There is a tragic irony unfolding in Nigeria — a dark comedy so grotesque that even history shivers. It seems absurd for visitors to conspire against the homeowner, as those who gain from another’s efforts attempt to dispossess the very individuals whose ingenuity established the structure they now occupy.

This drama reaches its peak in the plight of the Igbo people in Nigeria — a group that has contributed more to this nation through enterprise, creativity, resilience, modernization, and national integration than any other, yet faces treatment as political outcasts, economic threats, and existential burdens.

I. Igbo: a people with only one home on earth

Let us state the bitter truth that many fear to utter:

Of Nigeria’s three major ethnic groups, only the Igbo have no second homeland anywhere in the world.

The Hausa or the Hausa/Fulani have cultural, linguistic, and ethnic extensions across Niger, Chad, Mali, Sudan, and the Sahel belt.

The Yoruba have deep, historic roots in Benin Republic, Togo, even parts of the Caribbean through the Diaspora.

But the Igbo?

They are the genuine indigenous people. The real native population. And of all the three major ethnic groups Igbos was on their land and practiced democracy thousands of years before Greek civilization started tinkering with democracy. That’s why Igbo Monarchs do not weild powers over the people like the other two have over their subjects. In Igboland the King own his subjects and the subjects own him. Igbos are the only race with such traditional and cultural structure.

Nigeria is the Igbo first, only, and final ancestral territory. They have nowhere else to claim, nowhere else to retreat to, nowhere else to call home outside the geographical and spiritual space of the “Nigerian” federation.

This is what makes the Nigerian hostility toward Igbo not only unjust but existentially cruel, politically reckless, and historically suicidal.

Persecuting a people with only one homeland is like setting fire to the foundation of your own house and laughing as the flames rise.

II. The builders faced attacks from those who reaped rewards from their projects.

From northern saharah to southern savannah; from Lagos to Kano, from Kaduna to Asaba, anywhere an Igbo man touches, turns into a hive of commerce.

It is the Igbo who: turn deserts into districts, swamps into skyscraper zones, rural emptiness into economic nerve centres, dying cities into thundering markets.

No other group in Nigeria transforms space with such speed and intensity.

Yet it is this productive energy that provokes envy masquerading as nationalism.

Suddenly, the builder becomes “dangerous,” the investor becomes “suspicious,” the entrepreneur becomes “a threat to the host community.

Nigeria is possibly the only country where development is treated as provocation, where success is treated as arrogance, and where industry is treated as infiltration — especially when the hand behind it is Igbo.

This is more than just a national madness; it showcases a distinct combination of penis envy and the castration complex. Nevertheless, there is no competition in destiny.

III. The logic of hostility: when fear dresses like federalism it unleashed the beast within man humanity!

Envy is an ancient disease. But envy mixed with political power becomes poison.

What the Igbo suffer in Nigeria is not misunderstanding but systemic fear weaponised by state structures: political exclusion, strategic underdevelopment of their region, discriminatory policies, targeted campaigns during elections, baseless stereotyping in media and public discourse, orchestrated violence during crises to mention but a few.

This is not “inter-ethnic tension.” It is a calculated intimidation that must end in praises.

One cannot rise by holding another back. A nation that feels threatened by its most valuable contributors risks bringing about its own ruin.

IV. When visitors gang up: the tragedy of ingratitude

A house becomes dangerous when the newcomers forget who owns the compound.

The Igbo face:

• their businesses burned
• their votes suppressed
• their political rights ridiculed
• their contributions erased
• their children insulted
• their future sabotaged

Meanwhile, the same groups doing the attacking depend on Igbo markets, Igbo innovation, Igbo labour, and Igbo money to breathe economically.

The ultimate folly lies in betraying the hand that feeds you while soliciting assistance from a hand that remains empty or steals from you.

In Nigeria, the Igbo hand is bitten often — and sometimes applauded as seen in rascals and irritants that attack Igbo race being compensated with political appointments.

