The Bully and the Bold in Nigeria

By Clement Udegbe

IN our secondary school class one, Bishop Shanahan College, Orlu, in 1970 after the civil war, we had a mixture of all sorts, ranging from Been-Tos who just returned from overseas, where they ran to during the war, local native Child Soldiers, like myself who were involved in some kind of clandestine works during the war period as children, to some clear adults who were combatant soldiers for Biafra.

John, was a tall and huge boy, compared with my small size then. He  was so fierce in handling juniors like me; he would kick, and forcibly seize our ball points, magazines or whatever we had that he fancied and would deal blows on any part of his victim’s body. We dreaded him and as a result found ways to please him. In our Class two, Rupert joined us from Umuahia. He was not as tall as John, but was very bold, broad chested and strong. I liked Rupert because he was gentle towards me, and was intelligent. We shared provisions, and he encouraged me to it  back to John when next he tried to slap or kick me.

Luckily we were in the same dormitory, and his bed was next to mine. My town’s man, Polycarp in upper six class was the Head of our Dormitory, so I was well connected and it paid off with Rupert, as my new friend, and brother. One Sunday evening during sports, John wanted peanuts from Rupert who refused, and he promised to get it from me later. Rupert advised me to summon courage give John a knee jab whenever he tried to intimidate me, as a Biafran Child Soldier Veteran. Rupert promised to put in a word with Polycarp to make me the food sharer in the refectory if I fought John by giving him a knee jab.

At exactly 6 pm, just before refectory time, John came to my corner and demanded that I gave him biscuits and peanuts. Rupert was around, dormitory was quiet, so I refused bluntly. He slapped me twice, and I raised my right knee and gave him a very hard hit on his groins. He bent forward in pain, and Rupert joined me in the full enjoyment of slapping John several times. John simply limped out of the dormitory, and we sped off to the refectory, where Rupert suggested to the table head, and I became the food sharer for the whole year. From that day, till we got to Class five three years after, John never crossed my path! You see, John was a Bully.

Bullies feel pains too, and hate to be resisted, but they respect and  fear any who gives them real pain! By inflicting serious pains on John, we fought back, became free and till we left the secondary school, John never looked in our direction. Bullies are habitually cruel to smaller or weaker people. They are often archaic in their thoughts, and behave like ruffians. Bullies come in all shapes, sizes and natures. They can come as a community, an ethnic group, religious group, a whole nation, or simply a people under one bondage, or understanding as individuals.

When religious fundamentalism is mixed with ethnic mindset in the bully, the target must be extra careful to avoid being wiped out from life. The only way to identify a bully is by his conduct. Generally, bullies are driven by a strong need to control and dominate others. Highly temperamental and impulsive persons, bullies take pleasure in seeing other people in distress and or humiliated. They neither take responsibility or deny wrong doings, blaming their targets by thinking that they got what they deserved.

Bullies are often very intolerant of difference, with a type of feeling of superiority that flush empathy out of their psyche. The bully choses his target carefully and they often are people of different physical and cultural characteristics  envied by the bully or  in competition with the bully. We have big and powerful bullies in Nigeria!

About two weeks ago, a coalition of Northern Youths gave a three months quit notice to all Igbos residing in the north of Nigeria to leave their region. Immediately the Niger Delta youths issued their own counter Quit Notice asking northerners  residing in their region to leave. Angered by the effrontery of the northern youths who started it all, Governor El Rufai of Kaduna State, ordered the arrest and prosecution of the youths for  obviously a seditious unconstitutional, and divisive proclamation, against the Igbos who have not addressed any invectives upon northern youths. It was a hate declaration of the highest type since after 1966 in Nigeria!

Igbos are asking in strong terms for a better and fair Nigeria, where all can aspire to achieve their dreams freely, and in liberty. Biafra to many of us means an economically self-sufficient and viable Igbo land. The word Biafra elicits unity among Ndigbo, so all Igbos support it for many reasons any day and time. Many fought that war, as children and no one can take that experience from them, and no one can prevent them from applying themselves to making their part of this earth better than they met it, so Biafra is an idea which no man can kill! The sooner Nigeria understands this, the better for Nigeria and all of us.

There is this Spirit of Biafra that was dampened and subdued by deliberate manipulative propaganda and deceit, since 1970, which has just been awakened by the recent agitations caused by the bullying inequalities in our beloved nation against Ndigbo as targets. Essentially, it has nothing really to do with secession, but has everything to do with freedom, liberty, fairness, and justice, in the land we claim to all own called Nigeria.

One week after governor El Rufai’s order, the same youths gathered at a venue near the governor’s office and held their meeting affirming their earlier position, that Igbos have till September 2017 to leave the northern territory. Over two weeks after, Police is yet to make any arrests.

Mr. Udegbe, a lawyer , wrote from ceeaai@yahoo.com, Lagos

The post The Bully and the Bold in Nigeria appeared first on Vanguard News.