In this piece, REMMY NWEKE examines the connection of Igbophobia in Dr. Reuben Abati's controversial commentary on Ndigbo and land question and Internet backlash that followed with facts of the matter.
“The same Igbos who are so industrious, that they are all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria, you go as a non-Igbo man to go and buy a land, you will be told that you don’t belong even as an in-law,” Dr. Reuben Abati on The Morning Show @Arise Tv, Thursday, November 21, 2024.
In spite of whatever context the above statement was made by Dr. Reuben Abati, most Nigerians and industry observers are divided with some tagging it an ‘epidemic’ proportion, due to the Igbophobic tendencies and controversies it have generated, especially on the social media.
Noteworthy is that in the global health sector, there are about three terms to describe the spread of a disease, namely, an outbreak, epidemic and pandemic. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an outbreak is a sudden increase in cases of a disease in a specific geographic area; epidemic was described as an outbreak that spreads over a larger geographic area, affecting a significant number of people; whereas pandemic stood out for as a global outbreak that affects a large number of people across multiple countries or even continents.
In all these, for a supposed ailment to have lasted for some 22 years according to Josh Arinze, literally qualified for an epidemic, described as an outbreak that spreads over a larger geographic area, affecting a significant number of people, of which Dr. Reuben Abati, obviously may represent in this scene as not everyone from the South West where he hails from agreed to that submission.
Recall that on Thursday, November 21, 2024, Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise Tv on The Morning Show, made the news around the social media over his alleged lack of Ndigbo willingness to sell a piece of land to those outside their origin from the South Eastern Nigeria. He referenced particularly, an incident supposedly by a former Minister of Information, Chief T.O.S. Benson, who claimed that his in-laws refused to sell land to him to build for his Igbo wife and daughter, simply because he was a Yoruba man. And even when the show anchor Ojy called his attention to the fact that reactions showed that he generalised that statement, he was more like shouting her down on life Tv.
As said by Abati, the late Minister, who was married to an Igbo woman, made this publicly in Lagos at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). He was reacting to the statement attributed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio that Igbos build houses and establish businesses in any state they reside across Nigeria; wondered why Ndigbo cannot reciprocate the good gestures to outsiders.
“He (Akpabio) is right if he says Igbos are entrepreneurial and I end by what people say about Igbos that if you enter a community, a village and you don’t see an Igbo man there, please pack your things and go. It means that place is not conducive. However, let me give the flipside. The late Chief TOS Benson, former Minister of Information, on one occasion at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and I am not making this up. He said it publicly and if anybody can contradict me, let them do so. He said something about Igbo people. He said he had an Igbo wife and had an Igbo daughter”.
“He said that he wanted to buy land in Igboland for his daughter and wife, to say I’m (TOS Benson) getting old, let me build in this place for my wife. He said that his in-laws told him that they don’t sell land to outsiders. That is the irony of Nigeria, about the politics of the federation of the unity”.
“The same Igbos who are so industrious, that they are all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria, you go as a non-Igbo man to go and buy a land, you will be told that you don’t belong even as an in-law” Abati said.
Igbophobia as intellectual dwardfism:
Igbophobia according to the online open sourced encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is anti-Igbo sentiment and encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards the Igbo people. The Igbo people or Ndigbo, make up a majority of the population in South Eastern, Nigeria and part of the populations of the South South and the Middle Belt regions.
For Dr. Charles Apoki, Igbophobia is a sign of intellectual dwarfism, marasmus, or kwashiorkor, being peddled by political interests in Nigeria, often to exploit tribal biases for personal gains, and the Igbo people became easy targets for such divisive tactics.
When netizens provoked:
So spreading alleged Igbophobia on Arise Tv, attracted the attention of netizens across social media including Facebook, X formerly Twitter, Instagram to name a few. A social media enthusiast at Nairaland, @KettyKin, who declared Abati’s assertion as “Huge lies. We have a Yoruba that owns a business school in Onitsha. If you have your money I can get you land in Independence Layout Enugu.
