Humans of Lagos Episode 4

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All my life, I greatly loathed the Igbo people from the South-Eastern part of the country. 
I viewed them as the singular parasites hindering the progress of Nigeria. 
So I vowed never to mingle with them.

Chisom loved me with all her life. 
And in all sincerity, she's a wife material having the perfect understanding of how a symbiotic relationship between a feminist and a patriarch could be harmoniously established. 
I loved her too, only that I wished that she's from my own ethnic group. 
I refused to allow my heart grow in love with the Igbo lady for I see them as selfish, money loving set of God's creature. 
Though my relationships with ladies from my ethnic group won't just work, I was adamant and determined to continue to search for love from among my own people.

My parents associates without considering ethnicity nor religion, in fact our driver is an Igbo man. 
I concluded about my parents that they are ignorant people who are seeking for unity that can burn them. 
I wished the Igbo people could just all die inside the lagoon.

So last month, my parent sat me down to tell me a story I'd never heard of before. My father cleared his throats and revealed the top secret of them not being my biological father! He told me of how they adopted me when my real parents with my two elder siblings died in an auto-crash which I alone survived. He eulogized my parents who he claimed were his friends that tutored him to the path of success in his venture into the world of business.

My mother uttering speech from her voice cord that had been soaked in her own tears called me my real name; "Azikiwe!"
I could not believed that's the name my own parents gave me, but father said that my parents were from the Igbo people.

I felt like the earth should open up that I may be swallowed alive,
I was too ashamed of myself.

So I'd been hating on on my very own people. Instead of growing in love, I curtailed my love. Instead of seeing humanity first, I embraced sentiment. Now I asked myself,

"Who taught me how to hate?"

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