Nnamdi Kanu’s Biafra Agitation Is Unnecessary And Evil -By Chukwuemerie Uduchukwu

The United Nations empowered every citizen of its member states with the right to self determination. By this, every citizen has the right to request for the independence of his or her geographical area. Many nations like south-sudan has benefited from this UN provision and some other regions and persons are currently trying to benefit from it. One of the regions that regularly witness such agitation is the southeastern part of Nigeria that contains five states namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. Though history taught us that the present day Nigerian Niger-Delta region which includes states like Akwaibom, Bayelsa, Crossriver, Delta and Rivers state witnessed same agitation during the Civil War but history showed that the Niger-Deltans were invaded by Biafran soldiers thus, forcing them into the unholy marriage called Biafra and that the region’s indigenes were not comfortable with that and that forced them to cooperate with the Nigerian army to chase away the Biafran army from the region which catalysed the overwhelming humiliation of the Biafran army by their Nigerian counterparts to the extent that the then Biafran leader Ọdụmegwu Ojukwu hurriedly handed over to his second in command Philip Effiong and fled. Phillip Effiong consequently, surrendered to the Nigerian army led by General Olusegun Obasanjo and declared the ceasing of the name and nation Biafra. I will try to avoid the wicked activities of the Biafran army when they invaded the Niger-Delta and that Nigerian army on Biafrans (Igbos) during the Civil War because such will awaken emotional injuries

Since the end of the civil war, many groups within the southeastern Nigeria have been agitating for same biafra that ceased to exist after the war as declared by Philip Effiong and confirmed by Ojukwu who afterwards, lived as a patriotic Nigerian, contested Nigerian presidential election in 2003 and accepted the result, died as a Nigerian and was buried honorably by the Nigerian Armed Forces led by a Nigerian President (Goodluck Jonathan). The funny part of the whole post-civil war saga was that Ojukwu who they (post-civil war Biafran agitators) claimed to be their father and mentor never participated in those agitations as he always urged for peace and unity of Nigeria. Some of the post-civil war Biafran agitators include the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the Zionist movement and recently, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). These groups employed various tactics to actualize their dream but the IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu had buried Biafra more with the use of a pirate radio station known as radio Biafra.

It is important to note that the media is the greatest tool for propaganda or any agitation but Nnamdi Kanu has used his media weapon to cause unnecessary hatred between his Igbo brothers and the world thereby making the resurrection of Biafra more impossible. A smart freedom fighter should be friendly, diplomatic and social but Nnamdi Kanu lacks such qualities. Instead of using his radio Biafra to make friends for the Igbos, Kanu has used it to insult, curse and blackmail other tribes including a president of a sovereign nation that he wants to seceed from. A freedom fighter that addresses his country as a zoo, addresses his president as pedophile, child rapist and terrorist, addresses other tribes withing his country like Yorubas as cowards and Hausas as Almajirris and terrorists seriously needs urgent psychiatric attention and counseling. What marvels me most is that he regularly abuse the world super powers like the United States and Britain and at same time he is required to gain their support for the actualisation of his dream. He even used to address blacks as baboons and monkeys thereby making one wonder if he is a freedom fighter or racist. Aside that, he always label any Igbo that tries to correct his misleading part an antiIgbo or saboteur. Also, he used his pirate radio to spread hate and he ended up misleading many of our misinformed brothers to believe that Hausas and Yorubas are evil and that other tribes never want them to succeed. He was even seen in a video soliciting for guns and bullets from our brothers during the world Igbo congress to burn down Nigeria but happily, he was disgraced by the audience for making such treasonable request and you will wonder the kind of independent nation somebody like that will achieve. With the type of Kanu’s propaganda, Igbos living outside Igboland especially those in Hausa and Yoruba lands will definitely loose their properties, businesses and even lives if the dead Biafra is resurrected. It is insane to be blackmailing other tribes while you are aware that majority of your brothers live there. If Kanu’s mode of propaganda is allowed to prevail then Igbos are doomed.

Recently, some youths took to the streets in protest over his alleged detention by the operatives of the state security service (DSS). These youths trekked from Onitsha>Awka>Enugu>Aba>Portharcourt in protest. However, they where reportedly resisted from crossing Rivers state by the security agencies. Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike also made a broadcast and banned the activities of the Biafran agitators in the state as the state is not part of their agitation. The same youths later trekked back to Owerri protesting. It is obvious that these youths are part of the unemployed Nigerians who were deceived to believe that if Biafra is restored they will all be meaningfully employed. Moreover, I don’t think that these youths took the wise decision to protest for the release of somebody who has evidences of treasonable felony written all over his face. Even if it is true that he was arrested, charged, bailed and fulfilled his bail conditions, how sure are these youths that all the documents tendered in fulfillment of his bail conditions have been verified to be authentic. This is because the state cannot rush the release of a suspect charged with a heavy crime like treason without proper verifications of the documents tendered by his surety.

Moreover, it is unwise and unnecessary to agitate for Biafra without any solid plan for the proposed nation’s economy and government unless the agitators want Igbo land to be another south-sudan that is currently witnessing another war after its independence. Why is the agitation necessary and assuming Biafra is achieved today, where will its capital be located? What system of government will it operate? What type of Constitution will it operate? Who will makeup its constitution drafting committee? How many states will it have? Will it be a capitalist, socialist or mixed economy? Since it is clear that the Niger-Delta region won’t be part of it, what are the structures on ground to boosts its Internally Generated Revenue? and are all states of the southeastern Nigeria truly in support of its agitation? You cannot wakeup one morning and start an unstructured agitation.

Futhermore, there is no reasonable reason to agitate for Biafra because there is no established case of marginalisation or persecution of the Igbos by the Nigerian state since the end of civil war in 1970. Igbos enjoy the highest hospitality in Nigeria as they have enjoyed a friendly atmosphere from other tribes to establish businesses and develop plots of land outside Igboland and have occupied all the sensitive positions in the country. The only position an Igbo man is yet to climb is that of the president but Igbos should blame themselves for that. Igbos always fail to understand that they can’t win any presidential election in Nigeria through regular exposure of their tribalism sentiments and hatred for other tribes. To be frank, no Hausa or Yoruba man will vote for a tribe that abuses or hates his people and radio Biafra has fuelled such hatred which will likely make it impossible for an Igbo to be elected as Nigerian President in the next 100 years. Also, no Igbo state was denied its federal allocations and the Nigerian state had never embarked on killing of Igbos since the end of the civil war.

The problem of Igbo land is Igbos and not Nigeria. If our youths protested the ebola condition of our states and federal roads as well as lack of adequate developmental facilities in the southeast like this during the previous administrations, our land would have witnessed some amazing developments. You cannot wakeup one morning and start Biafran agitation without a valid reason. Even though the world respects the right to self determination, no country will give you its backing to seceed from a sovereign nation without providing a convincing reason for that.

God bless Nigeria.

Chukwuemerie Uduchukwu writes from Awka, Anambra state Nigeria.