Isi Agu And The Tribesmen Of Retrogression -By Ike Willie-Nwobu

Murmurs of discontent over the isi agu cloth worn by the Airpiece crew during the launch of its maiden Lagos to London flight may have become muffled, but hackles remained raised, at least for those for whom every milestone must be viewed through the prism of primordial sentiments.

Isi agu has no neither ethnicity nor emotions. It is a lifeless piece of cloth that is malleable to its wearer’s wits to evoke any wonder at all. Anyone can wear it. Ndi Igbo wear it. They have worn it consistently enough over the years but are yet to appropriate it, which is no surprise given that the Igbo are among Nigeria’s least skilled appropriators.

Isi agu has clung to ndi Igbo more than they have clung to it. Isi agu literally translates to lion’s head and is fiercely evocative of the lion. Again it is no surprise that it has naturally attracted the intrepid survivors of Nigeria’s civil war.

Many Nigerians belong to Nigerian ethnic groups that have appropriated different clothes and colours as symbols of their culture. But it is now some of them that do not want ndi igbo to cling to any identity at all. It is they who see threats in everything the ndi igbo do. They represent what is important to them but do not restrain themselves from reframing the representation of others as repression.

Allen Onyema, the CEO of Airpiece, cannot deny the Igbo roots assigned him by the raffle of life because to do that will make him rootless. But if there was ever a detribalized Nigerian, it is he. With Airpeace, he is trampling where the Nigerian government has so far embarrassingly feared to tread. Airpeace’s launch of its highly subsidized flights from Lagos to London is some fig leaf for the nakedness nudged on Nigerians by the country’s inability to float a national carrier.

An astute businessman, Onyema has so far projected his enterprise as a prize of Nigeria’s greatness, swelling many Nigerian hearts with enormous pride. Yet, for clothing his crew with isi agu on a historic flight, himself and his brainchild have been branded as bigots by those who eat and itch ethnicity.

What should the crew have worn? Suits, skirts? Should the crew have stuffed themselves into clothing that pays odious homage to the remnants of a shameful colonial heritage just so you appease the insatiable gods of Nigeria’s bigotry? For shaking free, Onyema is being crucified by those whose inferiority complex compels them to draw false assurances of unity from a way of dressing imposed by colonialism.

Time and again, Onyema has put Airpeace to the service of the Nigerian good. When Sudan broke into its latest seemingly endless conflict, Onyema offered to evacuate Nigerians in the country who wished to get out for free? He has never failed to project Airpiece and its array of impressive services as a Nigerian success story. What else does he need to do?

Those who want his head are conveniently ignoring the failure of their government to float a national airline and the improbable success of a homegrown project just because they are desperate to prepare a sacrifice for the gods of primordial sentiments. The responsibility to rebuke them falls on all those who know what it means to be Nigerian in these noxious times.

Airpiece is a cause for celebration. Onyema deserves to be hoisted on shoulders, and not trampled under foot. Even if the crew had walked out naked for that maiden flight to London, revulsion would have necessarily been restrained so as not to throw the baby away with the bath water.

The tracks of retrogression made by Nigeria’s ethnic bigots are clear, and constantly calling to the gullible, impressionable and just plainly callous. They must not only be ignored but also rebuked lest their roots fail to wither, and only shrink, waiting for a more opportune time to sprout.

Nigeria has been wounded before by hate salaciously served on the saucers of bigotry by those who do not want a country for everyone but only a colony to themselves. The devastating Nigerian civil war and other events that have hampered national development is evidence of this.

Nigeria is transitioning from a disastrous government to another which is more promising for the moment. It has not been an easy transition. The vaunted ease of doing business in the country has been exposed as a lot of hot air to further highlight the fortitude of businesses like Airpeace which are not only miraculously keeping their heads above water, but are thriving as they do it.

Those calling for Onyema’s head are heedless students of history. They are deviants distracted by their delusions that whipping up ethnic sentiments can abort dreams which have come to stay. They must be roundly ignored, even as Nigerians must resolve to support businesses like Airpeace which suggest that there may just be light at the end of the tunnel for Nigeria.

Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com