Lasisi Olagunju and the stoking of apocalyptic embers

 Lasisi Olagunju published on June 26, 2023, an article entitled 𝐴 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑔𝑏𝑜, in his Monday Lines column of the 𝑁𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑒. The piece was outrageously Igbophobic. Predictably it elicited disapproving reactions.

 A rejoinder from Dr. Okey Iheduru, a US-based professor of political science, said:

“I'm always surprised how otherwise intelligent Nigerians of other ethnicities can't pass up any opportunity to totalise, homogenise and poke their fingers in the eyes of Ndigbo as they psycho-analyse an ethnic group numbering over 60 million.

“How on earth does Mr. Olagunju justify this hate speech based on the rantings of a few people he came across on social media and his two acquaintances in the "brown envelope" profession? There are over 60 million Ndigbo in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. Where and when did all these people collectively disown the new CNS? Couldn't he have at least referenced the effusive celebrations across Igbo Ezi na Ulo over the Senior Officer's elevation to Navy Chief?

“Mr. Olagunju may be deluded about "Yoruba unity" vs "Igbo self-hate,” but someone needs to remind him that such “discrimination” and within-group stereotypes are the stuff of ethnic identity brokerage and narratives around the world. There's more in-group division among the Jews than between them and the Arabs. Yorubaland is replete with such divisions and stereotypes – from Ijebuland to the northern outskirts in Kwara and Kogi States. So is Ijawland, Idoma, Tiv, Zulu, the English, Russians, etc. This doesn't excuse the sometimes-tragic consequences of this aspect of "imagined community" making. To make it the exclusive heritage of the Igbo by Igbophobic public intellectuals is the height of dangerous ignorance that often softens the ground for ethnic demonisation and eventually ethnic cleansing and even genocide.”

 We shall return to Professor Iheduru. Meanwhile, what was the meat of A service chief for the Igbo? Its impetus was Rear Admiral E. I. Ogalla’s appointment as the Chief of the Naval Staff. It sent Mr. Olagunju running off the handle: “But while Nigerians from other parts of the country rejoiced with the East, Igbos were loud on social media; they said Ogalla is not an Igbo name.” Thus, based on social media effluvia, Olagunju called Ndigbo incorrigible. He said the Igbo spent the civil war years eating lizards, mice, rats, bush rats and snakes, not forgetting their drudgery of pedalling bicycles on metal wheels instead of tyres. “You would think that a people who went through all that experience of horror (of the civil war) would learn. No.”

 That was not all. Olagunju called up Ebenezer Williams (Abiodun Aloba) and Tai Solarin, two long-dead Yoruba columnists, to support his pet theory that, if Ndigbo got the chance, they would decimate the rest of the country.

 To the informed, Olagunju’s wildness is unsurprising. Two examples validate this assertion. On Monday, September 12, 2022, Olagunju published 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑔𝑏𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛. In it, he mentioned Uju Anya, a US-based Igbo professor of Linguistics and Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Commonwealth Secretary General. Ms. Anya had cursed Queen Elizabeth for Britain’s role in the Nigerian civil war. But Chief Anyaoku had adulated the departed monarch. Yet, Olagunju passed this comment: “Igbo people anywhere are very enterprising people. But my people have a saying about strong, enterprising people who talk too much about their supposed strength and who lack good strategy. They say such are the fathers of the weak. The world is a forever battlefield; you cannot win there by turning everyone into your enemy.” He continued: “Probably, a consequence of Queen Elizabeth’s death is a reopening of the Nigerian wound. Nigeria fought a civil war which ended in January 1970. The Igbo who lost the war believe it has not ended. They think they deserve explanations and apologies from Nigeria for defeating them. They also believe other parts of Nigeria are still fighting them. But that is not true…”

 Chief Anyaoku has a Yoruba spouse. He has never said a word amiss of the Yoruba. Perhaps, for Olagunju, they were these enough reasons to conjure the elder statesman into a Yoruba man whose views may not draw comments because they are a 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖? Given his national and international standing, Chief Anyaoku’s kind words for Queen Elizabeth should have had far more import than Uju Anya’s barbs. Ms. Anya was born years after the civil war, and until the controversy generated by the queen’s transition, was unknown in Nigeria. But Olagunju didn’t want to know. He latched on her opinion to excoriate Ndigbo. He probably didn’t notice that the social media of his wanton reliance also recorded scores of Britons (including the English) who had unkind words for the departed monarch, and none of whom was as much as tut-tutted for their views.

 On March 13, 2023, just before the Lagos State gubernatorial ballot, Olagunju published another column entitled The Scramble for Lagos. He said: “The political owners of Lagos have reached out for the magical wand of crying wolf where there is actually one. They are saying voting for Rhodes-Vivour is equal to handing over Lagos to the Igbo because his mother is Igbo. And, I continue to ask if that makes sense. Gbadebo is an ìbílè Èkó (original Lagosian). Who locks out an omo onílé (child of the house owner) because his mother is from the other village? But Gbadebo has also been very insensitive and careless in flaunting his Igbo support base. As an 'aje butter', he may not know what it is to be vulnerable to kókó (protrusions) and be seen not only feasting on the head of Ìmòdò (warthog) but also carelessly rolling with club-wielding gangsters.