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Can An Igbo Govern Nigeria At This Time?

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji

Politics is of the ego, by the ego and for egos. To participate in politics one must be an ego. The ego is the separated child of God on earth. Each of us sees himself as separated from God and from other people and as having different interests. He, therefore, tends to have conflicts with other people. Because we have social conflicts, we must engage in conflict resolution, in efforts to organize our affairs in such a manner that all are protected from each others harmful behaviors. This is how Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, sees Politics.

In as much as to be on earth is to be in ego state and human beings are egos, they are necessarily prone to politics. All human beings participate in politics. Politics is the effort by egos to decide how their ego based societies are governed.

There is no human society, no ego-based society, without political activity in it. The only way we can have a society without politics is a society where all people see themselves as one, as the same, as equal and as joined and a society where there is abundance of resources so that no one has any lack. Such a society does not exist on planet earth. As long as resources are scarce and people struggle to have access to it, there will be social conflict.

Politics is any effort to manage, not prevent, conflict by making sure that people get some scarce resources without necessarily stepping on other people?s toes.

Politics creates laws that protect all members of society from each others harmful behaviors. Governments enforce laws that make sure that all human beings play by the rules of the game, rules specifying who gets what, when and how and punish those who step outside the rules of the game. (This is Harold Laswell?s definition of politics.)

In as much as Igbos are egos they must attempt to govern themselves, they must engage in politics. However, the question is whether they can adequately govern themselves and other people or whether they need more political tutelage before they are mature enough to be able to adequately govern themselves and other people?

I ask these questions because my dealings with Igbos impressed on me with how woefully inadequate they are in governance.

The purpose of this essay is to alert Igbos to how they are seen by other people so that they may, hopefully, change and attain a more mature political behavior. Their current lack of political sophistication baffles me. How can these people be so naﶥ when it comes to the struggle by egoistic creatures for control of their society?

These people do not seem to understand the nature of politics and behave as if politics consists of their asking other Nigerians to give them power just because they think that it is their turn to have it.

No one gives you power just because you think that you deserve it; you struggle for power and get it, if you are more powerful than those you are struggling with. Politics is war by other (peaceful?) means and, as in all wars, the more powerful win and the weak loose. You get and keep political power by force. Politic is not a Sunday school affair where other folks give you power to govern them just because you wish to do so or think that it is your turn to govern them.


IGBOS AMAZING CHILDISHNESS


For many years I had nothing to do with Igbos and, therefore, had not observed them up close. But a couple of years ago, circumstances placed me in their midst and I had no choice but to observe them in action. What I saw was amazing. I saw a people whose childishness makes you wonder if they are human beings at all. Their total lack of reality testing was stupefying. Here is what I found.

Igbos are constantly calling other Nigerians derogatory names. They almost always called Hausas, awusa cattle (nnama). They assume that they are smarter than Hausas. I was amazed at this stupidity for it was even engaged in by so-called educated persons, including those who call themselves university professors. Why would adults engage in such infantile behavior?

Facts appeared not to be the motivator in Igbos behavior. The fact is that all human beings are the same, be they black or white, men or women, adults or children. In terms of intelligence testing, Igbos do not do better than other Nigerian groups. At school, Igbo students do not do better than other Nigerians groups. There are smart Igbos as there are smart Hausas, Yorubas, and Edos etc. As everywhere in the world, about ten percent of the population is above average in intelligence (IQ over 120), while the rest of the population is average (IQ 85-118) and some mentally retarded (IQ under 70). This is the way it is with Igbos and other Nigerians. But despite this fact you actually find average Igbos assuming that they?re smarter than other Nigerians, even gifted Nigerians. You ask yourself: where on earth did these people get the false idea that they are smarter than other Nigerians?

Igbos behavior in this regard reminds you of what white racists do. Even the dumbest white racist assumes that he is smarter than all black folks, unaware that there are black folks with superior intelligence. But just because he is white, he assumes that he is more intelligent than all blacks. This is what Igbos are doing; it is called prejudice, bias and bigotry. You see an average Igbo person and he assumes that he is smatter than all Hausas or Yorubas. You shake your head in amazement as to why he should have such a nonsensical view of reality.

I participated in an Internet group called Naijapolitics. What struck me was how the Igbos who posted their mails there made assumptions of their superiority. On the average, the Igbo that posted their mail there were less educated than the Yoruba or Hausa that posted their mails there. In fact, the average Igbo who posted his mail there had poor understanding of the English language. Their writing level was, perhaps, sixth grade. Some of them write what can be referred to as Engli-Igbo and were laughable. I used to wonder whether these folks even went to secondary schools! Yet, in their letters were grandiose assumptions of their superiority to other Nigerians.

There are no indices of development on which Igbos are ahead of Hausas, Yorubas and Edos--those Nigerians I related to quite often. As a matter of fact, by every accepted indicator of civilization, these other groups are considered more developed than Igbos. Igbos are what anthropologists call a stateless people. This is because Igbos did not develop large scale political structures. Their level of social organization consisted of rudimentary social organization: each town made decisions that affected it. There was no development of Igbo-wide political structure. There was no Igbo-wide government, no Igbo-wide bureaucracy, no Igbo-wide police, and no Igbo-wide army.

The Igbos did not develop writing and, as such, are a preliterate people (preliterate is euphemism for primitive). Compare and contrast that to Hausas, Yoruba?s and Edo who had large kingdoms, bureaucracies, police, army and other aspects of governments.

The Igbo was, in fact, a wild bunch and only knew large scale social organization with the coming of the white man. Frederick Lugard superimposed his famous indirect rule system on Igbos, a system he apparently copied from the politically more sophisticated Hausas. The warrant chiefs he appointed to rule Igbos became as corrupt as any human being could become.

I really do not see what is in the Igbos past that would make them feel like they had a glorious history! They did not have large scale governments; they did not develop writing, they did not tame animals like horses, asses, donkeys and used them to improve their life. They did not invent the wheel. They subsisted at primitive level of development. They had nothing that any one could point to with pride of accomplishment. (See Elizabeth Isichie?s attempts at Igbo historiography. Only from late nineteenth century to present day is Igbo history ascertainable.)

The only thing that Igbos seem to have contributed to human history is capturing and selling their fellow Igbos into slavery. A particularly amoral and vicious group of Igbos, the Aros, made arrangements with the Efiks to supply them with Igbo slaves and did so beginning in the 1600 until 1902 when the British finally put a stop their iniquity.

