By Henry Akubuiro
Nnamdi Agbakoba has functioned as an author, a poet and a historian for twenty years. He is the author of a new book, The Stabbing of Nigeria, a revelatory offering informed by what nature is saying about the country, Nigeria.
Let’s not forget, in his first book, The Terrors of War, the author predicted the Iraq War (2003-2011). The book, which he started writing in 2001, took ten years to complete, and foretold the ill-fated war in the Middle East via an open letter written to former American president, Bush Jr., six months before the war started.
The author said that war, unfortunately, led to the emergence of terrorist groups like Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram, among others. He also foretold the Niger Delta crisis at the turn of the new millenium with the emergence of militant groups in the region.
In the new book, The Stabbing of Nigeria, he has predicted a Peter Obi victory in the forthcoming presidential election in Nigeria. He is also making a case for a name change from Nigeria to a more indigenous name, which other African countries have done after the end of colonialism. According to the author, Nigeria is a coinage from the offensive word “nigger”.
Though arguments have been made that Nigeria is a derivation from Niger Area, he said it was more of a Nigger Area, which must be changed for the nation to move forward. “Nigeria is in tatters. I weep for our children,” he lamented.
Agbakoba said in a media chat held at the National Stadium, Lagos, “Nobody can convince me that it’s not a coinage of nigger,” adding, “Even Nnamdi Azikiwe didn’t notice it that Nigeria sounded so similar to the name of hatred.” Nigger, he said, took centuries to be ingrained as a word of hate by the whites against black slaves.
The author maintained that River Niger also got its name from that hate word in the 17th century. “All our rivers had their indigenous names –Oji River, Inkisi River, etc. Niger isn’t an African name. I believe different African countries would given the River Niger its own peculiar name according to where it was flowing to. So it must have had different names in different countries.”
He restated: “Nigger is a word in Latin for black. Niger (River) is not a word. It was a manufactured word. It’s not a word God or man created over a century. It was created from nigger. It was a coinage of nigger, and that’s how the River Niger got its name. So, by the time the slave trade was abolished, it was the slaves in their millions returning from America in ships to Africa who inspired the name ‘Nigger River’.
“Many of the returnees would now enter the boat and start going down to Ghana or Nigeria. They began to trace their motherland, and it inspired the name ‘The Niger River.'”
He envisaged the new book as a handbook of correction and a must-read for our leaders and politicians. The author had a sad experience with Nigeria’s education system not too long ago where corruption was endemic, as merit was sacrificed for mediocrity and corruption.
He lamented that ‘expo’ has become ingrained in Waec exams since 1976 till date, a culture that makes him declare, “Nigeria is dying intellectually.”
The author prided himself for being intuitive, which made him able to make accurate forecasts about the future. “So Peter Obi’s victory happens to be someone whose revelation came from nowhere the way the Iraq War came to me,” he reiterated.