Written by
Chike Egbufoama
Ndi Igbo have suffered the double
misfortune of being misunderstood and having a bad press. In spite of
their stupendous achievements in every area of human endeavor,
particularly in science and technology, religion and education, the Igbo nation has been deliberately and systematically marginalized press wise.
At
the risk of sounding patriotic and accommodating, Ndi Igbo have
suffered the loss of their integrity and reputation but have also shown
great courage and determination to survive as a people. I am not, however, ignorant of the propaganda
mounted by western writers about the sub-humanity of Africans as a
people without history, without religion, (Green, 1964:52) denying them
any conception of morality (Basden; 1966:34) and lacking in intellectual
and technological accomplishments. I am not unaware of how African
religions in general, and Igbo religion in particular suffered neglect,
misinterpretations and distortions in the hands
of missionaries and colonial government and their agents. The Igbo
studies by C. K. Meeks (1937) and M.M. Green (1964) only helped to
perpetuate the bad press the Igbo already had as a lawless and
ungovernable people. The traditional Igbo had a deep sense of community.
The popular sentiment among the Igbo, as found in most other Africans
is as J.S. Mbiti (1969:108) puts it: When kinsmen gather together under
the moonlight it is not because they cannot see it from their different
roofs or because of what they will eat together. it has a reason beyond
just coming under the moonlight. For René Descartes I think therefore I am but for the igbo race. “I am because we are and since we are, therefore I am. “I relate therefore I am.
The Igbo man is a being with others that explains expressions like
mmadu ka aku, (person is better than money), oko taba anumanu ojekwuru
osisi mana okowa mmadu ojekwuru nwanne ya (if something scratches an
animal it goes to the tree to scratch it but when it scratches a man he
goes to his brother).Individual existence and freedom are appreciated,
but they are delicately balanced with the underlying philosophy of
life-in-community.
Igbo world view before the advent of marauders
These agents of distortion won pick these
expressions but rather capitalizes on the ones that serves their
warpage prowess. But to them I say nothing and remind them that the
tailless cow has dog to chess
flies for him.Thus modern democracy is not after all foreign to the Igbo
because it has its root in Igbo origin and thought. The Igbo life did
not start with colonization rather before the advent of the Europeans
Igbo already had a philosophy, established structure of government which
was democratic, education and technology. Igweb?ike/?ha b? ike(Umunna is strength), Umunnakwe ( Umunna agreed) Agwo out onye huru bu Eke (snake seen by one person
is python)The democratic spirit in Igbo checks any possible excesses
arising from unnecessary seniority, status and achievement. This is
further strengthened by the Igbo principle of equality and equivalence
which rightly brought out in the saying egbe bere ugo bere nke si ibe ya
ebela nku kwa ya which means live and lets live. This is fundamental in
Igbo thought pattern. Ndi Igbo don't worship people; they even have
sanctions against rude people. They respect people. In fact, there is
great respect to the elders in an Igbo society but they allow people
express themselves. Ndi Igbo do not tolerate of acts of rudeness to
their elders. Osagie Jacobs's generalization and insults against Ndi
Igbo in his (This day, September 17, 2002 page 11) where he claimed that
Igbo do not respect the elders, and that they respect money not age is
unfortunate. Osagie himself knows that he is dishonest, rude and crude,
how because of one person he has the guts to insult a whole race. Igbo
people respect their elders, but they resent oppression and
authoritarianism. It is reported that during the slave trade period Igbo
slaves who were constantly starved by their European masters organized
a revolt to resent their starvation. They had to be fed by force. They
refused to be treated as sub-humans.The original Igbo understanding of
leadership which the colonialists succeeded in destabilizing and erasing
is that every Igbo community strives to elect “collective” leaders who
function as partners and colleagues of the other members of the community or institution. These other members are themselves called to do something to function actively as partners and colleagues. Membership and leadership are organic whole; they have influence on each other. Effective leadership needs responsible membership responsible membership needs focus, needs ways of participating, and needs an atmosphere that fosters various ways of involvement.Leadership resides in the person the member elect and it resides also in the members.
