Yoruba Ronu Tribal Bigotry: Resetting Igbo Consciousness

By Ndubuisi Martins

Something feels scary already. It impels the question: does the Yoruba Ronu tribal bigotry reset your Igbo consciousness? First off. ethnic hatred in Nigeria, now so evident in the Ronu mantra, foregrounded by Bola Ahmed Tinubu armies, might now reset relationships and ethics of humanity.

The heat of the Yoruba Ronu tribal bigotry of the last three years can actually boil to softness the rock of Gibraltar. It’s now too pervasive and people no longer pretend to carry and manifest hatred to their compatriots. The Ronu philosophy ought to be layered with such value, but it’s a shame that the meaning of this positive clarion is now serving primordial, even fascistic ends. Now, the saddest part is, there’s now no difference in the demographic characteristics of people who champion this, both in its resurgence in the Nigerian politics of the last five years and across certain points in historical political episodes in Nigeria. The educated and the illiterate Yoruba now find an egregious common ground. Shamefully, some of my friends, with whom I’d now cut ties, are implicated in this crazy tribal bigotry. This Ronu trend has sent me into a deep reflection.

Obi Aniemeka, my great father was a cosmopolitan man, despite being an Obi in the Igbuzo traditional leadership universe. I grew up learning values that I still maintain and will pass on to my children. The values are those of integrity, generosity, love for humans everywhere, and deep spiritual connection with my creator. I have never had time, or one might say, never needed to exhibit apartheid tendencies. Why? It was not a way of life, and no one handed me with such narrow, inhumane attitude or character. From childhood to a certain point in my adult life, I never saw ethnic or religious differences. Perhaps, they never mattered because I didn’t grow up with a provincial mindset. Some evidence of this can be picked from experience in Ibadan until the consciousness for my ethnic background set it in.

As a primary six pupil at IMG Mokola in the mid 1990s, after I transferred my academic documents from Delta State University Staff School, I was knew in the South West and my peers just did the tribal slurs. But those didn’t matter. They said all the orisiririsi in Yoruba and what they said didn’t raise hairs, but now, I might just have been too unsuspecting of their ethnic bile. Why? I now reflect from the present what never mattered to me. I recall in 2015 and late 2016, when some of my MA classmates and those coming into the programme cautioned me to tread softly while relating with the Yoruba people. I rebuffed the advice; that didn’t make sense, as Ibadan was home, and many of my most impactful teachers and friends were and are still Yoruba. Fast forward this to this day, I return to the caution from those my Igbo colleagues. With what is going Lagos — profound and ferocious ethnic hatred for the Igbos, and this validation reiterated by those I had so regarded as brothers in Ibadan and Ekiti, those whose ethnic strings and affinities didn’t matter, I might then begin to actually tread softly, truly. The signs are clearer, more than ever.

Until around 2017 I didn’t emphasis my Igbonness. Someone in the University of Ibadan said if I’d want to be an academic I should go to the east. This man, one of whom I found to be that so well educated and informed said this. That very point marked the consciousness of my ethnic nationality linked to Igbo, even if I’d argue I’m not from any of the Eastern states. They all assume that every Igbo man looks a certain way and they collapse people from Calabar, Edo, Warri and everyone else as Igbo.

My advice to all Igbos is, set boundaries, emphasise your Igbonness@#, but don’t join the swine behaviour of those Yoruba Ronu people. Please, think of all humans as humans, while also watching your back. You need to be alive to experience even the brimming hatred. Be human, I emphasize be human, even in the midst of the virulent attacks. You might make only provisional arrangements to live in Lagos and other Yoruba states, and think home on the long term. If you’re Igbo and your mental health is messed up, please find a life elsewhere. Ensure you live in an environment where you don’t need the permission of any to breathe. Relate with genuine people, regardless of ethnicities.

Lastly, find a way to follow the tribal trends, and only in silence, pick vital lessons, and don’t join the vindictive bandwagon. Love for humanity, my great grandparents emphasized, is what has to be the noblest virtue. Embody it even in the midst of this chaos.

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