The trending issue about Igbos not selling land to non Igbos
I watched Arise TV morning show anchored by Dr Reuben Abati where he said what Chief TOS Benson said about his Igbo in-laws
Reuben said he made the statement in the public, that he, Chief Benson, who was married to an Igbo woman wanted to buy land and build house in his in-law’s village for his wife and daughter but they refused to sell land to him because he’s not Igbo
Reuben Abati said what he said citing just one example from Chief TOS Benson
Regardless, Chief Benson may be right in his assertion, but economical with the whole truth as to why he was refused to buy the said land
It may be that the particular land he wanted to buy wasn’t such land that could be sold to anyone
On another program when his colleague Ojilika Okpe wanted to let him know how the Igbos are feeling about his statement and asked if he would want to clarify anything, kind of giving him a soft landing to do the needful, Reuben was adamant and insisted on his earlier statement and even used the word “Nonsense” on his colleague, Ojay
Well, Dr Reuben Abati is one journalist I admire and have regards for, this is the second time he’s appearing to the public as a bully. The first was shouting on a junior colleague for calling him by his name “Reuben”. He said it’s disrespectful to him…
Well, I’m not gonna withdraw my respect for him yet, people say his a bigot, let me allow him a second chance
You can search for the video clips and watch
I believe Reuben didn’t get the clarity well… he shouldn’t used one brush to paint an entire tribe, that’s stereotypical
However, I think we should delve deeper to explain certain things non Igbos don’t know about the Igbos
If for example, Chief TOS Benson, who married an Igbo woman wanted to buy an “Obi land” (Sacred land) i.e the ancestral land of the family for his wife and daughter, which is a taboo to sell even to any other Igbo man, and he was refused, that shouldn’t mean that Igbos doesn’t sell land to non Igbos
Females don’t inherit the “Obi” in Igbo land, no matter how small or large the Obi is, it’s a special reserve for the first male of the family, whether he’s poor or rich
Even in Onitsha here, lands are not sold to non indigenes of Onitsha at Inland town (Enu Onitsha) a reserved area for the indigenes, but that doesn’t mean that Onitsha people doesn’t sell their land to non indigenes, it will be wrong for anyone to say so because I am not an Onitsha indigene but I have lands in Onitsha
A mischievous fellow can run along with the above narrative to score cheap tribal goals which is of course based on lies and misinformation
Again, some sacred lands are not sold to anyone, indigene or not
The same Igbos they accuse of “loving money so much” is now rejecting money to sell land?
This should raise eyebrows that there must be a cogent reason for that
This will also prove the fact that even though we are accused of loving money more than the other tribes, we have boundaries, we have honor, we have integrity and we respect our tradition and culture
Nwoke ma ife adiro ele Obi Nna ya, no matter the offer…I will never sell my father’s ancestral land bequeathed to me no matter the billions of dollars offered …
That’s who we are
Having explained this, if and when Dr Reuben Abati or anyone else from the West, South or North or any part of the world wants to buy land, I have my personal land to sell to them at good rate…
Then if they want an entire estate for themselves, it’s available and often on promo here by realtors
In one of our estates around, a Yoruba man is building a house there, he’s my neighbor and no one has ever looked at him differently and I believe he has landed properties in some other places!
Credit: @fitex
Nov 2024