Aros invented a diabolical religion, the long Juju of Arochukwu, with which they oppressed their fellow Igbo people. Other groups invent religions to elevate the human condition; these criminals invented a religion with which to enslave their people. They presented themselves as priest-judges and spread out in Igbo land and manipulated the people into bringing their interpersonal disputes to them to settle. Losers in such disputes were supposedly sent to prison at Arochukwu. Prison meant been sold into slavery by these religious charlatans. These heinous criminals did not stop there; they engaged the services of a head hunter groups called Abam and these roamed throughout Alaigbo, capturing innocent children and women and selling them into slavery. These people were some of the greatest murderers humanity has produced. (See Olauda Equiana?s account of how these sadists captured him and marched him to the coast and sold him into slavery.)


BOASTFULNESS


Whereas many human beings are prone to boasting, Igbos are particularly prone to boasting. The Igbo is always telling you about his supposed great accomplishments. Whereas it is true that he tends to work hard and is achievement oriented, his actual material accomplishment is not more than other people?s accomplishments. The Igbos are not more accomplishing than Hausas, Yorubas and Edos.

If you listened to Igbos, you would think that other groups are just sitting on their behinds and doing nothing and only Igbos are the ones accomplishing much in life.

Igbos are always comparing themselves to other people. If you are the humble type that does not toot your horns, Igbos will see you as not accomplishing and as a failure in life. Even if, in fact, it is true that you are not a social success, what business of theirs is it? Some human beings are not motivated by social success. Some Indians, Sadhu, for example, walk into the forest and contemplate the nature of God and that is all they want to do with their lives. Some such persons made the greatest contribution to human knowledge. For all their bravadoes, Igbos have contributed zilch to philosophy, psychology and the physical sciences.


Analytically, what struck me as I observed Igbos is that, as individuals, they tend to feel inordinately inferior to other people and, like most neurotics, seek to seem superior to other people. The neurotic, as Alfred Adler tells us (The Neurotic Constitution), for any number of reasons feels inordinately inferior and does not like his felt inferiority and compensates with desire for superiority. He feels an obsessive-compulsive desire to seem superior to his environment and ?Acts as if? he is superior to other people.

Generally, the neurotic tells other people lie about himself; he tells tall tales that would seem to make him seem superior in other people?s eyes. He hopes that he has deceived those he is lying to and that they have accepted his make belief stories of success.

I related to a third rate Igbo community college instructor. He called himself a professor. He claimed that his father was the Nigerian ambassador to Italy, and talked about how he was born in Europe and went to schools in Europe etc. What he was really trying to say is that he is superior to other people. On the other hand, one was able to judge his class background. He behaved like a man born in the slums of Nigeria?s emergent cities. He lacked cultural sophistication and exhibited peasants? uncut behaviors, such as talking loudly and laughing in a non-self conscious manner. Simply stated, he lacked the refinement that old money and good breeding gives members of the upper class.

This man?s behavior is symptomatic of Igbos behaviors. They feel inordinately inferior and want to seem superior. They are not superior to any one. They merely act as if they are superior to other people.

To act as if one is superior to other people is a sign of mental illness. A mentally healthy person assumes that he is the same and equal to all people. It is a neurotic who pretends that he is superior to other people.

Certain types of neurotics, paranoid personalities, want to seem superior to other people. They are grandiose and have inflated sense of importance and want other people to collude with them and tell them that they are the imaginary important persons they want to be and pretend to be. If you validate their imaginary importance they feel happy, if not, they feel angry at you. The paranoid personality is interested in being seen as a very important person and fears being seen as if he is not important. He easily feels demeaned, degraded, belittled, humiliated and insulted by other people. When his imaginary sense of importance is not affirmed by other people, he reacts with anger at them. His temper tantrum is designed to rehabilitate his injured vanity. Like a little child, he thinks that narcissistic rage would make those he is angry at to see him as their boss. He beats his chest like a gorilla to impress you with his power, when, in fact, he is a scared little child. A child you could call his bluff by putting a bullet into his ape head.

I have not seen an Igbo man who does not exhibit some paranoid personality traits. Many of them also have narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders.

The narcissistic personality generally feels inferior but works very had and seems to have had some success at school and work. As a result of his apparent social success, he comes to think that he is special. He feels that other people ought to see him as special and, as such, admire him. He wants to be seen as a superior person. He feels that other people are inferior to him and that he is justified in exploiting them, using them to get what he wants out of life and discarding them like they have no worth when they are no longer useful to him. Generally, he uses other people to achieve his objectives and discards them afterwards. He wants other people to pay attention to him and to see him as a very important person. While seeking other people?s attention, he does not reciprocate that attention; he does not pay attention to other people, he does not admire other people; he does not love other people. Since he does not pay attention to other people and expect them to pay attention to him, he is obviously childish for, if there is anything we know about human beings it is that they all want to be paid attention to. If you do not pay attention to other people, they will not pay attention to you. Thus, the attention which the narcissist is desperately seeking he does not get.

The antisocial personality generally feels a sense of entitlement. He feels special and feels as if the world owes him a living. Not getting what he thinks that he deserves from other people, he steals it. The antisocial personality, aka sociopath and psychopath, has no sense of remorse from taking what does not belong to him. He does not feel guilt from stepping on other peoples toes. Indeed, he enjoys hurting other people for that kind of makes him seem powerful. (Igbo slave sellers used to feel powerful from capturing and selling Igbo slaves; that is, they felt proud from hurting other people. The antisocial personality is the most spiritually underdeveloped human being on earth; in fact, he is more like animals and not human beings. He belongs in jails and prisons, not in normal society.)

The Igbos expects other Nigerians to see them as an achieving people, and as a very important people and to admire them. In the meantime, they do not pay attention to other Nigerians. They do not admire other Nigerians. They are obviously not going to get attention from other Nigerians and generally do not get positive attention from other Nigerians. They are then baffled by their not getting positive attention from other Nigerians for in their narcissistic delusion they had convinced themselves that they deserved attention from other Nigerians.

I believe that the tendency for other Nigerians to attack and sometimes kill Igbos is a response to Igbo boastfulness and tendency to put other Nigerians down. Igbos, for example, constantly denigrate Hausas. Given human nature, Hausas naturally feel insulted by Igbo derogatory name calling and react with anger at them, attack and sometimes kill them. To pure reason, it is perfectly understandable why Hausas attack Igbos.

Igbos degrade other Nigerians and other Nigerians take that degradation until they reach a breaking point and snap and let Igbos have it---exhibit violence towards Igbos.


While it is they that brought hatred unto themselves, Igbos see themselves as innocent victims of others attacks. They talk about Hausas killing them, what they do not talk about is the untold insults they heaped on Hausas.

I have dealt with these people and come to appreciate how insulting they could be. They are so insulting hence infuriating that you feel like putting them out of their miserable lives.

Alas, I have the capacity to understand human beings. To understand people is to forgive them. Thus, I forgive Igbos and do not take recourse to smacking them around, as my ego felt like doing to them. I realize that Igbos are infantile and unrealistic in their behaviors so, instead of being angry at them, I am motivated to help them understand their annoying derogatory behavior and change it.

