Two Igbo writers who present
vastly different perspectives on Ndigbo, Nigeria's Igbo ethnic group, are Chinua Achebe and Ozodi Osuji.
Osuji writes across a broad range
of subjects, from Western philosophy and contemporary science to the character
of Ndigbo. His writing is done mainly on Nigerian and African centred online
communities, specifically listserves and
ChatAfrik, and in his Print on Demand books, some of which are published by
Lulu.
Achebe is globally famous as one of the
world's great writers for his fiction, particularly his novels, and his essays have
also achieved broad appeal.
Both writers demonstrate contrastive
perspectives on the contemporary history of Ndigbo as members of Nigeria which
may be profitably compared.
One point I have had to concede to Osuji after
reading Achebe's last year's Guardian
essay and some of the comments on it by some Igbo who agree with him, was that
I saw in Achebe's largely regrettable comments a problematic sense of Igbo exceptionalism.
Osuji claims that is a general problem of Ndigbo but that was
my first encounter with it, having worked with and had friends among Igbo
people for years.
I also observed in Achebe's stance and that of some of his supporters a
manifestation of Osuji's description of a tendency to set oneself up for attack
in the name of one's ethnicity for no reason, except that one does not realize
that in a community of different peoples, setting oneself up in opposition to
others in a way that unnecessarily tries to demean others makes them fight
back.
Osuji argues that such
unproductive ethnic celebration goes together with an uncritical sense of
ethnic victimisation.
I have seen these attitudes at work in the
debates on Biafra, a state where Igbos were at the centre, the failed secession of that state being at
the heart of the Nigerian civil war of 1967 -1970.
Such counter-productive
strategies of ethnic celebration in relation to questionable claims of ethnic victimisation that rhyme with Osuji's
summations I understand as prominent in debates on Biafra.
These attitudes were highlighted
by the tenor of Achebe's summation on
the war and the contemporary state of Ndigbo in Nigeria. He ignited a
flurry of similar responses mainly from Ndigbo, some of whom see him as an ethnic spokesman.
I personally, and I expect, many
other Nigerians, am convinced that Ndigbo are striking in their capacity for
trade in various kinds of goods, in their migratory dynamism and adaptability,
in their ability to prosper in a broad
range of fields, qualities, which, taken together, are most marked and
most visible among Ndigbo as a group, in
my limited observation so far of various Nigerian ethnicities.
The manner in which Ndigbo,
centrally, among others, prosecuted the Nigerian Civil War, is most admirable,
in spite of the many strategic mistakes made by Biafra. I have written on these
mistakes in my various essays on Biafra, but, what almost anyone would agree
about, is the resilience and creativity of Biafra in that war. That resilience
may be understood as short-sighted and deluded, but it is most admirable as a
demonstration of the ability to fight for a belief, however others may see that
belief.
The recovery of Ndigbo after the terrible
ravages of the war and the challenges they faced as ex- secessionists is most
admirable and a testimony to that resilience and creativity I have referred to.
It should be possible to recognize all these
points, which I think are historical and social facts, without falling into the hole of Igbo
exceptionalism, and of refusal to acknowledge one's mistakes or the
questionable character of one's decisions, as with the
Biafran leadership bartering the
lives of their starving and dying
citizens for global sympathy to enable them
keep fighting a losing war, using that sympathy to smuggle in more weapons on food planes to
keep fighting as the starving people continued to die and some Ndigbo and their
sympathizers later arguing about that
starvation policy as an attempt at an anti-Igbo genocide in the face of the
fact that it is the duty of your opponent in war to make sure you don’t have
food, not vice versa, that being one of the easiest ways to end a war with reduced
bloodshed, creating the opportunity to exchange
surrender for continued combat and deaths on both sides.
Civilians who choose to ignore or are
uniformed about the realities of fundamental military strategy as demonstrated
in military history, in a move that I don’t think the Biafran military head of
state, Odumegwu Ojukwu, the commander of
the Biafran army Alexander Madiebo or the famous Biafran commander Joe "Hannibal" Achuzia, or the last
military head of state of Biafra, Philip
Efiong, ever made, keep insisting on
Nigeria apologizing for or paying for a legitimate war strategy.
Achebe expands such unrealistic thinking in
making a claim that makes little or no
sense, of Ndigbo not being integrated
into Nigeria 42 years after the war ended in 1970. Hubert Ekwe-Ekwe makes the odd claim that Igbo land is still
occupied by Nigeria, even though only Ndigbo are allowed centrality in managing
states in their region, as is the case in all Nigerian ethnic sectors.
Obododimma Oha argues that Nigeria is still
fighting with Ndigbo. Another view asserts that the genocide claim inspires Ndigbo's vision for a new nation, all such, being, in my
view, ultimately unserious assessments
of a war fought both gallantly and cruelly on both sides, with both sides
guilty of atrocities, though more
pronounced on the Nigerian side perhaps because
they had more opportunity, being
the stronger side.
Even
though Ndigbo did not enjoy perfect assimilation after the war things have improved significantly, points
which these figures don't want to acknowledge. Their claims, however, may be
seen as helpful in inspiring valuable public
debate on serious issues.
Ndigbo should allow others to admire them by
not creating unnecessary obstacles to such admiration. Admiring you does not
mean the person doing the admiring does not have qualities you too can learn
from or that such admiration means you must now assume that status of a king,
who has to be so recognized for stable social relations to prevail.
Take your place among other
groups, each with their own strengths
and weaknesses like you have yours and build something in unity.
Ndigbo in Nigeria are doing this, building
across the nation in a realistic fashion with other Nigerians, but deluded self-proclaimed
Igbo spokesmen like Achebe and those in
his camp want to substitute their illusions for the daily reality of Ndigbo in
Nigeria.
