Still on the identity question

Before then, we were derisively dubbed as having aborn to rule mindset. When power shifted to the South-South some people swore that we would thenceforth be known as born to lose. Sometimes you don’t blame them, the way the Naija media carries itself these days it looks like the quest for economic survival might help […]

Before then, we were derisively dubbed as having aborn to rule mindset. When power shifted to the South-South some people swore that we would thenceforth be known as born to lose. Sometimes you don’t blame them, the way the Naija media carries itself these days it looks like the quest for economic survival might help them smother the democratic child they helped to produce and nurture.
From a distance, it seems that the media take pride in interviewing a section of senile men of northern extraction whose incendiary statements help to fertilize their idea of who is a northerner. Curiously, in the divide-and-rule game that is played by ‘politricians’ across all tribes, tongues and persuasion, the political waters have been so muddled that some people don’t even know where they belong. It is not unusual for minorities to get sucked into an identity crisis; for names to confuse people into believing that they are what they are not etc. I see that all the time, especially in the vociferous world of Internet discussion groups. Too many times, some people throw stones into their own glass houses.
So, what has pulled up the identify debate? Well, Babatunde  Raji Fashola, the debonair governor of Lagos State. One of the best in governance, Fashola has broken the rule that those who govern must never make mistakes. Most Internet warriors would have nothing but saints as leaders and very often they are disappointed because while we are on this planet people have foibles. So by starting a deportation order on the destitute, Fashola was bound to fall into a trap someday. He deported Hausa/Fulani, then the Ibibio, Efik and landed with his own kinsmen – the Yoruba. But when he deported Anambrarians, he committed the unpardonable. Never mind that he and others before him have played by the books more than those who are shouting their voices hoarse by filling his cabinet with – wait for it – Naija people. I mean, of all hue and origin. But touching Anambrarians started a vociferous debate the type of which has not been seen since Boko Haram threw the first bomb. I mean, there is nothing you can do to convince some people that Boko is not against everybody. They take Oritsejafor’s line that it is a northern conspiracy against Christians and even otherwise rational human beings believe and propagate this fallacy.
Thank God for those, who, unlike me have a sense of preservation of events.  They reminded us how Governor Orji sacked fellow Ibos from other states different from his without much brouhaha. Until recently, Oyo and Osun (two Yoruba states) were at each other’s throat over a university founded by both states. What shall we say about Aguleri/Umuleri; Ife/Modakeke? In our ‘monolithic’ north, the ‘core-north versus Middle Belt’ dichotomy is there. Back to Boko Haram, there are those who believe that every state in the north is 100 per cent Muslim dominated. Fallacies regurgitated over and again tend to shed their toga of falsity.
So, the question shifted from the propriety of the Lagos State Government’s action in deporting any Naija from wherever they choose to stay as guaranteed by the constitution to who owns Lagos. Who were the original landlords of Lagos? The Yoruba claim it to be theirs, after all the official language in Lagos is Yoruba. It’s like claiming the barracks for the Hausa because it is the lingua franca.
You may be excused for laughing if you are not at the receiving end of the insults and the blatant stereotypes that followed this debate. The Igbos, who evidently run the commercial engine of this nation,say that Lagos is theirs; and that started another civil war except that this one was fought in cyberspace. It was dirty, odious and brought out the beast in gentlemen and ladies. In anger, I had to bail out two particularly vociferous groups last week.
The best of this debate is not that the controversial Femi Fani Kayode jumped in the fray, but the fact that it may force some Naija to reconsider what they think of themselves. It turned out that Lagos has not always been ruled by Yoruba Obas. According to information coming out, the earliest Oba of Lagos, Oba Ashipa (1600-1630) obtained his mandate from the Oba of Benin. He was succeeded by his son, Ado(1630-1669) whose children and grandchildren are the ancestors of the present natural rulers of Lagos. What better way to ignite the ancient controversy over Edos being Yorubas and vice versa than this latest information?
When a nation has lost its corporate existence, it suddenly realizes that the glue that holds it together is not an eternal adhesive. If we scratch or search enough, we might just find out that we are not who we think we are. So, let the debates continue, but please reinsert civility into it. Who knows, we might end up loving what we have and stop whining about what may never be ours.