Here is an existential fact that seems lost on Igbos. Every human being you see, if he wants to, can kill you. That is correct; every adult human being has the capacity to kill other human beings, as they have the capacity to kill him.

A human being?s life is a bullet and it is over. A man puts a bullet into your head and you are dead within six minutes (the time it takes for your brain to die from lack of oxygen) and become food for worms.

That is how important you are: you are food for worms. Your body is composed of particles, atoms and elements, the same materials that compose animals, trees and rocks etc. You are not that different from a dog, despite your delusional imagination that you are special. Insult somebody and he puts a bullet in your idiot head and your silly mouth is shut up forever and ever. This reality ought to teach you to watch what you say and humble you.


If you understand the fragility of human existence on planet earth, and you want to live on planet earth, you are compelled to be respectful of other people, for they could kill you. Every time you call another human being a put down name, you have injured his pride and invited him to attack you.

Perhaps, Igbos are so dense that they do not understand that all human beings are proud? But Igbos are a proud people, so they ought to understand that other people, too, are proud. Perhaps, they think that they are the only ones who have a right to be proud? Perhaps, in their delusion of specialness they think that their ego-god made them proud and other people lacking in worth?

Insult a person and he can come after you with a gun and kill you. You may defend yourself but the fact is that if another human being is determined to kill you, sooner or later, he will succeed.

We human beings keep each other alive by respecting each others presumed human dignity. (Human dignity is a social construct that normal persons buy into; you can choose to discard it and treat other people as garbage and will get away doing so; Hitler did.)

Disregarding existential reality, Igbos put other people down and act as if they are not aware that those they insulted could kill them. This behavior of theirs shows that they are not an intelligent people. They do that which generates violence towards them and when they are eventually attacked they make themselves seem like victims and tell the world that others are committing genocide against them.

In human history, some groups have been wiped out; white Americans, for example, almost wiped out Native Americans. There is nothing particularly unique about Igbos to make them immune from pogrom.

If you do not want to be killed by other people, then grow up and relate to them in a respectful manner.

I dealt with a bunch of Igbos and they went about calling me all sorts of degrading names. The thought went through my mind to destroy them. I could think of a thousand ways to punish them, even kill them. All it would take is only a few minutes of planning of how I would do it and it is done. Since, in my mind, they are uncivilized and not that much different from apes, I would not loose sleep if they died. They are a very unproductive crowd and their death would not be a loss to humanity. They are useless criminals; the death of criminals does not disturb my mental equilibrium.

But, I told myself, leave them alone, they are chronologically adult but emotionally children. If they are adult they would have realized that I could come after them with vengeance. If they were adult and realized how fragile human life is, they would behave in a respectful manner towards every human being. But given their infantile mental status, they are not aware that if they degrade other people that other people can put them out of their miserable existence.

It was at this point that I gained insight to why Igbos are persecuted in Nigeria. These people are like children under twelve years old. They degrade other Nigerians, unaware that those other Nigerians could attack and even kill them. When other Nigerians have had enough of Igbo bad mouthing, they attack Igbos. Then Igbos cry wolf and make themselves seem innocent. They are not innocent.

If you were so innocent how come your behavior brought you negative consequences? No human being is innocent, for we all do take the consequences of our behaviors.

If you do not want other people to kill you, then, stop boasting too much and stop putting people down; stop pretending that you are superior to other people.

No human being is superior to other people. It is neurotic and or psychotic to see ones self as superior to other people.

(We, black persons, resent it if white persons see us as inferior to them. If that is the case, how come Igbos do not recognize that other Nigerians resent them if they see them as inferior? Considering that most other Nigerians are developmentally ahead of Igbos, one does not even understand why Igbos pretend to be superior to them.)


Igbos have other delusional habits. For example, if a few Igbos in the Nigerian government seem to be doing a good job, Igbos claim that but for the Igbos the Nigerian government would be hopelessly lost. In the present political dispensation at Abuja, it seems that the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Iweala and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Soludo, are doing a good job (?). Igbos take pride in them and on their account claim that it is Igbos that make the Nigerian government work well. They conveniently forget the musical chairs Igbos have been playing at the Senate where one Igbo president of the Senate after another was incompetent and booted out. They forget corrupt Igbo politicians like the sacked minister of education.

As already noted, Igbos did not have large bureaucratic governments. Therefore, they did not acquire knowledge of how to run large scale political organizations.

To run large scale social organizations, we need bureaucracies and in bureaucracies individuals subordinate their egos to group goals. In large scale organizations, what matters is not the individual but the organization?s goal attainment. The individual is a means for accomplishing bureaucratic goals. (See Max Weber, Bureaucracy.)

Bureaucracies use people to achieve their goals. Those socialized to bureaucratic behavior subordinate their egos to achieving organizational goals. As result, they develop compliant organizational personalities, personalities needed to work in large scale organizations. (See W.W. Whyte, Organization Man.)

Because Igbos did not have a history of working in large scale bureaucracies, they tend not to subordinate their egos to organizational goals.

Hausas, Yorubas and Edos had historic bureaucracies and tend to subordinate their egos to organizational goals hence tend to work well in government bureaucracies.

Igbos tend to work well in sole proprietorships where they work for their own individual goals. They seldom do well in partnerships and certainly do not do well in corporations. They are egoistic and do not like to subordinate their egos to group goals. They tend not to do well in large scale organizations. Many of their businesses are individually owned and suffer from all the disadvantages of such business. When the owner of the business dies, the business may die with him. Corporations guarantee the continuity of businesses.

Igbos are unable to subordinate their egos to large business organizations and make things work in groups. If you have ever tried to form business ventures with Igbos, you probably have learnt from first hand experience that they are always trying to knock you out and take it over. They are unable to work in a cooperative manner.

In fact, many of them are criminals and would do everything to destroy you and take over a business that you started and invited them to join in. In this sense, they show aspects of antisocial personality disorder. They have no conscience, no sense of right and wrong and no remorse feeling for their wrong doing. Like their ancestors, they would sell you into slavery and use the money they obtained to buy alcohol or buy trinkets to adorn their bodies and in their eyes seem like they are very important persons. These people?s pride and vanity is unsurpassed in the world. (The primitive is vain, the civilized person is humble. The Igbos are not aware of this fact and take their primitive egoism and vanity as sign of existential importance.)

All that matters to many Igbos is to appear big in society?s eyes but not to serve human need. In their traditional society, they used to have Ozo titles. They sold people to get the money to join the Ozo society and not feel one iota of remorse for the evil they committed in getting the money to buy the all important Ozo title. All that matters to these amoral persons is to seem like they are very important persons.


