WHO ACTUALLY ARE THE IGBO?, BY DONS EZE
WHO ACTUALLY ARE THE IGBO? BY DONS EZE The election of Senator Azuka-Mbata, an Ikwerre man from Rivers State, as the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the controversy it generates, has made us to reproduce a little bit from our recently published book titled “The Igbo, People, History and Worldview”, with regard to Igbo identity. The Igbo, also called Ndigbo (local parlance), Ibos (anglicized), and Eboes (Diaspora Igbo), refer to one of the most resourceful and largest ethnic groups in Africa whose homeland is in south-central and south-eastern Nigeria, but who equally maintain strong presence in other parts of Nigeria, in addition to virtually every corner of the globe. In Jamaica, the Igbo occupy Montego Bay, Maroon Village and St. Anne’s Bay. They are in Haiti, and in.Virginia, the United States of America. These are part of Igbo Diaspora. The Igbo are well-travelled people and they constitute the second largest community in every Nigerian city behind the indigenous population. The main characteristic feature of the Igbo is that majority of them speak the Igbo language, which is divided into numerous regional dialects that are somewhat mutually intelligible within the larger “Igboid” cluster. When we say Igboid, we mean “similar or resemble, having the likeness of, or expressing the basic characteristics of.” Igboid means exhibiting what we know as “typical ‘Igbo’” features. In laymen’s terms, it means “basically sounds ‘Igbo’”, or that it is “recognizable as a type of ‘Igbo’”. It we may ask, is Ikwerre language “recognizable” as a type of the Igbo language? Your guess is as good as mine. The Igbo are resourceful people, hardworking, friendly, hospitable and accommodating. They do not discriminate. They are forward-looking, ingenious, creative, resilient, brave, strong-willed, and willing to take risks. A 19th century former Igbo slave boy, Olaudah Equiano, in his memoir, described the Igbo people of his days as “happy clean people, without unemployment, without prostitution, without drunkards, and without beggars”, while G.T. Basden an Anglican prelate, in his book, “Niger Ibos”, said the “Igbo are very cheery, intelligent, virile, and loveable people with a wonderfully patient persistence to attain any desired goal, a natural astuteness born of necessity together with a loyalty which, though often begotten by fear redirected along the right lines, go far to make them a great nation”. Similarly, pioneer Catholic cleric and evangelist, Bishop Joseph Shanahan, noted that “the Ibo has a child’s winsomeness. He loves fun and banter. If you show him the good side of your character, he will show you the best side of his. The people know a good man when they see one. Their own souls aspire to goodness, and they have not stifled the aspiration. It is my firm conviction that we shall meet great numbers of our Ibos, pagans, and practically all our Catholics, in heaven”. As an ethnic group, the Igbo generally encompass several people of different backgrounds who are united mostly by language, Nri, Aro and slave trade. Language, because majority of the people speak the Igbo language; Nri, because the Nri kingship system was the first in Nigeria; Aro, because the Aro people were the harbingers of the ugly spectacle of European slave trade that took heavy tolls on many Igbo communities. In 1591, the Igbo region of present-day Nigeria was depicted on the Portuguese world map as being inhabited by “some vigorous people whose deep culture celebrated energy, accomplishment, and wisdom”. Before the coming of the Europeans, the Igbo lived in clusters of individual family units that constituted kindreds (umunna). Several of these kindreds formed an Igbo village or town. Every member of an Igbo village was related to each other one way or another, thus constituting a network of beings, such that what affected one equally…
Dons Eze
