Igbo, Yoruba and Us (Revisited)
kasirim nwuke
Mr. Kevin Ani:
Thank you for your mail. It surprises me that you take Kola Omotosho to
be the authority on names in Obio. Not surprised. You must latch on to
anything, however tenous that supports your baseless arguments.
Look, and I want you to hear me very clearly. As far as I know, no
Ikwerre man changed his name or the name of his village in order to
appease anyone. None. All that they did was to assert their AUTONOMY. I
cannot for the life of me understand why some of you think that the
Ikwerre man or woman ever felt inferior to Izon or an Andoni or an
Okirika; felt so inferior as to deny his being, his autonomy.
All of you fail to admit that there was something wrong with the way
things were run in Port Harcourt before the war. Aba is an Ngwa town,
isn't it? Many of the traders in Aba come from elsewhere, don't they? Have
you ever made any attempts to rewrite and to tell them how they should
write and spell their names? Have you done so elsewhere? I cannot
understand the fixation on Port Harcourt and the disrespect that some of
you on Igbo--net show to the people of the area. Where they the ones who
took your property? Were they not in Biafra? Even in Biafra, were they not
largely treated as "others"?
Look, let us not go deep into this thing. If any communities did change
their names it is those East Central State communities that petitioned to
join Rivers State after the war. The Obigbos, and others.
I shall respond to Dr. Iheduru in due course.
And no, I am not threatened by the award of contract to dredge the River
Niger as long as I am still a Nigerian.
okn
---
On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, Kevin Ani wrote:
> Igbo Ndewo!
>
> Kasirm Nwuke wrote:
>
> Have you lived an Obio village or town before? Look,in Obio, they do
> not use "Umu", they use "RUMU." That is language. I am not sure anyone
> has tried to change Enugu to Enugwu or Elugwu neither am I sure that
> anyone has tried to change Umuahia to Umuafia or whatever. Go to the
> former Soviet Republics. You will see that many Russified names have
> been changed since those republics became independent countries. Plse,
> let off on Port Harcourt. It is enough now, isn't it? It is this kind
> of attitude, an attitude that suggests disrespect for a people, that
> creates rifts, rifts that should not exist in the first place.
>
> First, let me pay tribute to brother Moe for his beautiful contribution
> which elicited the above response. In particular, I felt pleased when he
> mentioned the activities of some linguistic imperialists working round
> the clock to whittle down Igboland by all means necessary. I was
> reassured that Ndigbo are not oblivious of the manouvres of individuals
> like Prof. Kay Williamson in Port Harcourt whose sole objective is to
> dismantle the Igbo language by setting up every sub-dialect as a
> seperate tongue complete with orthography and all. Williamson has
> accordingly written books such as: Reading and writing Ezaa, Ikewrre,
> Izii, Ukwuani. It will not surprise me if he has extended this list with
> reading and writing Ngwa, abriba, Ohafia, Afikpo etc. all in a futile
> attempt to undermine the linguistic basis of Igbo cultural unity.
>
> Now to Kasirim Nwuke I say: Na Lie.
>
> 1. Every adult Nigerian Igbo and non-Igbo alike knows when, how and why
> the transition from umu to rumu was made. Kola Omotosho, a Yoruba
> summarises this transition as follows:
> ...in Port Harcourt in the last days before the federal troops
> took it over...many... renounced their relationship with the Ibos,
> even the most tenous ones. Whole village had changed their names,
> to speak of individuals who now took names as un-Ibo as they could
> find. They now went about parading the way they had been oppressed
> by the Ibos... and wanting nothing to do with Ibos forever.
> (Omotoso, K. (1988): Just Before Dawn. Ibadan: Spectrum. p313).
>
> 2. Whether the change from umu to rumu is justified or not is something
> else. Throughout history, oppressed people have sought ways and means of
> escaping their fate. For example, during the days of segregation, some
> African-Americans bleached their skins, straightened their hair with hot
> combs and refused to acknowledge other blacks in public as they passed
> off as whites to escape the effects of institutionalised racism. Is it
> surprising that Ndiigbo outside the East Central State would shed their
> Igbo identity to survive the harsh anti-Igbo policies that followed the
> collapse of Biafra?
