Just yesterday, 16th October 2026, at the Abuja Airport, while I was waiting to pick up my luggage at the arrival hall, a Hausa man saw me and started speaking Igbo to me.
When I told him I wasn’t Igbo, he was surprised and said, “You look Igbo.”
I asked him, “How do Igbo people look?”
He replied, “They look like you.”
I told him I am from Cross River State. He then said, “When you go to the North, they will say you are Igbo.”
This is not the first time this has happened. Even Igbo people, when they see me, often start speaking Igbo to me.
I recall an incident about ten years ago in Benin City. I saw some women selling roasted plantain and I got down from my vehicle to buy some. They all started speaking Igbo to me. I told them I didn’t understand Igbo, but they vehemently refused to believe me. They kept insisting that I was Igbo and that I was only pretending.
I asked them the same question I asked the Hausa man at the airport, and they all said in unison, “You are Igbo. You are pretending.”
@ Okoi Obono-Obla
