I write this piece with pains and tears in my eyes as I see an avoidable darkness looming large over the South East where discretion has given way to feverish and uncontrolled emotions. History they say is a great teacher but somehow we seem to have learnt nothing from our very recent past. I weep for my people!

We have been wronged. You do not  beat a child and tell the child not to cry neither do you assault the dignity of a man and turn around to tell him how not to complain. Over time in this column, I have expressed my love for Nigeria . Like our founding fathers I prefer a big nation united by faith. I have many times praised our diversity. But to reap the fruits and benefits of our diversity we must be able to manage our affairs as a big nation. But where all possible efforts failed there will be nothing wrong in our trying to manage being small instead of always killing ourselves. There is no sense of unity or oneness in killing each other.

For long the Igbo has been paying a huge price for the 1966 military coup wrongly tagged the Igbo coup and a fratricidal  civil war not provoked by them. Over three million lives were lost in that unfortunate war. Granted that efforts were made at reconstruction and rehabilitation,  Nigeria at large never reconciled with the Igbo. The Igbo is barely tolerated and not accepted as members of one big Nigeria family with equal rights to the number one job. Policies that hinder their progress as a group has  been perpetuated by sucvesive governments with the current administration  upping the ante.

The current administration’s unwritten principle of 97% and 5% which is vigorously implemented in appointments and budgetary allocations did not help assuage the Igbo feelings of marginalization. The arrogance of the Federal government in jettisoning the 2014 Confab report is reprehensible. That report produced by Nigerians addressed so many issues that would have made the current situation un-salutary. The president’s ill advised decision to archive the confab document and at the same time forbade conversations on the Nigerian question is the reason for this escalating agitation.

I do not think the President is right in decreeing that only the National Assembly can discuss all of our vexed issues when he knows that the assembly itself is deliberately skewed against the South. Those who have the listening ears of the President should advise him that the Millions of people canvassing for restructuring cannot all be wrong . Those Millions of voices on the streets calling for a better Nigeria cannot all be foolish. The change they are clamoring for is the exact change that was promised Nigerians in 2014/15.

The high handed approach of the government in dealing with the agitation in the South East is dangerous just like current military siege is suspicious. If this is about intimidation, the best that can come out of it will be peace of the grave yard. I do not think the President wants the skulls and bones of the people of South East for trophy.

If truly he sees himself as the President of the entire nation he should be able to open up a conversation that will douse the tension in the South East. He will lose nothing warming up-to the region and assuaging their grievances. There is still time for the President to be that leader that truly tried to right the wrongs done to the people.

Beyond calling out on the President, IPOB must understand the limit of propaganda, when you threaten secession or make a part of the country unlivable, the state has the right  and responsibility to protect her territorial integrity and corporate existence by deploying coercive persuasion to achieve stability. I have had the argument that deploying soldiers to the South East violates rule of law and the constitution. That  to me is a shallow and deceptive argument because government has every responsibility to deploy the military within any part of the country including Afaraukwu to enforce the same rule of law and constitution, this more so  when in your words you have created the Biafra National Guard and Biafra Security Service with uniforms and appointed your own Commander in Chief of the Biafra Armed Forces. Truth be told, no state and no responsible government will approve that.

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In Umuahia during the Military show of force we saw pictures of injured soldiers with a broken head and torn arm and the video of a civilian with gunshot wound indicating there was indeed a confrontation between the Army and civilians. Since this unfortunate incident there have been a lot of she say and he say  making it more difficult for one to know the exact truth of what really transpired

However, we must find a way of dousing the current tension and ending the military siege in parts of the South East. For those Youths confronting heavily armed soldiers with sticks and stones,  I wish to remind us of the foolishness inherent in arguing with a man with loaded gun. We do not need such bravado and another waste of Igbo blood hence we must shun any act that will provoke military or police action. We must also bear in mind that by our nature, eruption  of violence in any part of the country will hit us harder than any other group. So we must continue to respect the sanctity of human lives including that of our guests.

As an Igbo,  I understand and appreciate the underlying facts of the current agitation which is the quest for equity , justice and fairness. This is a legitimate struggle that corresponds with what other Nigerians want. Our struggle for justice shall endure and thrive if we stay the right course . It will be foolhardy to allow the beast of war turn our back yard into another battlefield. Our strongest and most potent weapon must remain our capacity to unleash passive civil disobedience. IPOB must remain non violent in both words and actions.

Our laws are still potent. Even the so much abused 1999 constitution provided us the liberty to challenge injustice when and where we find it. We can explore judicial remedy on many issues of rights violations. A combination of class legal actions  with aggressive diplomacy will likely compel the Federal Government to end class injustice against the Igbo.

Again we must cease all manners of hate speech and violent rhetoric.  As Igbo we have been victims of decades of hate speech directed against us and as such must not allow any unfair characterization of us as the purveyor of hate and violent rhetoric. We should lead the way exposing haters and hate speeches rather than rationalizing the crime. The world may want to hear our stories told respectfully and not the bitter bile from our unguarded tongues.

Part of the current failure bedeviling the struggle now is the inability of IPOB to engage and persuade the elites and political class who should naturally lead the aggressive diplomacy  to buy into the current struggle. Unless the elites and intellectuals get involved the struggle will be short-lived.

I have also heard people who have no control over the future argue with definiteness that Biafra will come in 2018. There should be no set time table for a campaign for justice and equity.  Nation building is a work in progress . We must keep pushing for what is right till justice is achieved for all. In the end peace will be our goal.