Is Reuben Abati, the Newest Anti Igbo Bigot?

With a surprising statement thus:

“The Igbo had lost out; they licked their wounds and returned to the East, where they all had a dull Christmas in 1966”

This is coming from no other person than Dr. Reuben Abati of the exalted editorial page Board of The Guardian, I feel shamed that in Nigeria there still exists a person who would overtly display his hatred for other ethnic groups in the country and in this case, the Igbo nation is Abati’s target.

I had always admired Rueben Abati who seemed to me a sound mind, man of unbiased and unprejudiced mind who as a journalist should advocate peace rather than wastefully use his ink and try to achieve unattainable feats as an anti Igbo bigot until he came up with his infamous vexatious article which he titled 'Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists' in The Guardian newspaper of Lagos, Nigeria (December 2001)

An article with such an antipathy content coming from a foremost participant in the “Patitos’ Gang” a national program with the sole objective of pointing out the ills in our Nigerian society bereft of ethnicity, I find ironical because most of us look up to him as a nationalistic individual capable of articulating and projecting solutions to problems confronting the nation, but this proved not to be as he would roll out his carefully arranged assails to try to overwhelm the image of a section of the country, which to me reveals that it may take long before the people of Nigeria truly embrace another with one love.  

Reuben Abati, a seasoned journalist abandoned his profession and ventured into history, and very inaccurately gave accounts on the January 1966 attempted coup in Nigeria, the one sided story of Reuben Abati grotesquely distorted the account and had nothing to suggest that it represented the interest of his people, the Yoruba race, instead Reuben Abati poured venom on the Igbo for reasons not quite made clear by him, after reading the Reuben-Baby article I still could not fathom what could have necessitated it especially as the journalist turned historian used the Igbo situation as his case study to buttress Obasanjo’s prowess capable of uniting the country, surprisingly in the time of peace. 

Reuben in his desperate attempt to call a dog a bad name in other to hang it falsely described the January 1966 attempted coup as the first attempt by any ethnic group in Nigeria to succeed; it is a pity that as a journalist trained to properly and factually carry out thorough researches before making submission, Reuben would discard the more useful aspect of his profession just because he was trying to paint the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria white while sinking the Igbo nation in black. It is really not the aim of this article to delve into the history of the Nigerian-Biafran War, but certain corrections should be given here for posterity sake so that the deceived do not go about deceiving the undeceived.

In 1953, Northern parliamentarians violently walked out of the Lagos parliament, the Northern parliamentarians were protesting the motion for the self-rule moved by Chief Anthony Enaharo, the reason was because the North felt they were backward and as a result not ready for independence because it was then assumed that going with the rest of the nation independent of the British colonial government could spell disaster for them since they considered the Northern region backward economically, politically and socially. The educational underdevelopment of this Northern region was believed to have necessitated the fears of the North more than anything else. Would Abati be surprised to learn that the North again came up with refusal in the early months of 1960 but was persuaded by the British to opt for independence with the rest of the nation?

Again, this would creep into Nigeria politics shortly after Yakubu Gowon took over as the Military Head of State of Nigeria; the North had secretly nurtured its ambition to succeed from Nigeria but with the discovery of oil in the Niger-Delta region of Oloibiri, the North stunned the entire world with a u-turn made on the move. Just how Reuben Abati has decided to join the group of Nigerian political elite who arbitrarily try to rewrite history or even remove it from our school curriculum is unimaginably unprecedented because history whether documented or oral cannot be wished away. It remains a fact in the minds of the people.

Was it not for the fear of succession by the south-western part of the country that the North carefully came up with the arrangement that produced Olusegun Obasanjo as the democratic president of Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999? Did the Yoruba who with the sudden unexplainable death of Abacha cry for succession and was appeased? With this development, all the major peoples of Nigeria have at one time or the other advocated for the succession of their ethnic group. Does Abati not know this? If he does, why did he decide to pick on the Igbo?

It was unpleasantly interesting to know that Reuben Abati has not woken up to the realities of modern events. Abati appears not to have found proper situations of with a view to what occurred and what did not occur. Many years ago a false impression existed in our history, government and political science text books where misleadingly created by the North that the 1966 attempted coup was an Igbo motivated, but this has since been discarded and consigned to the dustbin of oblivion where it rightly belongs. However, for the understanding of Abati and other anti Igbo bigots, I wish to state here that the officers that carried out the coup were nationalistic inclined and not tribal as the North made us to understand. The Yoruba at that time really had this understanding, so this particular complaint came from the northern quarters.

I expect Abati and others who want the Igbo crucified to fully understand the background under which coups are executed. People who came up with the notion that the coup was an Igbo affair brought to fore the typical Nigerian orientation of suspicion for one another made possible as a result of the making of Nigeria in which the British forcefully put together through experiment unaccountable and indeterminable number of ethnic groups as one for selfish reasons without their consent. It is mainly as a result of this that the ethnic groups and the individual Nigerians are often expecting quota system from our system. Perhaps, Abati expected quota system from military men who would readily put their lives on the line to take over a government.

If the number of ethnicity of officers involved in coup plot is a yardstick for determining the nature of a particular coup in nation, then we can conclude that all the coups in this nation are Hausa-Fulani affair. Reuben Abati and other anti Igbo bigots should grow up and learn that we are Nigerians before our respective ethnic groups. We know what Abati wants. It is only in this country that a person like Reuben Abati who has personally expressed antipathy for a particular ethnic group suddenly arises to take part in presidential contests, yet they emerge as victors because in the first place, they have been programmed to win.

 The Late Gen Murtala Mohammed massacred a number of persons in Asaba, Ibusa, Ogwashi-Uku, Isheagu and other Igbo towns and communities yet he successfully became the Head of State of Nigeria.

Yakubu Gowon would pass for a leader who became an elder statesman because he rather chose the use of force in piloting the Nigerian nation out of crisis rather than seek diplomatic means which resulted in the death of more than 3 million people, the Igbo once again was at the receiving end. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo resorted to the besieging of an Igbo town which caused many Nigerians (Igbo) to die of hunger and starvation, and kwashiorkor, yet he would successfully lead the nation first as a military leader, then as a civil leader for 8 years.

Reuben Abati, as the clever one may be eying the presidency of the nation or ministerial portfolio but he knows that his possibility of realizing this aim lies with Northern support.

The Igbo may have lost out as Reuben Abati puts it but certainly not licking their wounds, as for the dull Christmas, what dull Christmas? Dull Christmas in contextual use in Nigeria has come to signify marginalization and oppression of the various ethnic groups of Nigeria in the hands of a particular ethnic-group destined to rule the nation. The Yoruba have had theirs, with the suddenly unexplainable death of MKO Abiola, they cried. The Tiv had cried earlier before the Yoruba, the people of Niger Delta believe themselves to losing out and are crying. People from Ishan, Auchi, Ibibio, Efik, Kalabri, Edo, Ekoi etc can hardly imagine getting to Aso-Rock as a president of the nation as things stand at the moment. Have they lost out?

It is unfortunate that in this country we tend to want to achieve greatness by maligning the Igbo race even without any reason to do so, yet we continue to preach one Nigeria as we have seen Reuben Abati do. After going through this article of Reuben Abati, it was difficult for me to point out his grievance, as I could not tell why he decided to get at the Igbo without any reasons real or unreal. Whatever masterminded him to venture into such a needless and unknown journey, he must remember that the Igbo are a people not an individual and many of who are greater than the only one Igbo man who seemingly slighted him, and by creating an imaginary dull Christmas of 1966, he has slighted history and the Almighty God who allowed an even of that magnitude to take place or did God sleep?