The definition of introspection, by the Dictionary, is self-examination, analyzing yourself, looking at your own personality and actions, and considering your own motivations. It’s a known fact that Ndigbo are itinerant and commercial by nature and by nuture. They do not need any government to survive but they need every government to belong. When we talk about Ndigbo in this column, we discuss it with particular reference to the South East, which are predominantly Igbos. The Igboman’s quest to belong is almost as fierce as his quest to live. An Igboman is willing to fight and even die, for instance, if another person he is more entitled traditionally takes kolanut before him. If you have ever attended a meeting of Igbo people, just watch the amount of care they take in sharing the kolanut and the meticulousity they attach in ensuring that a particular traditional order of pre-eminence is observed. I have not seen anything intrinsically very valuable in the eating of kolanut except that it gives everyone a sense of belonging and recognises the importance of positions and order of authority in Igboland.
Therefore, when Ndigbo is fighting for the seat of the Presidency, it’s not because their survival depends on it, but because in their traditional society, it is the ancient belief that it is an invitation to war, when you count a man out in an issue or matter he is entitled to. Ndigbo, probably, may have the largest number of billionaires in Nigeria than any other tribe, despite the fact, that they have not occupied the position of the President since the Nigeria civil war. If you like, make the Igboland paradise but sidetrack the Igboman from his right, he will fight. If you like give all the youths employment but deny them the offices of honour which the youths of other zones are getting, they will fight. If you like, win them many times in war but continue to deny them their due, once they are strong enough to fight, they will fight. Ndigbo fight for honour, more than they fight for wealth, because wealth, more often than not, comes to them naturally.
Make no mistake about this, Ndigbo are not warmongers. Firstly, they are commercial and itinerant by nature and the Igbo philosophy is that a traveller has no enemy. This makes them feel at home anywhere they go. Their commercial nature makes them own properties everywhere and people who own properties everywhere are the most reluctant to fight because the war will end up destroying their hard earned properties. The next and probably the main reason why Ndigbo are extremely reluctant to fight is the sacredness of blood in Igboland. Shedding of blood or murder is a strict liability offence in Igbo legal jurisprudence. If you kill, you get punished, even if the killing was accidental. The difference between an intentional killing and accidental killing lies in the severity of punishment. Whereas an intentional killing attracts death penalty, accidental killing attracts banishment. This law is so strict that a man’s corpse is punished if the man kills himself by suicide, no matter how highly placed he is in the society and no matter the reason that drove him to suicide. His corpse would be declared an abomination that only strangers can touch and his burial place must be in the evil forest. Even when a man from another community kills someone in another community, the community that was bereaved will still be punished by the gods for failure to prevent war if they don’t first of all make attempts to de-escalate the crisis. They must send emissaries to the offending community to atone for the head killed by giving up another head to be sacrificed in their land with an additional compensation as damages for the aggression. Ndigbo do not fight a war of blame. War is always a last resort and is hardly declared except in self defence which is fought as a matter of preserving the lives and honour of a people.
All these youths who are killing people indiscriminately, by whatever name called, must understand that they are heaping curses on themselves and generations. It is even more ludicrous when most of the people they are killing are Igbos, while pretending to be fighting for Igbos. They should notice that whenever anybody dies in Igboland, whether indigene or stranger, there’s always an international outcry against the killing. It is because, Igboland abhors the spilling of innocent blood on its land. For 12 persons killed in Anambra State, hell was let loose, while thousands are killed in other non-Igbo states daily and people seem to overlook. Ndigbo cannot judge themselves by the standards of other people because you don’t know the covenant they have with their gods. They must look inwards and live by the standards of their conscience, culture and commandments of their God. One death is one death too many in Igboland and everyone should stand up and uphold our tradition of the sacrosanctity of human blood. I plead with all the secessionist groups and unknown gunmen to cease immediately the shedding of innocent blood as the Almighty God, who is the God of Ndigbo, will rise ferociously against any person or group that sheds innocent blood in Igboland, whether the person is a stranger or indegene.
