. Security agencies should protect citizens, not intimidate them. Religious and community leaders must regain their courage to speak, and the media must tell the truth, no matter the cost.
4. Education and Rehabilitation:
Every rescued child especially abducted girls – deserves trauma care, education, and reintegration. Schools must once again be safe spaces, not hunting grounds, for terrorists.
5. Empowering the Youth:
Job creation, skill development, and youth empowerment programs are the only way to restore hope. No young person should have to only JAPA to find safety or dignity.
6. Global Attention:
The international community must not look away. Global organizations and human rights bodies should pressure Nigeria’s leaders to uphold justice, protect citizens, and end the persecution of children, activists, and journalists.

Until Nigeria learns to protect its children, it can not protect its future.
Until the government stops silencing truth tellers and starts confronting the real enemies of the people, the country will remain enslaved by fear and corruption.

A nation that can not keep its daughters safe, feed its children, or listen to its youth has already lost its soul. But it is not too late if we rise together to defend what still remains.
OUR HUMANITY,OUR CHILDREN AND OUR FUTURE.

Stacey Ukaobasi is a Nigerian based in the USA. She is the founder of the FORUM FOR CHILD RIGHTS PROMOTION, NIGERIA.