Igbo People Deserve More Hatred

CHIEF PROF. ANTHONY OHA

The Roman Catholic priest, who admonished his congregation to stop singing Igbo songs, is right. I totally support him. Don’t think I am crazy to have supported what you might describe as ethnic bigotry or hate speech against a people. The priest defended his action by saying that God only understands the language and song of the people where the church is situated. Thus, it would be wrong singing Hausa songs at a church in Aba or Asaba.

The priest is right; after all, it won’t take the Igbos so much to move to their God-given South East to enjoy the freedom of singing Igbo worship songs to God (Chukwu Okike) as they please. Let’s not suffer fools gladly, Father Anelu deserves no condemnation; rather, he should be applauded for telling the truth. Our fathers used to say that he who attacks you has opened your eyes to see where you have been defaulting unconsciously.

Enough of Igbo domination in other lands where they invest so much while reducing their God-given South East to poorest enclaves! May many more Father Anelus rise up against the Igbos in order to quash the belief of some misguided Igbos that home is not better than West or North! 

More so, in Adamawa State, we have been reading how a retired Police Officer threatened to deal with an Igbo man for buying a property next to his compound. He even publicly threatened the life of the Igbo man and advised him to sell the property and relocate to Igbo land or face hell. 

The social media has totally been condemning that act by the retired Police Officer. But, the man is right. In fact that man loves Igbo people more than the Igbos love themselves. How can an Igbo man go to the North Central and buy properties worth millions of Naira while in his own Igbo land he has nothing to show as edifice for his achievements in life? The retired Police officer asked whether the Igbos would allow northerners to come to Igbo land and buy lands to build houses. It was a funny question because a northerner coming to build a house in Igbo land is wasting his resources because Igbo land has nothing to offer him because those who could make the place better prefer investing outside. This is the real tragedy for the Igbo people!

The retired Police officer sees Igbos as being too daring for his liking. The man may not be tribalistic but he’s concerned about the foolishness of the Igbo people who prefer trudging in strange lands instead of developing and investing in their states. I wish those who have been advising the Igbo man to go to court to also remind him that he’s not from Adamawa State. He should sell the property and go back home to invest the proceeds. This is not a matter for human rights!

In Nigeria today, the South East is the least developed in terms of good infrastructure. Industries are not built by the Igbo billionaires in Igbo land because they prefer building such in the West and North. This is absolutely condemnable. If all the Igbo investments in the West and North of Nigeria are in Igbo land, the Igbos won’t be crying of being marginalised today; rather, they will beat their chest that they’re self made.

Unemployment is high in the South East zone; yet, the stakeholders and captains of industry in Nigeria are the Igbos. The question now is: why do Igbos develop other places while leaving their land that’s filled with milk and honey to lie desolate?

May God bless that Catholic Priest in Ikorodu Lagos and the retired Police Officer from Adamawa State for telling the truth! Even the clamour for Biafra may seem like a mirage because the Igbos, who invested heavily in the other parts of Nigeria may work against any referendum for Biafra.

Time will tell!

Chief Prof. Anthony Oha, fnos

(Oka Edemede 1 of Umuchukwu)

©professoroha@outlook.com