By Amanze Obi
Last Friday, my attention was drawn to a certain ribaldry. My friend and colleague, Reuben Abati, had, in the course of his duty as Arise News Anchor, strayed into the tainted terrain of Igbo-bashing. He had fed the viewing publics with an odious tale about the Igbo. Relying on an information that was, at best, hearsay, Reuben packaged and sold the Igbo as a discriminatory lot who do not sell their land to people outside their geographical territory. He was practically brow-beating the Igbo for investing extensively outside Igboland but would not sell an inch of their ancestral land to an outsider.
Given that Reuben’s position was lacking in facts and evidence, those who know better would not let him escape with the disinformation. His colleague on the television programme, Ojy Okpe, who monitored the backlash that had trailed Reuben’s unfounded remarks about the Igbo, drew his attention to the development. She asked Reuben to clarify his assertions.
That was how hell was let loose. Her effrontery, as Reuben saw it, threw him off balance. He went into a rage. Who was she to challenge him? She came under intense harassment. This was despite the fact that she was not the one questioning Reuben’s sweeping assertions.
She was only drawing his attention to the fact that the received position out there was that you cannot tar an entire ethnic group with the same brush. Reuben warned that he would have come after her if those disapproving views were hers.
Come after her? That was what Reuben said. Reuben must be a predator in a mad chase for a prey. His target was to unnerve the young woman. Reuben was in his combative worst. He accused those who did not agree with him of indulging in selective hearing. He said he was not going to comment further on the matter. Instead, he challenged those with a contrary position to come up with anthropological evidence in their avowal.
What really went wrong? Why did Reuben fly off the handle the way he did? Most of those who have had to interject on the matter see Reuben’s reaction as typical. It is in line with what has become a pastime among some non-Igbo Nigerians who take delight in vilifying the Igbo. It would appear that such a repugnant indulgence powers their flagellum. It is cathartic.
It was bad enough that Reuben assumed a magisterial disposition in his characterization of Igbos, even in the face of his glaringly limited knowledge and understanding of the people. But if Reuben’s jaundiced position on the Igbo is objectionable, his belligerent disposition to the matter when he was called upon to clarify is pointedly repulsive, if not revolting. Nothing but deep-seated superciliousness could have made Reuben to forget that he was on national television as he shouted freely: “Replay the tape, …nobody should tell me any nonsense.” What irreverence. Such intolerance.
I have never seen Reuben in that rawness before. He obviously wanted to intimidate the young woman. But the lady had so much grace and candour going for her. She refused to be drawn into Reuben’s boxing ring. As someone on national television, the least that was expected of Reuben was to be civil and sensitive. If someone tells you that your position on an issue is being disputed, does it amount to being told nonsense?
Obviously, Reuben must have seen himself as being beyond reproach. His position must be inviolable. That was why he was charging at the young woman the way he did. That was crude. It was unbecoming of a man of Reuben’s standing.
In his uncontrolled rage, Reuben said he was not going to reverse himself because it is a free country. How free is this country? Is he ignoring the fact that there is no absolute freedom anywhere, and that freedom in every context must be qualified? When you step out with misplaced gusto to speak disparagingly about a people, is that also a display of the freedom that he talked about? Someone should graciously remind Reuben that freedom does not constitute in being reckless.
Now, let us pay a closer attention to the issue at stake. I have noted earlier that Reuben approached the matter as if he knows so much about the Igbo people of Nigeria. That was why he challenged anybody who shares a contrary position to come up with anthropological evidence. But this challenge is empty. It should not even arise at all. If Reuben had come forward with any anthropological proof to support his position, then it will be justifiable for him to ask anyone disputing his position to back up his position also with anthropological evidence.
The fact is that there is nothing about Igbo culture and civilization that restrains or forbids them from selling land to outsiders. Even in the face of “land hunger” as Prof Kenneth Dike would put it, the Igbo are never known to have placed any obstacle on the way of potential investors from outside their land. Any Nigerian from outside Igboland who is interested in investing in Igboland is free to do so. And quite a number have done so.
There is enough evidence to support this assertion. The problem is that Reuben did not bother to find out the true position of things. If only he had asked some of us who are from that part of the country, he would not have fallen into this deep error. But apparently because he was determined to join the infamous clan of Igbo-bashers, he hurriedly went on air to paint the entire Igbo black. This is most regrettable. No enlightened mind commits the fallacy of generalization. It is unpardonable in the realm of logic. Even commonsense repudiates it.
Going by the disposition of Reuben and others who have displayed this tendency before him, it has become axiomatic that Igbo-bashing, that indulgence which many non-Igbo Nigerians find pleasurable, has come to assume a life of its own.
Those who revel in the ignoble act have all lost their sense of moderation. They have thrown caution and restraint to the dogs. But what do the Igbo bashers really get out of their devious engagement? Practically nothing. Stereotypes and archetypes, wherever they are promoted, are mere labels.
They do not change or recreate a people. The Igbo are who their creator has made them to be. Negative profiling, no matter the language in which it is couched, will not change anything. It is time to let the Igbo be.
Overall, what Reuben has done is incredible. It amounts to abuse and debasement of platform. It is injurious both to himself and the organization he represents. The promoters of Arise News should watch it.
