Who Are Fuelling Hatred for the Igbo People? (EDITORIAL)
There is hardly a serious discussion in the country that won’t involve the Igbo people living in the commercial hub of the country, Lagos and of course the larger southwest geopolitical zone. The Igbo people are often successful in their businesses within and outside their territory.
But there have been issues since the last general elections and it all appears that other tribes in the country are targeting the southeastern people. The hate seems too much and it has made the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Labour Party candidate Peter Obi react.
Specifically, Atiku threw his support for the Igbo people in Lagos and other Yoruba land. He said that they had rights to stay, live and carry out their businesses in any part of the country. The reaction of the former vice, ironically, has contributed to the issue. He appears to have some disregards for the Yoruba people at least since the primary election between him and the Late Moshood Abiola in 1993.
Whenever the Igbo people engage in their vituperation, Atiku would maintain his silence. There was a time last year and early this year when some Igbo people on X (formerly known as Twitter) claimed ownership of Lagos. It was an insult on the Yoruba people who have had the land for centuries. That they accommodate others doesn’t mean they have lost the ownership. After all they have been producing the state governors since 1999 t say the least.
Declaring that Lagos is a “no man’s land” actually brought more bitterness. There is no immediate evidence that the ex vice president condemned the issue that time. Therefore, his remark on the issue of #IgboMustGo can be regarded as hypocritical and it is capable of fuelling the hatred for the Igbo people. Atiku Abubakar even went on to use the hashtag on both his Facebook and X accounts. Invariably, he was drawing attention and fuelling national disunity. Online Parrot News condemns this unequivocally.
Peter Obi is also not helping the matter. He stepped further by calling the issue genocidal. If there were any genocidal attempt on the Igbo people, it’s the Igbo people themselves who are carrying it out. The leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra Nnamdi Kanu accused the IPOB of killing their own brothers. He was talking about the Abia Soldiers Killing in late May, 2024.
What about the violence in Owerri, the capital of Imo State in the past week? The IPOB and the Eastern Security Network would enforce their rather counterproductive sit-at-home orders and in the process unleash violence on the civilians. How many of them has Peter Obi condemned? He appears to be chicken hearted when it comes to IPOB matters.
A video is in circulation now that shows some Igbo people calling for war in the southwest geopolitical zone, the Yoruba land. You can’t be earning your living at a place and call for its destruction, that’s double standard. The Yoruba people have been accommodating and it’s quite rare for a race to do that.
Did Peter Obi and mentor Atiku Abubakar make statement that time to condemn it? Then, their attitudes show their bias and that has helped to fuel the avoidable acrimony.
Shortly after the last general elections, the Igbo people started making calls for relocation of their businesses to the southeastern region. They said that they felt unsafe in the southwest region even though there were no threats other than the ones they themselves issued. They were simply the ones who are afraid of their own shadow and that should stop immediately.
The members of the Obidient Movement have become more violent. They have launched a number of attacks on top Yoruba leaders including the Nobel prize winner Professor Wole Soyinka. You don’t throw stone on someone’s roof and expect no response. Soyinka remains an icon for the Yoruba people and of course the country as a whole.
There should be a retrospection. The country belongs to everyone wherever they are. They should be able to do their businesses, raise their children anywhere and work for the common goal of a prosperous nation.
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