V. A history of resentment against excellence is a big clog in the wheel of real progress.

Nigeria fears the Igbo not because the Igbo seek domination — they do not.

Nigeria fears the Igbo because the Igbo cannot be dominated.

You cannot subdue a people who: survive war, survive economic strangulation, survive political isolation, survive propaganda, survive hatred, survive terrorism, survive neglect…

And still rise, rebuild, renew, and reinvent themselves, competing positively on the global stage, doing exploits for the good of mankind.

Every attempt to crush the Igbo has produced the opposite effect: greater strength, greater unity, greater genius, greater productivity.

What the governments deny them, they provide for themselves through communal efforts and strategic philanthropy.

This is what terrifies the Nigerian establishment.

VI. A nation on the path to self-destruction

Great nations protect their builders.
Failed nations persecute them.

History is brutal on societies that turn against their productive minorities:

The Ottomans persecuted the Armenians — and collapsed.

Nazi Germany demonised Jews — and destroyed itself.

Yugoslavia criminalised entire ethnic groups — and disintegrated.

Nigeria seems eager to repeat this historical stupidity, we Igbos welcome them!

Targeting the Igbo is not “national politics.”
It is national suicide rehearsed in slow motion. The consequences might be suffocating at the end.

VII. The Igbo must reclaim the house – and now.

When visitors gang up against the house owner, the owner must not cower.
He must not apologise.
He must not beg.

He must reclaim his dignity and rebuild his compound with reinforced walls.

The Igbo must as a matter of urgency:

1. Deepen investment in the homeland — making the East irresistible.
2. Strengthen political awareness and strategic alliances.
3. Reject narratives that demand apologising for excellence.
4. Rebuild regional infrastructure and empower local industries.
5. Assert cultural pride unapologetically.

Yes, if Igbo business men and women can import from all parts of the world, nothing can stop them to export to all parts of the world from Igbo land.

Nigeria must be told — not softly, but forcefully — that no force can suppress a determined mind. No amount of marginalization and exclusion policies can stop the absolute development of Igbo land.

VIII. A warning to Nigeria: respect the people who make you prosperous.

You cannot keep humiliating the people who keep the economy alive. You cannot continue demonising the group that drives your commerce. You cannot suppress the constituency that modernises your cities.
You cannot antagonise the only major ethnic group with no second homeland and expect peace.

Respect is not a request. It is a survival necessity.
Igbo people must be treated with dignity and mutual respect devoid of tribalism and primitive attacks, and Igbo land must be given it due share of the national cake, providing conducive environment and developmental opportunities as done in other zones by the Nigeria government.

Because when the Igbo are pushed too far, history shows that they return stronger, louder, more united, more determined — and their comeback always shakes the earth.

To conclude, we ought to recognize the importance of the house owner rather than think they will go away.

Nothing can unite a people more than having a “common enemy” especially in sharing the spoils of power so don’t worry visitors may gang up.

They may whisper lies.
They may conspire in the darkness of their fears.
They may bond over their insecurity.

But the truth remains:

The Igbo are the house owners – the real aborigins.
Nigeria is their only ancestral home.
And they will not be erased.
They will not retreat.
They will not disappear.
They will rather get bigger, better and stronger.

A nation that wants peace should honour its builders.
A nation that wants progress should respect its pillars.
A nation that wants stability should stop provoking the only group with no other homeland to run to.

Once the property owner stands up, visitors should either remain seated or vacate the compound.

The practice of using attacks on the Igbo race as a basis for political appointments has become an unfortunate norm. Nevertheless, similar to the passage of time, this situation will also come to an end as we gain essential insights without experiencing any astonishment.

It is now time for the Igbo population to invest in and grow their territory, making it a celebrated part of the world.

It’s time to act.

Our Star Contributor, Livy-Elcon Emereonye Writes from Lagos Nigeria.