I have never seen an Igbo man rest. Our celebrity wife: Nwanyiocha, Nwunye Nwoke Isuofia, once remarked on this when her husband, Ichie Ezenwa had an injury on his hand that required him to stay at home and rest. She found it funny that Ezenwa was restless through that period and commented on it on her social media handles. I laughed hard when I read it. I could relate and so can any man that is a true Igbo man. Nothing is as emasculating to an Igbo man like not having any means of livelihood or something that would make him say ‘I am leaving the house’, ‘I am busy’, and such like. In fact, a true Igbo woman would nag the living hell out of any hubby that would make a habit of staying home. Especially one that does not have a long cash flow.
An Igbo wise once observed that since the Nigeria Civil War, a.k.a Biafran War, the Igbo has never rested. The 20 pounds they were handed after full confiscation of their properties and businesses did not demoralize them. The fact that their wives had to sleep with Nigerian soldiers to feed the family and that they had bastard sons cohabiting with them did not kill their spirit. They took the 20 pounds and went to work rebuilding from the ashes. Many returned to the north and south and even beyond the shores of Nigeria and went to work making a mountain of investments and real estate out of the mole hill of 20 pounds they were handed in the name of No Victor, No Vanquished.
◦ The Igbo man revived his Ogbe Nye welfare system. The Igbo man revived the Igba Boy apprenticeship system. The Igbo man deprived himself of comforts and built billions of naira worth of investments and through the apprenticeship system spread the wealth across communities. I was told that the Nnewi people went as far as making it a standing order that all their sons and daughters must have some of their businesses if not all situated within Nnewi. Go to Nnewi today and see how the whole world comes to do business there.
◦ …and the list continues. The Igbo man became addicted to making money. And even on Sundays meant for rest in the predominant religion, Christianity, in the East, they would fix series of meetings. The Igbo man never rested.
Not until the institution of the Monday Sit At Home by the Nnamdi Kanu led IPOB. Every Monday, the people of the southeast stay at home and just switch to chilling mode. They play football on the streets. During the golden days, people would sponsor cooking for anyone that comes around the neighborhood. Those that need to do some repairs on their shops now use Mondays to do it. But most of the day would be spent on just resting.
Emma Powerful, spokesman to the IPOB has since repeatedly called off the Monday sit-at-home but AutoPilot faction led by Simon Ekpa has continued to enforce the sit-at-home and it appears that the southeast people have come to accept that Monday as a day of rest. I have spoken to several business men who operate in ONITSHA, Nnewi and elsewhere and when I call their attention to the fact that the sit at home has been called off, they would say, “We have not called it off.”
My young friend, Anyafulugo, rightly noted that ‘since the Biafran War, the Monday sit-at-home is the first time the Igbo man rested since the Nigeria Biafra War.
@ostareze
