Reuben Abati, PhD, a television programme presenter, had during a recent outing made a statement to the effect that the Igbo people do not sale land to non-Igbo people. He had said: “…the same Igbos who are industrious that they are all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria, you go as a non-Igbo man to go and buy umunna land, you will be told that you don’t belong, even as an in-law.”
That was Reuben’s thesis. I am, therefore, writing this in defence of my identity as an Igbo. I want to do this so as to educate Reuben’s deliberate ignorance about the ridiculousness of the generalisation in his thesis. First year students of logic and epistemology understand that generalisation is a fallacy. It is also illogic. And the easiest way to destroy a generalisation is by the use of the principle of falsifiability, or, of falsification. In his thesis, Reuben made a generalised submission that Igbo people do not sale lands even to their in-laws. And, the only reason(s) he was able to construct, or, establish to justify his puerile thesis is “you will be told that you don’t belong.”
To educate this obvious generalisation which developed from Reuben’s confused understanding of reality, let me first say that generalisation is a type of logical fallacy that occurs when someone draws a broad conclusion based on a limited or insufficient sample of data. This is where Reuben’s thesis collapses. This is because generalisation involves making a general statement or conclusion about a large group or population based on a small, biased, or unrepresentative sample. As a result, the conclusion cannot be accurate or reliable. It is classically suggested that to avoid the fallacy of generalisation, the theorist ought to collect sufficient and representative sample of data, avoid biased or unrepresentative samples, be cautious when drawing conclusions based on limited data and consider alternative explanations and perspectives. These, Reuben refused to do. He was even more dismissive and refused to see the alternative fact when his studio mate, Ojy Okpe, pointed out the fallacy in his thesis to him. That alone, makes one to suspect his intentions in developing a fallacious thesis, propagating it on national television and sticking to it as truth while dismissing alternative and corrective views as ‘nonsense.’
To falsify Reuben’s generalisation, all that is needed establish a single data from the generalized group to show that the generalisation is wrong. This is what Karl Popper established when he developed the principle of falsification as a fundamental concept which states that a scientific theory, or hypothesis, must be capable of being proven false, or falsified, in order to be considered scientific. Canadian Jesuit priest and theologian, Bernard Lonergan, further expounded on this in his work on the dynamic structure of knowing -experiencing, understanding, judging, contained is his ‘Philosophy of Knowing.’ These, in other words, suggests that a theory must be testable and open to the possibility of being disproven by empirical evidence. It, therefore, follows that Reuben’s theory, empirically tested against the reality among the Igbo, fails the test of science and of logic because there exist more than a handful of data which falsifies his thesis and renders it useless, myopic, inconsequential, and of no educational relevance.
On the other hand, his refusal to review, amend or withdraw the thesis when pointed out to him by his studio mate, against available data, suggests that the fallacious thesis was deliberately developed, generalised and presented as fact to deride, insult and drive an agenda-setting narrative with pre-meditated intentions. This is captured clearly in his summation that “…the same Igbos who are industrious that they are all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria.” The implication of those words is that they are capable of conscientising some minds towards hatred, jealousy, bias and ethnic cleansing. They also arouse reasonable suggestions when set against the agenda-setting narratives, and inciting commentaries, by media personalities and anchors, which preceded the genocide in Rwanda. Many reasonable Igbo people fear that this could be the intendment of Reuben’s thesis.
One must state, however, that the Igbo people offend no know law of the federal republic in supposedly, as Reuben’s thesis suggests, declining to sale their land. One fact everyone ought to know is that the relationship governing the sale of landed property, anywhere in the world, is one of willing seller and willing buyer. This relationship is also governed by extant laws that regulate business transactions. It therefore follows that no law compels anyone, irrespective of their ethnic groups, to sale their land.
However, in developing his childish thesis, Reuben made reference to the late Chief TOS Benson. In making reference to Chief Benson, Reuben ignored the demand on him to establish the context in which Chief Benson made the assertion. For contextual reasons, Chief Benson was married to an Igbo daughter. That means he was son-in-law to an Igbo family. Within the Igbo cultural context, a son-in-law, irrespective of his ethnic group, is considered a son of the family he married from. This means that he also enjoys certain privileges as a son-in-law. And, as a ‘son’, who had been added to the family by marriage, his father-in-law also seen him as his son and as such would not contemplate selling his umunna land to his son. If the son-in-law has need for a piece of land and asks his father-in-law for one, his father-in-law will only donate one to him outside the umunna. Not sale. Chief Benson, by the fact of marriage, is also a son of the family he married from. His in-laws are therefore right not to sale umunna land to him because no parents sale land to their children. In this context, Reuben was trapped in his willful ignorance of the cultural realities of the Igbo ethnic group. It was sad that he chose to use a national television to expose his ignorance on this matter even though he tried to pontificate like he was adequately informed.
By expressing his thesis with the irreverent gusto that he did, Reuben further exposed his mind as having been fed with ignorance of cultures outside his in spite of his learning. As a public communicator, he ought to make effort to understand cultures that he must talk about. He also needs to develop his skills in questioning perceptions which he holds as fact. It is only when he is able to do so that he may overcome his regular tendency to ignorantly generalise issues that bother on the culture and traditions of ethnic groups in Nigeria.