Verily, how the hell did we get to this tribalistic blitz? I know you have the same question — to which I’ll attempt to give a rational explanation from a 1975 Kid’s book. I read it 5 years ago after watching a lecture from Dr. Jordan Peterson.  It is truly a classic.

 ‘There’s no such thing as a dragon’, those are the words Billy’s mom repeatedly uttered each time Billy mentioned there’s a dragon in the house. This 35-page children’s book, There’s no such thing as a dragon by Jack Kent, can be used to give a succinct description of the rift between Cameroonian film/event producer, Agbor Gilbert and 80/20 proponent, CY (Old Pancho). 

 There was a 24-plus-hour long TikTok live which platformed Gilbert and CY on a fierce debacle, still in complete astonishment on the duration of the live session. That was followed by an outburst from influencers, public figures, multiple blogs and news platforms including: Agbor Balla, Tzy Panchak, Fuchor, Kang Quintus— who fervently hammer on the fact that there’s no room for tribalism, these men do not have any problems or Gilbert is wrong, CY is right and vice versa. Standing against tribalism, calling for peace and unity is inherently an appropriate action to take in order to deescalate such conflicts, regrettably, the damage has already been done. 

 If you are on this bandwagon then you need to spare 10 minutes to read Jack Kent’s 1975 classic, ‘There’s no such thing as a dragon’.

 “There's something so endearing about this story. The small dragon that befriends the little boy. And then in defiance of all who keep saying he can't possibly exist (despite what they see), he keeps getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. It's not until they finally recognize that, indeed, a giant dragon is stuffed inside their house that the dragon shrinks back to his tiny form and the little boy notes, "he just wanted to be noticed."

That’s a Goodreads review (from a user named Nicole) which gives a good understanding of the book. 

Just like Billy’s mom, everyone has willfully ignored Agbor Gilbert’s cries. ​“For 15 years, I have been cyberbullied on this platform by a specific group of people from the Northwest” he repeatedly states on social media. Should you go digging 15 years into the rabbit hole, there isn’t any substantial evidence to this claim. In fact, aside from the visible brouhaha with CY, Gilbert’s entire crusade rests on an ‘isolated incident’ he mentions, dating back to 2003-2005, when he was denied permission to shoot in Bamenda. That same tale recounts how he took refuge in a Fon’s palace and got the project done. 

Again, he points to the fact that on every social media post he’s tagged on, most people hatful comments are from Bamenda people. Well, that’s verifiably true. But not the complete story, since they’re equally responding to derogatory remarks made by him. 

That’s the central thematic of the ongoing clash between the two, the ‘isolated incident’ which has mutated to the monstrous dragon we see today — taking the entire house down. CY is essentially a casualty of a decade long desire to be heard and noticed. Gilbert has complained about being under attack from a select group of ‘Bamenda’ people, this is actually no news to close friends and collaborators. Every time he voiced that, the response stayed identical; there’s no such thing as a dragon.

 But going defcon on ‘Graffi’ people because of some unidentified individuals is completely outrageous. And yet, the monstruous mutation isn’t over, as he promises a second wave of attacks. Gilbert is sure having a hunch of being the school bully. Sadly enough, peace at this point isn’t possible, we should expect this to go on for months and years. Plus, there’s some satisfaction derived from the attention he’s getting, the same attention no one was willing to offer — when it was needed most. Everyone kept insisting, “there’s no such thing as a dragon”. 

Confront troubles head-on: in marriage, business, communities or friendships. Conscious avoidance of any grievance, when they manifest is conducive environment to shepherd dragons — which eventually become difficult to contain. 

 Reasonable or not, "he just wanted to be noticed."