De-constructing the marauders conceived stereotype
The
relationship of leaders and members comes from their understanding of
leadership as from the gods and that is to be carried out in both a
personal and a communal manner. The actual living of that relationship
in an organic way is a challenge that both leaders and members face in
the then Igbo community before the bastardization meted out on this
thought system. In modern times it could be seen that Nigerian colonial
Politics had remained passive until the arrival
of the lgbo intellectuals on the scene in the person of Hon. Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, Dr. K.O. Mbadiwe, Mr. Mbonu Ojike, Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Nwafor
Orizu, etc. Igbo democracy does not mean the freedom
to insult, maltreat or abuse people because of one's position. I stand
to refute such distortion and misrepresentation of Igbo thought system
with phrases as these:1.Igbo-ama-onye-ukwu (igbos don’t know a great
person) 2.I na-enye m nri (do you give me food), 3.Igbo enwe-eze (igbos
have no leader or king)These were not in traditional Igbo thought. They
have become Igbo expressions in the mouth of those who harbor envy,
hatred and jealousy for others, those who do not appreciate
'excellence,' people influence by
the Hebrew saying: "a prophet has no honor in his own community." They
served a colonial interest of destabilizing Igbo unity. It has become
very appalling that even our Igbo intellectuals are accepting the
expression - Igbo enwe eze - as reflecting traditional Igbo situation.
It does not and it is arrant nonsense. It has its origin in the early
colonial European writers and philosophers like Hegel who spoke about
the Igbo in particular as people without history. We must take note of
the fact that Igbo history did not start with the advent of the white
man. The man who denied that you had a history could not possibly come
to believe you had a 'king’ or 'chief' which ever title you may prefer.
The truth which historians have agreed on is that all the ethnic groups
in Nigeria, it is only the Igbo that really resisted the white man, not
months but several years. Igbo historians have also agreed that the
Europeans had a basic dislike for the Igbo whom they found ungovernable
and what was worse irreverent in their attitude to members of the
'master race'. Put simply, they hated the Igbo. This is what informed
their introduction of the indirect rule in Eastern Nigeria. This
colonialist created the warrant chiefs. These chiefs were installed to
serve the interest of those who established them (Nwajiuba 2001:25): for
reasons like : 1), to assist them hold down the Igbo 2), to serve their
economic interest including collection of taxes
and settlement of local cases. The colonialists distrusted the original
Igbo chiefs. Thus the colonialists used the indirect rule to remove and
destroy the legitimacy of Igbo rulers and they imposed their own
subjects who ruled in their stead. And the people rebelled and refuse
obeisance to chiefs of such kind We must not forget the fact that right
from time in Igbo history there is what we call 'Igbo pride.' The Igbo
saw himself from time as a superior race. For example King Jaja of Opobo
treated the European traders and administrators as his inferiors. They
latter feared him and tricked him to go aboard the British warship for
friendly discussion but was carried away into exile where he died. Do we
not know the implication of the fact that he died in exile, he died
with the history of his people in his memory. The Ar?chukwu people and
most Igbo royal princes never removed their hats or stood up or
prostrated for the British colonialists unlike most other subservient
African tribes. Specifically in 1896 at Aba a man refused to remove his
hat for a white man (Isichei, 1976:59) (Leonard, 1966:191), because he
felt he was superior to the white man. Have we even bothered to ask why
up till today 'Eze Nri' is not listed among the first class chiefs in
Igbo1and (along with Eze Ar?, Oguta, Nnewi and, Obi Of Onitsha). Nri
model. Of kingship which controlled many parts of the Igbo land for
several centuries was finally liquidated by the British imperialists to exploit
the Igbo (slave trade). The truth of the matter in our view is that the
“Igbo enwe Eze” concept was introduced into the Igbo psychic, and in practice
by installing warrant chiefs in order to destabilize the Igbo society
and make it impossible for them to retain their 'Igboness,' their
uniqueness, their industry, their confidence and their pride/identity as
a people. You will realize that this concept is introduced into our
'Culture,' the very essence of a people. It has succeeded to work like
magic in the Igbo nation which presently is the most destabilized and
disunited ethnic group in the world. It brought the culture of
disrespect and greed as well as that of falsehood thereby destroying
every evidence of a well laid down functional leadership pattern prior
to the advent of the white man. How else could we explain that our
people in government could not be united to promote
Igbo cause. We saw what happened in the period of Shagari government.
