Diehard Xenophobes: A Time For Change
Kayode Oyedotun
I was born in Takorase - a small town in Ghana - though of a Nigerian
parentage (double-blooded, ha!). It is surprising that most Ghanaians do
not know this town (often they confused it with Takoradi). B/cos of its
rustic simplicity, Takorasi may not show up on a typical Ghanian map;
but suffice it to say that it belongs in the same region as Kede, Odan
etc. My mom happens to be in the medical team of a missionary group
based in this town, so my childhood and the most impressionable years of
my life were spent in Ghana. It is no wonder then that I have a strong
emotional attachment to Ghana and Ghanaians. Up till today, my favorite
food is "donkunnu" (thanks to a Ghanian friend in Edmonton who gave me a
recipe for this), and I still speak English with a Ghanian accent! I
traversed the length and breath of Ghana - Tamale, Komasi, Accra,
Secondi, Eduasan etc - being favorably called Kobena. Ghanaians are very
accommodating and hospitable. So accommodating that my kinsmen - the
Yorubas - sojourning in Ghana almost deprive them of their indigenous
status. For instance in Takorasi, there is a well respected institution
of Obaship (in full regalia) with the inevitable traditional chieftancy
titles and ceremonies. About a million Nigerians sojourns in Ghana until
the infamous government of Dr, Kofi Abrefa Busia (1969 - 1972) "evicted"
them as part of his anti-Nkrumaist policy. He was himself overthrown in
Jan. 13, 1972 by Col. I. K. Acheampong (good riddance?). This brief
autobiography is meant to illustrate two points: (1) That the world is
small place - the advances in technology have made it even more so. We
are all strangers in this world. (1) That it is becoming increasingly
unbearable for me (and other concerned netters) to see folks attacked on
this forum for no obvious reason than the fact that they are "aliens".
Animals instinctively protect their territory against external
aggressors. The fear of domination and extermination will drive them to
fight aggressively (tooth and nail) against any intruder. There is also
a tendency in man to regard a stranger as an inferior person and of
course, also, to make him/her feel unwelcome. It is unfortunate that
this "primitive survival" tendency - a tendency that is best reserved
for the lower animal - is becoming prevalent in this Square (a forum for
educated Homo sapiens). Why should a group of netters regard the
so-called foreigners as persona non grata when naijanet Law obviously
"naturalize" every subscribers as a Naijanet citizen irrespective of
nationalities and creed? Perhaps no other netter has been a victim of
these xenophobes than Dr. George Ayittey. It should have been
understandable if this calumnious attacks is part of the entrenched mob
mentality and balkanization of Naijanet. However, this is not the case.
The piques and displeasures of Ayittey's assailants are for the simple
reason that he is not a Nigerian. It must be an attempt at filling the
void of insecurity that xenophobes resort to the convenient assumption
that foreigners do not have the same right in this Square as Nigerians
do. It is too myopic to invoke national sentiments in discounting
netter's contribution. There appears to be no end to which prejudice can
go to obscure reality and to divert us from confronting the real
problems which engulf Nigeria in particular and Africa as a whole.
Xenophobia among the educated smacks of literary senescence. It is a
concealment of pathological insecurity and pessimistic outlook of life.
Xenophobes should have no moral justification to complain when similar
treatments is meted out to them - especially by the Oyinbos.
Dr. Ayittey and other non-Nigerians subscribed to Naijanets are ipso
facto Naijanet citizens. The modus vivendi will be to allow them to
thrive and flourish without let or hindrance. Dr. Ayittey belong to the
crop of netters with the finest of ideas -well researched, objective,
and of the highest literary quality. We do not have to agree with him
all the time. But we should have reason other than nationality to
disagree with him .
If folks will only remember that we are all strangers in this world, it
will be easier for them to accommodate others in their "enclaves".
