13/11/2020
Reposted from I just saw a clip of an online interview the prodigious Dele Momodu had with Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, where he laboured so hard to deny his Igboness, talking about similarity in names and being in old Eastern Region as if Calabar, Uyo and others were not part of that old region. I shook my head in disbelief, seeing his dishonesty. And here is my response.
Wike is not honest with his Igbo ancestry. He denies his Igboness, his cousins admit theirs. Some of his kinsmen I know admit their Igboness, while he and many others grandstand. Too much confusion! Why is Igbo so hated by its neighbours, that they labour this hard to distance themselves from their roots? If it has to do with ancestral offence, must those of this generation face the consequences of what they know nothing about? Are the Okun people in Kogi denying being Yoruba or their Yoruba ancestry? Are those in Kwara doing same? Are all those people in South Western States? Wike's argument that he is in Niger Delta is invalid in that respect. Ikwerre (Igbo language) is even more clearer to my ears than that of Abakaliki and Nsukka that are in South Eastern States. Will Wike say Etche people are not Igbos? Will he say the same for Egbema that was in my own knowledge carved out of Oguta in Imo State to Rivers? Will he say Obigbo, that was carved out of Ukwa people of Abia State and renamed Oyigbo are not Igbo because they are now in Rivers? When did being in a different state (mere geographical expression) vitiate ones origin? So, it stands to reason that if Nsukka was to be in Benue or Kogi state, they certainly would have also denied their Igboness as if admitting being Igbo adds value to the Igbo nation or subtracts from it. Dele should have asked Wike his tribe. If his argument of being in Rivers takes away his origin, then Asaba people who are in Delta State can say the same. They will simply declare that their tribe is Asaba or Delta. Hilarious! While no one, including me, cannot force any one to choose any nationality, Wike should tell his children the truth that the cowardice of his forebears denying their nationality to survive the brutality of the ravaging Nigerian tro
