Nigerians are, perhaps, the most religious people in theworld. But to tell
it like it is, they are very ungodly and their religiousrituals are mostly
shallow. They are not interested in the important things ofspirituality
like love, mercy and the pursuit of peace. Nigerian Christians arenot
really interested in keeping the message of our Lord Jesus rather they
wantto use His name to make money and live in perpetual comfort. They are
full ofjealousy, envy, pride, backbiting, malice and all sorts of evil.
Those whofollow the teachings of Jesus are so few and far between.
The Social media isnow an avenue for them to vent their anger and spread
their hate speeches. They so-calledinternet warriors are so ignorant of
what life is all about. They seriouslythink they can hate their
neighbours, engage in thoughtless prattling and stillgo to heaven. These
ignorant set of people are badly taught by pastors thatdevote more time in
prosperity messages.
Nigeria will be a far better place if onlythese
pastors can devote more time in preaching the dimensions of love. The
lovemessage is what Christianity is all about and anybody who is not
activelywalking in love is not working for God. Lots of Yoruba and Igbo
Christians areso shamelessly guilty of this issue. Their lives will be
completely meaninglessif they do not insult one another on a daily basis.
It is like the very air they breathe.
The demolishedOshodi market by the administration of Akinwunmi Ambode has
presented another opportunity for these merchants of hate to insult and
abuse one another. People are so jittery, soself conscious and so quick
to impute motive in everything. Â The angry reaction of some of my Igbo
brothersover the market are wrong and must be condemned. Â The location of
that market is dangerous and noresponsible government should allow such a
market to operate there. Any accidentat that spot will be calamitous and
will bring a harvest of deaths.Â
I totally agree with Robert Obioha whoequally wrote on this issue.
According to him, Igbo traders should be part ofthe effort to transform
Lagos into a mega city. “They should not constitute astumbling block. I
believe the traders were given enough time and opportunityto remove their
goods and relocate before the December demolition. The Lagosstate governor
should not be castigated or branded an enemy by any Igbo.
The erstwhile aide to the then Governor , Babatunde Fasholaon Women Ethic
Group Mobilization\Empowerment, Barr Nkechi Chukwueke is also ofthe view
that the demolition of the popular Owonifari Market was not targetedat the
Igbos or any other ethnic group. “I have told a lot of people from
theeast that the exercise was carried out in good faith by the State
Government torid Lagos of crime, restore sanity to the area and ensure
that the master planof Lagos State was not tampered with. From the facts
available, the stateGovernment gave enough notice to the traders there and
even providedalternative market for them to relocate, but many of them
refused to go becausethey believed they won’t make much sales if they go
to the new place. The truthis that we must rally round the Governor to
ensure that Lagos works. The Governormeans well for Lagos and he stand to
gain nothing by demolishing people’sshops. These are laws of the land
and they must be obeyed by all the state toprogress.â€Â Nigeria will
neverdevelop without unity between the Igbos and the Yorubas. I sincerely
recommendwhat Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu tagged the handshake across the Niger.
These are thetwo most talented ethnic groups in Nigeria. If they
Christians among themcannot unite and live in peace then it is big shame
on them. We should be tiredof all these silly name-callings and acrimony.
According to Chuks Illoegbulem,the feud between the Igbo and the Yoruba
ethnic groups is contrived by theNorthern oligarchy. He believes it is
part of their divide and rule strategyand that every other explanation
adduced in the explanation of this phenomenoncan only be peripheral. But I
am of the view that this explanation isperipheral and childish.
Individuals and people should be responsible for theiractions.
 I will end this articleby quoting a piece by Femi Aribisala in the
Vanguard newspaper. “The Yorubasand Ndigbo do themselves great
disservice by seeing themselves as arch-enemies.Within the framework of
Nigerian politics, this has limited the freedom ofaction of both ethnic
groups. If the one is prominent in this political party,the other is more
likely to align itself with another party. This means the onecan always be
manipulated against the other. Instead, the political spaceshould be
opened up by the possibility that the Yoruba and the Igbo can form
analliance. That eventuality is not implausible, especially because they
actuallyhave common interests.ByIKECHUKWU ORJIOrji is a Journalist and
Media Consultant. ikechukwuorji@yahoo.com