REPUBLICAN NATURE OF IGBO MAN

Abstract

A critical attention to the sociopolitical life of the Igbo man would discover that the Igbo man is less welcoming to a lording leadership than to a consensual leadership. It is his belief that nobody is a compendium of ideas through the ideas Igwebuike and Ibuanyidanda. Equally he is very conscious of the fact that each man not only deserves a hearing but ought to relate well with others via the idea of izukammananneji and belongingness. With the fear of abuse of power and the quest for political stability, the traditional Igbo man hesitates to any monarchical administration that confers political authority on a single individual. Not minding the paradigmatic disruption that came with slave trade, colonialism, neocolonialism and western imperialism and consequent intrude of monarchical leadership, the Igbo man is socially and politically of a republican nature. He yields more to consensus and negotiation than lordship and imposition. While changes might always come, however, any that is antagonistic to the cultural principle will indubitably pave the way to instability. Subsequently, it is only an understanding of this core nature of the Igbo man that would aid to establish an appropriate and perennial socio-political system for the Igbo man, otherwise the difficulty of a successful and fruitful administration would always be far-resolved. Approximately, the success or failure of any socio-political governance of the Igbo people depends on its ability to recognize and play along the intrinsic, republican Igbo man’s orientation. With the aid of comparative and critical analyses, this treatise establish that republicanism is the livewire of any Igbo socio-political administration; effort to institutionalize a system not ad rem to his republican orientation is a sure lead-way to political revolution and instability.