COMPETITION AND IGBO FEAR OF FAILURE

Igbo society is very competitive. Those who are more able to compete tend to be rewarded with valued social goods. Igbos allot social goods conditionally to those able to out perform others. As they say: Igbo ama eze, Igbos do not accept inherited leaders.

If a child wishes his hands well he eats with elders, meaning that if a person is highly achieving that no matter what his background is, poor or rich, he is allowed to become the leaders of his society.

There is no doubt whatsoever that in traditional Igbo society people are rewarded according to their performance in competitive activities (although these days bribing ones way into social positions are also allowed). Because Igbos tend to reward winners and ignore losers, Igbos tend to fear becoming losers.

The average Igbo man is filled with fear of losing out in society and is inordinately motivated to succeed by fair or crook means. He knows that if he succeeds that his people would recognize him as somebody important and that if he loses that they would see him as unimportant (okpokoro manu, anuoha). He is driven by desire for success and fear of failure. This makes him perpetually anxious.

The Igbo is an anxious neurotic, a person who wants to seem important and successful and fears failure.

Igbo pathological culture socializes and produces pathological persons, particularly narcissistic, antisocial and paranoid personality disordered persons.

Igbo society is a sick society; a sick society produces a sick people.

I learned from relating to these people that they are, as it were, the victims of their pathological society. Their society taught them to approach every person they see from a conditionally accepting manner. (See Carl Rogers, Client Centered Therapy.)

An Igbo man quickly evaluates you and decides whether you are an achieving person or not, and if not, he has no respect for you. In the language of Adorno et al (the Authoritarian personality) Igbos are like fascists who admire the strong and hate the weak. Given the opportunity, Igbos probably would behave like Germans and follow a demagogue, a fascistic leader like Hitler who tells them that human beings are to be ranked in order of importance, from high to low achieving, and that low achieving persons ought to be ignored, hated and or killed.

If Igbos come to power, given their present pathological psychological make up, one can see them killing other Nigerians, those they construe as not highly achieving. They would do so and not feel guilty, just as Germans killed Jews and Slavs and did not feel guilty because they were told that those people were not important because they had not achieved much to life.

In my opinion, Igbos need to be re-socialized, as the West re-socialized Germans after the Second World War, to accept people in an unconditional positive manner. If they learn to accept human beings in an unconditional positive manner, they would become mentally healthy. At present, they are mostly neurotic and, as such, if in political power could be dangerous to other human beings.


FRAGMENTATION

Each Igbo clan has a clan level identification. Thus we have Owerri Igbo, Onitsha Igbo, Ika Igbo, Ngwa Igbo, Ikwerre Igbo, Umuahia Igbo, Okigwe Igbo, Orlu Igbo, Wawa Igbo etc. There is no such thing as a pan Igbo wide feeling among the Igbos. In fact, until the twentieth century, Igbos from one area did not even know about other Igbos. It was with the advent of the British that Igbos began to relate to other clans. It was only when Igbos traveled to other parts of Nigerians and were treated as if they belonged to one group that they began to develop a sense of oneness, a feeling of Igboness.

The sense of Igboness is still incipient and not well developed. A people need to undergo many common experiences to develop a solid sense of oneness. The only common experience Igbos have jointly undertaken is the Biafran war. That single historical experience is not enough to help them develop a sense of nationhood.

(If other Nigerian groups are Machiavellian, they could take advantage of Igbo cleavages. Real politics practitioners from other groups could stroke one Igbo group to hate another. It is, for example, very easy for an Owerri person to hate an Onitsha person.)

If Igbos were sensible, they would work to create an Igbo-wide state, a state that encompasses all Igbos, from Ikwerre to Agbo, from Nsukka to Arochukwu. A state that is, nevertheless, within the framework of Nigeria. And better still, within a Federation of West Africa States or within a Federation of Africa where each tribe is a state.

Such a political arrangement would give Igbos the opportunity to keep experiencing common histories and therefore develop a pan Igbo identity. At present, they merely pretend to have a pan Igbo identity when they do not. Certainly, Owerri people do not see themselves as the same people as Onitsha people, nor do Ikwerre people see themselves as the same people as Umuahia people. At present, there simply is no such thing as an Igbo nation. (Igbos should concentrate on developing their political skills in this enlarged Igbo state before they aspire to governing larger polities like Nigeria, West Africa and, ultimately, Africa.)


Thoughtful persons observe historical trends. Nation-states are expanding their geographic reaches. Europe, for example, is moving towards one unified nation state with each of its tribes a state in it: Germany, France, England, Poland, Czech, Italy, Portugal, Spain, etc are increasingly transformed into states in a unified Europe. That is the only way Europe will compete with such large countries as the USA, Russia, China, India and Brazil.

By the same token, Africa will eventually become a federation, with each of its 400 or so tribes a state. We will, by the end of this century, have an Africa Federation with 400 states (each tribe a state). This will be real federalism, with each state essentially governing itself and leaving the central government to take care of national defense, foreign affairs and such other duties performed by the USA federal government.

This is the future of Africa and if Igbos are a sensible people they would be working to make all of Igbo land a state, first in the context of Nigeria, and later in the context of West Africa and, ultimately, in the context of an African federation.

(I visualize an Alaigbo state with a unicameral legislature consisting of no more than 50 members; a parliamentary form of government with a premier and cabinet of twelve ministers, and a governor who performs ceremonial functions. I visualize an Alaigbo divided into twenty districts, each with a district council of no more than seven members and a chair person who heads the administrative wing of governance. I visualize Igbo towns and cities, each with a city council of no more than five and a mayor heading the administrative wing of city governance. I visualize an independent judiciary headed by a state high court of no more than five judges, with district and town courts under it.)

This policy means giving up the quest for a separatist state called Biafra. If Biafra were to become an independent country, each of the Igbo clans would probably fight for independence and resist the ruler ship of others and the result would be a Somalia like perpetual conflict.

The only way to keep all Alaigbo together is to have it in a larger political framework like Nigeria/West Africa and Africa.

The quest to call Alaigbo by the name of a village in Portugal, Biafra, is futile. For Christ sake, do not call yourself by a European name; call yourself by your true name, Alaigbo.

In North America, Igbos generally do well as individual stars. They obtain jobs as university teachers and are often rewarded with professorships. Generally, that is just as far as they go. To move beyond that, to become departmental chair, Dean of a school, Provost and President of a university, one must have managerial and leadership skills, which requires transcending ones individual ego and serving the group?s interests. Igbos do not transcend their egos and serve group interests. What matters most to them is serving their self interests, not group interests. As a result of their egoism, Igbos seldom make it to the top of America?s bureaucratic organizations.

