I will like to start by putting Isiugwu on a map. On an African map, Isiugwu is as tiny as a drop of seed, invisible to any onlooker. Does that make her irrelevant? Of course not. Our smallness is an advantage. Nigeria is very large, but since 1914, we all know what that marriage has suffered.
A family is the oldest institution established by man, affiliated by blood and held together by a bond that cannot be manufactured in a lab. A family is stronger than a government. A government undergoes series of restructuring, reshuffling and expiration, but not a family. A son of the Ugwuanyi will not wake up the following day as Abugu.
I started by placing this great community on a big map. If you’ve travelled overseas or you’re familiar with the stories told by those who have, you will hear the pain in their voices when they narrate the hatred they endure. If immigration police doesn’t get them for incomplete papers, a racist officer will get them for the colour of their skins. In some instances, it’s even a fellow black man that gets one deported, sometimes out of envy.
Now, let’s bring this home. Let’s say this African deportee happens to return home safely to start life afresh. Let’s assume the Yoruba deportee was able to own a house in a city. You know how most Yoruba landlords are with Igbo tenants. He transfers his hatred in a new shape and colour called tribalism. This same Igbo tenant could be an Anambra man. He draws sympathy with the Igbo community when he shares his terrible experience about his Yoruba landlord. But he hasn’t told you about his mistreatment against a fellow Igbo at Alaba market. This Anambra man that probably has your sympathy also despise an Enugu and Ebonyi neighbours at Alaba market.
The Enugu man might feel inferior. He could be deserving sympathy for the ill-treatment he got from associating with the Anambra man. Now, this Enugu man also has a brother from Nsukka. He often calls him “Nwa Nsukka.” When he does that, he is not teasing him. His voice is embellished in hatred, mockery and superiority complex when such phrase falls from his lips.
Now, you would think the Nsukka man has learnt something from this unfairness amongst his Igbo brothers, so called. The same Nsukka man surprisingly mocks the Ezike man. And so the hatred continues until we get to our community.
As a community, we have issues of our own, and it’s our own. The solution to our problems will not come from external strongholds. We are a unified cell, an extensive family bound by love and common goals. If we ever run, it will be on race tracks. And if we ever assemble on the field, it will be to stretch this community towards the boundary of greatness.
About this discord that had sprouted amongst us; who introduced ‘Imo state politics’ into our dear community? Growing up, my nativity has been engrafted in Isiugwu. It is impossible to separate Isiugwu from my story. The Isiugwu Community has been embedded into every detail of my life chronicle, and I believe it’s the same with most indigenes of Isiugwu. We have lived and breathed Isiugwu, these new names are new to us. They are as new as a white man, bringing a new religion into our community. Families divide their estate, but it’s rare or unheard of for a family to discard the very thing that defines their unity. In recent times, the neighbouring community have heard strange news emanating from this community. Let’s not embarrass ourselves again. There’s no such thing as Ajara community or Aguogbara community or Odoru community – It is Isiugwu. It has always been Isiugwu and our great-grandchildren will meet it as Isi-ugwu – the Mountain Top Community. If anyone is so determined to have a Brexit in a developing community that has much to gain if they stand together, then, such a person has no good intention for our future.
Development is crawling into our home in form of skill acquisitions, education, infrastructures and by God’s grace, social amenities. One house can make a home, but it does not make a community. Every year, there will be more beautiful structures laid down by hardworking men. But greater than that, is the fact that these men can return to these structures without fear of external prejudice. So, even if it’s a gradual process, let it come. The most important factor is the oneness we need to exhibit as we welcome these tangible developments.
Helen Keller once said, “Alone, we can do so little, together we can do so much.” One house at a time, one cluster at a time and a city is born. The difference between Isiugwu and Hamilton Community in Ohio, United States is the long term development of individual mind set. Hamilton Community is recognised in the world as one of the most intelligent or top 7 most intelligent community in the world. This is because they have long embraced the six factors that define a really developed community. These factors are Connectivity, Knowledge Workforce, Innovation, Digital Inclusion, Community Education and Engagement, and Sustainability.
Community development is a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. Now, instead of coming together, someone allowed himself to be brainwashed in a passing misunderstanding. Do you know for how long the Isiugwu Community has been pushing toward innovations? If this discord was sown by an aging retard in our village, then we the youths must not accept it. Let’s not give the state and local government credible reasons to bypass us when allocations are impending. Let’s not stall development by our own hands.
An African Proverb quotes, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
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