The Moonshine Story Of Nigeria.

Onyema is a young man who loved telling little children stories. Children in return loved Onyema so much because he is telling them stories and they believed in him, because, as they were told, Onyema always going closer to the elderly people and one elderly man told him a story about the old man that fought gallantly during the second World war.

Thus, every night, Children in the neighborhood always gathering around him to listen to his stories. Onyema told the children the stories of the tortoise and its intrigues; the story of lazy man and the affect of laziness, the story of a particular rat that joined a lizard in a rain frolic and while the lizard, because of its scary skin survived the cold, but the rat died as a result of power cold; the story of mkpurumma died yesterday; the story of the grate new yam festival in ugwogo Nike Land and many other stores.

However, on a particular Sunday night, as the children gathered at his small compound at ugwogo amakpaka village, Uche, a six year old boy, said "Dede: you have been telling us stories about the tortoise and other stores but why don't you tell us about the story of our country, Nigeria." Obinna, the son of Okolo nwani, the town crier, supported Uche. Obinna is of funny character and know how to bring joke and informality to bear on all his dealings. "Master Onyema, yes, tell us about Nigeria. Why are we called Nigerians? Were the Igbos, Hausas, the Yorubas and other tribes in Nigeria created one day by God?" He queried. Onyema looked at the children intently. He shifted his gaze and said almost to himself "the story of Nigeria will take us many nights to finish. It is as long as traveling from ugwogo Nike to Abakpa Nike. Onyema ask, will you children have the patience to wait back and listen to the entire story?" The children said with big voice together " Yes, Dede tell us the story of Nigeria". Master Onyema cleared his throat and began slowly:

The story of Nigeria is historically that about 250 different nationalities. The different people making up the present Nigeria were not created the same day by God. Or rather God did not create and put them all up in Nigeria in the beginning. The Hausas, the Igbos, the Yorubas, the Ijaws, the Fulanis, the Jukuns, and the Gwaris were once separate entities. Each tribe had a separate system of governance in the areas of social, culture, educational, moral and business spheres. Each tribe was very distinct in experience and outlook. Like for instance, the Igbos believe strongly that they are of Jewish origin and in the very distant past migrated from Israel. This is because it is believed that the Igbos have certain cultures and customs as the Jews. If you ask me, I will say that all of us here were circumcised exactly on the 8th day just as the Israelites do. Equally, the Igbos in the past and presently, there are highly industrious people just as the Israelites. It is believed that the origin of the Igbos started at Nri in the present Anambra State. Children, that is why we say today Mgbe-eri when we want to say that it has been long something happened. Nri, in Igbo mythology, is associated with old age and hence revered. The Eze Nri is a symbol of authority in Igbo land till today.

In the case of the Yorubas, two stories are prevalent. The evolutionary hypothesis says that Oduduwa, the father of all the Yorubas, descended from heaven and settled at lle-lfe. That is why lle-lfe is today the spiritual home for every Yoruba man or woman. Yorubas also share the belief that they migrated from Mecca in Arabia. According to the story I heard, there was a religious induced crisis in Arabia due to the rise of Islam which made it imperative for some people to migrate from the crisis zone to the present Yoruba land comprising Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara and some part of Kogi states.

The Hausas also have multiple accounts of origin. One of the accounts has it that Bayajida, the son of king of Baghdad, had a face-off with his father. The king planned to kill him and Babajida discovered this and had to run away. He settled in Daura . As a young man, Bayajida was tell, huge, muscular and very courageous. He came to Daura when a certain devilish snake was disturbing the whole town. Bayajida killed this mystical snake and as a result attracted the attention of the Queen of Daura. They became friends and the end product was a son called Bawo. The story has it that Bawo married and had seven children who became the founders of the Hausa states. They are Daura, Zaria, Sokoto, Katsina, Bira, Gobir and Kano. Seven other illegitimate sons founded Zamfara, Kebbi, Nupe, Gwarri, Jukun, Yauri, and llorin. This explains why till today, the Hausas refer to these states as Hausa Banza. Banza in Hausa language is a worthless thing.

"My children" Said by Onyema, "That is where we will stop this night. Look at Obinna, he is already sleeping. All of you can now go to your house and sleep good". The children move to their different homes. The children were not happy at the abrupt end of the story. Most of them were adjusting their seats to hear more when Master Onyema asked them to go and sleep. (END) wait for the continuation of the story Bye🙋🏻‍♂️.

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