On the other hand, Yorubas tend to more readily subordinate their egos to organizational goals and tend to be found in the administrative ranks in America?s universities and corporations. I have seen Yoruba vice presidents of American universities. I have not seen any Igbo in high administrative position at an American university.


THE IGBO IN NIGERIA?S POLITICS


In Nigerian politics, I see Igbos, who, as individuals, are motivated to satisfy their self interests. I see Igbos who work hard to seem like they are very important persons.

I see narcissistic, paranoid and antisocial personalities in politics. I see folks who want all Nigerians to give them attention and to admire them and to see them as superior persons but persons who do not reciprocate such attention by paying attention to other Nigerians.

I do not see Igbos who seem genuinely caring for other Nigerians. I do not see Igbos who seem like they are adult human beings who have transcended their egos self interests and work for Nigeria?s public interests.

I see Igbos who are users of people and not giver to people. I do not see loving and socially interested Igbos in Nigerian politics.

I have looked at most of the present crop of Igbo politicians, particularly those aspiring for the presidency of Nigeria. I am sorry to say it, I see mostly emotionally retarded children. I see those who seem under twelve years old, emotionally. I see children seeking public office because they think that it would make them seem very important persons. I do not see folks who are motivated for public office by the desire to serve public good.

I do not see Igbos who have burning agendas that they want to accomplish while in office. I see folks who want to steal from the government and redirect government money to their pockets but not to do anything positive for Nigeria.


I hate to say it, but I must stick to the truth: I do not see any Igbo on the political horizon that would make a good president of Nigeria. I would not vote for any Igbo candidate for the presidency for I do not think that they are capable of governing Nigeria at this time.


I think that Igbos need a little more political tutelage before they can govern Nigeria. They need, at least, a generation (33 years) to learn the nature of politics and governance before they should be given the awesome responsibility of governing a large polity like Nigeria.

Clamoring for office and boasting about ones ability is not the same thing as having those abilities. As noted, Igbos are inordinately childish and do not seem to understand that every utterance a leader makes could result in war or peace. If an immature Igbo politician puts other Nigerians down, as I see foolish Igbos do, the result could be war in Nigeria.

To allow the infantile Igbo personalities I see to rule Nigeria at this time is to guarantee conflict in Nigeria.


As I see it, Igbos are, at present, too politically immature to rule Nigeria. They do not know how to pick their fights. They pick fights with persons who can destroy them. They are not thoughtful persons, for a thoughtful person immediately understands that his life is in other people?s hands and therefore is diplomatic in dealing with other people.

In their infantile need to seem powerful, Igbos put other people down, unaware that those they derogate could bring about their end, physically or psychologically. We need adults to rule us, not boastful children who are masking their inferiority feeling and pretending to be superior persons.


One may ask whether what I said here applies to the giants of Nigeria?s yesteryears politics, to such persons as Azikiwe, Okpara, and Ojukwu. We will never know since those persons were not really national leaders. Aguiyi Ironsi was briefly placed in a national leadership position. His record is not exactly one that any one would be proud of. He was uninformed about Nigeria?s tribal politics and allegedly tried a form of government suitable for a homogenous country like France and England, unitary government, and was killed for that foolish mistake. Clearly, a multi ethnic country like Nigeria requires a decentralized federal structure, if peace is to be obtained.

Reading books by such folks as Azikiwe gives one the impression that they, too, were full of boastings, arrogance and bravadoes and lacked realistic understanding of human nature. One is forced to conclude that were they in power that they, too, would have made a mess of things? But this is speculation, so one will limit oneself to the Igbos one knows of, contemporary Igbos.


How about other Nigerian ethnic groups, are they any better than Igbos? The Hausas and Yorubas have ruled Nigeria during the past 46 years; what good have they done Nigeria? I am not, at present, interested in talking about other Nigerians. In other writings, I pointed out that most Africans are self centered and need to be trained in self transcending leadership. Until the black man learns to subordinate his self interest to public interest, I doubt that any African country would be well governed.


Human beings live in flesh and blood and, as such, are limited by their bodies; they live in the world of space and time and cannot be perfect creatures. In spirit they are perfect but in body they must remain imperfect. It would be idealistic to expect real human beings to be perfect in their political behaviors. One is not an idealist; one is a political realist who accepts that human beings must necessarily be imperfect in everything that they do, including their politics. I am not expecting perfection in Nigerian politicians but I have every right to expect folks in public service to transcend their ego interests and serve public good. They are not going to be angles but a situation where most Nigerian politicians are criminals and 419 shysters is unacceptable.

We have governments because we human beings are imperfect. If we were perfect we would not need politics, laws and governments that enforce those laws; we would do the right thing untold to do so. But we are not perfect and must have governments to make sure that we have and obey laws.

Real politics involves imperfect people bargaining for power, giving and getting something in return, logrolling and making trade offs. Politics is horse trading and no rational person expects perfection in it. Perfection lies in formless spirit, not on earth. Yet on earth one expects people to be governed by the rule of law, not the lawlessness of brigands.

Some folks have alluded to what they think is my hatred of Africans. May I ask them whether the black man must always be corrupt? Should we accept him even if he is a criminal? To accept him despite his corruption is to show him disrespect. If one truly respects the black man, we must hold him to the same standard that we hold other people to.

I do not hate Africans; I just want them to behave like other human beings do: care for one another, rather than only seek ways to steal from one another.


CRITICISM


Since what I said in this essay, in effect, is that Igbos, at this point in time, do not seem capable of governing Nigeria, one can look at that statement from several perspectives. One can construe it to mean my negative self assessment projected out to those most like me, Igbos. That is, that I see myself as incapable of ruling and project that negative self assessment to all Igbos.

One can say that I hate myself and project my self hatred to hatred of those most like me, that I hate all Igbos.

If any of these views makes sense to you, by all means embrace it. As for me, all I know is that I am stating what my empirical observation shows me about Igbos. You are entitled to your perception of Igbos, just as I am entitled to mine. One must to himself be true. I must be true to my perception of Igbos. Whether my truth is the truth or not is for you to decide.

However, there is a legitimate argument against my conclusion. I made a sweeping and generalized statement about Igbos. One can ask me whether I have related to all Igbos to be able to know all of them. I have not related to all Igbos and in the nature of things should not talk about all of them. Therefore, what I said could not possibly apply to all Igbos. Every general rule has exceptions, so I imagine that there are a few mature Igbos who are able to rule Nigeria? If so, let those mature Igbos enter the fray and compete to rule Nigeria. Nevertheless, we all know that there is such a thing as a national character trait. There is such a thing as the typical English man, French man, a German, Italian, Russian, American etc. Whereas no one fits his national character traits completely, the fact is that each person tends to be more like those from his group. There is such a thing as an Igbo character. The generalized Igbo character I see seems incapable of political leadership that transcends his self interests; I think that Igbos need to learn how to subordinate their self interests in the service of public interests. This is my view.

