*BY IBN MAGAJII
The Mirror Test
There is an old Greek idea that has been on my mind lately — one that I believe every son and daughter of Akoko Edo needs to sit with quietly for a moment.
The ancient Greeks divided all of humanity into three groups: the idiots, the tribesmen, and the citizens.
Now, before you bristle at the word idiot, understand that the Greeks did not mean it as an insult. An idiot, in their usage, is simply someone who does not care about the wider world. He throws his banana peel on the street because the bin is five steps away and no one is watching. She cheats in an examination because passing matters more than learning.
He steals from the public purse because the public is an abstraction and the money in his hand is real. The idiot is not necessarily a bad person — he is simply a person who has switched off his sense of responsibility to others.
The tribesman is a step further along the road, but not always in the right direction. The tribesman does care — but only about his own. He trusts you if you share his blood, his village, his religion, his surname. Put him in leadership and he becomes dangerous, because everyone outside his circle becomes invisible to him.
The Greeks were clear: a tribe is not only about ethnicity. A religious group that shuts out the world, an alumni association that only serves its inner clique — these are all forms of tribalism.
And then there are the citizens.
Citizens obey the traffic light when no one is watching. They do not cheat. They pay their dues. They give without counting the cost. They understand that their own wellbeing is connected to the wellbeing of everyone around them.
Studies suggest that in Africa, only about one in ten people function as true citizens. The rest are split between idiots and tribesmen — not because Africans are lesser people, but because our systems have not yet made citizenship feel worth it.
So here is the mirror test. Look honestly at yourself. Look at the associations you belong to — your community development union, your alumni group, your residential association. Do these bodies reinforce tribalism, or do they cultivate citizenship? The answer to that question determines everything that follows.
Next week: The Laws That Govern Us All
*IBN MAGAJII writes from Lagos and can be reached at Dreamfixer1@gmail.com
