Re: Peter Obi And The Rest Of Us -By Ogak Moses

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but not to their facts. Facts are objective and available to everyone. what makes an opinion correct is it’s level of accuracy in conforming to facts.

I read about a week ago with dismay the opinion post of one Mohammed Bello Yunusa in Daily Trust Newspaper, filled with internal contradictions, Fallacies and economical with truth to say the least. It quite unfortunate that a national daily would allow itself to be used to promote bigotry and division in the name of “opinion.” What makes it more unfortunate is that I sent this rebuttal to Daily Trust Newspaper but they ignored or refused to publish it because it might not have corroborated their biase or preferred narrative.

In the said article, Yunusa does not show how other ethnic groups in Nigeria have been open to working with Igbo’s and the Igbo’s have rejected such benevolent acts of welcome. The fact of the matter is that the question of integration does not exist in reality. The question of integration is an invention used to falsely accuse the Igbo’s and rationalise the intentional exclusion of Igbo’s in National politics and other affairs.

It is not true that the Igbo’s have refused integration with other groups in Nigeria much less with communities where they have migrated to. The Igbo’s to be fair are very well integrated if not the most integrated ethnic group in the fabric of Nigeria’s society. The Igbo’s have intermarried, built homes, businesses, and educated their children in the communities where they have migrated to.

They speak the languages, eat the food, wear the clothing styles of the communities where they live. Where and how much more do people like Yunusa want the Igbo to integrate? The question of integration comes up only when politics is at stake, and this is because the Nigerian political elite have weaponised our polarising identities, and have poorly managed Nigeria’s diversity.

It is good to be educated about the dynamics of groups that migrate and live in communities other than their homelands which clearly Yunusa lacks, because he claims that the Igbo’s have monopoly over trades and refuse people from other ethnic groups from participating in such trades or learning from them. To be fair, the Igbo involvement in one trade does not stop people from other ethnic groups from participating in such trades. The system of apprenticeship that is a common feature of Igbo traders comes with some demands that people from other ethnic groups would want to accept. For example, how many people would want to serve, learn and work for seven to ten years in order to learn a trade? I assure, not many. Besides there are other options, anyone who wants to learn a trade from anybody, including the Igbo, can pay up and learn within one to two years. In fact I remember meeting a young man from Niger state in Onitsha learning tailoring.

The fact of the matter is that groups that migrate to other communities take their trade, religion, language, and culture with them. The Hausa’s that live in other communities other than northern Nigeria do not abandon their trade, religion, language or culture because they want to “Integrate”, neither do their involvement in one trade stop the indigenous communities from engaging and succeeding in such trades. In fact more often than not, groups that travel to other places go there with their trades and the hosts communities hitherto do not engage in such trades, so when a migrant comes and establishes that trade and is successful, the migrant or the migrant groups in no way stop the host community from participating and succeeding.

Another fact of the matter I leave for Mr. Yunusa to play with is the fact that it is not only Igbo’s that have monopoly of certain trades. There are other ethnic groups that also have monopoly over other trades. Even on the international scene, certain nations enjoy monopoly over certain industries, and that is what makes for international trade. Now coming back home, it is very apt not to mention some ethnic groups and their monopoly over certain trades, in order not to whip up sentiments unnecessarily as Mr. Yunusa clearly intends to with his opinion.

Mr. Yunusa’s claim that the onus of integration is not on other Nigerians to “force co-habitation” falls short of the necessity of the demand for ALL NIGERIANS to foster unity and solidarity for the betterment of all of us. What Mr. Yunusa forgets is that when the layers of all that separates us is peeled off, what remains is our common humanity. Mr. Yunusa cannot place the blame of lack of integration in the hands of one ethnic group, that is the Igbo’s. What would he then say about the political elites poor management of Nigeria’s diversity and politics of exclusion and nepotism?

On the Peter Obi’s part of Mr. Yunusa’s “story”, Yunusa has succeeded in mentioning one fact of the matter about pastors implicitly or explicitly using the pulpit to campaign for Obi. However, one fact of the matter Yunusa cleverly ignores is the fact that Imams in the north also used their rostrums to preach and campaign for the “Muslim-Muslim” ticket. Another fact of the matter which Yunusa may be oblivious about is the fact that there are Christians of goodwill who voted for Tinubu-Shettima because they were convinced the duo will deliver, on the other hand, there are Muslims of goodwill who voted for Obi-Datti because they also were convinced the duo would deliver.

Given there were Igbo’s who were convinced and voted for Tinubu, and Yoruba’s who voted Obi, I am not sure what Mr. Yunusa’s claim that the Igbo’s have refused to integrate has to do with Obi’s block vote from the south East, that does not on the other hand have to do with Tinubu’s block vote from the South West and Yoruba’s presumed integration by Mr. Yunusa?

Whether Mr. Yunusa voted for Obi or not, one thing he cannot question is Mr. Obi’s patriotism to Nigeria. Politicians who have lost elections in Nigeria have gone to court and sought redress, Obi’s rejection of the electoral process is not something new. Buhari the outgoing president as Mr. Yunusa is well aware had also lost elections and gone to court. Yunusa’s claim that Obi scampered for redress from international organisations and leaders is out-rightly false. I challenge Yunusa to publish Peter Obi’s scampering for redress from international organisations and leaders if he has the evidence. Mr. Yunusa cannot give such evidence because nothing like that has happened.

Mr. Yunusa’s write up in my evaluation is unnecessary and divisive to the kind of Nigeria where there is peace, unity and progress. The opinion post was disrespectful and lacking in charity to the Igbo ethnic group to say the least. Mr. Yunusa’s write up plays into the very narrative that politicians push in order to divide, rule and plunder our collective wealth. Mr. Yunusa commits the fallacy of generalisation, and boxes the whole of Igbo’s into one category, forgetting that as someone in advocacy there are Igbo’s of goodwill he will necessarily work with in his social advocacy. With such mindset or views, Mr, Yunusa paints himself into a corner where people even those not of Igbo origin would not want to work or partner with him. No body wants to work with someone who is divisive.

As Nelson Mandela wrote in his book Long Walk to Freedom, “to be free is not merely to cast of one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”, Mr. Yunusa cannot be free until all Nigerians regardless of race and creed are free and he cannot be free until he integrates with the Igbo’s.

Ogak Moses
Has studied Philosophy and Political Science,
Tweets @MosesOgak