A Lagos-based writer, Eze Chikwelu, says the notion in some quarters that Igbo people hate National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is laughable.
He stated this in a piece titled, ‘Who said the Igbo hate Tinubu?’
According to the Isolo, Lagos-based interlocutor, the belief that Igbo people hold a grudge against Tinubu “shows a contempt for the intellectual capacity of the average Igbo and a lack of awareness of our cultural values”.
Chikwelu said that the Igbo are a people of rich heritage belonging to an ancient history that have self-sufficiency at the core of their cultural philosophy and traditional upbringing.
He said it was not in their character to look up to outsiders for solutions to their problems, adding “neither are we quick to pass blame to others for our problems; certainly not to persons who have never been responsible for any overt act of marginalisation towards our people.”
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“Why, therefore, would any Igbo person hate Bola Tinubu in Lagos?” he queried.
“Sure, one can make an argument for the Igbo being indifferent towards his person.
“However, even at that, the man is an entrepreneur and, of course, a powerful politician – characteristics that are far more likely to elicit feelings of admiration rather than contempt from the average Igbo man. But to call him a bigot, a tribalist? I am yet to see the evidence.
“In fact, if anything, the evidence of his political career suggests a man who favours competence over tribal or religious considerations.
“The Igbo prize industriousness and enthrone accomplishment. In the days of yore, before colonisation.”
Chikwelu said that considering Tinubu’s achievements in the game of power, the Igbo would not say that a champion wrestler must be without dirt on his entire body to be deserving of his due.
“After all, Lagos State where Tinubu is assumed to hold the most sway, remains the choice destination for successful Igbo to migrate.
“Indeed, one wonders, given the enduring popularity of the state Tinubu helped build among the Igbo people, whether this narrative of supposed Igbo hatred of Lagos’ pre-eminent political figure is just more propaganda, intended only to sow confusion and distrust.”
He stated that although animosity existed between the Igbo and Yoruba in the past, it was time to sheath the sword.
“For how long would we continue to inherit our parents’ trauma in a globalising world?” he queried.
“A lot of us are very comfortable living as Igbo in Lagos where the mindset is modern and metropolitan. From a tribal angle, the Igbo still remain apprehensive about Northern rule but I have never met an Igbo person that imagines the threat of Yoruba insurgency is real; or even ascribes to the Yoruba a collective disposition towards domination.
“The truth being obscured by the propaganda is this: the Igbo and the Yoruba have much in common; whether in terms of their pre-colonial history or their shared experiences under British colonial rule.”
Chikwelu added, “One only has to take a brief look through time to see the kind of relationship we have enjoyed as groups. From shared linguistic similarities, to governance systems such as the role of the “Oba”, the Igbo and Yoruba, though not without some differences, have generally been cordial and open to cultural exchange.
“There are, of course, those who, nevertheless, would stoke the flames of a supposed historical rivalry between the two tribal groups. For these people, Tinubu is a convenient Satan, playing the role of villain in their discordant narrative.
“Some are spineless paid trolls and others closet bigots that simply need an outlet for their bilious invective, lest it consume them from within. However, these folk are outliers, the exceptions, worthy of consideration only to the extent that their noisy extremism helpfully distinguishes them from the far less rowdy, far more thoughtful, majority.
“What the Igbo want, simply, is a government that provides just enough basic support to spur the exercise of our creative, entrepreneurial and intellectual spirit.”