>
> 3. I agree that rifts on this matter among Ndiigbo is counter-
> productive. Rather we should direct the fire to those who instigated
> this outcome. In my opinion, the genocidal impulses of troops of the 3rd
> Marine Commando Division and their commander Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle
> were soley responsible for turning Umuigbo to Rumuigbo. How? Adekunle it
> was who made it clear that his war aim was to wipe Ndiigbo off the face
> of the earth. In the height of his campaign he said:
>
> ... I want to prevent even one Igbo having even one piece to eat
> before their capitulation. We shoot at everthing that moves and
> when our forces march into...Igbo territory, we shhot at every-
> thing even at things that do not move.
>
> Given this threat and the killing and maiming that accompanied it,
> should we blame the poor Ikwerre villager who sought safety by changing
> his village's name from Umuigbo to Rumuigbo or whatever?
>
> Interestingly, Brigadier Bemnjamin Adekunle is still walking freely and
> occasionally posing as a hero while Ndiigbo argue among themselves. As
> we write, a Bosnian Croat and two Muslims were convicted at the
> international war crimes tribunal in the Hague for a reign of terror
> that included the murder and toture of Serb prisoners, a child's play
> compared to what Adekunle did. Ironically, the man who played a key role
> in their conviction is none other than Nigeria's Adolpus Karibi-Whyte.
> He summing up statement indicates clearly that a commander (civil or
> military)is criminally responsible for the acts of his surbordinates.
> Karibi-Whyte said:
> ... Mr Mucic (a Croat Commander) was clearly derelict in
> his duty and allowed those under his authority to commit
> the most heinous offences without taking any disciplinary
> action.
>
> My point? Let us end the rift now and go after the culprits (Adekunle
> and co.) whose genocidal activities generated the condition for name
> swapping and disguise in the first place.
>
> 4. On Nwuke's...let off on Port Harcourt. I say please take it, eat it.
> Kasirim Nwuke must be the only one from the P.H area who is not building
> bridges to other Igbo people today. He is still frozen in time. For him
> it is still January 15 1970 and PH old stadium is still his Liberation
> Stadium. I say, Wake up man and smell the coffee! Prominent others from
> Senator Ellah, Eze Sunday Woluchem, Prof. Tasie, to Prof Nwonodi and
> indeed Ogbako Ikwerre have since joined the umunna. You are alone sir.
> Thanks to the above men and Igbo favourable response, your P.H. will not
> suffer the fate of other leading ports in the Bight of Biafra (e.g.
> Calabar, Abonnema, Bonny). For as we write, the Nigerian state has
> delivered a master stroke that will divert substantial activities from
> the PH area in the near future by awarding a multi-million naira
> contract for the dredging of River Niger from Warri to Baro. The
> opening of Onitsha inland Port and the emergence of Warri will follow.
> O.k? So I say to Nwuke: take PH, eat it if you so wish.
>
>
kasirim nwuke
Have you ever heard of a figure of speech called "metaphor"?
I use the small boy selling groundnut as a metaphor. I am not even sure
that I did anywhere impose an ethnicity on that "boy". Look, you live in
the past. In the past, when Nigeria was growing, people could rise from
selling groundnuts and from being bus conductors to great wealth. The
problem of Nigeria today is that such hope no longer exists. You cannot
show me anyone in Nigeria's recent history who has risen from such
extremely humbly beginnings. Education is the main avenue for
intergenerational upward mobility.
I cannot understand why many of you are not concerned about the fact that
9 out every 100 kids between age 0 - 1imonths will die before he/she turns
exactly 12 months old. In the USA it will take 60 years for those 9 to
die. I cannot understand why the fact that life expectancy for the
Nigerian child born today is 52 years does not bother you. In the west, a
child born today can expect to live for more than 75 years - 50% longer.
Why can't these more important issues agitate your mind? Why do you waste
time on a social construct - ethncity? Have you ever asked yourself the
question: who is an Igbo? Is it an ethnic group or a linguistic group?
What will you say if the "Attahs" of Abakiliki tell you that they are not
Igbos?
The provincialism and parochialism of some of you is mindboggling!
o.kasirim nwuke
---------------
On Fri, 20 Nov 1998, henry agaptus wrote:
> Kevin,
>
> You summed it up beautifully, but i will also like to point out the fact
> the each time a people feel that they are not fairing as well as the
> Igbo's who are in their locality, they resort to attacking them.
