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.
\nIn this interview with the Publisher of Daily Echoes Media, Ignatius Okorocha, Prof Ojiaku dived into the genealogy of the country known as Nigeria.<\/p>\n
He speaks on other issues of national importance.
\nExcerpts:<\/p>\n
Prof can you tell us the import of your book on “Before Nigeria was”<\/p>\n
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.
\nActually, 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.
\nIn 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.<\/p>\n
What other things in your book do you think can attract Nigerians to long to read this book?<\/p>\n
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.
\nThe 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.
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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.
\nLike 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.<\/p>\n
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?
\nYou 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
Actually in my own view Kanu\u2019s 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.
\nThe question is why?
\nThere 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.
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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