LAMENTATION FOR IGBOHO: WHERE THE WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS HAS BEEN BURIED BY THE PRIDE OF THE LITERATE

 

By David Alani Ige (The Scribe)

There is a tragic irony walking the streets of Igboho today, one that breaks the heart of anyone who truly loves this ancient soil. We have more degrees today than ever before. We have professors, lawyers, politicians, and glamorous elites. Yet, in terms of true wisdom, visionary progress, and communal love, the modern "educated" class of Igboho cannot hold a candle to our uneducated ancestors. 

Let us speak the bitter truth without fear or favor: The olden days of Igboho were vastly better than the modern reality of Igboho. The Monumental Legacy of the Unlettered

Look back at the foundation of our land. The brave, uneducated founders who carved out Igboho did not hold university degrees, but they possessed a profound, God-given intellect that modern schooling cannot buy. They built Igboho to their taste—a taste rooted in unity, vision, and progress. 

Every major pathway and road that connects our town today was envisioned and channeled by these unlettered giants. With their bare hands, communal labor, and shared love, they built our schools, our hospitals, our historic churches, and our majestic mosques. They labored together to build our post office, our police posts, and the Igboho City Hall. They founded vibrant markets where trade flourished because love, trust, and shared destiny were the true currencies of the land. They had no certificates, but they built an empire of peace.

The Modern Architects of Hatred

Now, look at what the modern "architects" have done to our inheritance. Our roads are left in miserable, embarrassing conditions. But worse than the broken asphalt is the broken brotherhood. 

Today’s educated elites have abandoned the brick-and-mortar of community building to become architects of division and hatred. History is no longer sacred in Igboho; it has been weaponized. Our modern scholars tell and twist historical stories not to unite us, but to favor the specific quarters they come from. They shrink the glory of an entire ancient city to fit into the narrow, tribalistic boxes of their immediate family compounds. 

Our leaders among the educated class have become cowards. They see the decay, they see the lies, but they refuse to speak the plain truth because they are terrified of being quoted, terrified of losing social status, and terrified of losing political patronage. 

A Landscape of Fractured Leadership

Because the elite have chosen silence, the opportunists have taken over:

The Politicians rejoice in our fragmentation. They know that a unified Igboho can demand accountability, so they intentionally feed the flames of division because they gain wealth and power from our internal wars.

The Religious Leaders have drowned in the ocean of pride. Instead of preaching the unifying love of God, they wallow in petty superiorities, drawing lines in the sand where bridges ought to be built.

The Scholars are perhaps the greatest disappointment. With all their high-level literacy and academic titles, they have become so blinded by bias and quarter-level sentiments that they can no longer objectively interpret a simple, plain  judgment. 

Igboho is at a complete standstill. There is no single sign of a developmental breakthrough, because everyone is pulling the fabric of the town in different directions. The Yoruba proverb rings painfully true in our streets today: "Ẹlẹ́mọ̀ ń lé emọ́, aláàfẹ́ ń lé àfẹ́"—everyone is chasing their own selfish, narrow interests, while the communal home burns to ashes.

The Ultimate Tragedy: Poisoning the Well of the Future

But the most heartbreaking, dangerous aspect of this crisis is what we are doing to our children. The educated elites are not just ruining the present; they are actively poisoning the future. They are transferring this bad blood, this bitterness, and these distorted, hypocritical historical narratives to the incoming generation. They are teaching children to hate before those children even understand what a quarter means.

To the elites, the scholars, the politicians, and the elders of Igboho, I cry out to you today: Wise up before it is too late! If we do not stop this madness, history will judge us harshly. We will be remembered as the generation that inherited a kingdom of gold from uneducated visionaries and handed over a kingdom of ashes to our children in the name of literacy. 

Let us bury the hatred. Let us return to the pure, unadulterated love of our founders. Igboho must be great again, but it will never happen until truth replaces hypocrisy.

David Alani Ige (The Scribe)

A grieving, hopeful son of Igboho.