By Promise Adiele
It is with a heavy heart I write this letter to you all. First, I want to sympathize with the families of those who lost their loved ones during the recent invasion of Abia State by members of the Nigerian Army. The action is condemnable in its origin and execution. It shows the military in their sadistic and despicable dimension. To imagine that such acts of extreme brutality can take place within a civilized society in the 21st century is not only reprehensible but galling. To the families of those who died in the mayhem, please accept my sympathy.
The perennial agitation for the actualization of Biafra has never been more intense in Nigeria since the civil war than now. These agitations are predicated on the perceived marginalization of the Igbo within Nigeria. As a result, the tranquilizing mantra of marginalization has been bandied about by some of our people. If we argue that fewer states are in the South East in comparison to other regions in Nigeria, if we argue that the Igbo are not adequately represented in federal appointments, then we have a valid point. However, is that enough grounds for us to embark on a suicide mission of secession seeing that our people have perennated since the end of the war?
For the records, let us quickly examine what it means for a race to be marginalized within a country. If there is a law in Nigeria prohibiting the Igbo to vote, that is marginalization. If there is a law in Nigeria stopping the Igbo to own a business; that is marginalization. If there is a law which requires the Igbo to carry some form of identification before they can enter the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; that is marginalization. If there is a law prohibiting the Igbo youth from being admitted to universities in Nigeria, that is marginalization.
If there is any law in Nigeria stopping the Igbo from holding political offices, from being enlisted into the army or police, stopping them from traveling abroad, having a restricted time for movement, stopping them to represent Nigeria in sports or in any other capacity; that my brothers and sisters is the accurate meaning of marginalization. In the absence of all of these, let us quickly exorcise the demon of marginalization from our consciousness. Nobody owns Nigeria any more than the Igbo man. In fact, an Igbo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe under whose symbolic political shadow we all live fought for the independence of this country. Given all of this, it is not the best for us to continue to say that the Igbo are marginalized in Nigeria and I am sad about this.
Another word that has been bandied about to justify the continued agitation for Biafra is bondage. Some people have gone ahead to give Nnamdi Kanu the undeserving accolade of liberator, one who has come to free the Igbo from bondage and I ask myself, which bondage? Those who are at the forefront of this macabre dance of death have sold a lie to the naïve among us that the Igbo are in bondage in Nigeria.
I have never heard anything more banal and jejune. Now let me give a little example of what it means to be in bondage. Consider the plight of the Israelites in Egypt as recorded by the Holy book. That is bondage in its stark, naked simplicity. Let us go back to the reign of apartheid in South Africa. During that time, the blacks in that country lived in perpetual bondage and that inspired a lot of creative works in literature, arts and music. Then, blacks in South Africa lived in bondage, never allowed to live in some areas, were only allowed to do menial jobs, and had set time for their movement around major cities. Let us consider another instance of bondage. The blacks in USA lived in untold hardship and bondage, serially brutalized, maltreated and insulted. Signs like “whites only” and “blacks not allowed” daily robbed the black man of his humanness and self-worth. In South Africa, the blacks didn’t attempt to secede. They planned, came together, worked it out and one of them (Nelson Mandela) became the president of South Africa. The same also happened in USA.
It was almost unthinkable that a black man will one day become the president of the United States. When people like Martin Luther King Jr. and other freedom fighters emerged, they didn’t cry for a separate country for the blacks or seek secession. They mobilized their people, created awareness of their situation and through organized rallies, educated the black man about his potentials in the United States. A black man (Barrack Obama) eventually became the president of the United States of America.
Today, we are crying that we have never occupied the seat of the presidency. My people, nobody is going to present us with the seat of the presidency on a platter. We need to work towards it and I believe we have the men, the resources and the capacity to present a viable personnel that will one day become the president of this country.
Nnamdi Kanu is very popular. Let him form a political party or join an existing political party, play the politics and fraternize with prominent political strongholds in Nigeria, albeit in humility. Other ethnicities will sympathize with us, the world will rise for our sake and then an Igbo man emerging as the president of Nigeria will become a reality.
Let’s remember that the Nigerian civil war led to the loss of about three million lives. Although Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu led the war on the Biafran side, when he died, he was given a state burial by the federal government of Nigeria. Many Igbo families will never recover from the dislocation caused by the death of their prominent sons during the civil war.
Although I was born some years after the civil war, I am fully aware that my father lost two younger brothers who fought in the war on the side of Biafra. Both of them, School Certificate holders at that time were so passionate about Biafra and against my father’s advice enlisted in the Biafra Army. While one died at the Okpalla sector of the war on the 22nd of March 1969, the other died at the Mbaise sector of the war on the 1st of December 1969. My father never recovered from the tragic death of his two younger brothers until his death in 2006.
Instead of crying bondage and marginalization, let us come together and build bridges, play the politics and take a shot at the presidency, I am sure we will win. The Igbo man will gain more in the continued existence of Nigeria as one entity having spilled blood and water for its development and growth.
Adiele writes from Department of English, University of Lagos