> I have noticed that each time Mr Nwuke writes about Igbo's and Port
> Harcourt he makes sure that he tell's us about a little Igbo boy selling
> peanut in the street. We are mostly traders and most Igbo
> people i know will rather sell peanut to make ends meet than to
> beg for alms. The example that Nwuke constantly gives in his write ups
> is the reason Igbo's have always been attacked, They are resourceful.
>
> It has become a pattern in Nigeria. The Igbo's have been accused of
> mistreating the Eastern minorities,not one of these ethnic groups in
> Nigeria has been able to identify how they have been mistreated. Igbo's
> have become the jew's of Nigeria, everybody blames them for their
> problems.
>
> Kevin as you pointed out about the abandoned property being a blessing,
> i will somewhat agree with you because it taught the Igbo's that charity
> must begin at home. Prior to 1966 Igbo's were the developers of Nigeria
> from Kano to Lagos to Port Harcourt. They were willing to assimilate and
> adapt to their foreign environment.
>
> The one crime the Igbo's committed is that they acquired and
> developed properties in their adopted locality instead of employing
> the post Biafran think home philosophy which has once again made
> Igboland the center of technology in Nigeria.This made the local people
> envious of them and in turn created ill feelings and hatred.
>
> It is true that the Igbo's have been marginalized, but i have travelled
> widely in Nigeria and i am yet to see any place that is more developed
> than Igboland.
>
> Igbo's everywhere are trying to come together, but they are still
> some that have been so brainwashed that it will take a little longer
> to convince them that it is time to come home.
>
> Our problem has always been our zeal to compete and our resourcefulness
> which most people view as greed. Eventually Nigeria
> will understand that the Igbo's are business people just like the jews
> and in business you have to stay afloat.
>
> We have to keep educating Nigerians that Igbo's are not the bad people
> they are constantly portrayed as. Igbo's are normal hard working and
> peace loving people.
>
> Stay focussed,
>
> Henry.
>
>
>
> >From owner-i...@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu Thu Nov 19 18:59:02 1998
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> >Message-ID: <zD1t2BA5...@nigerpress.demon.co.uk>
> >Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 01:00:41 +0000
> >To: kasirim nwuke <na...@bu.edu>
> >Cc: igbo...@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu
> >From: Kevin Ani <ebony...@nigerpress.demon.co.uk>
> >Subject: Re: Igbo, Yoruba and Us (Revisited)
> >In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.96.981118...@acs1.bu.edu>
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> >
> >Maazi Nwuke,
> >
> >1.On Kole Omotoso...
> >
> >What Kole Omotoso said had been said again and again by other Nigerians
> >from Prof Ben Nwabueze, Prof.Tasie to Prof. Adiele Afigbo. So it is
> your
> >argument, whatever it is, that is baseless (peasant, degenerative
> >category originally yours).
> >
> >2. On Umu, Rumu, de-Igbonization etc.
> >
> >You are wrong again. The people who are really crying about name
> changes
> >in PH today are not the Enes, the Ihedurus, the Anis, the Orjis etc.
> >They are no other than Ndi Ikwerre themselves. For under their very
> >nose, Ama Amadi was changed to Amadi Ama, Ohiamati Island off
> >Comprehensive High School has become Fiberesima Town and Polos and Amas
> >are springing up all over the place. One morning in the early 1980s,
> the
> >inhabitants of Diobu woke up to find that Emenike Street had changed to
> >Kolokuma Street etc. So if you really want to assert your
> >autonomy, by all means do it but do it properly. Start by changing
> Amadi
> >Ama to its original name i.e. Ama Amadi.
> >
> >As for Rumu, please note that now that the Biafran resistance has been
> >vindicated, the term rumu stands as an acute embarassment to its
> >originators. Even a 5-year old travelling by road or rail in Igboland
> >and passing through Umunede, Umuakashiada, Umuoba, Umugo, Umungasi,
> >Umuocham will not fail to see the artificiality of the transition to
> >Rumuibekwe, Rumuchukwu, Rumuosi Rumuigbo etc. The originators of that
> >charade should have been more creative!
> >
> >3. On those who seized your property etc.
> >
> >With due apology to individual Igbos who lost their property in
> >that scam, you will be surprised that abandoned property was a blessing
> >to Ndiigbo. The scam has altered the pattern of distribution of
> >industries and growth centres in the area for the better. Prior to
> that
> >scam, Igbo investment was concentrated in two areas i.e Enugu and PH.