I see Igbos as a people with identity crisis. They are like African Americans; they do not know who they are; they are trying to know who they are; they are trying to define themselves. If you recall, African Americans used to be called Negroes, then that was no good, so they called themselves blacks, then Afro Americans and now African Americans. They are trying to define themselves apart from the way their slave masters, whites, defined them. This is fine. They will succeed. By the same token, Igbos do not know who they are. Hitherto, they were Onitsha or Owerri etc but now they are thrown into one another and are trying to develop a larger collective identity, but, so far, have not succeeded. In the meantime, they try many definitions such as. Ndi Igbo (Igbo people?here they refer to themselves as a third person would refer to them. Who has ever had of a people referring to themselves as other people would refer to them! Obviously, this term is part of their identity crisis and will be discarded for another one, perhaps, Onye Igbo? Some would like to call their country Biafra, a name of a village in Portugal. This is an insult to them. Those engaged in this self abuse rationalize with the claim that Biafra has historical symbolism for them, that the name represented a past when they unified and struggled as a nation. They will toy with many names until they accept their true name, Ala Igbo (Igbo land).

Given my experience with Igbos, some of them will not concentrate on trying to refute my points but, instead, will attack my person. They will direct their anger at me. I have been called all sorts of names by these people: Waco, sicko is among the names these mentally retarded persons could muster for me. It is as if these folks believe that calling one a negative name would dispose one to accept such names, see ones self as such and desist from articulating the truth as one sees it. They want to scare one off; this is familiar antisocial personality tactic of criminals trying to scare their opponents off the tuff and win arguments through fear tactics. These folks have arrested emotional development and are wasting their time and energy calling me names. I have internal locus of authority and define myself internally. I do not define me as other people define me. I have unconditional positive self acceptance. I see me as good. I do not predicate my acceptance on living up to any other person?s ideas of what I should be. Therefore, what other people say about me means nothing to me. I certainly am not disturbed that deranged Igbo children call me negative names. If I choose, I could write their psychological profiles to the T and no mental health professional out there would disagree with my assessment of them. At any rate, I am not perturbed by being called put down names; what else is news? Isn?t that what Igbos do to other Nigerians, call them put down names and in the process get killed by them?

These folks are yet to grow up and learn respect for all human beings and give up their infantile tendency to put other people down while expecting those they derogate to respect them. It is delusional arrogance to derogate people and then expect them to respect you. It is playing an infantile god to insult other people and expect them not to insult you in return. In truth, those you put down want to whack you on the head, and, or to kill you, so that you grow up and stop being a child in an adult body. An adult understands that his life is in other persons hands and respects all persons.

I have dealt with many Igbos and learned that they are often very amoral and lacking in principled behaviors. For example, many of them do not believe in what the current ruling party of Nigeria, PDP, stands for, but, nevertheless, join it and make bleeping noises from its umbrella. Their goal is to get some crumbs from the powers that be in Nigeria. They will do anything, including selling their mothers, to be appointed to political positions in Nigeria. It never occurs to them to stand up for what they believe is right. I respect principled persons and have contempt for opportunistic pragmatists.

If ones motivation is grievance and vengeance, to fight back, to insult those who insulted one, one will be insulted. There are no victims and victimizers in this world. Each of us experiences exactly what he wants to experience. I know that many Igbos see themselves as in a war with other Nigerians and fancy themselves victims and since the content of this essay would seem to please their enemies, will see me as their enemy and come at me with their rusted swords, slashing blindly at me. So be it. I do not defend myself, nor do I expect any one to defend me. If I defend myself I am attacked. In love, truth, defenselessness and forgiveness lies my strength.


July 4, 2006

Ozodi Thomas Osuji

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I am an Igbo Diala. I was socialized into Igbo Omenala. I internalized Igbo culture and operate from its parameters.

Igbo culture is very republican and democratic. Igbo culture is individualistic, achievement oriented and realistic. Igbos are not a sentimental people, they accept life as it is without unnecessary adornments. Their language is overly realistic. Consider: Owu manu ji ara edebere otu? (I will not interpret it for you, you try to figure it our for yourself, after all, if I have taken the trouble to understand your language, English, the least that you could do is take the trouble to understand my own language, a language, we believe is the best in the world. The Igbos say: Speak Igbo and then die, indicating how proud they are of their language.)

My grandfather grew up in the early 1900s Alaigbo (Igboland), a world that the British had recently conquered. What did him and his contemporary Igbos do? They would tell their children: Look, children, the British defeated us, not because they are better men than we are but because they have advanced science and technology. We must acquire science and technology, if we ever want to compete with them. Therefore, we must all go to school and study science and technology. We must work hard. With science and technology and hard work, in a few generations, we shall be able to do what the British do. We might even surpass them. Thus, these hardy men and women resolved to send their children to school. Going to school and working hard became their mantra. Today, many of these amazing people’s children are university graduates and are found in the best universities of the world.

The Igbo does not countenance laziness. He does not listen to excuses as to why one is poor. He says: if you say yes, your Chi (personal God, your real self) will say yes. (See Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart.) He does not accept the thesis that he is a victim of circumstances. He sees himself as in charge of his life. He has internal locus of control and believes that no matter what the external environment is like that it is up to him to do what he could to extract a decent living for himself and his family. However, he is not naïve as to the powerful effect of the external environment on the individual; he recognizes the reality of the external world but does not resign himself to it.

My grandfather’s generation recognized that, for the time being, the British were in charge of their affairs. But that was a temporary situation. With hard work, they believed that sooner or later they would be able to compete with the British on their on terms.

The Igbo does not want you to pity him, see him as a victim and give him anything out of pity.

(When the Igbo comes to North America and beholds such policies as Affirmative Action, he is annoyed by it; he says: if you cannot get into the school you want to attend on merit, and then do not go to that school. When I was in secondary school, my father would say to me, Tom, I want you go to Oxford or Cambridge University. To do so, you must have excellent grades in your studies, including your GCE Advance Level. He could not tolerate mediocre grades. I had the requisite grades to attend those top colleges, not because I was particularly smart but because father could not let go of my case until I behaved realistically, studied hard.)

The Igbo context from which I came from is one where individuals are expected to compete and receive from their world whatever their abilities could give them in the competitive world they live in. I am an Igbo and carry the Igbo culture in me to wherever I go. I brought that culture with me to North America. I view the social phenomenon of North America through the lenses of my Igbo worldview. My perception is biased by my individual personality and by my cultural upbringing.