Kayode
--
"...What does possess a stranger to write so many letters? I never could
find that out. However, I suppose I did it myself when I was a
stranger." (Mark Twain)
tcgl
question in my response to those who attacked Ayittey. Many of these
antagonists are NOT in Nigeria, they are enjoying the hospitality of others,
after having messed up their own country, and have the effrontery to use a
service that can be yanked from them at any time, and question the right of
anyone not Nigerian to use it.
You have everyright to stand up to your heritage. Ghana is beautiful, its
people are very hospitable and dependable(most of these protagonists have
never been there, only know a little piece they learnt in geography and
still live in their myopic cocoon). They could stay abroad for the rest of
their life, get all the degrees under the sun, and be no better of than the
village gossip who knows what goes in everyones household and can describe
the food you ate without knowing which door leads to your house.
On this net like in most of communities abroad where you have foreigners, a
lot of them live their whole lives without a trace of societal or foreign
influence. You are living on someone elses hospitality and are not in the
least hospitable.
Hold on to your heritage and leave all those sorry souls who think they have
all the answers and should dictate how others live. Happiness is an
individual thing and you will find out it is those with serious complex
problems that are not tolerant of others background, views, and heritage.
Wale Adewoyin.
tcgl
Listen to yourself. By attacking Kayode, or Ayitteys heritage, are you
giving peace a chance?
Whoever you are Ide you should be ashamed of your self. You have not only
shown you are a sectionalist, you have exposed your naivity and stupidity.
So Kayode should not be proud of where he came from?
Folks like you who want to play God are the problems Nigeria has. Now tell
me how different you are from those you criticise. You want to breath as if
there isn't enough air for everybody, almighty parasite Ide ju Ogwugwu(who
is enjoying the hospitality of wherever he is now)says no one else has a
right to self determination. Who the cap fits let them wear it. Thanks for
identifying yourself as on eof the intolerant bigots on this net.
Wale Adewoyin.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ide ju Ogwugwu <ogwu...@hotmail.com>
To: naij...@esosoft.com <naij...@esosoft.com>;
koye...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca <koye...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
Date: Saturday, August 15, 1998 2:12 AM
Subject: Re: Diehard Xenophobes: A Time For Change
>Pastor Kayode Oyedotun:
>
>Don't you have a better thing to do this Friday? Abi yu
>just wan show off? Yu wan show us say yu been sabi Ghana
>pass us, eh? Yu wan use us experiment with yua newly-found
>vocab, Xenophobes, Xenophobia,...bla bla bla? Did any person
>on the net ask you to him/her about where you were born? To
>be honest with you, I am very ashamed of you. Do you have to
>go this far in order to show how far you can lick Dr. Ayittey's
>shits and ass?
>
>If you feel too good about your Ghanaian nativity, apply to your Ghana's
>Okyeame network (make sure that you fill the application
>form correctly and truthfully). Then, come back and tell us your
>experiences. This is Kayode who, with his Pdm friends on the net,
>could not allow Mr. Kofi Anan to drink water and keep cup a few
>weeks ago. You must love Ghana too much.
>
>What even annoys one most is that you claim to be a christian,
>a born-again for that matter. Thank goodness, I won't worship
>in your church even if it's the last place to stand and jump
>into heaven. All you can summarize from what most of us have
>been telling Dr. George Ayittey of Ghana and his brother, Martin,
>is Xenophobia. I think some of you Pdm guys are suffering from
>some indeterminable complexes. These reportedly hired twosome
>came here to bash and sow poisonous seeds of discord amongst
>Nigerians. Dr. Ayittey spammed innocent Nigerians illegally
>and has not since found it fit to apologise to his victims. He
>came here to give us shits in the name of populist pro-democracy
>rhetorics. He lied, and lied again, with basic facts and figures
>regarding Nigeria. And when he was called to order, he started
>insulting his hosts. Where on earth can he be allowed to stretch
>his luck that too far? Does he post the type of rubish he posts on
>Naijanet on Okyeame? I know he has got a bad reputation on that network.
>I know some of his fellow Ghanaians who were with him on Okyeame in
>those days. I can write a book on Dr. Ayittey and his democracy on Ghana
>networks. He came to Naijanet for a purpose.
