Why Joe Igbokwe's Self Hate And Deceit Worries Me by Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

There is the truism that “the greatest obstacle to setting a slave free
is the slave himself.” This is perfectly captured in the folklore of
American slavery, the distinction demonstrated therein between the house
slaves and the field  slaves. As the story goes; the house slave felt so
much comfort living in the slave master’s quarters from where he could
pick crumbs from the master’s table and enjoy benefits not available to
field slaves who braved the elements and toiled under terrible
circumstances that the house slave emerged the biggest defender and
enabler of slavery. Thus when the slave master brutalised slaves for
eating fruits in the plantation out of hunger, the house slave defended
him.

When the slave master hanged slaves for being sick and consequently too
tired to work, the house slave defended him. When the slave master
flogged slaves to death merely for complaining of the cold or the rain
in which they are forced to work, the house slave defended him. When the
slave master rapes his female slaves at will, the house slave defended
him. When the slave master sells the children of his slaves like
livestock, the house slave defended him. Indeed, when the field slave
approach the house slave with a plan to escape from the cruel slave
master, the house slave would turn saboteur and lead the brutal charge
to crush the revolting slaves. As far as the house slave was concerned
the slave master does no evil. For seeking freedom and rising against
injustice, the blame, vilification, demonization and opprobrium was
always reserved for the slaves/victims while the cruel slave master was
blameless.

Not surprisingly; the house slave and other such slaves ended up being
the greatest facilitators of slavery, but therein lies the tragedy. The
house slave was content to live with slavery and even to defend it just
because of few benefits and privileges that living in the master’s
quarters afforded him. He then went on to become so inured to the
savagery, brutality, injustice and abhorrence of slavery that for the
house slave alone, slavery would never have ended. The slave was
therefore the greatest obstacle to his own freedom. Unfortunately, the
metaphor of the house slave did not end with American slavery; it
remains with us even today in many facets. Last week as I read Joe
Igbokwe’s “Igbo ethnic bigotry and hate campaigns worry me” I could draw
a perfect correlation between Igbokwe’s blame the victim irrationality
and the typical house slave of American folklore.

Igbokwe is from the East, but having found good company with Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban/godfather who made him spokesperson of the APC
in Lagos, before subsequently moving him post 2015 elections to the
Wharf where he corners his share of the loot from the master’s table,
it’s no surprise that he pushes articles that are full of the usual
blame the victim propaganda while finding no blame with the oppressor
and unjust system that birthed the victims in the first place. In his
recent diatribe, Igbokwe claims the Igbo have refused to move on since
Jonathan lost elections and as a consequence have become ethnic bigots
who propagate hate online. He pretends to be worried for the Igbo who
according to him are settled in different parts of the country and could
easily be victims of violence as a result of hate campaigns disgorged
online.

For Niger Delta activists who have taken to militancy, he brusquely
calls them criminals without any thought of the underlying factors that
pushed them to militancy. Yet, as much as Igbokwe works hard to earn his
master’s money by indulging in self hate and the propagation of
falsehood against his own people, the hollowness and deceit of his
article is self evident. Firstly; how can he accuse the Igbo of ethnic
bigotry and in the same breadth accuse them of refusing to drop their
staunch support for former president Goodluck Jonathan who is not Igbo?
Does it make sense that ethnic bigots will have so much cultic support
for someone who is not from their ethnic group? Has it not occurred to
the Igbokwe’s of this world that the reason the Igbo supported and still
support Jonathan is because the Igbo seek justice/equality and Jonathan
was the only one who in recent times gave them a sense of belonging in
that regards?

Does this not translate to the fact that the Igbo can support anyone who
advances the cause of justice and equality no matter where he or she
comes from? How then do a people with such disposition translate to
bigots in Igbokwe’s dictionary? Besides, does Igbokwe understand what
democracy really means? If APC zombies are still supporting Buhari in
spite of his Olympian failings why does he expect any less from PDP
supporters? Or is Igbokwe indirectly revealing his preference for a one
party state? Secondly; when Igbokwe claims to be worried for Igbos; how
true is that when he never uttered a word when Igbos were massacred in
cold blood by Fulani herdsmen in Nimbo Enugu state and other parts of
Igboland while Buhari did nothing because they are his kinsmen? Why was
Igbokwe silent when 74 year old Bridget Agbahime was murdered by
ethno-religious fanatics in Kano? Why has Igbokwe been silent over the
decade’s long murder of Igbos and Christians in the North by
ethno-religious fanatics?

Why was Igbokwe silent when hundreds of unarmed IPOB members exercising
their fundamental rights to peaceful protests were murdered in cold
blood by the Nigerian army? Why has Igbokwe been silent over the
unprecedented “Apartheid” policies of exclusion and marginalization
being pursued by Buhari in a nation already grappling with ethnic
divisions? How can a man who claims to be worried over mere hate speech
online be silent when real hate crimes resulting in thousands of dead
and maimed citizens are committed by Fulani herdsmen across the country?
If Igbokwe can take offense against online bigotry by those who are
unhappy with the state of the nation why is he accommodating of hate
induced mass murders by Fulani herdsmen and ethno-religious fanatics in
the north? Hate speech online and hate crimes on the ground which one is
worse? Why is he accommodating of a hateful president who is running an
Apartheid government of exclusion?

