BIAFRA: In The Throes Of Dreams, Daredevilry And Deaths
IT is just a question of expectations
ahead of the November 17 scheduled
meeting in Enugu State of South East
governors, Igbo leaders and
stakeholders, to discuss the continued
pro-Biafra protests across the
geopolitical zone, and some
neighbouring states. The protesters
expect government to release from
detention, the leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu,
while the security agencies expect the
protesters not to break the law.
Meanwhile, the watching citizenry, not
knowing what to expect anymore, simply
expect that both government and
protesters should jaw-jaw so as to have
peace in the land.
A factional leader of the Movement for
the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB), Comrade Uchenna
Madu, said that MASSOB would continue
to protest and fight till Kanu is released.
He equally warned the Federal
Government to release Kanu or face civil
disobedience.
He said: “MASSOB and other genuine
pro-Biafra groups have vowed that our
children will never suffer the subjection
to slavery meted to their parents by the
Nigerian State. The clamp down,
incessant arrest, detention, prosecution
of unarmed and non-violent agitators for
the state of Biafra should end. The future
and survival of Ndigbo in Nigeria is very
slim because of Nigerian government’s
harsh economic and political policies
against Ndigbo.”
On the ongoing arrests and detentions,
Madu said, “we remain unfazed by the
risks of arrests because we have accepted
the fact that it is part of the non-violence
struggle; no agitation is complete
without arrest, detention and
prosecution.”
But according to him, “this singular
arrest will cause more diplomatic harm
on Nigeria’s image than good because
before Kanu’s arrest, he had succeeded
in rooting the Biafra struggle in about 78
countries. This arrest will contribute in
no small measure in reviving and
sustaining the consciousness and
sympathy for Biafra raised through
Radio Biafra and secret diplomatic
support for MASSOB. This will endanger
the already battered image of Nigeria
before the international community.
“Whether they like it or not, Radio
Biafra and the arrest of Kanu has
become a factor of reckoning on Biafra.
It is shaping the minds of the people,
drawing sympathy from internal and
external observers.”
The raison d’etre behind the expression
of wild sentiments for Biafra can be
summed thus: First, is the exuberance of
youths who were not yet born during the
Nigeria Civil War. The stories of the war
might have excited them to believe that
creating Biafra would usher them into a
new world of luxury like USA or Britain
etc.
Secondly, is the drive for the Igbo to
have a strong militant force similar to
those in the Niger Delta, the Boko Haram
and the O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC)
that will rise up and act militantly for
their people when the need arises.
Thirdly, is the disaffection raised by the
recent arrest and continued detention of
the Director of Radio Biafra and leader
of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra
(IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, whose offence
is considered insignificant, compared
with the violent activities of Boko Haram
and other violent tribal groups that
government overlooked and rather
invited for dialogue and or appeasement.
Fourthly, is the believed marginalisation
of “Biafrans” in the scheme of things in
Nigeria.
Fifthly, is the belief that Ndigbo have the
natural right to exercise their political
aspiration and seek a country of their
own as enshrined in the United Nations
Charter.
An elder statesman and member of the
defunct Zikist Movement, Rev. Moses
Iloh, has, however, decried the
resurrection of the Biafra spirit, for
whatever reasons.
Iloh said the current agitation for Biafra
is wrong and that the agitators were not
even ready. According to him, “this is
not the time to ask for Biafra, the timing
is wrong. The agitators, especially, the
young people, should not do so without
seeking the support of the elders. Igbo
leaders are not backing them. I am
urging the agitators not to cause
confusion or shed blood. When it is the
time for Biafra to be actualised, it will
come.”
Monsignor Theophilus Okere also said
the agitation for Biafra is a “dead issue”,
because of geography and present day
realities. According to him, “I don’t think
the agitation for Biafra is still relevant.
This is, because Biafra was predicated
on that map that was Eastern Nigeria,
comprising Calabar, Ogoja in the North
East and then Rivers to the South West
and Izuogu in the Midwest. This does not
include, the Ika Igbo, whose fate was
identified with us.” According to him, a
wedge was put “between the minorities
of Biafra and the Igbo,” long before the
disintegration of Biafra.