> >Today, Onitsha has emerged as primary centre for the production of
> heavy
> >goods, Aba specialises in light consumer goods, while Nnewi has emerged
> >as the technical capital of Nigeria with links to S.E Asia. Owerri
> which
> >was once full of tatched houses has emerged as the most beautiful state
> >capital in Nigeria despite all odds while Asaba across the Niger is
> >beautiful new growth centre with tourist potentials. Go to these places
> >man and see for yourself (Jee nime obode ka-ihu ihe ndi ibe anyi na-aru
> >n'aka). Stop theorising. All these would not have been possible today
> >without abandoned property. All that Ndiigbo need tom do is to
> >compensate individuals who lost out in the abandoned property scam.
> >Otherwise abandoned property has in fact yielded what we call a Pareto
> >Optimal solution in political economy, contrary to the evil intentions
> >of its planners. Go and read Tom Forrest's book: Advance of African
> >Capital for an update on the Igbo economy.
> >
> >4. On the way things were run before the war...
> >
> >Sir, you must be the only man alive or dead who thinks that PH is
> better
> >run now than it was before the war. Even Ken-Saro-Wiwa, the arch-
> >Igbophobist did not think so. He made this clear in his book: On a
> >Darkling Plain and again shortly before he died in another book.
> >Similarly, Ogbako Ikwerre does not think so. So I do not know where you
> >get your facts. All I can say is that your views on this matter are
> >fossilised and irrelevant. Now consider:
> >
> > ...before the creation of Rivers State, Port Harcourt was
> > called Garden City all that beauty is gone...what we have now
> > is uncontrolled development of shanty towns (Ogbako Ikwerre).
> >
> > ...My office in PH lies on the busy Aggrey Road in the centre
> > of the old township, which had been well laid out...upon the
> > creation of Rivers State...old Port Harcourt had become another
> > slum. (Ken Saro-Wiwa, 1995).
> >
> >
> >5. On Aba, Ngwa people ...
> >
> >You have here chosen to wheel in the indigene Vs non-indigene problem
> in
> >Igbo cities, the familiar plaything of all Igbobobes. Ken-Saro-wiwa
> used
> >the same to justify abandoned property didn't he? Where is he today?
> >
> >6. On why the fixation with PH...
> >
> >For pragmatic reasons my friend. You may be arguing for argument sake
> >but for me, the aim is to conceptually delineate who is Igbo and who is
> >not. Why? Because the Igbo represent a unique case in which the action
> >of one Igbo man can change the fortune of the whole race. So I want to
> >know who belongs in and who belongs out. Gone are the days when one man
> >will bring doom to the whole Igbo race.
> >
> >For example you, Kasirim Nwuke, next time you travel home via Kano, if
> >you happen to get involved in any disagreement with a Mallam over taxi
> >fare for instance, you are strictly on your own. Ndiigbo resident in
> >that city will not raise a finger, they will not lose one shop for your
> >sake. They will put a sticker on your forehead proclaiming that you are
> >not Igbo. You will carry your own cross, period. This is why the issue
> >of PH, ethnic identities etc. wont' go away no matter how angry you
> get.
> >I therefore urge Ndigbo not to let up but indeed to probe deeper and
> >deeper into the Port Harcourt matter.
> >
> >7. On dredging of the Niger and decline of PH...
> >
> >Enyi, o di m ka i bughi Nwa Ihuru Oha Ikwerre (son-of -the-soil).
> >If you are, you are totally out of touch with the reality on the
> ground.
> >When was the last time you went there?
> >
> >In message <Pine.A32.3.96.981118...@acs1.bu.edu>,
> >kasirim nwuke <na...@bu.edu> writes
> >--
> >Kevin Ani
> >
> >
>
>
> ______________________________________________________
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>
>
henry agaptus
kasirim nwuke
These things are ephemeral. I do not care about. I care more about the
welfare of the people of Nigeria than I care about superficial displays of
power. The Rivers State government did decide to name streets in Port
Harcourt for towns in the state. It was "their" own way of fostering
unity in the state. Now that kolokuma is no longer in River State,
perhaps the street will be renamed.
Look, I am not unaware of the arguments of those who fought for a Port
Harcourt State - The late Dr. Obi Weli and co. I am not unaware that
"Upland" Rivers did scream marginialization long before it became your
favorite word. The agitation for a Port Harcourt began immediately after
the war.
Good bye.
okn
---