Azuka Onwuka
For decades, the Igbo and the Yoruba have lived in peace but have bickered ceaselessly like cat and dog. On April 22, 2014, I wrote an article entitled, “‘Tom and Jerry’ relationship between Igbo and Yoruba to highlight the inherent strengths of these two ethnic groups and how they can positively direct these strengths for the good of the two ethnic groups and Nigeria in general. I added another article on April 21, 2015, entitled, “Lagos is not a ‘No man’s land’ but to underpin how the two ethnic groups can work together.
However, one complaint some Yoruba have against the Igbo is that the latter are limiting the opportunities available to the Yoruba by being in control of their homeland in the South-East and also sharing the opportunities in the South-West with the Yoruba. If the Igbo were all resident in the South-East, and only come into the South-West to transact business and go back, some maintain, there would not be much problem. But the idea of the Igbo settling en masse in Yorubaland, especially Lagos, buying property massively, controlling some markets and products, and having a say in the politics of the South-West seem threatening to some Yoruba. It creates the impression that the Igbo usually hold an annual general assembly in a 30-million-man capacity stadium at which a directive is issued to every Igbo person to go to the South-West and take it over. But as has been shown, the Igbo are investment-driven, and land seems to be the best investment in Nigeria, because of its ever appreciating value and the protection it gives to the owner from landlords who talk down on tenants, increase rent at will and eject tenants at the flimsiest reason. The Igbo are proud people who don’t like living at the mercy of any “master”.
One weird alternative is to send all Igbo out of Yorubaland. But that option is not an option because the Igbo are Nigerians and have a right to reside in any part of Nigeria without any passport or residential permit. Secondly, even if the Igbo and the Yoruba don’t belong to the same country, the global standard is that people are free to reside in any country once they have valid papers, and they have a right to own property once they can afford it. Currently, Nigerians reside in all parts of the world and own property there without being citizens of those countries.
However, there is an option that will balance the skewed equation between the Igbo and the Yoruba and reduce the tension between the two ethnic groups. That option is to have a strategic migration of the Yoruba in droves into Igboland, residing there with their families, transacting business, buying property and participating in the local politics and social activities in Igboland. Currently, many Yoruba seem to be averse to living in other parts of Nigeria outside the Yoruba enclave. Interestingly, they love to live in large numbers in the UK and the US.
Even in the choice of university, it is the same story. The PUNCH edition of August 10, 2015 published a news story on page 6 on the result of the post-UTME examination released by the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The person with the highest score was Igbo (Onyenachi Nze). Two people tied at third position, and one of them was Igbo (Jude Epunam). If you check the results released by universities which are based in the South-East, Yoruba names will be few and far between, not because they don’t want to admit Yoruba students, but because they rarely apply to South-East universities or even those in the South-South. In my class of about 70 students at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we had only one Yoruba student.
Once the Yoruba take a decision to “invade” the South-East in large numbers, the relationship between them and the Igbo will improve greatly. They will stop feeling short-changed by the Igbo. While an Emeka is buying a house in Okota, an Ayodele should be buying a house beside Emeka’s ancestral home in Amawbia. While a Dozie is calling himself Eze-Igbo of Ojo, Dayo is calling himself Oba Yoruba of Ngwaland. Continue Punch.
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