It was a near impossibility for the vice president and the governor to
work together to promote Igbo interest. It is what is happening today.
Today many of our state governors are in conflict with our people in
government at the federal level. Does it happen elsewhere? Indirect rule
is not yet over.
Igbo land still remains its
testing grounds. This system was and is still the basic instrument being
employed to destabilize the Igbo race, incapacitate and frustrate any
plan of the Igbo people to form a common force where together they can
challenge the ills done to them. There is hope. Let me ask you, who is
afraid of Igbo unity? The Igbo people say: Igwe b? ike = unity/strength
is power. We know even as the Igbo Bible puts it, that divided we fall,
but united we stand. Igbo enwe eze concept is strange to Igbo psyche
and history of the origin. It should be discarded, forgotten and formal
education at reorientation of every Igbo undertaken. A family regarded
as the smallest unit in a locality has the 'father' as the head, how much more a village, a clan and a tribe. Let the issue of Igbo enwe eze be laid to rest. We Igbo people are not crabs; we are men and women
with great propensity for leadership and followership we do not need to
invoke the expression to support our democratic thought system for
self-reliance. Nor as a way of checking the excesses of any Igbo leader.
IGBOMAN
LIKES MONEY TOO MUCH-It is important to notice that the history of Igbo
origin as legend has it, reveals that the word 'Igbo' refers to
'forest-dwellers'. We are aware that at this time the primitive Igbo
lived a hazardous wandering life of the hunter-gatherer of wild edible
plants. The Nri myth which preserved for us how agriculture came meant
that the Igbo became 'farmers' who had to be directly dependent on the
land for their livelihood. Definitely these kinds of job descriptions
will require among other qualities - strength and intelligence. The
implications that right from the Igbo genesis, the Igbo man was born
into a tough world that demanded him to be rugged, courageous, fearless,
determined and hardworking to survive. Thus I will agree with D.I.
Nwoga (1984:48) who said:…the .most prominent aspect of Igbo concept of
man is that of a struggler for survival, a hard and determined person in
confrontation with the environment to force out of it a means of
sustenance. Luckily enough, this Igbo nature of hard work had been
acknowledged right from the pre-colonial period. It is reported of Igbo
slaves in Haiti that they were… excellent for work in the fields
yet difficult to manage. They kept a strong sense of their Igbo
identity and gave help, care and instructions to new arrivals from Igbo
land. (Isichei, 1976:44; Herskovit, 1931:20-21; Uchendu, 1965:37). Even
in the New World Igbo slaves were outstanding for their hard work and
intelligence. Igbo slaves became much more productive than the other
slaves, by exhibiting higher degree of intelligence, honesty and
craftiness. Nwosu (1983:7) argued that the Igbo slaves showed a greater
degree of brotherly love among themselves, which was lacking also in
slaves of other nationalities. This discovery made the American Masters
of Igbo slaves to become more productive, and wealthier than their
counter-parts in Cuba and South America, Igbo slaves thereby became more
expensive than others. Admittedly, this Igbo achievement orientation as
an important aspect of Igbo life is one area in which the Igbo have
been badly misunderstood and misrepresented.Many non-Igbo use it and
argue that the Igbo are materialistic.Interestingly enough on this kind
of accusation (Jordan, 1971:115) reported that Bishop Shanaham who had
worked in Igbo land for years had come to the conclusion that: The
average native was admirably suited by environment and training, for an
explanation of life in terms of the spirit, rather than of the flesh. He
was no materialist. Indeed nothing was farther from his mind than a
materialistic philosophy of existence. It made no appeal to him.This was
several years ago and I wish to categorically state that the Igbo do
not cherish money more than the other ethnic groups. In fact, if money
has today become an Igbo problem, it is a problem which Nigeria created
for them. So it is a Nigerian problem. This achievement orientation has
been found in their industry, courage, determination and in traveling in
search of adequate means of livelihood in all nooks and crannies of the
world, in all human endeavors.
