NDIGBO, JEWS OF AFRICA?

Only a deaf and blind can claim not to be aware of the recent resurgence of Igbo self-awareness that seems to run concurrently with the anti-Igbo hysteria in the Nigerian polity. From the mid-1940s till this date, no decade had passed without the flower of Nigeria’s unity, if there is any such thing, being watered by the spilling of Igbo blood. The strange thing is that the perpetrators and those looking the other way, including sadly the government, brusquely tell Ndigbo to "get over it." And the carnage continues.

It is also most bizarre that any reaction and/or protestations by Ndigbo especially in such manifestation as IPOB/MASSOB is deemed treason. Our compatriots have lived under the military for so long that, like Kayode Esho, (JSC) said, they have long forgotten what the rule of law looks like. You invade my homestead, burn my home and barn, murder my family and when I react you retort "treason." Somebody is definitely mad, and it is certainly not me.

In this environment marked by dark clouds over the nation, many commentators, including non-Igbos, have been weighing in on the past, present and (dismal) future prospects of Ndigbo in the Nigerian federation as presently constituted. I prefer the expression "The Igbo Predicament."

Which brings me to the following work by Dr Leonard Madu whom I regard as a sound Igbo apologist. Many different exerpts have been circulating in the social media for the past two odd years. I am belatedly paying some attention to it now that I had the name of the author to go on. This has enabled me to access links to several websites that have chosen to archive his work.

The theories that Dr Madu has been advancing are not new and are are not necessarily all compelling. However those who have a case or grudge against Ndigbo will be disappointed to learn that people with my mindset, arch-Igbo, do not need any proof, worthy of a Pythagoras, to identify with the positive traits of Ndigbo so eloquently potrayed by several writers that Madu quoted. In a previous article, dealing tangentially with devolution of power, I had dutifully pointed out for the wilfully ignorant or the uninitiated that Ndigbo will NEVER sit on the floor when they can afford a chair. That some detractors will regard that as pride beats me. I refer readers to two of the many reviews of Achebe's THERE WAS A COUNTRY that appeared on the Penguin publisher's website. Here I am refering to Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr and Noor Saro-Wiwa. One of them had taken on some critics who had bristled at the "unacceptable" level of Igbo triumphalism evident in Achebe's storytelling. Saro-Wiwa had deadpanned that that posture had been well earned. Not wanting to pick a endless quarrel with those for whom the only good Igbo is a dead one, or a slave or a wife, I had reserved until today, this recommendation regarding Achebe’s final hurrah. SIMPLY IGNORE THE BOOK BUT READ ONLY THE REFERENCES! You cannot come out of the endeavour the same as when you started. You cannot also do that in a hurry. I confess that I have been able to chew through only half of it, in more than three years!

Even if only ten percent of the ideas and "historical" data presented by Dr Madu proves to be both correct and verifiable, his work deserves serious attention in enlightened circles. Good thing that Harvard University Press has provided a credible launching pad.