Any supposed attainment in Western Education that fails woefully to instill objectivity in its acquirer, stands as a wasted venture. In fact, such acquisition can only be regarded as an effort in futility.
One good thing education does to its possessor is purification and liberalisation of the human mind. Sound education knocks out primitivity and crudeness that are natural in man. This is why certain behavioural tendencies in an uneducated man could simply be ignored but when exhibited by the educated, who is expected to have been mentally liberated and conditioned to objectivity, it becomes a source of concern, disappointment and threat to the larger society.
From every human expectation, no one should be questioned if one believes that Dr Reuben Abati, should, by virtue of his ‘deep education’, be a refined gentleman. A synopsis of his ‘educational background’ should be enough to make a casual observer think that Dr Reuben Abati should be regarded as a rational being. With a Doctorate Degree in Theatre Arts, specialising in Dramatic Literature, Theory and Criticism, a First Degree in Law, and a Certificate in Journalism, what on Earth should render Dr Abati mentally myopic and psychologically porous?
As educated as he purports himself to be, no sane mind would have ever expected that Dr Abati could condescend as low as allowing himself to be irretrievably enmeshed in clannishness and pettiness of ethnic bigotry and hate.
It was a clear case of imbecility for Dr Abati to have condescended to using the comfort of Arise Television, a Platform he may not be responsible and industrious enough to establish for himself and others even all through the remaining part of his life, to castigate the Igbo as a ‘Tribe that does not sell land to non-Igbo. Is this not stupidity taken too far?
To compound his absurdity, Dr Abati foolishly tried to justify his irrational assumption on his allegation that he got his spurious piece of information from a former Minister of Information, Mr T O S Benson who died sixteen years ago, on 13th February, 2008, on an occasion at National Theatre, Iganmu, Surulere, Lagos, and who would not be in a position to either confirm or deny Abati’s frivolous allegation.
Assuming, without, in the least, conceding that late Chief Benson had made such an assertion, at least sixteen years ago, as a Lawyer and Journalist, should porous Reuben just run to an irresponsible unverifiable conclusion without looking at the other side of the coin? What effort did he make to investigate that claim, to determine its veracity and authenticity?
I am sure if Reuben had made even the least attempt to find out the truth, he would even have discovered that when Chief T O S Benson indicated interest in buying land from his brothers-in-law of Mbieri in Owerri of Imo State, they told him it was, by their tradition and custom, more appropriate and dignifying for them to give him a parcel of land free of charge. They did that and he used that parcel of land to build a Post Office for use by his in-laws.
Chief T O S Benson, unlike the likes of Reuben, was urbane, and not parochial.
It is probable that because of his ardent animosity, which could only result from inexplicable inferiority complex, against the very ubiquitous, assiduous, altruistic and progressive Igbo, Reuben has made no attempt to know the way of life of the Igbo. He probably only sees them as People who ‘miraculously’ work hard, make money, buy land and property wherever they find themselves in, and visibly amass wealth, even to the extent of many supposed Landlords becoming tenants to them. Otherwise, an investigation trip to Enugu would have unblinded him to know that many Yoruba own Real Estate in Enugu. As a Federal Public Servant in Enugu between 1975 and 76, my Landlady was Yoruba. She was popularly called ‘Madam Warm’.
At Aba, Barr Musa Tolani, a Yoruba, and a proud owner of buildings in that commercial city, would, after listening to Reuben’s cork and bull story, a typical lazy man’s story of envy, dismiss him as being unfortunately an ignoramus.
The Igbo have had a long history of very cordial relationship with the Yoruba. This is evident in the fact that as early 1944, Engr Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba, had almost adopted Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo, as his son. The relationship between the two was so intimate that when Herbert Macaulay was buried in 1946, Azikiwe delivered a speech at Ikoyi Cemetery.
Unfortunately, characters like Reuben Abati who, due to lack of proper education, having only passed through the walls of Schools but primitively refused to allow the Schools to pass through them, dwell in ethnic jingoism, labouring to portray themselves as clueless irredentists, just to cause disaffection between the Igbo and the Yoruba. Of course, such mean characters will always fail because their strength is only in rousing ethnic sentiments and odium which naturally fizzle out once reality dawns on the vulnerable.
At 59, having supposedly been born on Sunday 7th November, 1965, Reuben Abati should have every cause to be ashamed of his miserable self that up to this age in his life, he still depends on another person’s vision, initiative and enterprise to eke out a living. Majority of his mates in Igbo land are Successful Employers of Labour. He is, rather, wallowing in abysmal frustration, which he frequently translates to idiotic crudeness which he erroneously believes is bluntness, just as a result of envy and irredeemable inclination to castigate and stigmatize the Igbo.
Could it be that Reuben Abati, who is said to have recorded many failures in marriage, is it three or four times, is, indeed, a psychopath that is actually in dire need of the attention of Clinical Psychologists?
Not knowing that what he may be believing to be arrogance or pride only amounts to behavioural malfeasance, when his co Arise Television Anchor, Ojy Okpe, on Friday 22nd November, 2024, tried to remind Reuben Abati that it was unprofessional for him to have made a sweeping accusation against the Igbo without a thorough investigation, he obstinately spontaneously slammed her with a crude warning of ‘no body should tell me nonsense’.
It is unfortunate and, no doubt, bizarre that every thing about Reuben Abati, in this very context, is nonsensical. How is a supposed Mighty fallen?
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State and writes from his native Asa land beautifully situated between Aba in Abia State and Port-Harcourt in Rivers State.
