Eze insinuated that the “Dan Baiwan Hausa” title given to Kalu by the Emir of Daura was for a slave boy. He further went deep to call Kalu’s mother names
Demian Ifeanyi Igbokwe
This is a response to an article by Mazi Onyebuchi Eze, writing for Family Writers Press. It’s unfortunate that one could have too much guts to write lies to the public and it is most saddening when the lies are targeted to smear the image of a man of high repute and his family.
I am not a media aide to Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, neither am I under his payroll. However, just like I will frown at lies told of any Igbo leader, I am displeased at the insinuations on the turbaning of one of our illustrious sons.
Eze insinuated that the “Dan Baiwan Hausa” title given to Kalu by the Emir of Daura was for a slave boy. He further went deep to call Kalu’s mother names, as well as lying that he understand Hausa language.
READ ALSO: Daura title proves Orji Kalu true nationalist, says Cairo Ojougboh
Just because you were raised in one clan in Shendam does not make you an authority in Hausa Language. I put it to you that Shendam as a people, don’t speak Hausa. Shimankar don’t also speak Hausa. They are Gemai by tribe. They were never conquered by the Hausa Fulani in the days of jihad. Having said that, one will be tempted to ask how Eze assumed that he understands Hausa better than the Hausa man who turbaned Kalu.
I was born and raised in Lafia, Nasarawa State, where one can authoritatively say that it has the Hausa Fulani setting and an Emir part of them, from Kanuri and a few from Fulani. I want to challenge Eze’s wicked/dirty insinuations of the meaning of “Dan Baiwan Hausa”
Bawa, means Servant/Worker/Jaki and probably slave, derogatorily. But “Baiwa” means “gata” (gift/talent in Hausa). Baiwa is gift/talent and that is what Kalu was honoured with.
READ ALSO: Turbaning: Igbo community in Katsina congratulates Kalu
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have responded to Eze’s post if he had just laid his abuses as it’s his norm. But, for the fact that he invested so much energy and time trying to lecture his audience on a subject matter that he knows nothing about, and because some gullible minded Igbo brothers would believe him without making research, I decided to set the record straight. You don’t understand Hausa. If you truly had stayed in Shimankar and you didn’t mention Gemai as the tribe, then you are just an impostor that was never properly groomed about the lie he wanted to write about.
It’s high time we (the Igbo’s) stopped pouring vituperations in the name of criticism of our few national acknowledged leaders. It’s time we acknowledged that Nigerian as a nation is running a particular pattern of political leadership system. The Yoruba understood this. The Hausa/Fulani understood and propagate it. The South-South people are already embracing it. Unfortunately, the Igbo are still lagging behind, especially due to ill propaganda fuelled by people like Eze. If we don’t correct this now, the next generation will suffer it, because this pattern is making the other regions that have understudied the political permutations of Nigeria to synergise, leaving us the Igbo in what I will describe as political limbo.
READ ALSO: Daura Emirate names Kalu Hausa Ambassador Plenipotentiary
A certain scholar of blessed memory, once said to his students preparing for WAEC in 1981: “When you are preparing for something, prepare for nothing.”
While we the Igbo prepare for something, we don’t know how to prepare for nothing. Other regions prepare for nothing through political marriages and agreements, while still preparing for something. Let us look inward!
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