by SK Johnson

The past couple of weeks have seen a slew of stories flood the media about the ‘deportation’ of Igbo people from Lagos State by Governor Fashola. ‘By Governor Fashola,’ there is not meant to imply that I think Fashola has taken to the streets of Lagos to round up Igbo people and send them back to their states of origin – because, really, that would be hilarious and sad at the same time – but to point out that that’s the image brought to mind by the manner of reporting that’s been done on this issue so far.

I’ll be straight to the point today. I do not have an opinion on this issue. Because I really know nothing about it. I have neither read nor watched an in-depth report (or any report at all) about this whole controversy partly because I have not had the time and partly because I suspect if I do find out all the details about it, the truth will be a lot less scandalous, and ultimately, much more uninteresting, than it’s been made out to be so far. However, what I do want to express, is the possibility, I suspect, that many others calling for Fashola’s head (or whatever body parts they feel would be proper to slice off a man as supposedly awful as he) know just as little as me. And I’m inclined to believe this simply because of the kind of people we Nigerians reveal ourselves to be, time and again.

I’ve seen headlines claiming he’s ‘deported’ people just for being Igbo. Other stories have it as a scheme to rid the state of people without meaningful work to do. I don’t know what other people have seen; some of these headlines, two of them, just one of them? It wouldn’t require much more than that to set us off, anyway. Just before this new controversy, the major trouble sweeping the nation was the whole ‘Child Not Bride’ saga, the general crickum-crackum of which we are yet to get over. We’ve seen tons of articles and videos and rants from people who did not fully understand the situation before choosing to react. And let’s face it, who can blame them? When we have lawmakers shedding tears because they didn’t fully understand what they were voting for, who can blame ‘ordinary’ Nigerians for not properly understanding it, either? What we can hold ourselves responsible for, however, are our reactions, for those are entirely our own, regardless of our understanding, or lack, thereof, of Section 29 of the constitution, or whatever it is that’s cause for any kind of reaction to begin with. Curiously, for some reason, as citizens of this part of the world, we are quite easily incensed. Maybe it’s a result of years of poor leadership and what has become a somewhat natural predisposition to think the worst in people.

Maybe that’s what causes people to immediately break into shouts of ‘do you know who I am!’ when someone on the road so much as looks at them the wrong way. Maybe that’s what causes us to immediately start saying ‘this is why we need Biafra’ when we see news reports about Fashola ‘deporting’ Igbos, before even fully wrapping our heads around exactly what is going on. This is not to say, of course, that anyone who has an opinion on this issue is simply being reactionary and is somehow incapable of critical thinking. However I have a nagging suspicion that the majority of reactions, particulary the ones centred on the ‘Igbo’ part of the matter, are the result of lack of proper information and thought. Context matters, of course, and in a country with a history like Nigeria’s, where so many of our history pages are littered with blood spilled by the knife of tribalism, issues like this are particularly sensitive.

I’m inclined to think that if the issue is indeed as it’s been made out to be, there are bigger things to look at. For example, the ability of a state government to do so brazenly, something so unconstitutional, if truly the case, would probably be more symptomatic of a problem with the state of Nigeria as a whole, and not the supposed tribalistic tendencies of one governor. In other words, if, as it’s been made to look so far, Fashola is actually a tribalist and is able to so easily act on such tendencies, and without any repercussions, then Nigeria is in much bigger trouble than we think. But till we know that for sure, let’s all calm down for a minute before forming our opinions.