“It is called a narrative. Bigotry, xenophobia, tribalism are strongly linked to narrative. In South Africa, the narrative to justify hate is powder. ‘Oh Yoruba man marry Igbo woman cannot buy land in South East (Igbo land), meanwhile Yoruba peoplea re buying land in the same South East. As a matter of fact, WalterSmith Refinery is owned by an Hausa-Fulani, occupying massive land.
Kettykin insisted “Glo is a Yoruba company, First bank, GTB, Connoil and they are all sitting on landed property in the east. It seems the devil really lies through some people.”
Odogwu of Real Estate goes to South East:
Despite Igbophobia, renowned real estate magnet, Dr. Stephen Akintayo, said he is not deterred. As he said, “Some people said, a Yoruba man cannot own Real Estate in South East Nigeria. And I vow to open estate in all the five South East States, during the last general elections. Many wondered why I supported an Igbo man when I did not even have business there, what most don’t know is that, a large number of our staff are Igbo. I don’t do business based on ethnic sentiment. If you can do the job, do it and I have enjoyed working with Igbo’s in Gtext Holdings. Well! The journey has started. By December, we will launch estate in all the 5 South East States, simultaneously.
“This nonsense divisive statement people make in Nigeria will not take us anywhere. Its over 60 years, we have tried to divide but it has not worked and I believe God wanted it that way. Hope with these, you will let Igbo breath in Lagos without giving excuses of Yoruba man can’t own property in Igbo land?
“I believe in one Nigeria and I am putting my money where my mouth is by opening businesses in all parts of Nigeria, as we expand to the entire Africa," he concluded, asking hysterically, ‘Who is ready for the Odogwu of Real Estate in Igbo land?’
Mberi people donated land to TOS Benson:
Finally, investigations by Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS showed that the context within which Chief Benson was purportedly refused sell of a land was because he was and still an in-law to the community which insisted they should not sell to him, because in most Igboland, son-in-laws are regarded as son of the soil, hence, they rather offered the land free to him.
Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS also gathered that the land was used for building of a post office against the alleged building of house for Chief Benson’s wife and a daughter.
According to the Executive Director, Development Specs Academy and Senior Fellow, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof Okey Ikechukwu, mni, who is also on ThisDay Board, while speaking to The Arise Tv on Sunday, November 24, 2024, the post office building, is still standing till date.
“For the record and all of us, Mbieri people donated land to T.O.S. Benson in the town, which he used, at his own discretion, to construct a post office for the people. The structure is still there,” Ikechukwu declared, and maintained that Abati did not set out to misinform anybody with his statement, but he attempted to correctly quote Chief Benson.
Noteworthy is that in the global health sector, there are about three terms to describe the spread of a disease, namely, an outbreak, epidemic and pandemic. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an outbreak is a sudden increase in cases of a disease in a specific geographic area; epidemic was described as an outbreak that spreads over a larger geographic area, affecting a significant number of people; whereas pandemic stood out for as a global outbreak that affects a large number of people across multiple countries or even continents.
In all these, for a supposed ailment to have lasted for some 22 years according to Josh Arinze, literally qualified for an epidemic, described as an outbreak that spreads over a larger geographic area, affecting a significant number of people, of which Dr. Reuben Abati, obviously may represent in this scene as not everyone from the South West where he hails from agreed to that submission.
Recall that on Thursday, November 21, 2024, Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise Tv on The Morning Show, made the news around the social media over his alleged lack of Ndigbo willingness to sell a piece of land to those outside their origin from the South Eastern Nigeria. He referenced particularly, an incident supposedly by a former Minister of Information, Chief T.O.S. Benson, who claimed that his in-laws refused to sell land to him to build for his Igbo wife and daughter, simply because he was a Yoruba man. And even when the show anchor Ojy called his attention to the fact that reactions showed that he generalised that statement, he was more like shouting her down on life Tv.
As said by Abati, the late Minister, who was married to an Igbo woman, made this publicly in Lagos at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). He was reacting to the statement attributed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio that Igbos build houses and establish businesses in any state they reside across Nigeria; wondered why Ndigbo cannot reciprocate the good gestures to outsiders.
“He (Akpabio) is right if he says Igbos are entrepreneurial and I end by what people say about Igbos that if you enter a community, a village and you don’t see an Igbo man there, please pack your things and go. It means that place is not conducive. However, let me give the flipside. The late Chief TOS Benson, former Minister of Information, on one occasion at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and I am not making this up. He said it publicly and if anybody can contradict me, let them do so. He said something about Igbo people. He said he had an Igbo wife and had an Igbo daughter”.