There are other Igbo statesmen like
former governor of old Anambra, Chief
Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who insists that
the present agitation is rooted in the
way the South East is treated, even by
the present administration that is
swelling the ranks of MASSOB. He had
told an interviewer that, the actions and
appointments of the Buhari government
have led to people subscribing to the
ideology of MASSOB.
A former senatorial aspirant in
Anambra, who doesn’t want to be
mentioned, disclosed, “the Igbo
definitely are the most resilient tribe in
the country. No tribe will experience
what we have gone through and are
going through and survive. Some of us
politicians will mot openly support the
agitations because we are hoping to win
elections tomorrow or probably be the
president one day.
“The large number of young people
agitating shows just how much people
believe in Biafra. For many of them,
Biafra is just their rejection of every
injustice they suffer, unemployment,
marginalisation in high places, bad
roads, lack of infrastructure, etc. Not
only are we poorly represented in
government, we are treated beggarly.
When Gen. Ihejirika was made Chief of
Army Staff, the entire tribe had to stand
up to salute former president, Goodluck
Jonathan. It was as if we have been
finally accepted into Nigeria. When next
will a South Easterner get such a
position. Certainly, without a Jonathan
we would never have got to that position.
What of the South East really taking a
shot at the position of Inspector General
of Police? The population of the South
East is kept low through an unwritten
state policy, yet we remain the only tribe
that can boast of having a presence in all
the towns in the country, we have five
states, the only zone so favoured. The
question is what is the Igbo man being
punished for? We are loathed, perceived
in the worst light, lied to so easily and
dared to complain. What is happening to
our Second Niger Bridge, which was
promised us by Obasanjo in 1999? The
Enugu-Onitsha Expressway is so bad that
no vehicle plies it. Something has to
change. It is uncertain if the protest is
the harbinger of that change, but there is
no denying that many people including
the elite are thinking. People are angry
and the detention of Kanu has just
released the genie.
The Southeast governors, Ohanaeze
leadership and others are gathering on
the behest of the governor of Imo State,
Owelle Rochas Okorocha, to discuss how
the pro-Biafra protests had gained
momentum. In Ebonyi State, where the
protests didn’t hold, most of the residents
opted to stay indoors for security
reasons, while others said they would
stay at home to show solidarity with
MASSOB.
Although, MASSOB members in Ebonyi
joined their counterparts in Enugu to
protest, Mobile policemen, including
those with Armored Personnel Carriers
(APC), were stationed in strategic
locations like the Government House,
while policemen subjected vehicles to
intensive search.
The Senior Special Adviser to the
Governor on Security, Chief Ali Odefa
said that the government was very
conscious about the safety of the citizens
and was “not ready to take chances and
we urged the people to go about their
normal business, while we assured them
of maximum protection from the
government.”
Explaining the no protests in Ebonyi,
Madu said, “we see Enugu and Ebonyi as
the same axis and the protest in Enugu
has covered Ebonyi.”
On The Trail Of A Besieged People
THE siege of protests had raised a fresh
consciousness, as the protesters looked
very regimented and coordinated. Few
instances can be cited the last time any
protests were so organised and
synchronised. The Biafra question has
suddenly become the subject for
discussions at homes, beer parlours,
Internet discussion forums, and in buses,
taxies and about any gathering in the
South East. The eternal question
remains: “Can Biafra be realised?
Should the Federal Government not
engage the agitators before this thing
gets out of hand? Said a civil servant in
Awka, Mr. Uzukwo Nwosu, “perhaps, it is
time the government started correcting
the alleged anomalies in the South East
and South-South geopolitical zones.”
A MASSOB member in Owerri, known as
Okey White, said: “The issue of Republic
of Biafra is already decided. It is not a
joke. It is evident that this country
should not be one. See the level of
marginalisation against Igbo people and
people in the South South zone. We need
division. We believe that one day it
would be realised. We want our leader
Kanu, who is the Director of Radio
Biafra Radio, freed. We need freedom.”
The President of Imo Youth Movement
(IYM), Ambrose Amadi, considered any
“question on MASSOB too controversial
to comment on.”
