Power seduces. So does fame. Everyone wants to be powerful or famous. However, the route you choose to get to that destination could turn groundnut to gravel in your mouth.
That is the setting in the South East now where some queer characters have become freedom fighters, positing to deliver the Igbo from the stranglehold of Nigeria.
Of course, the Igbo are in a parlous and deplorable state, especially since the emergence of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The Nigerian estate under the Hausa-Fulani hegemony is intent on crushing the Igbo. Unfortunately, the same Igbo seem intent on willingly laying their heads on the slab to be slaughtered by these enemies, who would gleefully seize the opportunity. Worse still, people are no longer safe to give wise counsel because the supreme lords of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, have threatened to send ‘cowards’ with contrary views to their wacky strategies on exile.
Nevertheless, we reject the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organisation. Where else in the world but in Nigeria would a terrorist have his father’s bedroom as operational base? What IPOB have done to attract this calamity on themselves and Igbo land is what we call ‘egbe onu’, empty boast. They have thus alienated reasonable people, bragging about their war machine to the point of soliciting for arms at the World Igbo Congress in Los Angeles, USA. They have threatened fire and brimstone on the Nigerian army, even crossing the Rubicon by setting up the Biafra Secret Service whereas they have nothing but stones and broken bottles, which they foolishly cast at lethal Armoured Personnel Carrier.
Warfare is not a piece of cake or igniting a fire in the hope that an enamoured international community would come and quench it for you. It is not about misleading the gullible with propaganda such that one had hoped that by now US President, Donald Trump or UN Secretary General would have since arrived Ariria market, Aba. It is not about one drunken Turk railing vituperations on Nigeria hence even making IPOB susceptible to suspicion in the recent arms hauls by the Nigerian Customs Service. The truth, however, is that the international community will not intervene until they must have finished killing most of us. Nigeria will not be the first of such scenario and may not be the last. At best, they will sell us arms and watch as we destroy ourselves.
The killing of unarmed youth in Igbo land cannot be justified under any guise. Therefore, the Nigerian government should quickly recall its troops from the South East because there is no reason for such deadly python dance. The python does not dance except to wriggle and bait its prey. That is what the Nigerian government has done and the idle pranksters in quest of power and adulation have deceived some Igbo youth to become victims of this diabolic trap. Nothing can be more foolish than making Igbo land theatre of war and expect the international community to come and help or save us from the war we procured with our blinkers on.
Hunting for the head of the poor Hausa suya man or sweet vendor or beggar in Aba is most inhuman and stupid. If that Hausa man had benefitted from the injustice we complain about, would he be mere maiguard somewhere? Besides that, what is the worth of a thousand of such Hausa in comparison to one Igbo academic or businessman killed in the North? What is the cumulative worth of all the Hausa kiosks in the entire East in comparison to one Igbo man’s multi-billion-naira investment up North? Is it not then foolishness to throw all that away in pursuit of utopian glory? Kudos to Kano youths, who have taught Nigeria a lesson in brotherhood by rallying for the Igbo, attired in Igbo wears.
The Igbo have been serially marginalised. So, asking for their right in the screwed up system called Nigeria is cogent. However, IPOB misinterpreted the groundswell of sympathy following the ill-advised long detention of their then unknown leader and became unruly, unteachable and omniscient, and have now imported war into the Igbo heartland unprepared. It does not make sense to bring destruction to our modest achievements since the war ended, only to start from ground zero all over again. Let us rather consolidate and extend our economic tentacles. That is why I opt for economic emancipation. Political freedom is useless in the hands of economically emaciated or emasculated people. Let us have a roadmap for economic growth and development.
The political opportunists, seduced by the lure of power are in quest of Biafra as a do or die affair because they are already supreme lords and presidents. As the ban on IPOB activities takes effect, let the governors and Ohanaeze increase the tempo by fashioning out economic blueprint for the region. Let them bury their selfishness and see the larger picture. Let them revive moribund industries in the East and establish new ones. Let them create jobs for the army of hungry, jobless youths that are manipulated by false propaganda of a glorious future in an uncertain republic.
The British agenda, which was amplified by Nigeria’s military, is at play here. And unless our leaders are able to convince men of conscience in the North, like former vice president Atiku Abubakar, and build alliance with the South South, South West and North Central, and push for restructuring of the country, there is not much that can be accomplished. Let the Igbo repatriate their huge investments offshore. Let us bid our time and build up formidable economic bastion.
Biafra was not even the priority of late Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu- Ojukwu. He was only constrained to declare Biafra when Nigeria reneged on the Aburi Accord and continued the pogrom against his people. As romantic as this idea is, will Biafra guarantee better tomorrow? Or turn into a mirage that would make Ndigbo to stand on the banks of the River Niger to sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? Would current imperial Biafra promoters not become taskmasters when the true Okoro man refuses to kiss their feet? By the way, who would be president of the republic, and from which part of Biafra?
Some unwary youths are already in the belly of the ravenous dancing python. Those who misled them are alive and in hiding. The late wordsmith, Chinua Achebe, was right after all: “We often stand in the compound of the coward to point at the ruins where the brave man used to live. The man who has never submitted to anything will soon submit to the burial mat.”
Are there intelligent cowards out there? Welcome on board!