On labelling

Cheta Nwanze
Jul 30, 2017 · 2 min read

I’m writing this simply because Ikemesit E. advised that it be written for posterity’s sake. He was present yesterday, when Borie nacked me some gist…

Some weeks ago, my pal, Peter, warned me to be careful in what I say, that people are beginning to label me as an ethnic bigot. I laughed it off. Then, last Tuesday, my senior friend, Ireti, repeated the same thing. She said that she’d gotten a few calls from concerned friends as to why she is associating with a known tribalist. Of course she’d shut those talks down.

Yesterday, I ran into another friend, Borie. And he said the same thing. He’d shut down that particular line of talk, by pointing out to the person, that my wife, is their sister, and actually giving the person my parents-in-law’s address.

But this is where it gets interesting for me.

You don’t know me, you’ve never met me, but simply because I criticise the current government, you chose to follow people who are benefiting directly from said government to throw labels. It says a lot about your level. You are sheep.

One quick question for such people. The third girl I ever dated, one of two over whom I turned into a puppy dog, is from Obosi. Fifteen minutes drive from my village. What if she had accepted my marriage proposal? What if I’d met another Igbo girl and married her rather than Lolade Nwanze? Would that have made you stick harder to your position of me being a bigot?

Some weeks ago, while I was criticising something, a sad pastime I indulge in too often these days, someone threw the following at me:

that man won’t allow the 2015 election humiliation leave his brain two yrs after#nomorefeedingbottle

Which brought a bemused response from The Troll Cabal chap, and an even weaker attempt from the accuser.

This is a classic example of someone, not knowing who I am, or my antecedents, but swallowing all the mud thrown in my direction, because he is incapable of thinking for himself.

Try this experiment. Take a group of tweets that I made from a random time before the change in government. Try August 2014, to February 2015. Check those who retweet stuff that could be interpreted as anti-government. Then try and find out the names of many who now call me bigot.

Is it not interesting that the guy who used to speak sense two years ago has suddenly become a bigot? The question this brings next is, have our circumstances suddenly improved? If no, then how come someone who is saying the same thing (in relative terms), has suddenly become a bigot?

To my mind, the only thing that has changed in the two years are those in power, and those who have access to, or are serving, those in power. Which says a lot about who we are as a people. It is instructive. Nnayelugo always says that Nigerians do not hate bad government, we hate it when our person is not in the bad government. I’m afraid, he is right.

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