During a short interview, the former governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, stated that he once went to the elder statesman and former minister of steel development in the Second Republic, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, to ask him the reason why the Igbos are not widely accepted in Nigeria.
Ezeife stated that when he asked Unongo the question, he told him that we the Igbos are very gifted when it comes to setting up businesses and industries, but we have one problem.
According to him, “Nigerians know that people from the south-east are industrialists.” It’s a gift of God to them, but the problem we have—I’m sorry I must say this—Paul Unongo is dead. He educated me. For some reason, he came to my house, and we lived there for three months. One night I asked Paul Unongo why Igbos are not accepted everywhere in Nigeria. He looked at me and said, “I’ll tell you the truth.” I was happy, and this is what he told me. “An Igbo man will come to a village; he doesn’t have any connections or money.”
“Then a few years later, he builds a palatial house, and he comes round and asks me, “Is that his fault?” I said, “You tell me.” Then he said listen. While he was talking to his friends, a TIV man was passing in front of his compound. The Igbo man shouted and said, “What are you doing?” I know that fool. I met him the day I arrived here, and up until now, he has not built a chicken house. Then he said to me, “If you were that man and you heard him say it, how will you feel?” Then I said, “I’ll hate him.”
Speaking further, he said, “Then he said, okay, you’ve got an answer to your question, and I said yes, you’re right, if what you’re saying is true.” I’m sorry we’ve lost a fortnightly person, Paul Unongo, a TIV man. He taught me the problem of Igbo. I have been fighting that, but I have not succeeded at all. “So loudmouthedness is our problem, and we must learn to be diplomatic and tactful.”