What propels the Igbo man
First,
the Igbo is afraid of failure in life. He believes that nature has
endowed him with the ability to subdue his world and succeed and
therefore had to do just that. Definitely the mandate to control the
land is a mandate to be successful. As dede Afigbo rightly put:It is
thus quite clear that the Igbo saw failure in his world as a terrible
calamity which implied damnation and so did every thing possible to
avoid it. It is this fear of failure, this drive to succeed here, and
attain the status of Ogaranya (a rich man) which he could carry across
to the next world, which helped him to account for the economic drive of the Igbo man, as for the high score
and prestige set on hard work, resourcefulness, foresight, and rugged
individualism. Second, the Igbo is not prepared to attribute any failure
to his personal 'chi.' Thus the Igbo saying that onye kwe chi ya ekwe
locates the Igbo in the context of determination and faith to succeed.
It is for this reason he has to get all forces on his side. The
achievement orientation finds the Igbo in reverence of Ikenga, the cult
of strength, a symbol
for personal achievement, heroism and success. The Igbo people love to
be rewarded and recognized after having worked hard. Thus recognition
for achievement is well entrenched in Igbo life. For instance, far from
despising manual labour, the Igbo esteem the successful farmer. Some
parts of Igbo land award them the titles of Eze ji (King of yam), Oko ji
(yam planter). This Igbo saying reaffirms :egbuwa ?f?a a h? ak?
i.e.When you clear the forest you see wealth.The Igbo people believe so
much in the dignity of labour (work) probably more than any other ethnic
groups in Nigeria, and it is for this same reason, the Igbo are also hated. Everywhere in Nigeria
you find the Igbo working for his livelihood. It is a new phenomenon
seeing an ‘Igbo’ begging for alms. We know as Oluadah Eouiano wrote
centuries ago, that begging was unknown to the Igbo society. The only
circumstance that begging was probably accepted was rather than being a
thief (Onye ar?r?? ka onye oshi mma). Stealing was a terrible crime in
traditional Igbo society and its punishment could be death, at times. Creating wealth is based on hard work and intelligence.
It is just recently we started seeing people who do ‘nothing’ but we
find them building ‘estates.’ It is only recently we find people who do
nothing and yet become leaders. In traditional Igbo society, you can’t lead
without your being an accomplished person, having something doing. We
have what is called the British pride, the American pride; we also have
from time immemorial what is known as the ‘Igbo pride’ which some
historians refer to as ‘Igbo identity’. This ‘Igbo pride’ is that Igbo
spirit, that Igboness in every Igbo person, that courage, that
determination, that fearlessness, that self-confidence in every Igbo
person. That which made him Igbo rather than any other tribe He knows
that he is not judged by what his father or relations
have but rather by what he is able to achieve by himself for his
community. We see with our eyes Igbo solidarity, ingenuity and
uniqueness. We need to recover these heritages and to offer to our
country the best that is in us, because we have what it takes to move Nigeria forward.
As
the Igbo child puts forward here A NOSTALGIC RECOUNT OF CHILDLIKE FAITH
AND HOPE. IGBO NO N’UZO NA NDI BI N’ULO EKELEM UNU. WE ARE NOT HERE FOR
A FLATTERY OR PRAISE-SINGING VENTURE,
BUT TALKING OF A PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE CAPACITY TO CHANGE THEIR WORLD. NKE
A BU EZIOKWU CHARA ACHAIGBO NO N’UZO NA NDI BI N’ULO MMA MMA NUUMUNNE
DI UTO UDO DIRI UMUIGBO, CHUKWU GOZIE ?NU?HA NA EZE MMA MMA NUONYE SIN A
O BU UNU N’ANYA O BUY A N’AJA OCHA.
