By Chidi Obineche
The multi-pronged interface with South east, northern leaders and state governors by the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to douse ethnic tension between the feuding ethnic blocs may have sparked off fresh rows, opening new fronts in the simmering cauldron. Initial expectations that it would pour cold water on the tension brought about by the May 30, 2017 sit-in by the Igbo to commemorate and mourn their war- dead and the consequential order on them to quit the north in three months by a coalition of northern youth groups may have twigged and deepened the festering sores of the fragile nation. In the thick of the interface, the adamant northern youths not only reaffirmed their resolve to see through their threats, but have injected more valve to it by writing Osinbajo to urgently facilitate referendum to let the Igbo off. The Igbo in response have also brushed aside restraint in fighting back
The media and publicity secretary of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB Emma Powerful told Sunday Sun that there were not much expectations from the acting president’s consultations. “Why would anyone expect anything to come out of it when those who issued the threats are walking about free and are even blowing hot the more? The confidence that can be injected into the consultations can only come when steps are seen to have been taken by government to reassure us of the safety of the Igbo in the north beyond mere words and grandstanding.” Similarly, a member of IPOB’S Supreme Council of Elders, Mr Inno Amadi an engineer, described the utterances emanating from many northern groups and elders as “provocative”. He said, “how can you be calling for peace and at the same time those you are preaching to are busy issuing more threats, and they also attend your meetings. Such a situation cannot confer faith on the deliberations. The consultations you are talking about are some of the contradictions of the Nigerian state. People are always chasing shadows and playing pranks. How can anyone be convinced about the sincerity of government on this issue? Why would government clampdown on groups in Igboland who are having peaceful meetings and demonstrations , kill, maim and detain them, but turn a blind eye when others gather together to threaten violence? This is surely double standard and this is why some of us are not taking the meetings serious” Asked if the composition of the Igbo Elders at the consultative meetings was in order, he dismissed it as inconsequential insisting that what was more grave and disturbing was the “attitude of the north.’’ Continuing, Amadi who is also the president of Bilie Human Rights Initiative and IPOB executive in charge of Youths and Mobilization said, “The Fulani are unfolding a template. It is not just their youths, but all of them. Their intention is to isolate the Igbo so that they will continue to dominate Nigeria. They came from Futajallon Mountains subdued the Hausa and continued their conquests and expansion up to Lokoja where they were stopped and Queen Amina was killed.
Most of the areas they overcame are Biafra land. They know it is only the Igbo that can halt their domination of Nigeria and that is why they are asking us to go. Again, their target is Osinbajo. They want to arm twist him and continue their onslaught on the nation.” But just as the Arewa youths and some of their elders maintain an obstinate stance on their ultimatum, the leadership of cattle breeders in the South-east, under the aegis of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN repudiated the 19 Northern governors, Arewa elders and youths that they will remain in the South east even if the country is divided; insisting that the region has become part of their daily lives and as such will not return to the North.
The group’s chairman, Alhaji Siddiki Gidado pointed out that although they were not comfortable with the agitations of IPOB and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, his group does not support calls for Ndigbo to leave the North or for them to leave Nigeria. His words: We condemn in its entirety the aspect of the Arewa Youths communiqué that insists that Igbo should leave the North; this position is unacceptable to us in the South-east because we feel at home in this zone.
“It is worrisome that some people who are safely seated in their comfort zones seem to care less about the safety of many of their kith and kin at the other sides of the divide as they make statements or engage in acts that can cause mayhem.
“We advise that both the Arewa group and Biafra should sheathe their swords and seek better ways of making Nigeria a better place for all of us.’’ But despite the suasion from Gidado’s group, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu is still not comfortable with the acting president’s trouble shooting insisting that there will be no elections in Nigeria in 2019 unless their demand for a referendum was met. He said a test case for their resolve would be during the forthcoming Anambra state governorship election in November.
Prof. Ango Abdullahi, who attended the consultative meeting with the acting president, has yet to beat a full retreat. He insists he has not committed any crime by supporting the Arewa youths in their eviction notice quest. He argues that he will support the Igbo to have a country of their own in defiance of the intents and purposes of the meetings. Abdullahi, who was a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF maintains a stoic position on the issue positing that they only want to help the Igbo to realize their dream. “The Igbo said they want to leave Nigeria. They have been saying this for a long time…. So this time, youths must have seen that they needed help to leave Nigeria and it is a good thing if they can mobilize themselves back from every part of Nigeria including the North of course, to go back home and really concentrate on building the Biafra state they have been dreaming about. And we will support them in that direction.”
Ripples
Although no concrete steps beyond the jaw- jaw have been taken to effectively put out the rising tension, the faceoff is gradually gravitating towards a showdown. Against the backdrop of cacophonous dispositions and declarations by the contentious groups and other stakeholders in the Nigeria project, a groundswell of unease is building up, reducing the consultative meetings to a puny effort and palpably ineffectual. More nascent pressure groups are emerging issuing ultimatums and exacerbating the already raging inferno. At the last count , at least 27 groups have mushroomed from all parts of Nigeria which includes among others the Middle Belt Alliance, South east Elders Forum , Igbo Kunie, Niger Delta Freedom Congress, Oodua freedom Group, New Niger Delta Avengers, Fighters with the movement for the emancipation of the Niger Delta, Core Middle Belt Value, among others. Some of the groups have already taken positions on the lingering melee inflaming more passions and spinning more ripples.
A growing state of uncertainty is creeping into the psyche of the people. But despite the seething anger Osinbanjo has promised that breaches of the 1999 constitution by separatist groups will no longer be tolerated. Eminent Nigerians including the National Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Ahmed Makarfi have given the acting president kudos for his searing intervention in cooling tempers. According to Makarfi, his intervention was a good dose which difused a looming conflagration that would have had dire consequences on the unity and peaceful co-existence of the disparate ethnic groups in Nigeria.
IPOB, willy-nilly has vowed to continue with their struggle arguing that they are protected by various legal instruments including the Supreme Court judgment on the case of Abacha vs Fawehinmi, United Nations Charter on the rights of indigenous peoples as well as the African Charter, which was ratified and signed by Nigeria. The spiraling turns and twists on end are creating a deep gulf in ethnic relations in the country. In the words of a former national deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George, “It is instructive to act expeditiously now before things finally fall apart.”