OPINION
The recent news of 47 cows being donated by Cubana Chief Priest (CP) of Nnewi has sparked a lot of debate and discussion on social media. As someone who has been following trends, an anonymous contributor felt compelled to share his thoughts on the matter.
In Igbo culture, it’s common for people to donate cows or money to families who have lost a loved one as a way of showing respect and support. However, this practice has taken a different turn in recent times, with some individuals feeling pressure to donate large sums of money or cows to keep up appearances.
He recalled sharing a piece he authored about the loud noise decibel among Igbos and the need to lower the level of acoustics. He also shared a fundraising list for Zenco, which highlighted the amount of money that was raised for him. While some people praised the generosity of those who donated, others criticized the practice, saying it was unnecessary and a waste of resources.
Ge noted that there seems to be a complex cold war between the educated professionals in Ala Igbo and our nouveau rich businessmen. This cold war is not defined. It’s muted, but it’s real. Our businessmen are not illiterates; anyone who manages between 1 to 20 million naira for a year is educated in finance. It takes a lot of fiscal discipline to manage millions and grow it into billions.
The Igba boi boi system in Ala-Igbo, which was recently incorporated into Harvard, is a solid financial education rooted in growing wealth and risk management. However, some of our brothers, after growing their wealth and making money, still possess some behavioural complex issues. A lot of them believe that the only way to announce and stamp their presence or arrival is to flaunt their wealth, spray cash, throw bundles of currencies – mainly dollars, pounds, and naira – at social events, take Ozo or some other funny, awkward-sounding chieftaincy titles.
This unnecessary, noisy show of wealth and fame by some rich Igbo traders and businessmen did not just start in Ala Igbo (Igboland); it’s a cancerous tumour that has been there for long. Social media only lately brought it to the front burner and amplified it.
He revealed that the money that was raised for Zenco is simply solid social goodwill and debts incurred. Zenco has been giving cows to people and donating humongous money to other people’s similar burial platforms; this is just a payback time for him. ‘We are in the generation of burying our parents; by Easter, the same Zenco will flip open his list and start supporting those who will bury from Easter Tuesday till the next days of Easter’ he said.
When Zenco launched his De General Bitters some years ago, he spent hundreds of millions on the launch and signed almost every trendy musical act to promote it. He created a lot of millionaires with the brand. He’s not an ordinary real estate player; he builds and goes for prime properties in Ikoyi, VI, and Banana Island. His goodwill is immense.
“The Zenco scenario speaks to the truism of the popular axiom: one can only reap what he sowed. You can’t sow cassava and expect to reap a mighty tuber of yam during harvest. Onye kele Sunny, Sunny ekele gwa ya (anyone who greets Sunny receives Sunny’s greeting in return). I’m talking from a depth of experience.”
I’m from Akokwa, a border town in Imo State that shares a boundary with Anambra. We are Anambra by social DNA; over 90% of my old and new clients are from Anambra. Due to my association with a lot of them, I always get added to over 80% of Anambra high-profile burial platforms. I most times give media support or give physical checks or cash to the bereaved. Where I can afford four legs, I provide or monetize it.
I buried my mother in 2015 and my dad in 2021 (God blessed their souls). As of 2015, an average cow cost 150k; the biggest one then was 180k. Friends and associates gave me a total of 42 cows; I stopped collecting physical cows when it reached 12; the other 30 were monetized. A lot of the cow gifts were debts, which I’m still paying until today.
APC came and destroyed our economy. In the first week of January this year, I gave a friend who buried his father cash for a cow. He gave me two in 2015 and one in 2021. A cow now goes between 800k to 1.5M; it depends on the size and location. Every cow rope you see going for a condolence must be accompanied by a cash or check equivalent. The bearer of the rope must have killed a local cow for his late father.
Yes, we are business-oriented, resilient, and hardworking, but a new variant of Igbo has emerged. The ugly side of big, loud burials in Igbo land are many. Most of the parents whose burials were used to raise these money after their death never had three square meals during their lifetime. There are cases of parents who were living in leaking roofs with 275 lanterns or never had any decent medical attention.
Once they die, a new structure will be erected, many cows placed on detention, and chariots like those used in the Old Testament assembled to bury a man that was trekking miles to buy bread at the market. I know of over six cases of prodigal sons in my LGA who exhibited the same show of shame.
One of them had over 10 state-of-the-art cars during his fathers burial, but while alive, his father came to visit him in Lagos via night bus. His father slept in the B/Q with policemen. He talked to him through the intercom, but when the man died, a textile company was locked down to produce over 5,000 pieces of Aso Ebi. Six governors attended the burial!
Have you noticed the kind of drug seizures by NDLEA lately? It now runs into billions. We have morphed from not only a conduit for drugs to Europe and America but a consuming nation. The effects are evident in the kind of killings we are witnessing in Nigeria.
A lot of the above stems from the pressures of our boys who want to be like Obi Cubana or CP. The kidnapping business has added another dimension – organ harvesting and trafficking – are the new Yahoo plus.
We used to have the competition of social clubs in the 70s and 80s – People’s Club, Anaedo, Star, and many others. The allure of social clubs is stronger now among this new set of nouveau rich; there are more than 100 new social Igbo clubs battling for attention on social media.
From their immaculate white attires and different sizes of revered Igbo red caps easily purchased on Instagram, you can readily distinguish them. They ventilate the noise on social media, throwing bundles of 200 and 500 notes about, and later start embarking on saddening trips to India to fix their failed organs emanating from consumption of a melange of expensive but lethal ethanol-laden drinks.
Many have elevated the consumption of such liquors to a status symbol. Most of these noisily rich young businessmen, their young families suffer because they hardly spend weekends in Lagos, and when they spend, it must be in choice hotels in Lagos Island or hidden apartments.
Another ugly side is the sudden death emanating from pressure of belonging to big social clubs. In 2020, my neighbor, a Lagos big boy from Nnewi, the owner of Diamond Mall, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, slumped and died in Lekki, just as his mother’s burial was a month away.
He had already bought drinks worth over 60 million naira for the burial. The pressures from organizing a big burial and satisfying the plethora of clubs he belonged to took him away. Last year, another big oil and gas player slumped and died three weeks to his mother’s burial.
He was renovating his house; in fact, furniture he bought worth over 100 million naira had not gotten to his Oraifite country home before he died. Something must be done, and urgently too,Thank to tame this nauseating tide.
The onus falls on Ohanaeze Ndigbo and religious bodies to set the machinery in motion to stop this inelegant behavioural pattern. Soludo’s speech at the Anglican Church retreat explains this ugly trend more explicitly and aptly.
Something must be done; we must urgently pour cold water on this raging thoughtlessness of the few, which unfortunately, the rest of Nigeria now see as the moniker, trademark, and customized brand of the Igbo!
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