Recently, a renowned Ghanaian Professor, George Ayittey, twitted a note that was very critical of the Nigerian president, Goodluck Johnathan. His comments about GEJ was posted here on Nairaland and expectantly, it generated a very heated debate here on this forum, as well as with Ayettey's Nigerian followers on twitter; some supportive of his position, others critical of him.
Subsequently, he released another long twit dedicated to his Nigerian followers here's what it says:

George Ayittey:

To my Nigerian followers. I appreciate all your wonderful comments, including the negative ones, regarding my write-up on GEJ. It will be impossible to respond to all individually; hence, this generic response.

I always distinguish between African leaders/governments and the PEOPLE. Chinua Achebe said it best in his book, The Trouble With Nigeria. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian character, culture or water. The problem lies purely and squarely with the leadership.

I have always admired Nigerians in the past -- resilient people, bustling with energy, dynamism and entrepreneurship. You will still find these admirable traits in some spots such as Onitsha Market. But the Nigerians of today are of a different stock – broken spirits, battered souls and trapped in cocoons of fear, mistrust and despair. Decades of reckless misrule and total government dysfunction have corroded the fabric of Nigerian character and society. When trapped in such a mess or maze, it is difficult to see the way out. When you engage a Nigerian in a conversation, the first thing s/he wants to know is which tribe or religion do you belong to? It never used to be like this.

The Ashanti have a proverb which says, “The one cutting a path through the bush does not see if it is crooked or not. Only those who stand afar can determine this.” What I write about Nigeria comes from this perspective. I am not Yoruba, Ndigbo or Hausa. I have no political axe to grind in Nigeria. I cannot even be president of Nigeria. In fact, I am not interested in the presidency of any African country. I call it the way I see it without fear or favor. The advantage and the service that I provide to the people of Nigeria is that I can say a lot of things which they are afraid to say. That doesn’t mean everything I say about Nigeria is true but at least it exposes the people to new or alternative perspectives.

However, it is not enough to say that President Goodluck Jonathan is a joke without pointing out the way forward, which is what I drilled into my students. Accordingly, I am writing another piece, Making Nigeria Work Again, which I will tweet in a couple of days.

Thanks for all your comments.

Source [url]here: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/i1aoug[/url]

I was particularly struck by his profoundly insightful breakdown of the typical Nigerian mentality. In his twit, he noted how rather than debate ideas, Nigerians would resort to 'ad hominem' attacks. In quick successions, my mind scanned through many of the debates I have seen here on Nairaland; and the reason he said what he said immediately became obvious to me. See for instance the debate on El-Rufai's analysis of Peter Obi's government and how it quickly degenerated into a north vs south dichotomous discourse, or read any thread about GEJ, and see how people start making patronising comments about south-southerners or easterners (it goes on and on). Indeed, hardly any debate on ideas lasts a few comments on this forum before people start demonising you by virtue of your place of origin, as though you chose to be born wherever you were born. I think holding on to this mentality is a disgrace to a population so intelligent and industrious as Nigerians are!

Let me leave you with one quote whose message fascinatingly summarises this post:

- [size=14pt]Great minds discuss ideas[/size]
- Average minds discuss events
- Small minds discuss people.

Which of these categories do you want to be identified with?

So do you agree with professor Ayittey's summation of the average Nigerian mentality or do you disagree? Why or why not?

His assesment of Nigerians is very correct. Because of religious, tribal and regional bigotry Nigerians are no longer capable of issue based debates.

ganye1: His assesment of Nigerians is very correct. Because of religious, tribal and regional bigotry Nigerians are no longer capable of issue based debates.

I agree with you. I am all the more disappointed because I feel our diversity should be a strength and not a weakness. I expect it to stimulate discourses on ideas and act as a platform for diverse approaches to our myriads of problems that are just as diverse as we are.

ganye1: His assesment of Nigerians is very correct. Because of religious, tribal and regional bigotry Nigerians are no longer capable of issue based debates.

And to add to your statement above, its like the World now have a better knowledge & understand of Nigeria more than most of us parading ourselves as citizens of Nigeria.