An activist in Awka, who simply
identified himself as Mr. Emeka, said,
“the Biafra agitation is a local issue, it
involves grassroots people, and they
were expressing their mind. The
leadership controlled the protests, and
therefore, there is no violence. The
people don’t feel integrated in the
Nigeria nation, and see themselves as
still defeated in the Civil War because of
what they are seeing on the ground. It is
the struggle of the common man even
though some of the protesters were
ignorant of the situation. In most cases,
they rely on ‘bush radio, which is at
work, and this radio tell people many
things (lies).”
A businessman, Victor Obioha, also feels
that the Ndigbo have been marginalised
and schemed out of Nigerian affairs.
“Having lost the Civil War, they cannot
start another war, but engage in open
peaceful demonstrations. In this case,
everything about the arrest and
detention of Kanu is considered unfair
and unjust and the people felt angry and
started protesting.”
The National President of Anambra
Redemption Movement, Amaechi Okeke,
considers the protests a “welcome
development and a project for all Igbo
and their neighbours.”
Warning against violence, he said
protesters should know that “with
violence, not much can be achieved.”
According to him, the late Biafra Leader,
Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu,
who led the civil war, later realised his
mistakes and “MASSOB and the other
groups are still following the same line
out of youthful exuberance. They should
channel the Biafra case to the UN and
the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Biafra is a divine project and the best
way is by going spiritual and handing it
over to God who will see it through.
“One day, Biafra will come to stay.
Presently, Nigeria does not give hope of
survival to the masses, where somebody
already in a position will nominate his
wife, son and daughter for a political
office.”
Government Response Vs The Barrels Of
The Gun
IT was gathered that the police in
Anambra arrested about 43 members of
MASSOB and IPOB during the protest,
notably in Nnewi, Onitsha and Awka.
One of the protesters Ikechukwu Okoye
once said, “we were not protesting to
cause any form of trouble but for the
release of our leader, Nnamdi Kanu. We
are freedom agitators; we obey the laws
of the land, knowing that there is
freedom of speech and freedom of
movement,” he said.
In Imo, the State Commissioner of Police,
Taiwo Frederick Lakanu, told The
Guardian that the Command would not
allow MASSOB or any such groups to
thrive in the state, as they remain
outlawed. According to him, “I have
instructed my men to arrest anyone
protesting, but tactically to ensure that
no civilian and law abiding citizen was
injured in the process.”
As the protests went viral, the Imo State
Governor and Chairman of the APC
Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha,
wearing the toga of the voice of the
Southeast governors and political leader
of the zone, in statement convoked a
meeting to address the protests.
Okorocha said the governors and leaders
in the zone could no longer watch the
situation degenerate and noted that the
Igbo could not afford to have its own
brand of Boko Haram.
Sensing a deeper political impetus and
motivation in the protests, he pondered
why the pro-Biafra apologists, after
keeping quiet all these years, only woke
to resume their protests a few months
after the new APC administration came
on board at the centre. “We will act in
the overall interest of Ndigbo in
particular and Nigerians in general,” he
stated.
In the unfolding quest for Biafra, Mr.
Ephraim Adiele, an Online Publisher
points out significant differences
between IPOB and MASSOB. “When I
met with members of IPOB, I detected
their enthusiasm, but it was blind
enthusiasm. More worrisome was the
disdain they had for MASSOB members
and any Igbo indigene that refuses to
tow their train of thought.
“Many wanted Biafra, but a bloodless
secession. Others wanted Biafra, and
claimed to be ready for bloodshed too.
The rest did not even want to hear of
Biafra anymore. They did not know the
consequences of such unplanned,
violence based secession. How not-so-
good-an-idea such a move would be from
a diplomatic perspective..”
Mr. Norbert Kelechi said that IPOB
activities have been peaceful and will
remain so. According to him, IPOB does
not support violence or disregard for the
law. “Our posture is that those accused
of crime or illegality in the North, West
or South and East should be treated alike
and not while treating some with kid
gloves, others whose acts were non
violent are incarcerated indefinitely,” he
quipped.
For Kalu Uma, a member of MASSOB,
there is clear policy of hatred for the
Southeast. He asked: “How justified is
the security agents in prosecuting some
over 70-year-old rural based illiterate
farmers for treason, just because they
were seen wearing fading face caps and
T-Shirts with Biafra logo, while known
members of militant groups who
confessed killing and bombing and
destroying properties are being cuddled?
We have every reason to be angry.”
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