How Igbo attitude to land debunks the lie about Igbo domination.

By

Okechukwu Ononaeke

One lie that Igbophobes have perpetrated over the years is that the Igbo wants to dominate every one including in lands that are foreign to the Igbo. This fear of Igbo domination has been the main driving force of Igbo genocides, the most celebrated of

which was the 1967-1970 genocide in which the Igbo lost 3-5 million people (about 25%of the Igbo population).

The Igbo has never been interested in dominating anyone. Rather it is those who accuse Igbo of wanting to dominate that are actually bent on confiscating Igbo land as their own. We shall come to this later.

No where does the Igbo clearly show that it is contented with the little CHI UKWU has given to it than in the Igbo attitude to land.

What is the Igbo attitude to land and how does it belie the allegation of Igbo domination by Igbophobes?

The Igbo attitude to land is that the little portion of land given to it by CHI UKWU ( the area in green) is the only land that truly belongs to it. This small land is half of the land of some of our neighbors. The Igbo regards this land as a holy land bequeathed to it by CHI UKWU and Igbo ancestors . Any other peace of land outside this land, the Igbo regards as strange and foreign. The Igbo may live in a foreign land. He may even build mansions in it. But he ensures he buys what ever land he takes outside Ala Igbo. He is conscious of the fact that he lives in a foreign land and always desires to retire to Ala Igbo in his ripe age before he joins his ancestors. The Igbo regards as sacrilegious the burial of an Igbo outside Ala Igbo. The Igbo considers as invalid any marriage conducted outside the ancestral home of the bride.

Where ever the Igbo  outside Ala Igbo, he is conscious of the fact that he is in a strange land. He regards the indigenes of the land where he resides as Ndi Nwe Obodo( owners of the land). For instance, The Igbo who is over 50years and was born in Lagos, regards a Yoruba from osun or Ekiti who simply migrated to Lagos after his graduation from Obafemi Awolowo university, Ife just two years ago as 'onye Obodo a'( owners of the land). He knows that despite his long sojourn in Lagos, that he is a foreigner and says it to himself and every one around him. Someone with an agenda to dominate and appropriate others' land will not have this attitude to land. Those who want to dominate insist that every where is their own, no more no less.

What is the attitude of Igbophobes to the little piece of land that is Igbo land? Do they reciprocate the Igbo attitude and not seek to confiscate what is definitely not theirs? Never! They scheme, orchestrate and syndicate strategies to appropriate or loot Igbo land as theirs. They claim that Port Harcourt ( named after a shameless child rapist who committed suicide) which is in the heart of Ala Igbo is not Igbo land. They claim that Opobo founded by an Igbo, Jaja of Opobo is not Igbo land. They were doing the same with Anioma until the Anioma elders called the idiots to other. The Ikwere elders are also now calling the revisionists to order and asking them to stay on their lane. 

In other words those who accuse the Igbo of wanting to dominate want to approbate and reprobate. 

So when next you hear any one accuse the Igbo of wanting to dominate, remind them of this Igbo attitude to land.