I am finally convicted on this. The one Nigerian language I want to learn how to speak and write perfectly well is the Igbo language; for so many reasons I can’t readily explain but topping that list is the fact that there is nowhere in Nigeria I am yet to visit that I did not come across an Igbo person. It is wild I tell you. They are everywhere and sometimes they blend in so well with the people in that locality that on the surface you cannot tell if they are from that place or not.
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My first landlord in faraway Ijero, Ekiti, was an Igbo man. For weeks, I thought he was a Yoruba man and in a funny attempt to make him my friend, I will greet him every morning with ‘ekaro sir’ etc. One day, I was sitting outside the house and having a conversation on the phone with a friend and I remember throwing around the words, ‘bia, biko, etc. I saw my landlord pause and say to me, “ebe ka isi?” I was shocked. This man looked nothing like an igbo man. It was such a funny discovery that he was an igbo person and we bonded on that. Lol.
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While walking through the stalls in Mandelas this morning with Mark Anthony Osuchukwu, a young man followed us. He was trying to persuade us to patronise his shop. He started with English then switched to Yoruba in a bid to persuade us to buy from him. He was wearing a typical northern ensemble and had tribal marks. I casually dropped biko in my replies to him and brethren, he quickly switched to konk Igbo and the rest is history. It was really funny.
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It is not hidden knowledge that I once looked forward to being an Igbo wife, marking the August meeting attendance with pomp and style, owning an Abacha lounge and becoming the first Lady of Anambra or Biafra. But God has a way of finding humour in our plans. He can decide to bring an Annang man your way and start to prepare you to pronounce arrangement as ollangement or problem as plobrem. Owo annang ade owo uko and heaven knows I need all the courage/boldness in this journey of my life so...😉😊
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So yes, I am finally ready to take that igbo lesson. I already have an igbo dictionary but I need a serious tutor. Ka imere igbo in five months. Kam ka examinations at the end of the day. Akukwo. Utere.