Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the Federation called
Nigeria.
The sad part is that this belief is shared not just by the generation that witnessed the war and its deadly consequences, but Igbos
across all generations, including the millennials who have been socialized into believing that there is a gap between their people and other Nigerians.
Let us not deceive ourselves about certain plain truths. The civil war is perhaps the most remarkable incident in Igbo history in
the last century. The pain, the loss, all about it, is deeply imprinted in the Igbo consciousness. Whereas the Igbo nation has shown great resourcefulness since the war,
and its people have proven to be
enterprising and determined to hold their own in every sphere of life, including outstanding contributions to the making of
the Nigerian state, there are Nigerians who still regard and treat the Igbo suspiciously.
Anti-Igbo sentiment may not be so openly expressed, but it is usually something beneath the surface. There are landlords in
many parts of Nigeria, for example, who will never rent out their property to an Igbo
man. The Igbo tenant is easily stigmatized. I have heard people complain that Igbo tenants are too stubborn or that when you
rent a room to an Igbo man, he will end up sub-letting that one room to all kinds of persons from his village, putting pressure
on the property’s limited facilities.
Some landlords insist that an Igbo tenant could even start eyeing the property, to buy it off the landlord, or if it is a shop, the Igbo
trader would end up renting the entire street, and could turn the street into an Igbo neigbourhood.
This stigma has been a source of agony for many Igbos seeking
accommodation, particularly in Lagos, but it is of course completely baseless stereotyping. There are good and bad
persons from virtually every Nigerian ethnic group.
The stereotyping of the Igbo person can also be found in the political arena. It is assumed by some persons, and such
statements have been made to my hearing, that the only reason an Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria is because every Igbo
man sees himself as a potential President, and should the Presidency be zoned to the
South East, the struggle for the ticket could result in inter-community strife in Igboland.
The name of the group is Igbo, but when other Nigerians want to be mischievous, or perhaps out of ignorance, they refer to Igbos as Ibo, and when you try to correct
them, they may insist you don’t seem to understand. It is I-Before-Others (IBO).
