By Tony Okafor
Say it anywhere: Ndigbo helped elevate “cow tail” into a national delicacy. But that is for the kitchen, not for politics.
Yet there is a troubling narrative in which some Igbo leaders are persuading citizens to settle for the cow’s tail instead of going for the whole cow. To say the least, this philosophy is unintelligible.
When did embracing limitation, and learning to be satisfied with what is available, become a wise political strategy?
That is where the “cow tail” metaphor turns dangerous.
The cow’s tail is useful—nourishing, cultural, and even prized in its culinary context. But it is still not the cow. No amount of seasoning transforms a fragment into a whole.
The same applies to politics. Concessions, however well-packaged, are not full inclusion. Crumbs are not equity.
Democracy thrives on participation and the expansion of opportunity, not on the permanent accommodation of fragments.
Tell a people often enough that managing the edges is wisdom, and they may stop interrogating the centre.
Pragmatic adjustment hardens into resignation. And resignation, over time, risks becoming destiny.
This is not an argument against compromise. All politics involves trade-offs; no group gets everything at once. But there is a clear difference between strategic compromise and the institutionalisation of permanent marginality.
Nigeria’s strength lies in its diversity and competing aspirations. Every major group contributes to the federation, and that contribution deserves substantive inclusion, not symbolic participation.
So let the “cow tail” lesson remain in the kitchen, where it demonstrates cultural creativity. Once transferred into political philosophy, it becomes an excuse for complacency.
No society achieves cohesion by teaching its citizens to celebrate fragments while the whole is quietly reserved elsewhere.
Stability comes not from admiring limitation, but from sharing opportunity broadly and meaningfully.
The cow tail is good food. It is not a governance model.
