The Political Ignorance of Igbos on Northern Nigeria is their Political Downfall

The political ignorance of the southeast on the north is the political downfall of the Igbo political leaders and their people. That was the tragic mistake of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu . He thought he understood the north, but he was wrong.

Unfortunately for the All Progressives Congress (APC), there is no Igbo political leader in the national ruling party that understands the north. And anyone who does not understand the north cannot be a good President of Nigeria.

My great mother of blessed memory, Mrs.Gladys Eke grew up in the north and was fluent in the Hausa language and versed in their culture. She taught me a lot and I remain the first Nigerian author and illustrator to produce a fully illustrated story book on Bàyā̀jiddà. But it was among my great works lost in transit. It was in bag that was thrown away by an illiterate wife of a Nigerian soldier from Akassa in Bayelsa state. I may reproduce it, because it is an important work on the cultural and political history of northern Nigeria. Moreover, I have always loved the heroic exploits of legendary dragon slayers in both political history and classical literature.

The mistake Igbos have made for decades is that thousands of them live and trade in the north, but are still ignorant of the political history of their hosts. They think the political history of the north started from the Sokoto Caliphate and Sir Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), first High Commissioner (1900–1906) and last Governor (1912–1914) of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and the first Governor-General of Nigeria (1914–1919).

How can you say you understand northern Nigeria, when you don't know the history of Kanem–Bornu Empire or how can you be less than 10 million people and rush into war against the Hausa people, who are the largest ethnic group in Africa with a population of over 40 million people and with more than 1 million of them in Saudi Arabia? Then followed by the Fulani and Kanuri who are more than 35 million people in West Africa.
Being born in Kaduna or Zungeru and growing up in northern Nigeria does not mean you understand the complexities of the sociocultural nuances of the politics of the Hausas, Fulanis and Kanuris in the political leadership of the north.
The same thing for an Igbo man or woman born and bred in western Nigeria who thinks he or she knows and understands the Yorùbá language, but does not understand the Odù Ifá. Then the Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri will assume they understand the Igbo tribe, but don't understand Afá, the Ifá of Ndigbo.

I am a student of Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War and The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene is one of my handbooks. And I recommend these books as essential for political leadership and national security.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of 247 Nigeria @247nigeria on Twitter. He worked for the publicity department of the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur's Presidential Campaign in 1990. He is a prize winning writer, Publisher/Editor of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series, author of The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream: My Testimony on the 2015 Presidential Election.
Click here to read it free on Amazon Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima.