Last year, Ajofia Nnewi was billed to perform in a masquerade show in Lagos, Nigeria. But the real owners of Lagos through the commissioner of police banned Ajofia from stepping into Lagos State.

The official reasons they gave were;

1. Ajofia stirs segregation in a mixed state like Lagos since it’s reported it’s only men are allowed to come close to view it.

2. It pollutes the environment with the smoke it emits from its head thus creating health hazards and concerns.

These were the official reasons. Now, here are the unofficial reasons:

1. The owners of Lagos wanted to show the noisy Igbos who always claim Lagos is a No man’s land, by stopping their most revered masquerade from performing, who owns Lagos.

2. Suspicion was rife that the masquerade was coming in to energise an evil voodoo for the Igbos which will help them in their domination of Lagos.

Well, I am more inclined to go with the first unofficial reason. My reason is simple. Ajofia Nnewi has performed in Lagos for more than seven times prior to being banned last year. Thus, the authorities knew the masquerade is purely there for show.

In fact, as early as September 2023, Ajofia performed at a New Yam festival held at National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

So, the real reason for infringing on the right of willful association and pursuit of happiness was because, before the last year’s show which was billed for a hotel in Festac, many Igbos were already online boasting how the biggest masquerade in Ala Igbo is storming Lagos.

It is no longer news that online banters in Nigeria do not take time to quickly degenerate into ethnic verbal mudslinging, especially on X. This particular one was no different. It generated a lot of unnecessary bad blood and furore between the Igbos and the Yorubas.

I called a top Lagos based lawyer to step in when the news filtered in that Ajofia Nnewi has been banned from performing in Lagos. The lawyer told me it was already late. The show organiser had already acquiesced, and consequently, signed he is no longer bringing in Ajofia to Lagos for security reasons.

I in turn called Chief Azuka Efoagui. He felt sorry for the organiser who has paid the full performance fee upfront. He told me, all he can do is to wax a special song for the organiser since the cancellation was no fault of his but that of our brothers who made unnecessary noise about him coming to invade Lagos with powerful magic.

The sad part is, all the Igbo online warriors who caused this development with their empty boasts quickly moved on to another online spat without batting an eye to see the damage they caused their own.

The reflective question is, what exactly will happen to Ndi Igbo before they learn a lesson on the need to tone down their loudness? Why do we go to a strange land and become so mindlessly domineering that we hardly pause to think how our hosts feel about our loudness?

Does everything about us has to be braggadocios?
The biggest burial!
The biggest birthday!
The biggest mansion!
The richest man is so so place!

Why do we like setting ourselves up? Empty vessel they say make the loudest noise.

Interestingly, when you get into the seat of power where the real operators discuss, Ndi Igbo are found wanting. But outside the hall, our kinsmen (AGIP) are littered as servants to the people that matters. It is these servants, at times, we deify with needless noise.

It is about time we lessened the noise and stop putting unnecessary marks on our backs when we are not and has never been the real threat as far this union is operational.

Credit: Nze Tobe Osigwe (Ezeikolomuo)
Obi Eziokwu
Nkpoka, Nnewichi-Nnewi
Afo