STRICTLY FOR THE PREJUDICED IDOMA MAN.

Photo Credit: Queendoosh.co

BY Ogiri John Ogiri

Earlier, I took on the Idoma ladies who see nothing good in getting married to Idoma men. I chastised them for believing so wrongly, accusing them of the logical fallacy of hasty generalization.However, this is not to say that I will spare the men of my constructive vituperations. 

You're an Idoma man, you're ready to get married but you don't think that you should take a wife from your tribe because you believe that all the girls from a particular area flirt with other men when they get married. But my brother, are you better than your father who chose to marry your mother who gave birth to you? You know this is not true.

Honestly, we,the men of Idoma extraction, have our own problems too. When we set out to look for a wife,that is when we realize that Otukpo is a no-go area. We have been conditioned to believe,and we do so wrongly, that Otukpo girls flirt even when they get married. As a result of this, we are ready to jettison the thought of marrying from there or to discourage a known friend from marrying any lady from Otukpo. What about our misbelief and wrong perception about the entire Ogbadibo ladies? How often do we fall guilty of this act!

The question is, have you married all the women in Otukpo before? If you haven't done so, how then did you arrive at your finding that Otukpo women flirt a lot even in their husband's house? If Ajuma was guilty of flirting with men outside her marriage, it does not mean that Elakeché will equally flirt because both come from Otukpo. 

In the same vein,the one who makes certain unverified generalizations about Ogbadibo ladies must have married all the ladies from there to be able to authoritatively present such a conclusion. If Achobe from Orido Otukpa does something bad as a married woman,it doesn't mean that Onyiloko from Otukpa Branch will do the same thing if she's married. There is no direct relationship between the two illustrations at all. 

I do not intend to contend that there are no bad girls in every Idoma society, including a non-Idoma society, there are, but to generalize every member of such an area is where I have a problem. That one man killed and ate a lizard in Ijege village does not mean that all Ijege people eat lizards. That is too stereotypical. It is an incorrect logic.

The thing is,if as an Idoma man, you're not prepared to marry from a particular area in Idoma land,please do not discourage the one who has decided to take a wife from there. More so, if you have decided not to marry from your tribe, then stay out of the way of those who want to. Stop underselling our ladies before outsiders. Out of the majority, Idoma girls are very beautiful. I have come to observe that for every ten beautiful ladies I see around in Lagos, Abuja,Kaduna or Makurdi, at least seven are Idoma ladies. So my brother, shouldn't you be proud of our girls and stop making wrong generalizations about them?

Every person is unique in his or her own way. We should,therefore, understand this in order to soft-pedal in the way and manner we jump into conclusions about others. 

My Idoma brothers, go into the world and promote our Idoma sisters.

©Ogiri John Ogiri