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Certain types of neurotics, paranoid personalities, want to seem superior to other people. They are grandiose and have inflated sense of importance and want other people to collude with them and tell them that they are the imaginary important persons they want to be and pretend to be ... The paranoid personality is interested in being seen as a very important person and fears being seen as if he is not important. He easily feels demeaned, degraded, belittled, humiliated and insulted by other people. When his imaginary sense of importance is not affirmed by other people, he reacts with anger at them. His temper tantrum is designed to rehabilitate his injured vanity. Like a little child, he thinks that narcissistic rage would make those he is angry at to see him as their boss. He beats his chest like a gorilla to impress you with his power, when, in fact, he is a scared little child. A child you could call his bluff by putting a bullet into his ape head.--July 4, 2006 Ozodi Thomas Osuji

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Igbos Personality and Fate

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji

This essay ponders whether there is such a thing as group personality and group fate? Is an individual like most individuals in his cultural group, and do they all share the same destiny? Is each person destined to be treated as members of his group are treated and, if so, why?
There is the phenomenon of stereotype; this means that we tend to be treated as members of a group. In North America, for example, many white folks have certain assumptions about black people: that they are unintelligent, given to criminal behavior, childish, not industrious, lazy, prone to dancing, good at sports etc and treat them as such.
Stereotyping people leads to prejudice, treating all members of a group as if they are all alike. We all feel that we are individuals and resent been treated as members of certain groups. We want to be seen as individuals and treated as such. Nevertheless, in the real world we tend to be perceived as our group is perceived.
Men of goodwill, aware of the dangers of bias, make efforts to treat people as individuals and not from a group’s perceived characteristics. But they do not always succeed. For example, most men try to treat women as individuals but when push comes to shove treat them as their assumptions about women dispose them to do. Generally, men assume that women are emotional, hysterical, histrionic, melodramatic, narcissistic, pay too much attention to their bodies and beauty etc. When a woman is seen, these stereotypes of what women are supposed to be entering men’s minds.
Common sense tells us that each human being is a unique individual and should be treated as such but in the real world we tend to see people as we see their group members. When we see an Englishman we conjure up what that means for us: thoughtful and cunning and wants to win at all costs and generally does so; a Frenchman conjures up the image of a sophisticated, urbane, cosmopolitan, enjoys refined conversations; a German, conjures up the image of a very disciplined person, a person who takes orders and does as told and is an efficient worker and also an efficient solder, an killing machine; a Russian, presents the picture of a chaotic person, a person who nevertheless in the end steps up to the plate and does what he has to do for mother Russia to survive, usually after sacrificing millions of his own people; an Italian conjures up the picture of a very artistic, friendly person, a person who enjoys life but not a good soldier; an American conjures up a picture of a childlike man but a man that knows what he wants out of life, a man who goes for his self interest and like a sociopath will not hesitate killing others to get his needs met, no conscience, amoral, like an antisocial personality etc.
All these assumptions about groups are wrong, but if we ignore them we pay a regrettable price. If we ignore the fact Germans are disciplined we live to regret our lack of reality testing for it is the case that a German battalion could defeat an undisciplined army. We know that at war Russians are likely to initially loose but that subsequently they will rally around and fight like driven devils until they drive you out of mother Russia. Thus, whereas it is true that all stereotypes are wrong, there is always some truth in all of them and a wise person pays attention to them.

For many reasons social scientists do not like to talk about group characteristics. Perhaps, they are afraid that such talk could lead to treating people in stereotypes and make it easier to discriminate against them? The Nazis perceived Jews, Slavs and other non Germanic groups as unproductive and killed millions of them. It is safer to talk about individual persons rather than talk about persons as members of groups.


Let us talk about individuals. Each human being is born with a set of genes and experiences society differently from other people. As George Kelly pointed out, the human child builds on his biological and social experiences to form a personality. Every individual has a unique personality.
Personality is a product of the individual’s inherited biological constitution and social experience.
There is a debate as to which plays a greater role, nature or nurture, in the formation of personality. Some would argue that biology plays the greater role in the formation of personality than social experience. Indeed, some believe that biology plays, at least, 75% role in the etiology of personality and social experiences less than 25%. Conversely, some argue that social experiences play the greater role in the genesis of personality.
If we accept that biology plays a greater role in the origin of personality we risk returning to stereotyping people. If it can be shown that biology determines personality and personality affects what the individual gets out of life, it follows that biology is fate. This conclusion would seem to justify discrimination and not caring for the poor.
Many social scientists would rather we stressed only the social factors that affected personality for if such is the case it is difficult to justify discrimination against people. If culture determined people there is hope that if that culture is changed that people would be changed.
The social science approach to personality is optimistic for it gives us the impression that it is not peoples fault that they are who they are, that circumstances determine who they are. It makes people the victims of their society and culture and they are not to be blamed.
Whether personality is determined by biology or society is not the objective of this essay. This essay assumes that people have personalities.

PERSONALITY

The individual’s personality is his habitual pattern of responding to stimuli from his environment. Each individual has a habitual pattern of behaving, of responding to other people and to his environment in general.
Personality is formed in childhood. Generally, personality is formed before adolescence (age13). Once formed, personality is very stable and is not easily changed. The individual, at sixty behaves as he did at thirteen. In the few instances where personality is changed, it is often due to trauma to the brain (such as from accidents that injure the brain) and from conversion to religion. By and large, the individual’s pattern of behaving is stable from childhood to old age.

The term personality is derived from Latin, persona. Persona is a mask worn by actors to hide their true identity as they enacted the behaviors of other people. The idea is that the individual’s personality is like a mask, his social presentation but not necessarily who he is, in fact. Each of us learned ways to present himself to other people. Each of us play acts roles expected of him by society and in time that play acting congeals into what is now called his personality. For example, in childhood children want to be accepted by what Harry Stack Sullivan calls their significant others (parents, siblings, peers, teachers etc). If those significant others posit high standards that must be met before the children are accepted, children try to live up to those standards and where they cannot, they pretend to do so. Such children learn to pretend to be who they are not to be accepted by their society. Where this process is pronounced such children deny their real selves and invent ideal selves and pretend to be their ideal but imaginary selves. The rejection of the real self and pretending that one is the ideal self is the nature of neurosis. (See Alfred Adler, The Neurotic Constitution; Karen Horney, Neurosis and Human Growth.)
Neurotic children are afraid to be their true selves for they think that if they are so that their parents and society would reject them. To the child, social rejection is a serious business. A child under twelve years old cannot fend for himself. Left alone most children would die. Aware that they need adults to support them materially and emotionally or else they die, children do whatever adults expect them to do, including denying their true selves and pretending being the ideal selves that their society reinforces.
In the process, neurotic children develop two selves: their real selves and their ideal selves, the inferior self and the superior self. These two selves are perpetually in a state of conflict. They experience inner anxiety from desire to be the desired ideal self and fear of being the rejected real self. Neurotics generally live with free floating anxiety disorder. (There are different kinds of anxiety disorder, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Social-Anxiety and so on. I will not discuss these disorders here.)

