15/07/2025
𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄
“The branch of the church I was attending many years ago in Lagos was dominated by the Yoruba and the Igbo. I had a friend, an Ukwuani man, in that church. We're classmates in secondary school in Ukwuani before we came to Lagos and eventually met in that church, so we're old pals. There was an Igbo brother in that church that was close to us. Somewhere along the lines, the Igbo in that church decided to form an Igbo Brethren Meeting. That our Igbo friend invited us to come and join. But my friend and I told him we're not interested. He asked why. We explained to him that we're not Igbo. He was surprised to hear that. He asked us whether we're Yoruba or Hausa. We told him we're not Yoruba or Hausa, that we're Ukwuani. He struggled in vain to convince us that we're Igbo but my friend and I stood our ground, so he left us.
Truth be told we would have benefited immensely in that union but in life don't only think of what you're going to gain, think also about what you're going to lose. Yes, in that union we'd gain many things but we'd lose our ethnicity. What does it profit a man if gains the whole world but loses his ethnicity. If every time my wife and I, with our children, and my friend and his family were attending Igbo Brethren Meeting, it'd be difficult for us to convince our children later that we're Ukwuani and not Igbo. Having set the wrong precedent our children will continue to toe that line, anywhere there's Igbo union, they'll be interested to join, gradually, we're destroying Ukwuani, our ethnicity.”
— Osabenyi Onefeli