“He said that he wanted to buy land in Igboland for his daughter and wife, to say I’m (TOS Benson) getting old, let me build in this place for my wife. He said that his in-laws told him that they don’t sell land to outsiders. That is the irony of Nigeria, about the politics of the federation of the unity”.
“The same Igbos who are so industrious, that they are all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria, you go as a non-Igbo man to go and buy a land, you will be told that you don’t belong even as an in-law” Abati said.
Igbophobia as intellectual dwardfism:
Igbophobia according to the online open sourced encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is anti-Igbo sentiment and encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards the Igbo people. The Igbo people or Ndigbo, make up a majority of the population in South Eastern, Nigeria and part of the populations of the South South and the Middle Belt regions.
For Dr. Charles Apoki, Igbophobia is a sign of intellectual dwarfism, marasmus, or kwashiorkor, being peddled by political interests in Nigeria, often to exploit tribal biases for personal gains, and the Igbo people became easy targets for such divisive tactics.
When netizens provoked:
So spreading alleged Igbophobia on Arise Tv, attracted the attention of netizens across social media including Facebook, X formerly Twitter, Instagram to name a few. A social media enthusiast at Nairaland, @KettyKin, who declared Abati’s assertion as “Huge lies. We have a Yoruba that owns a business school in Onitsha. If you have your money I can get you land in Independence Layout Enugu.
“It is called a narrative. Bigotry, xenophobia, tribalism are strongly linked to narrative. In South Africa, the narrative to justify hate is powder. ‘Oh Yoruba man marry Igbo woman cannot buy land in South East (Igbo land), meanwhile Yoruba peoplea re buying land in the same South East. As a matter of fact, WalterSmith Refinery is owned by an Hausa-Fulani, occupying massive land.
Kettykin insisted “Glo is a Yoruba company, First bank, GTB, Connoil and they are all sitting on landed property in the east. It seems the devil really lies through some people.”
Odogwu of Real Estate goes to South East:
Despite Igbophobia, renowned real estate magnet, Dr. Stephen Akintayo, said he is not deterred. As he said, “Some people said, a Yoruba man cannot own Real Estate in South East Nigeria. And I vow to open estate in all the five South East States, during the last general elections. Many wondered why I supported an Igbo man when I did not even have business there, what most don’t know is that, a large number of our staff are Igbo. I don’t do business based on ethnic sentiment. If you can do the job, do it and I have enjoyed working with Igbo’s in Gtext Holdings. Well! The journey has started. By December, we will launch estate in all the 5 South East States, simultaneously.
“This nonsense divisive statement people make in Nigeria will not take us anywhere. Its over 60 years, we have tried to divide but it has not worked and I believe God wanted it that way. Hope with these, you will let Igbo breath in Lagos without giving excuses of Yoruba man can’t own property in Igbo land?
“I believe in one Nigeria and I am putting my money where my mouth is by opening businesses in all parts of Nigeria, as we expand to the entire Africa," he concluded, asking hysterically, ‘Who is ready for the Odogwu of Real Estate in Igbo land?’
Mberi people donated land to TOS Benson:
Finally, investigations by Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS showed that the context within which Chief Benson was purportedly refused sell of a land was because he was and still an in-law to the community which insisted they should not sell to him, because in most Igboland, son-in-laws are regarded as son of the soil, hence, they rather offered the land free to him.
Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS also gathered that the land was used for building of a post office against the alleged building of house for Chief Benson’s wife and a daughter.
According to the Executive Director, Development Specs Academy and Senior Fellow, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof Okey Ikechukwu, mni, who is also on ThisDay Board, while speaking to The Arise Tv on Sunday, November 24, 2024, the post office building, is still standing till date.
“For the record and all of us, Mbieri people donated land to T.O.S. Benson in the town, which he used, at his own discretion, to construct a post office for the people. The structure is still there,” Ikechukwu declared, and maintained that Abati did not set out to misinform anybody with his statement, but he attempted to correctly quote Chief Benson.
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