The Igbo man is shrewd business man. He understands that business is a game and goes all out to play it.
Whether he is an okirika seller at Ogbete Enugu, or a cloth dealer at Ariaria market or food stuff seller at Onitsha Main Market, an importer at Alaba market or a banker, real estate mogul or transporter, the Igbo man has the same approach to business.
His approach is not different from what Enugu Agents do to their clients. Just make sure you make the sales at all costs.
They will lie, cheat, inflate prices, call fake witnesses to prove that a low quality product is the best quality or sell the best quality at 3 times the price.
The Igbo man in business does everything possible to make sales. Their goal at the end of the day is anything that will make your money to leave your pocket and enter theirs and make their product to leave their shop and enter your bag. That’s all.
In the work place, the Igbo man is not so different. He does everything to climb up the ladder. As long as it’s legal, he is in.
In an office, the person that is working overtime is most likely the Igbo man.
The person that is doing his work and doing other people’s work is the Igbo. The person that is extra zealous is the Igbo man.
Even in relationships, the person that goes out of his way to get things done is the Igbo man. The person that usually insists until he gets what he wants is the Igbo man.
But in politics, the Igbo man does a U turn and decides to be complacent.
He now prefers to sit back, relax and let the things he want to find their ways to him.
The person who lies to sell a boxers of #250 will see the person who lies to become a president as a demon worthy of condemnation.
The person who speaks Yoruba and Hausa, to sell a handkerchief, who calls a younger woman “mummy” and calls a younger guy “daddy ooo” to sell a shoe, will say that a man who wore Agbada to win the Senate Presidency is a disgrace to Igbo Land.
The person who bends down to clean the shoes of an Hausa Okada man so he can buy something from his shop, will say that someone who bowed down to greet the Sultan of Sokoto in his quest to become a minister, is a disgrace to Igbo Nation.
That Igbo man who pauses a family discussion because the Hausa man that Supplies him beans called, is the same man that attacked Oji Uzor Kalu for calling out his mother to come and greet a Presidential Candidate.
I don’t know how this our mindset makes sense to majority of our people. I just can’t explain.
However, if Igbos are ever going to take their rightful place in Nigeria, then we must see the reality that there’s no difference between politics and business, and the Fulani man you do business with is not less Fulani than the Sultan.
Ndị Igbo, let’s count our teeth with our tongue.
2027 is not far away. No emotions in business and no brother in the jungle. Same as business.