If Igbokwe worries that hate speech online exposes sections of the
country to violence, why does he not worry even more that Fulani
herdsmen committing hate crimes against others in their own land also
exposes them to violence? How come Igbokwe was more concerned with the
idea that all hell would have been let loose had Eunice Olawale the
murdered preacher been Igbo than the fact of her atrocious murder by
ethno-religious fanatics which he never condemned? Pray how did Igbokwe
determine the ethnicities of people commenting online? Where was Igbokwe
when the APC and their foot soldiers turned Jonathan into the most
abused president in Nigeria’s history? If he was silent then why is he
complaining now? The more Igbokwe’s article is dissected the more the
inherent hollowness and deceit is made obvious. Igbokwe was obviously
writing for the pleasure of his paymasters. Like all such characters,
Igbokwe is not interested in the real and evident issues of injustice in
Nigeria. He is only interested in maintaining the status quo and the
little crumbs it affords him to pick from the masters table.

That is why he blames the victim and not the oppressor. While pretending
that so called online bigotry worries him, his real intent is to silence
all dissenting voices and maintain the status quo with all the inherent
ills. Igbokwe is not worried that Buhari is a personification of the
hate and bigotry he rails about. Igbokwe is not worried that Buhari is
an outlaw who serially violates the constitution and disregards court
orders. Igbokwe is not worried that herdsmen slaughter people across
Nigeria while the bigoted president does nothing, but he wants to
silence all voices so the evils can continue unchallenged. To do so he
has to incite and or threaten people with violence. He is of course
happy to promote a barbaric system and society where everyone has to
live in fear of being attacked and killed for something done by someone
else, including mere expression of free speech.

Muslims live in Europe, far away from their native lands, yet inspite of
radicalization and terrorist attacks by fellow Muslims, I am yet to hear
anyone suggest they should watch their backs because some Muslims commit
terrorist hate crimes. I am also yet to hear anyone ask Black Americans
to stop expressing their anger or to stop the “Black lives matter”
movement because some Blacks live in Mississippi or because Blacks live
across America. It’s only in Nigeria that such crude analogies are
advanced in a bid to stifle free speech and dissent. What the Igbokwe’s
of this world have failed to realise is that this is the 21^st
century. Not only will the jungle system they promote consume them
someday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is moving ever closer to
the doors of those who think they can violate other people’s rights and
go free. At a time the world is increasingly defined by democratic
freedoms that include the right to self determination, free speech and
peaceful dissent, it’s regrettable that we still have medieval
barbarians like Igbokwe, Buhari and co, travellers working very hard to
keep us in the cesspit of humanity.

Before our eyes we witnessed the Scottish referendum and the Brexit
referendum as the ultimate expressions of the right to self
determination democratically expressed. We witnessed the smooth transfer
of power in the United Kingdom and how Theresa May, the new prime
minister appointed most of her ministers within a few hours of taking
power—making sure to accommodate all those who opposed her including the
lady who mocked her for not having children. It proves that democracy
allows for bitter democratic contests but once the elections are over
the leader moves to unite the nation and work with everyone including
erstwhile bitter adversaries. Had Buhari learnt this simple democratic
lesson; Nigeria would not be experiencing the unprecedented ethnic
divisions, militancy and separatist agitations that now rock the nation.
That Nigeria is today a nation on the verge of virtual disintegration is
thanks to an antagonistic, rabidly sectional and undemocratic president
who has turned a free democratic contest into a war of attrition where
sections of the country who didn’t vote for him must be punished in
violation of the express dictates of the constitution as predicated in
the oath of office. Instead of growing and consolidating our democracy
Buhari has put our democracy on reverse gear while the Igbokwe’s of this
world stay silent preferring instead to blame the victims for voicing
their dissent

Ultimately, the Igbokwe’s of Nigeria are part of the problem and not the
solution. Were Igbokwe to be truly interested in Nigeria’s progress, he
would respect the democratic rights of everyone to free speech and
dissenting opinion no matter how unpalatable. He would examine the
underlying causes of disaffection in the land and proffer solutions to
address it. He would take great offence and condemn the murderous hate
crimes of Fulani herdsmen and ethno-religious fanatics in the north. He
would advice the president to do something about Fulani terrorists and
to be a democrat, statesman and nation builder. But alas that is not the
case because Igbokwe is a self hating fraud; the archetypical “Judas
Iscariot” only interested in lining his pockets at the expense of his
own people. Thankfully, history has a way of consigning such traitors to
the dust bin where they belong. No one mourned Ukpabi Asika when he
passed away, Igbokwe will meet the same fate.