>Time is running out on him. He knows that.
>
>Kayode, I challenge you to go to another country's mailing list
>and behave the way Dr. Ayittey has behaved since he joined Naijanet.
>If you are not mail-bombed to death or instantly removed, come
>back and call me a Xenophobe. Dr. Ayittey's greatest undoing is
>that he took our Pdm brothers who brought him here too serious. He
>believed them and relied heavily on their non-existing protection.
>He thought that the jabs we throw at one another are free (all-comers)
>jabs. He probably thought he can just drop shits any how here. If
>you care for Dr. Ayittey, tell him to apologise to Nigerians he
>spammed illegally. Tell him to stop insulting Nigeria and Nigerians.
>He's not a Nigerian and there no point for any Nigerian to come
>out here and pretend otherwise. The day he takes on Nigerian
>citizenship, we shall start listening to him as a fellow Nigerian.
>Dr. Ayittey should remove his hands from any topic that deals with
>Nigeria's internal affairs if he cannot stay neutral from the start
>to the end. The same goes for his brother, Mr. Martin.
>
>Naijanet is a Nigerian forum. Not an African forum or a world forum. We
>have african newsgroups here and there. Any non-Nigerian here who fails
>to recognize this simple fact may pay dearly for his/her over
>assumption. We are not begging any person to remain here and we are
>not asking any person to go. Period.
>
>Thanks and let's give peace a chance in Nigeria and on Naijanet.
>
>Ide ju Ogwugwu 1 [of my own village only]
>-----------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 22:49:45 -0600
>From: Kayode Oyedotun <koye...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
>Reply-To: koye...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
>To: NaijaNet <naij...@esosoft.com>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Imeh Akpan
That was a very interesting narration of your sojourn in Ghana.
I was also expecting to hear about how often you insulted the good people
of Takorase and Ghana as a whole.
Did you do that and what happened ?
If you didn't, then why didn't you ?
Imeh Akpan
-----Original Message-----
From: Kayode Oyedotun <koye...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca>
To: NaijaNet <naij...@esosoft.com>
olorunfemi ojo
[1]. I just read your comment about delivering Ike to the devil. You
should beat a retreat from that line of action. First, it is uncalled for
and secondly, you will not succeed in this circumstance.
[2]. Such a step is not taken when one is personally irritated or angry.
Whenever it is done with success, it is a step taken out of love and much
weeping. You will recall that Paul once recommended a man to be delivered to
Satan. That man was reported to be committing sexual immorality with his
father's wife without any sense of shame. Hence Paul wrote :
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and that
of a kind which does not occur among the gentiles - that a man has his
father's wife. ............
Let such a person be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh
in order that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthian 5 : 1-5
This step was recommended since it was felt that this christian may be
better off dead and have his spirit saved than being allowed to continue to
live unrepentant in his immorality with the possibility of suffering losses
in the ages of ages to come. It is like cutting off the cancerous part of a
body in order to prolong the life of a patient.
In a sense, Peter also caused Ananias and Saphira to die because they were
lying to GOD and the Holy Spirit. In another place, another opposer of GOD
was rendered blind. Nebuchadnezzar's mind was turned to that of a beast
for seven years; lived in the bush after which his sanity was restored.
In short, some spiritual left hand technologies of GOD that can be
deplored to cause the suffering and/or death of another through the
instrumentality of Satan are to be used redemptively, not in anger or for
personal satisfaction. There are very limited situations where these can be
deplored effectively; even so with much consideration. When deployed
wrongly, the missiles will not fire !. In many cases, what we need to
convince and transform another is the power of love, righteousness,
patience - elements of the kingdom of GOD. These elements of the right-hand
technologies of GOD will make Ike your friend, will make him to move
according to the purpose of GOD for his life reaching to all around him.
That is the power, glory and majesty of the Kingdom of GOD - All enemies and
foes reconciled by the right hand of GOD !
Femi