Xenophobia? Save Your Venom For The South Africans! Part-2

Forgive me if I sound undiplomatic....for I am a man not given to knee-jerk responses...nor do I dwell on effects and leave causes to fester!

In my previous articles, I wrote inter alia as follows:

"I thought my Igbo brothers had taken heed of my counsel and turned a new leaf until I was privy to the following loud conversation among workmen and women digging a borehole in my backyard".

"Now the instructive gem in this conversation is that it did not stop at faulting the Igbo attitude, it presents the Hausa option for comparison.....and showers praises on our northern brothers! To still pour enconiums on Hausaland and its sons in spite of the terror therein at this moment says a lot about our brothers north of the Niger. And we pray that they soon overcome their current challenges...."

"An Igbo man may opt to reserve a shop for his kinsman, as he tells other enquirers"dem don take am".

Ordinarily, it may also be argued that it is within his rights to buy lands cheap form his hosts, and resell to their offsprings at much higher prices as the years roll by.

Or lead his kinsmen to contribute money for him, so that he can retail his goods at less than the carton or container price.

Or shoot a film in english language but insert a near 100% cast and crew of Igbo men and women....afterall, he is the owner of his film!

Or float a company and have a 100% Igbo staff....afterall, he is the owner of his company!

Or regard the land of his host as"no man's land"because he has lived and done business there for quite some time....and decides to blacklist, intimidate or malign anyone that as much as broach the subject!

The spirit behind such moves? In good faith or in bad faith?"

The Igbo trader retails good at wholesale price. And since the Ghanaian wholesaler also buys from him, he thus strangulates the Ghanaian wholesaler economically!

Our "Eastern Brothers" wouldn't have drawn so much flak from me if they play fair.

"The tragedy of all this is that when frustrated locals go on reprisal attacks burning and looting shops and other property, or when the retaliatory actions come directly from their governments, all foreigners bear the brunt, not just our brothers on the east of the river Niger...who luxuriate in being self- centred..."

"Their stock in trade is to abuse other peoples' hospitality by taking over their land.

We state these things without any exaggeration, bitterness or embellishments.

Yet instead of realising that it is immoral, soulless and unfair to pay a good turn with a bad turn and change for the better, they rain abuses on us!"

"Hear this: the natural cum logical sequence of events is that the Igbo mindset elicits anger, resentment and frustration in the locals. The question is not if they will attack them, it is when! It has happened to them in the past...severally. But it seems they are poor students of history....and regrettably so!"

"And there is no way you can come to another man's land, covet all his resouces by scheming him out....and flippantly ask him to devise his own tricky schemes to counter yours if he can....refusing to share his own resources with him.....and expect him to be happy with you!"

I agree that there are exemplary Igbo men out there....but they are mere exceptions to the rule.

I also agree that such attitudes are more visible with igbo traders...but trading is commerce.....commerce translates into economy...and economy translates into survival.

Besides, the events predating....then culminating in....the Nigerian Civil War are still fresh in our minds...when Igbos in high hierarchy of government simply filled government positions with their kith and kin.

Or the Nzeogu coup when Igbo co-conspirators spared the lives of their kinsmen in governance! This drew the ire of northerners who slaughtered Igbos in multitudes in reprisal in the counter-coup!

Those of us who merely state these facts cannot...by any modicum of rationality....be more guilty of bigotry than those possessing the Igbo mindset.

And mere stating of the facts may not be misconstrued as "Hate Speech".

Those who have counter opinions on this are at liberty to copy and paste this article directly onto the achieves of the International Court of Justice!

Those who keep doing things the same way and expect different results are called mad!

This is a straightforward case of Cause And Effect.

Wishing something away....or bullying whoever mouths it into silence cannot solve a problem...or clean up the slates of history! Lest we go the way of Endogan and his Turkey whose nation committed a most horrendous genocide against Azerbaijan muslims but would spit fire and brimstone at anyone who dares to use the word "genocide" to describe such mass slaughter of fellow humans!

Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.

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Articles by Tosin Akindele