If personality, normal or abnormal, the question is a mask: who is the real self, the person beneath the mask of personality? Carl Jung believes that the real self is spirit.
If the real self is spirit, how do we verify the existence of spirit? I do not know. My view is that there is something beneath the mask of social self, what that something is, I will not speculate on here.

NORMAL AND ABNORMAL PERSONALITIES

Most people have normal personalities. By this is meant that most people in society adjusted to the normative realities of their society and pretty much do what enables them to survive in their world. They are able to get along with other people and to hold down jobs and provide for their families.
Some people have abnormal personalities. Within this disordered spectrum are mild to severe personality disorders. Those with the severe personality disorders are psychotic. Psychosis is characterized by the presence of hallucinations and delusions. Examples of psychosis are schizophrenia, delusion, mania, depression and organic mental disorders. Others have mild personality disorders such as paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal. Narcissistic, histrionic, antisocial, borderline, avoidant, obsessive compulsive, dependent and passive aggressive personality disorders. (I will not elaborate on these nosological categories. See the American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, for definition of these mental states. In Igbo language, there is only one term for mental disorder, Onye Ara. Thus, we see Igbos employing that all encompassing term for every one whose behaviors they do not seem to comprehend. It would be nice if they were a bit more educated on the various types of mental disorders. There is a world of difference between schizophrenia, which is probably the equivalence of “onye ara” and other forms of mental disorders.)

Each individual has a personality, normal or abnormal. That personality was influenced by his inherited biological constitution and social experiences during childhood. It is difficult to ascertain the degree of influence of either of the two variables that shape personality (and I do not propose to get into that debate here).
What is self evident is that once personality is formed it tends to influence the individual’s life chances.
The individual responds to other people from the stand point of his personality. Other people respond to him from their own personalities. However, how other people respond to him is a product of their own personalities and how they perceive his personality.
The individual’s social experience is an interaction of his and other persons’ personalities.

PERSONALITY AND FATE

What the individual gets out of life is largely dependent on his personality. In fact, some argue that personality is fate. Character is fate, said the German writer, Novalis.
Until an individual changes his personality, generally, other people tend to respond to him in a similar manner and he therefore tends to get similar results from other people, making his fate dependent on his personality.
Consider the paranoid personality who wants to seem very important in his and other people’s eyes. He fears being demeaned, insulted, humiliated, disgraced, degraded, belittled, criticized, degraded and generally made to seem small. Further more, he believes that other people are no good and are out to do him harm. He avoids other people to prevent them from harming him. He is suspicious of other people’s motives and is forever questioning why they do what they do to him. He does not trust that any one could look after his interests; he believes that the world is a hostile place and that only he could look after his self interests. He tends to accuse other people of demeaning him and of wanting to harm, even kill him. He is very defensive, guarded and untrusting of other people’s good intensions.
Given this compendium of responses to other people, other people tend to resent the paranoid personality. They resent his always accusing them of doing what they did not do. (This is called paranoid self fulfilling prophecy: if you accuse other people of doing what they did not do, they will likely do it to you, hence fulfill you prophecy that people are not good.) People resent the paranoid person’s suspiciousness and lack of trusting behavior. They resent his defensiveness around them. They resent his wanting to seem important and better than them. Cumulatively, other people quarrel with the paranoid person because they see him as not a nice person.
This means that the social relationship of a paranoid personality tends to be conflict ridden. It is conflict ridden because of his basic untrusting and hostile approach to life. If he changed his personality and became more trusting of other people and less accusatory of people they would relate to him differently. If he did not want to seem superior to other people and related to all people as the same and equal with him, and treated all people respectfully, he would improve his problematic social relationships.
The individual’s personality influences how he relates to other people and how other people relate to him and if he changed his personality his social relationships would change and he would receive different outcomes from society. If personality is changed the individual’s fate would change.
The real question is whether personality can be changed? As noted, personality is formed in childhood and thereafter stable and difficult to change. We know that where the individual undergoes religious conversion and or had a trauma to his head that he tends to change his personality but besides those it is very difficult to change the individual’s personality. Psychotherapy generally has very little effect on personalities, particularly personality disorders. Age does mellow people but does not completely change them.
At the individual’s level, we can pretty much say that personality affects how other people treat him and that what he gets out of life is influenced by his personality hence that personality is fate.


IS THERE SUCH A THING AS GROUP PERSONALITY AND FATE?


Is there such a thing as group personality and, if so, is there such a thing as a group’s fate?
I ask these questions in light of the fact that people from the same group tend to behave somewhat similarly and tend to be treated alike by people from other groups. Because they tend to be seen as alike and treated alike, people from the same group tend to, more or less, have the same fate. Of course, there are some individual differences in people in the same group.
Is it possible to make the assertion that people from the same group are more alike than they are unlike and tend to be treated in the same manner and therefore have the same fate?

I ask these questions because recently I have been observing Igbos. I have noticed that they tend to have similar personalities (with individual variations within what can be called a general Igbo pattern of personality) and that other people tend to treat them similarly.
As I pointed out in a different essay, Igbos tend to be politically naïve, in fact, so naïve that they make you want to cry. They have little or no understanding of human nature.
Consider: they run around putting other people down, insulting other people and boasting about their imaginary superiority etc. All these behaviors add up and other people resent them. Other people so resent them that they occasionally attack and even kill them. Very few persons can stand Igbo arrogance for long without hatred for Igbos.
I speculated that somehow Igbos feel inferior and compensate with desire for superiority and believe that they are their wishes. The desire for superiority is not the same thing as actual superiority.
Generally, Igbos act as if they are superior to other people. Obviously, they are not superior to any other group. In the main time, their haughtiness brings about other people’s resentment of them. Their tendency to disrespect other people makes other people furious at them and occasionally takes out their frustration by attacking Igbos.
In Nigeria, those people that Igbos disrespect and generally put down the most, Hausas, tend to attack and sometimes kill Igbos.

I predict that if Igbos continue with their present neurotic superiority feeling and insulting other people, that they would be attacked and killed in the future. I think that Igbo personality patterns make it inevitable for other people to persecute them. If Igbos remain as they currently are, they will always be a persecuted people.
Unfortunately, Igbos see the persecution coming their way but not the role they played in bringing about such persecution. They point two accusatory fingers at other people for attacking them, but do not see the three pointing right back at them, telling them that they play a role in what happens to them.

I reached these conclusions about Igbos from personal dealing with them. I tried my best to be helpful to them. They tried to exploit me. I caught them and did something about it. Instead of owning up their antisocial behaviors and