Media commentator Reuben Abati on Thursday peddled a long-debunked conspiracy theory about land transactions in Igboland, claiming without evidence during a morning segment on Arise TV that no Nigerian of Yoruba origin can purchase land assets in the country’s South-East region.
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His comments followed Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s praise of the entrepreneurial spirit of late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, an Igbo lawmaker who passed away in July.
While acknowledging the industriousness of the Igbo people, Mr Abati quickly inserted his commentary that as hardworking as the Igbos are, they withhold their lands from outsiders, implying that they are generally hostile to other tribes.
As part of his argument, Mr Abati recounted a story he purportedly heard from T.O.S. Benson, a late Nigerian minister. According to Mr Abati, the minister, despite having an Igbo wife and daughter, was allegedly denied the opportunity to buy land in the South-East because he was not Igbo.
“It is the irony of Nigeria that the same Igbos who are so industrious that they’re all over and they do well in other parts of Nigeria,” the TV host said in his commentary on Thursday.
“You go there as a non-Igbo man to go and buy land, you’ll be told that you don’t belong, even as an in-law. These are the issues in my view,” Mr Abati said in his contemptuous hot take on Thursday.
However, Mr Abati’s claims were found to be false in that a Yoruba entrepreneur like Adetayo Amusan owns Polo Mall in Enugu, the region’s heartland.
Peoples Gazette also confirmed that businessman Mike Adenuga, a non-Igbo, has private and commercial assets on vast swathes of land across Abia state.
Nigerians of Yoruba origin are also known to live in South-East commercial hubs like Aba, Awka and Independence Layout neighbourhoods in Enugu State. Google Maps confirmed a street named after a Yoruba man, Dayo Okunlola, exists in Ugwuaji, Enugu state.
On Friday, Mr Abati adamantly refused to walk back his claim when his colleague, Ojy Okpe, asked him to, reading out a social media comment that said, “You cannot paint a whole tribe with one brush.”
Instead, he interrupted his colleague at intervals and yelled at her to “replay the tape again(sic). Ah! Replay the tape!”
“I was specific about what I said. Nobody should tell me any nonsense,” the Arise TV host blustered on air.
Despite Ms Ojy’s attempts to placate him by explaining that it was her “duty” to seek clarification on his anti-Igbo remarks, Mr Abati interrupted sharply, retorting, “No! No nonsense duty!” displaying a level of indignation that did not shock his other colleagues who seemed accustomed to his tactlessness and made no efforts to intervene.
“If people have a different opinion, they have anthropological evidence to support it, It is not for me to reverse myself,” insisted the TV host in light of glaring evidence stating otherwise.
He asked if Ms Okpe was the one challenging him under the pretext of social media feedback in an attempt to intimidate and silence her.
“Except you are expressing your own opinion, and then I will come after you and say you are wrong,” the TV host said in an attempt to bully his colleague.
Notwithstanding Mr Abati’s intransigence, Ms Okpe calmly concluded the topic, reiterating, “The conversation is that a whole tribe cannot be painted with one man’s experience.”
Mr Abati’s on-air conduct enraged netizens who wondered how he acted towards his younger colleagues off-air, given his brashness on live television.
In reacting to Abati, Oladiji Dada wrote on his Twitter handle @oladijidada :: “Iam a proud Yoruba man and my late father, had a house in Enugu that he rented out. He also had land there for years. I also happen to know individuals that had properties in the SE and were non Igbos. Land means different things to different people.
The facts of the matter:
Research by Headlineswave reveals that the people of Mbieri saw it as a taboo to sell land to their respected in law, TOS Benson.Rather than selling land to him, they gave him land for free as tradition demands. To reciprocate the gesture, he built a post office for his in laws. That post office still stands till date. So why would a man that calls himself a journalist misrepresent this issue which is based on tradition and respect in the manner that Reuben Abati did if not for mischief against a particular tribe. Our unity as a country lies in the understanding that our different cultures and traditions shape our destroy as a country.
Facts must remain sacrosanct in our national discourse