Chukwu Abiama (God of Abraham), whom Ndigbo believe they are worshipping, commanded even the beasts, that cannot reason, not to kill human beings and promised to deal ruthlessly with any beast that attempts to kill human beings, much more will He punish human beings, that can reason, if such human beings decide to take human lives. That’s why in the traditional Igbo society, any beast that mauls any human being is killed. Chukwu Abiama said in Genesis 9:5-6 (GNB) that “If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else”. Period. This curse includes all their sponsors, both at home and in diaspora. They will use the same money they use to sponsor the death of innocent blood in Igboland to buy their own deaths. Whatever anybody sows, he reaps. This includes all the politicians that are pretentiously and surreptitiously supporting these killer groups in order to get their support for their elections. Let them recruit their own children into the separatist movements to be killed, if they sincerely believe that it is the right thing to do. They should stop sacrificing the blood of the children of the poor and ignorant, who constitute the bulk of the fighting force of these groups, to nourish their own inordinate ambition.
All the people that are singling out Ndigbo for blame for security challenges in the country because of the activities of a very minute but vocal entities, and at times very misguided, are simply Igbo haters without proper understanding of the nature of Ndigbo. Isn’t it absurd that these Igbo haters are interpreting the sit at home by Ndigbo to mean sympathy for secessionist groups when everyone can see how the few that dared come out are massacred by unknown gunmen. If the relevant authorities responsible to defend these innocent citizens failed to do so, then the people have a legitimate right to hide from the unknown gunmen. What you’re seeing in Igboland today is not a sit at home protest but a hiding from insecurity. How can students sit at home and not write their WAEC exams which they know will hinder them from moving ahead to higher institutions and which will never wait for them if they miss the date if not that they are running for their dear lives? How can people sit at home and refuse to trade for their survival in deference to the orders of unknown gunmen, recalling that even IPOB has lifted their Monday sit at home order? It doesn’t make sense. What is happening in the South East today is not sympathy for any secessionist group, it’s a survival strategy by the citizens residing there. I can assure you that no one will sit at home if adequate security is provided. In the North East and North West, whenever insecurity peaks, the State Governments, at times, shut down schools for months, while schools in other Zones are operational. Does this mean that the State Governments are doing this because they are sympathetic to bandits and terrorists? Ignorance is really a disease.
Today, we are in a democracy, and the honour of every nation or tribe is protected by law and the political astuteness of their people. There’s no place for violence in the scheme of things. Basic freedom are guaranteed by law which serves as a protection for the lives and property of Ndigbo anywhere they are. The penchant of the Igbo to freely express themselves irrespective of age is also protected by law. They utilised these qualities and freedom masterfully in the second republic and carted away the position of the Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives just nine years after the war. How come in the fourth republic, Ndigbo has not been able to produce any of these offices or the President in 24 years after the return of democracy in Nigeria. This calls for self introspection and change of strategy not the unconscionable shedding of innocent blood.
Let me be clear, there are some noticeable traces of injustice against Ndigbo, which did not start with this regime, but it will help tremendously if it ends with this regime. There’s no reason why a person from the South East has not been appointed a service Chief in this regime. If for nothing else, to help solve the security challenges in the South East and give them a sense of belonging. Isn’t it disturbing to learn that whenever issues of security are discussed at the highest level, no officer of South East extraction has ever sat with President Buhari to discuss it since his election as President. This can make the President liable to manipulation by the twisting tongue and lies of some of these politicians, since he will be relying on them for advice on the best approach to security in the South East. However, Ndigbo must fight these traces of marginalisation within the ambit of law and not succumb to the manipulation of outsiders to destroy their own homeland with their own hands in the name of agitation. There’s no doubt that I am expecting a new beginning in Igboland because this is the month that God adds a new year to me and I have asked God that the best birthday gift He will give me on November 6th is to heal and bless Igboland and bless you that has been reading my column.