For those of you watching Nollywood especially Asaba branch thinking that igwe, prince and princess are Igbo cultural construct. "Igbo enwe eze" means that Igbo don't have king. Igbo had decentralized system of government. No monarchy. No palace. No King. No Prince or Princess.
There was nothing like commoner in Igbo culture. Igbo practised democratic-republican system of government. Ụmụnna system. Everyone was to give opinion. Dissent opinion. Diọkpara of every family preside over each meeting. They could be disagreement but one mind in the end.
No one bow or prostrate before his fellow man. It's not our culture and it doesn't mean disrespect. Typical Igbo man doesn't lick a*s. He's brave and truthful.

The British government imposed Warrant Chief on the Igbo since they couldn't meet centralised system like north&west
The Igbo rejected the warrant chiefs. Even women fought them. Aba Women Riot of late 1920s was against the Warrant Chiefs who were seen as those with no good moral standard in the society.

Indirect Rule system of the British government was difficult in Igbo land.
Warrant chiefs were instituted in Igbo land. Things began to change. There was no monarchy in Igbo land. Forget what you watch on Nollywood. Those things are new. The warrant chief metamorphosed to Eze and igwe as we have it today.

Prince and Princess are not Igbo culture.
Prince and Princess are the mimick of British monarchical system of government. Adaeze doesn't mean princess in Igbo. Obieze doesn't mean Prince. These are purely falsification of Igbo culture Nollywood is championing.

There was nothing like royal family. Ụmụnna bụ ike.
There were no gods anywhere who decide who'd become a king in Igbo land. "gods of our land" is Nollywood construct. Igbo language has no word for king. "Eze" doesn't mean king, although it's used as dynamic equivalent. I will explain. Nollywood should research before production.

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More from @maazi_ogbonnaya

17 Apr
I am sure you have heard of Panya from many old Igbo men, especially those born below 40s, 50s and 60s. It was Español they pronounced as Panya. It's in Equitorial Guinea— a Spanish colony.

It is known that there is greater number of Igbo remnants in the country now.
Before the war, the Igbo had traveled to different parts of the world. Some went to Equitorial Guinea for business, farming& other things. Some got there, saw life, saw women, & forgot themselves. They turned drunkards. They got married there, had kids, returned empty-handed.
It's researched that there was also serious migration during the genocidal war of 1967-1970. Many Igbo left for survival and found themselves in Central African Republic and other countries. The migration should be the very reason many Igbo are found in Equitorial Guinea.
Read 6 tweets
16 Apr
I see no reason why you should feel ashamed doing what put food on your table, legitimately.

I walked into Peace Park Owere and bumped into an old classmate, some years back. I was so excited seeing him. But he denied me. Why? He was selling phone accessories on wheelbarrow.
He saw me, left his wheelbarrow, hanged around a vehicle going to Bayelsa as if he was a passenger. Someone approached his wheelbarrow to buy charger and earphone but guy man denied even his shop.

I approached him:

"Nwanne, go and sell your market".

He shocked.
You see, I calculated everything in the wheelbarrow, the money I had home and abroad then couldn't reach half of it. Dude was far richer than me. But he was ashamed of his hustle.

"Maazị, ndaa?" he finally asked.

I schooled the young man. "Guy all of us dey hustle".
Read 5 tweets
16 Apr
I love northerners especially in holding some aspect of their culture. Coming to Abuja, I saw people wearing kaftan to corporate offices as corporate dress.

My first interview in Abuja, I was amazed seeing them wearing their native dress. Guys and ladies. It was strange to me.
I got talking with Musa from Sokoto. I was so inquisitive on how no one was disturbing them over their attire. He told me it's normal. He asked why I put on tie and tuck in shirt inside my trousers instead of wearing my Igbo attire. He narrated how he admired Igbo dress.
"Mark, you too should be proud of your identity", he said.

This got me.

I came to Abuja from the east where it's even expected as Igbo language teacher to wear English wear for interview.

In the whole of southern Nigeria, it is indecent to wear native attire to offices.
Read 7 tweets
16 Apr
I went for a job interview in Igbo land and put on isiagụ dress, bead on my neck and wrist. The interviewers are Igbo. It was my first job interview after NYSC. I needed to make a change. Getting there, gateman refused to open entrance gate for me because of my dressing.
I warned him that if I spend extra 1 minute, I would call his boss and of course his job at stake. Seeing how bold and confident I was, fear engulfed him. One who has the mind to wear isiagụ for job interview should be ready for anything. He opened the gate and I walked in.
I saw other candidates wearing coat and suits, sweating like Christmas goat. Many of them had already condemned me. They murmured, gossipped, how I was about to lose the job. I said nothing to anyone. I saw them shaking their heads on my behalf. I was already disqualified.
Read 14 tweets
15 Apr
"We have many dialects, how do you want us to speak it? Pidgin is our unified language". They said here.

English has many dialects. French has many dialects. Languages of the world have many dialects. Your unified language should stem from the existing one not imported one.
Yoruba has many dialects. Hausa has many dialects. Igbo has many dialects.

There is nothing like Anambra dialect, Imo dialect, Enugwu dialect, Ebonyi dialect, Abịa dialect.

In Anambra, there are many tongues. Even in the same town, you could notice variation in tongue.
In Ishielu part of Ebọnyị State, there are different tongues. There is even a kọrị dialect there, you may wonder if that truly is an Igbo dialect. Then go to Ẹ̀zaa, Izii, Ọhaọzara, Afikpo, etc. In these places, there are variations and mutual unintelligibility.
Read 8 tweets
15 Apr
I noticed that many people do not know the differences between language evolution, language extinction and dynamism of language.

When there is a prediction of language extinction like Igbo, they scream it's a lie. In fact, it will evolve but still remain. Really?
Let's be factual here. Okeke is married with kids. His 3 children cannot speak or understand Igbo language. The 3 kids finally married with other kids. Those kids marry and have other kids. What language will they transfer? Can you give what you don't have? Who will teach who?
This is not just for the family of Okeke, there are so many families out there with the same self-inflicted fate. Are you telling me that such language will evolve or change under this circumstance or extinct, then die?
Being truthful to yourself, you know the consequence.
Read 7 tweets

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