ESN, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu And The Key Moment In Revolutionary Success -By Rees Chikwendu

A revolution must bring about a geopolitical convulsion that reverberates around the world, rejig ties and pave ways to recast a people’s role in their region and the world. It must be a turning point in the people’s modern history, assert independence from foreign powers, and regain sovereignty. A revolution must bring about a homecoming.

It seems that Nigeria would become a shifting political ground that would recast the African memory. It may as well be the final rupture between Africa and its colonial ties. How world powers would react to the shift would influence and determine the new relationships that would emerge – between Africa, The West, Russia, and China. There is always a blind spot in world powers’ intelligence gathering that sometimes makes them react differently against the most beneficial path. They are not a know-it-all. Nigeria begets a close examination in this direction.

The Biafra-Nigeria fraught, specifically, is political shifting ground. Some would like to wish or pray it away. However, it is showing signs of the kind of rupture that would recreate the Nigerian entity. It smells of a bloody revolution. Failing to anticipate and effectively respond to the unfolding events in Nigeria would be ignorance. You can’t wish or pray it away. The turn of events in Biafra-Nigeria distress would have many blind spots to global intelligence gathering.

The anguish of freedom is today driving the coming revolution. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, “man is condemned to be free.” That is what makes humans authentic, and, in the absence of this, people would revolt. Nigeria poses an existential threat to Biafran Igbos in particular and many other nations lumped in it. Nigeria has denied the Igbos their authentic self and the desire to be themselves, causing anguish of freedom.

In the absence of leadership, a man, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in exile is now at the center of Nigeria’s geopolitical convulsion. What is he asking? A referendum for his people. From exile, his speeches are penetrating the hearts and minds of his people, even his enemies. They are becoming self-aware of their existence – a requirement to redefine their essence. Nigeria, as a rogue state, has rejected dialogue. At this moment, it seems, the opportunity to dialogue is over, leaving a bloody revolution as the alternative.

The poorest people and most Biafran youths are now under the influence of a vociferous and intelligent man – Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The moderates and the extremists are now rallying around him. Intellectuals are learning from him and agreeing to what he stands for; clergies are quietly mobilizing their disciples from the pews, and celebrities are now sympathetic to him and coming to harmony with his ideologies. These things must take place before a revolution. Today, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the most influential man in Nigeria.

As a requirement to the success of a revolution, he rejigs the ties in the old East. In ways never seen before, he is reshaping and strengthening the alliances in the south of Nigeria. Arguably, the Igbos and the Yorubas are closer today than at any time in the history of Nigeria. A milestone in the events that would recast the roles of these two powerful nations in West Africa. These alliances would mark the moment of unanimity to bring about a revolution.

A militant power is also necessary to the success of a revolution, and it is where the Eastern Security Network (ESN) comes in. The ESN, no doubt, was formed out of security need and leadership failure in Nigeria. However, soon, the Nigerian military would force them to become a full militant wing of a bloody revolution that would rupture the country. It will be counted too as a success to that revolution when it happens. The Nigerian military is a lawless organization, and it is a matter of time before it makes that mistake with the ESN.

Finally, the task to seduce international media and governments’ opinions is arduous but required. A revolution must feed the media, and the media as well must feed the revolution. There is no homecoming without these, but unending years of armed struggle.

Rees Chikwendu