The Judas in us by the zoo keeper
I was born and bred in Nnewi. I have spent all my adult life in the South East. Until I got a job in Lagos. First few years of my stay was tough because I came into contact with different cultures and religion which hitherto was known through tales from others and through the news channels. I thought that was all, until I was posted to Damaturu.
I stayed with a Christian friend who is a Northerner. The first thing I noticed about him was that he always eat dinner along with his Muslem neighbors. There were four flats and he was the only Christian. All of them would gather on a mat and spread the food in a big wide tray. They mostly eat with their fingers!
I will usually eat alone inside the house. Gradually, I became accustomed to this communal way of life. What is very interesting about this, was that all of us, the Muslems and we the Christians will wash our hands and dip into the tray and that has created some kind of bonding. My shock later became a strong friendship and trust that was bigger than what I have felt for my own people.
Igbos have an uncanny hatred for Muslems and Fulanis. This has been indoctrinated into the psyche of my people. Unfortunately, most of the whatsapp groups I belong to are talking about this hatred and never a solution, especially to our political losses.
The Igbos have consistently refused to properly bond with the rest of Nigeria, a country they call zoo. It is now that I am staying in the North that I have discovered my senses.
Firstly, I discovered that wherever there is trouble you will find certain people cheering us to war. Femi Fani Kayode is imminently one of them. You will always see him with Nnamdi Kanu, cheering and pushing him to take arms against the Nigerian state. But when the chips were down, FFK disappeared and Mazi Kanu fled, leaving thousands to be slaughtered. We have thousands of such people within and outside the Igbo land. Until we get our acts together we can never find a meaningful life for ourselves and our children.
Now Femi Fani Kayode is at the forefront of distributing hate narratives over the Federal Government's attempt at proffering solutions for farmers/herders clashes across the Eastern states as well as in Nigeria as a whole.
Afenifere went to the villa to see the president, shortly afterwards one of their leaders daughter was gunned down by masked men. We all know that Fulani herdsman do not wear masks. But some one in the South West do not want Afenifere to befriend Buhari; the rest is history now. However, the same war mongers have already started digging trenches ready for battle. We say no to divisive politics.
Herdsmen no doubt have been attacking people. So do Igbo kidnappers and Yoruba armed robbers and Yahoo yahoo boys. Rwanda is fresh in our minds, we don't have weave ethnocentric feelings to score relevance.
Ndigbo shall rise against all odds. We shall never know bloodshed again in our life time.
©Adigu Ndigbo–the zoo keeper
Second Niger bridge
I stayed with a Christian friend who is a Northerner. The first thing I noticed about him was that he always eat dinner along with his Muslem neighbors. There were four flats and he was the only Christian. All of them would gather on a mat and spread the food in a big wide tray. They mostly eat with their fingers!
I will usually eat alone inside the house. Gradually, I became accustomed to this communal way of life. What is very interesting about this, was that all of us, the Muslems and we the Christians will wash our hands and dip into the tray and that has created some kind of bonding. My shock later became a strong friendship and trust that was bigger than what I have felt for my own people.
Igbos have an uncanny hatred for Muslems and Fulanis. This has been indoctrinated into the psyche of my people. Unfortunately, most of the whatsapp groups I belong to are talking about this hatred and never a solution, especially to our political losses.
The Igbos have consistently refused to properly bond with the rest of Nigeria, a country they call zoo. It is now that I am staying in the North that I have discovered my senses.
Firstly, I discovered that wherever there is trouble you will find certain people cheering us to war. Femi Fani Kayode is imminently one of them. You will always see him with Nnamdi Kanu, cheering and pushing him to take arms against the Nigerian state. But when the chips were down, FFK disappeared and Mazi Kanu fled, leaving thousands to be slaughtered. We have thousands of such people within and outside the Igbo land. Until we get our acts together we can never find a meaningful life for ourselves and our children.
Now Femi Fani Kayode is at the forefront of distributing hate narratives over the Federal Government's attempt at proffering solutions for farmers/herders clashes across the Eastern states as well as in Nigeria as a whole.
Afenifere went to the villa to see the president, shortly afterwards one of their leaders daughter was gunned down by masked men. We all know that Fulani herdsman do not wear masks. But some one in the South West do not want Afenifere to befriend Buhari; the rest is history now. However, the same war mongers have already started digging trenches ready for battle. We say no to divisive politics.
Herdsmen no doubt have been attacking people. So do Igbo kidnappers and Yoruba armed robbers and Yahoo yahoo boys. Rwanda is fresh in our minds, we don't have weave ethnocentric feelings to score relevance.
Ndigbo shall rise against all odds. We shall never know bloodshed again in our life time.
©Adigu Ndigbo–the zoo keeper
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