In the sweltering heat of a serial lynching and killing
of Igbo citizens in Asia in 2013, I wrote an article
entitled, ‘The Igbo fallacy’. In it, I appealed to the Igbo
to de-emphasise the culture of profligacy, decadent
opulence, debauchery and vanity which fuels the
pursuit of crime by their own.

I am compelled to revivify the article here, but with a
few adjustments. I say it again; the Igbo take the
inglorious front row in certain crimes – drug peddling,
armed robbery and kidnapping – at home and abroad.

In August 2016, an Igbo drug dealer was guillotined in
Indonesia. But his funeral in Anambra was a shin-dig
of celebrations. He was even described as a “hero” by
his kinsmen.

Once again, an Igbo kidnapping lord, who unleashed
barbarity and savagery on many Nigerians, has
steadied attention on the “special” crime proclivities of
the ethnic group. I will not dwell on this; I will zero in
on Igbo criminality abroad, and take a slight detour
home.

As a matter of fact, a good number of Igbo youth in
Asia are into crime. It was reported sometime in the
year that the India police said all Nigerians – Igbo, of
course – in their country were drug dealers. Although,
this is questionable, it cannot be entirely repudiated.

Arguably, the reason for Igbo sojourning – to even the
remotest of places in the world – has been attributed
to their much vaunted entrepreneurial spirit. The truth
is that this claim is enclosed in heavy, meaty layers of
fallacy like the entrails of burger.

Inasmuch as the “entrepreneurial sojourning” thread
cannot be utterly pooh-poohed, it is judicious to
explore other reasons why the Igbo are peripatetic.

First, in Igbo ethology, it is a cringing evil for a native,
man or woman, to commit a “stigmatised” crime (Alu)
such as armed robbery, drug-dealing, etc at home.

This is not an obviation of abhorrent crimes
committed at home by some unabashed Igbo
criminals. The truth is, the “home” Igbo criminals are a
hopeless and shameless horde whose self esteem and
sense of shame are terribly at their nadir, and as a
result purvey crimes at home. Inter alia, for any
stigmatised crime committed at home (Igbo land)
there is a stern reprimand implicit in the cleansing of
the crime. The sacerdotal process of cleansing the
land of a crime or an abomination is called “Ikpu Alu”.

However, “Ikpu Alu” (cleansing of abominations) does
not extend to crimes committed by Igbo sons and
daughters in places outside the native dome. It is
therefore not surprising if some Igbo persons commit
heinous crimes in obverse places, and come back
home to take chieftaincy titles. As a matter of fact, in
some morally weak Igbo communities it is a brave
thing to traffic in drugs abroad. Drug barons are
gleefully celebrated as Ndi kara Obi (lion-hearted
people). Such is the pantomime of the Igbo and
crimes.

It is therefore indubitable to posit that an unenviable
number of Igbo persons with innate criminal manuals
travel outside the Igbo enclave to pursue crimes. This
confutes the general idea that the sojourning of the
Igbo is driven solely by entrepreneurial inclinations
and motives. To a large extent, the sojourning of some
Igbo is driven by a morbid aim of shielding their evil
trades from the peering eyes of their kinsmen. Their
names are protected as long as they do not traffic in
crimes at home. The important thing is to be
successful in crimes abroad; successful enough to
build vulgar mansions at home and throw lazy cash
about.

To animate my argument further, what is the
entrepreneurial inclination or motive of the Igbo in
India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa, and
other countries peddling drugs? Is the entrepreneurial
spirit of the Igbo only awakened abroad? Why should
the Igbo entrepreneurial spirit find its host cozily and
lopsidedly outside Igbo land? Is there a marriage
between Igbo criminality across the world and Igbo
entrepreneurial genome? These are questions that
defeat the long, tired argument of Igbo entrepreneurial
“peripatetism.”

The fact is the “entrepreneurial” beat-up logic and
reason for Igbo sojourning is a bored excuse.
Analogously, Igbo sojourning atavism is also
effectuated by pride, ego and vanity. A typical Igbo
person will want to prove he is successful in anyway.

It is wickedly mortifying to be seen as struggling in
Igbo land. This underscores the reason many Igbo
persons smuggle themselves out of Nigeria, and
because it is thought that any person in Obodo Oyibo
(white man’s country) or even anywhere outside Igbo
land is “doing well”. Those Igbo persons who are
“cursed” to be in Igbo land are seen as struggling and
as such do not deserve the courtesy of admiration and
respect. It is a proud thing for an Igbo father to say,
“All my children are in the abroad”; even though “the
abroad” is Gabon. Such a father courts the respect,
envy and admiration of other fathers in Igbo land. This
is the awful linkage between Igbo sojourning and base
vanity.

In all, there are Igbo persons in the scrawny good
number whose sojourn in foreign countries is not
tainted by any evil intent or base vanity, but it is a
bleeding fact the singular Igbo entrepreneurial logic for
sojourning is one big smorgasbord of fallacy.

MEANWHILE…
Arabic is not Islam

You may be wrong if you believe that the insertion of
Arabic in the secondary school curriculum as a foreign
language elective is a path to the “Islamisation” of
Nigeria. Your ignorance is pardonable. Why? I used to
think that way too, and of course not by the governing
of logic but by sentiment and emotion. I have been
nudged to rationality by an elder. Now, here is my
point. Arabic is a “staple” language in much of Africa –
North, and some parts of East and West Africa. It is
spoken by over 420 million people, making it the sixth
most spoken language in the world. It also one of the
six working languages of the UN. Again, there are
many Christian Arabs – in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan,
etc, who speak the language. Why haven’t they been
religiously sterilised? In fact, there is an Arabic Bible
used by Christians in the Middle East. It is just a
language, people. So, this hue and cry about the
Islamisation of Nigeria through the learning of Arabic is
needless.

No “peace” for Saraki yet
After surviving embarrassment and humiliation at the
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Senate President
Bukola Saraki will now face another legal battle – at
the appeal court. According to him, some people in
government are desperate to pull him down; hence
they will not let go until he is out of the way. Well, the
prosecution put up a bad show at the tribunal; let’s
see how they will bring Lazarus back to life.

TheCable