Renascent Igbo
Nowamagbe Omoigui M.D.
I read your paper with great interest. It was well thought out,
eloquently written and passionate.
There is, however, an aspect (among others) that begs clarification.
It relates to the issue of "Igbo speaking" versus "Igbo Nation". I
think it is important for you to understand that in the so-called
"Igbo speaking" areas of Delta State (old Bendel) - which you would rather be
known as "Igbo" - different villages have different ancestry and
genealogy. Some are even mixed. There are clearly some of pure Igbo
origin - and for those I have no problem with their claiming their heritage as long
they claim themselves, but no-one else.
There are many others that were founded and populated by non-Igbos
who lived amicably with everyone else until the British showed up and
started drawing lines on the ground (called maps and borders). For
such settlements (and there are many), I suspect you might have some
difficulty getting them to accept that they are part of the great "Igbo
nation" to the exclusion of their well known ethnographic
derivatives. The "Either or" and "All or None" choices you lay out in
your essay are way too simplistic. The Edo (including Urhobo and
Isoko), Igbo, and Igala nations (along with Izon) overlapped one another
in those great watershed regions called the "western Igbo speaking" and
"riverain Igbo speaking" areas. To declare them "Igbo" in 1999 has
demagogic value, but belies historical reality.
Congratulations, once again on an excellent piece of writing.
NAO
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Ebony...@nigerpress.demon.co.uk
were systematically massacred in 1967 for no other reason than being Igbo?
Where the heck were you?
---------------------------------------
In article <1A879...@richmed.medpark.sc.edu>,
Ebube Odunukwe
You started out very well by acknowledging the superb way these facts
were presented. Dr. Kalu's thorough and systematic appeals to reason is
PRIMARILY, if not totally, directed to his Igbo brethren. I do not know
why he wrote to Igbonet, then went on to copy other nets. I would not
read his mind, though I suspect he merely wishes to reach as many
Ndiigbo as he can.
Broda Omoigui, please sheath your sword. This issue is not as
superficial as you must have read it, otherwise, terrestrial boundaries
do not confine any nation. You observed so well that there is a lot of
overlap of nations when it comes to lines drawn on the ground.
You and I are here in North America. America has no everlapping land
boundary with any part of Nigeria. Yet when a call goes out for or
against Edo or Urhobo, you jump to your feet. When a call goes out for
Igbo nation, you know I am primed. Is it wrong for you or I to be so
patriotic? Of course not! We are who we are, no matter on whose soil we
park.. On the sorry side of this story, put out a cry for tne Nigerian
nation and watch for the withdrawal response, even inside the Nigerian
embassy itself........but that is another book altogether.
It is non-productive, if not downright foolish, to degrdade Dr.Kalu's
appeal to Ndiigbo to an argument of "who owns the land".
The Igbo nation has never been, and can never be confined to five or
more states, inside or outside Nigeria. You can make the same argument,
Nowa, for your own people, but that will be your argument.
Dr.Kalu is not looking for wahala. I am sure he is not afraid of wahala
either, but his thought process, as reflected in his writings, allows
one to know that he would not embark on shooting down a banana plant
with shotgun fire where a single slash of matchet will do.
MOE pointed out your previous assertions about the peoples of Nigeria.
It is interesting how consistently inconsistent some of our arguments
run when we change topics. The Igbo nation includes Asaba, for example,
no matter what part of heaven anyone thinks they fell from.
The Igbo nation includes every Igbo head in Sabon Gari Kano, in
Younde,Cameroons, in Winnipeg, Canada, in Osaka, Japan....to the utmost
ends of the earth.
But thank you for your truthful conclusion witk Mr.Emeka Onumonu.
Any nation consists of people who owe allegiance to her and are willing
to lay down their lives for her. She is bigger than any piece of land or
any boundary drawn by man.
When you and I and the rest of us begin to feel this way about Nigeria,
a real nation will have been born. Untill that time, the Edo nation, the
Igbo nation, the Yoruba nation, the Ijaw nation, the x nation( where x
represents any of the other "federating" Nigerian nations) can coexist
with overlapping borders without clasping the heads of our swords.
Let us turn to the text and appreciate the timely and reflective appeal
by our brother, Dr. Kalu.
Truly,
Ebube
Nowamagbe Omoigui M.D. wrote:
>
> MOE,
>
> The person looking for wahala is Kalu and people who think like him.
>
> All the people you mention in the Delta area overlap one another.
> Period. That is the simple truth. Whether you like it or not. For
> example, there are Urhobo settlements in my own local government
> right near Benin City. Does that make them Binis? Must I go out and
> force them to declare one way or the other?
>
> Perhaps you should read the original essay before reacting to the
> reaction.
>
> Neither Kalu nor anyone else has the right to call on "borderline Igbo
> speaking" people in 1999 to declare whether they are Igbo or not. This
> kind of divisiveness is a prelude to a Kosovo like situation. The
> people of the old Midwestern Region will resist any such infatuation.
> This is not 1967.
>
> Take my word seriously. I know what I am talking about.
>
> I know you know. Sleep well while you can. You are not the only one
> in Nigeria.
>
> NAO
>
> From: Egb...@aol.com
> Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 16:54:07 EDT
> Subject: Re: Re: Renascent Igbo
> To: no...@richmed.medpark.sc.edu, nk...@pantheon.yale.edu Cc:
> igbo...@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu,
> akwa-cr...@lists.stanford.edu,
> riv...@siue.edu, yorub...@onelist.com,
> naij...@esosoft.com, naij...@egroups.com,
> edo-co...@egroups.com
> Reply-to: Egb...@aol.com
>
> In a message dated 4/5/99, 3:47:38 PM, no...@RICHMED.MEDPARK.SC.EDU
> writes: << The Edo (including Urhobo and Isoko), Igbo, and Igala
> nations (along with Izon) overlapped one another in those great
> watershed regions called the "western Igbo speaking" and "riverain
> Igbo speaking" areas. To declare them "Igbo" in 1999 has demagogic
> value, but belies historical reality.>>
>
> Nowamagbe:
>
> While I am yet to digest Okaa Kalu's piece properly, I observe that
> your are yet to get over your Igbo bug. What in your books makes
> Urhobo and Isoko people Edoites and unmake "western Igbo speaking"
> Ndiigbo? You had claimed Asaba to be "Aisagba" -- when the people
> themselves tell you whence they came: NTEJE! and, of course, you own
> EVERY "Onisan" -- including Onicha Ado and Onicha Ugbo. Here you go
> claiming Isoko and Urhobo. Next stop: the Itsekiri. Then the Ikwerre
> and Opobo and everyone down to Angola.
>
> Biko, gbaa breki. I na-achokwa okwu-o! [You dey look for wahala-o!]
>
> Take care.
>
> MOE