– Ify Lorna Okocha,

“My name Ifechukwude is an IGBO name. It’s same as Chidera. There’s nothing in his name that shows Bini. It’s so sad… This is just like Black Americans claiming they are not Africans because their ancestors were moved to a different location. It’s so sad.. Anioma is an Igbo word. I’m just sick and tired of all these unnecessary blind arguments.

‘All my life, I grew up with my parents and grandparents saying we are not Igbo, but when we fill forms, we tick Igbo without being pressurized. We don’t tick “others “. When neighbors want to address my mum, they say that Igbo woman from Delta state. As a teenager who grew in the north, Hausa became my primary language because we spoke English at home not Enuani dialect.

“But my mum and her siblings converse with the language so we picked all we could. When I’m walking and someone who’s Igbo says “ bia ke afa gi? Or “ gini bu afa gi?” I understood clearly even though they didn’t say “ki bu afa yi?” When I say Ifechukwude… they say “ oh nwanem… Ihechidere, Ifechukwudelu, Chidera, Odera, etc. it’s all the same.
When an Eastern Igbo person tells me “ku si eba” “kulu eba”. I react the same way I would when I hear “kulu beni “.
“I have colleagues from different eastern states, when we are at work and don’t want people from other race or tribe to know what we are saying, we speak Igbo. Funny thing is that, everyone speaks their dialect and we catch the gist. Some days I decide I will not speak central Igbo, I will speak my dialect and when I do, I see how they laugh and say “babe whenever you speak this delta Igbo, it makes me laugh. E dey sweet me to hear. I understand everything wey you talk o”.

“This identity crisis is just not a good thing because when the chips are down, both the people of Bini, Igala, Yoruba etc will tag us all as igbos and mete out the same fate.” she concluded.

@ Enuani Cultural Forum