The perennial ethnic chest-thumping and supremacy contest in Nigeria is something that is difficult to understand. It rears its head always, even without provocation. For many Nigerians, their ethnic group is only great when another ethnic group is denigrated or ridiculed.
Naturally, all the ethnic groups excel in certain areas of life. Yes, some may appear to have achieved more milestones than others, but how does that warrant any chest-thumping? My people say: If a person is super big, it is only within the person’s house.
Now, imagine you have N1bn and your neighbour (John) has N1m. You run your life with your N1bn and he runs his life with his N1m. He does not complain to you; he does not beg you money. You don’t feed him. You use your wealth to take care of yourself and your family. Yet, you regularly taunt him that you are richer than he is; you beat your chest about all you have and all the awards that have been conferred on you.
Why should an Igbo tell the Yoruba or the Hausa that the Igbo are better than everybody? Why should the Yoruba tell others that they are better than everybody? Why should the Hausa or Fulani tell others that they are better than everybody?
You are the best in money, education, entrepreneurship, technology, culture, religion, diplomacy, political sagacity, courage, integrity, population, land mass, natural resources, beauty, and whatnot. Congratulations. But how does your achievement or endowment concern the other people? Do they breathe through your nose or see through your eyes? Why not allow them to acknowledge by themselves, if they choose to, that you are better on this or that?
Have you ever heard of the fable about the argument between the wind and the sun over who is stronger? One day, while they argued, the sun pointed at a man in suit walking alone and said: “Let us see who can remove his jacket.” So the wind blew with all intensity, bringing down trees, but the man held on to his jacket with both hands and continued to run. After an hour, the wind got tired and said: “I have taught the man the lesson of his life, but I know you can’t even scratch the man.”
The sun smiled and said: “Just watch and see.”
The sun went up the sky and stood overhead. The man wiped beads of sweat from his face with his handkerchief. After a while, the man could no longer bear the heat. He pulled out his jacket. He even loosened his tie, pulled it down, and released his collar button.
The wind opened his mouth in shock. The sun smiled simply again and said nothing.
The wind wanted to force the man to accept the wind’s strength and invincibility. The man refused to accept it and resisted it vehemently until the wind got tired and gave up. But the sun showed the man why he needed to remove his jacket, and the man removed the jacket HIMSELF.
It is unwise and petty to tell people that you or your people are better. It points to low self-esteem, insecurity, inferiority complex. You may get your momentary kick from it, but in reality you achieve nothing except making a fool of yourself.
You can tell others about your people. You can explain why your people do certain things. You can enlighten them on what makes your people unique. That is subtle marketing. Some cities and countries spend a lot of money on advertising. Many people want to learn things about others. It helps people to know about places they have not visited. It even helps people to visit certain places. Even without any payment, I do it for my Nnewi people, Anambra people, Igbo people, and Nigeria. I have done it for Ijebu people, Yoruba people, Delta State people, Akwa-Cross people, Ogun State people, Hausa people, etc, a couple of times, based on my limited knowledge of them.
Ridiculing a person or people achieves nothing except creating anger and hatred and quarrels. Every people have something that makes them unique that can be celebrated and even emulated.
One thing about praise and ridicule is that the people that have been praised may not ask you to prove it, but the people that have been ridiculed will definitely ask you to prove it. And once it is a group, it is usually extremely difficult to prove. How do you prove that 10 million people, for example, are rapists, murderers, robbers, kidnappers or dupers? The argument that many members of that ethnic group have been caught in such a crime does not hold water. For the argument to stand, all the 10 million members of that ethnic group must have been caught and found guilty by a court of law. That is impossible.
It is the same thing with court cases. People don’t institute a legal action against those who have praised them, even when the praise is undeserved. But when people are maligned through spoken words (scandal) or written words (libel), they seek redress in court. The courts are not in existence to settle cases of praise, good neighbourliness, peace and harmony. Those are no cases. Cases arise when people feel that their rights have been breached.
That is why using the argument that a spade should be called a spade to engage in stereotyping or ethnic supremacy is like hiding behind a finger. Your truth is your truth. It is not a fact. Facts can easily be proved, but truths are usually relative according to perspectives. If you were to swap places with those you malign, that so-called truth of yours would change. That is a proof that what you have is no truth, but a problem of how your mind is wired about others. The moment you change your mindset about others and choose to see the best in others, you have emancipated yourself from bigotry, ethnocentrism, tribalism and racism.
Some researchers have argued that racism (as well as its localised versions like tribalism or ethnocentrism) is a psychiatric illness. Some have argued that it should not be termed a psychiatric illness to avoid giving murderous culprits a leeway to escape punishment. However way it is looked at, it is dangerous for the health of any society.
Ironically, once you raise the issue of ethnic supremacy and bigotry, the guilty ones immediately point the finger at the other ethnic group. You will hear things like: “It is the Igbo that always start it”; “It is the Yoruba that always start it”; “It is the Hausa/Fulani that always start it”. To many Nigerians, there is always something wrong or base about the other ethnic group.
One way to fight this is to censure the ethnic supremacists and bigots within our own group. When an issue is raised and some people sidestep the issue to attack, denigrate or stereotype another ethnic group or make comments that suggest that their ethnic group is superior to another, members of their ethnic group should caution them. When those who thrive on this notice that that even members of their ethnic group are strongly against them, they will think twice before crawling out of their shells in public.
– Twitter @BrandAzuka
