The Biafran Agitation: My Take, My Submission November 12, 2015

November 12, 2015 Leave a comment

 

There is a Yoruba proverb that talks about people who witness war never pray for war. The resultants of war are better imagined. Even though I have never experienced war before, no one needs to tell me that the end won’t be palatable from the stories my paternal grandma told me of. The everyday struggles are ‘war’ on their own, not to talk of an actual battle ground where arms and all kinds of weapons would be displayed and used.

I also know a popular saying that goes thus: variety is the spice of life, I feel that can be said of the diversity we have in Nigeria, I mean diverse tribes, different religions and various languages. All of these sort of add colours to our existence. This is why we are called Nigeria, every unit, every tribe,, every religion all add up to the entity called Nigeria.


This takes me to one of the burning issues at hand: Biafra.

O ye Igbo brothers and sisters of mine, why do you crave to disintegrate from Nigeria again?
Firstly, let’s look at the genesis and history of Biafra so we can have a better grasp of the issue, kindly read below:
“Biafra was a loose territory of ethnic groups in pre-colonial Africa prior to the coming of the colonialists. Pre-colonial maps of Africa show the location of Biafra and the Bight of Biafra was renamed to Bight of Bonny by the Nigerian Government. An attempt was made in 1967 to restore the old Biafran territory as an Independent state from Nigeria which caused the civil war. Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south). The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. The creation of the new state that was pushing for recognition was among the causes of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War.

The state was formally recognized by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia. Other nations which did not give official recognition but which did provide support and assistance to Biafra included Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa and Vatican City. Biafra also received aid from non-state actors, including Joint Church Aid, Holy Ghost Fathers of Ireland, Caritas International, MarkPress and U.S. Catholic Relief Services.
After two-and-a-half years of war, during which a million civilians died in fighting and from starvation resulting from blockades, Biafran forces agreed to a ceasefire with the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria’
Capital: Enugu
Founded: 1967
Currency: Biafran pound
Population: 13.5 million (1967)
Government: Republic
Date dissolved: 1970′
Source: Wikipedia
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, 6 July 1967 –15 January 1970, was an ethnic and political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the south eastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra.

There is no gain saying that a number of the agitations by our Igbo folks are valid, there are not out of place at all, hence my humble suggestion is for the political leaders to meet with this group of agitators in a round table discussion to iron things out amicably. These sectional groups (OPC, Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram) all started in similar vein and we can attest to the havoc that some of the unscrupulous elements in these groups have caused the Nation. We aren’t even completely free from the heinous group called Boko Haram.
In addendum, the reality is that almost every group in Nigeria can claim to be marginalized, every one can decide to say they also want a nation for their tribe, so what would remain of Nigeria?
Also aside the government going into talks with the Biafra agitators, I also see that there seems to be so much hate amongst us for one another, some Easterner feels more superior than the Northerners and vice versa, some Southerners feel he is better than those from the South West and so on. Some blacks complain of the Whites segregating and discriminating against us, yet the discrimination and hate that go on between us and our fellow blacks are even more acute. We need to harbor more love in our hearts, free your heart to love the other creature regardless of his or her colour, tribe or religion. God is the wisest, else He may have jolly well created us all to be the same way but He chose not to.


Why wage another war in form of Biafra?
We should be at ‘war’ with our government heads to improve governance, to give us better infrastructure, to bring about sustainable growth in our economy and not agitate for a secession.
Dear Igbo brothers and sister, biko I don’t want to have to travel to the land of Biafran before I can eat Nkwobi, Ukazi and Oha soups. I wish to visit some eastern states soon, I don’t want to have to go to an embassy to get visa. Please, give it a rest for the good of all. War no be beans o.
Igbo Kwenu! I love my Igbo friends, some of which have turned family.
Meanwhile, I saw the below disturbing pictures on the internet of some of the ravages the Biafran war caused, why would anyone want to go down this lane again?
Viewers’ discretion: some of the images are quite disturbing

















 

Biafra Was An Ojukwu Scxx 2 years ago

I think it is high time I propounded my opinion about this Biafra dementia that has been unfurling all across the nation by some inebriated and ignoramus group of Igbo people. I will express my views no matter whose ox is gored.


I would have been a Biafran if the war had succeeded. My father was in the army during the war and I have read and heard, and seen evidences of the atrocities committed against the Southerners just before the Civil War in what is now called "Igbo Pogroms". My father told me everything that happened.

But what I still do not understand is why Igbos still went back to the same North after the War. Some of them still live there even after all the atrocities that are regularly committed against them! Why can they not live in the East and develop it? I just do not get it.

Two possible answers -(1) 'hubris' or the belief that you are so special and above all others that you will soon pull the wool over their eyes and have one on them (obviously not working on the Hausa north) (2) as I said earlier, a masochistic streak that wants to be hit again and again by the same person.

So somewhere in your pithy little brains you think the answer to all of your home-made problems is the creation of Biafra and the installation of 1 man so long as he originates from what you call Igbo nation. You know I would have even given your postulation a 5 second thought if not that I remember that all Igbo states are led by an Igbo governor and all their cabinet would also typically be all Igbo; yet not one Igbo state now or in the past has been any more distinguished than any other state in Nigeria.

Let me tell you a little more you need to know about OJUKWU, BIAFRA and the WAR. It may interest you to know the history, origin and events that sprung up that declaration "Republic of Biafra. This was not because of the love Ojukwu had for the igbo people, rather than his love for power and embitterment that power eluded him. Ojukwu wasted so many promising and prominent young Nigerians. These Youths were brainwashed by Ojukwu just what Nnamdi is doing. Immediate causes of the war included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over oil production in the Niger Delta played a vital strategic role.

It may also interest you to know that the first Nigerian coup d’etat that resulted in the assassination of 11 senior Nigerian politicians and two soldiers as well as kidnapping three others was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu (an igbo) and General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi (another igbo)then used the coup as a pretext to annex power, ending Nigeria's nascent democracy. Then along came a counter coup led by Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed which resulted to murder of Gen Aguiyi Ironsi as a reaction to the killings of Northern politicians and Officers by mostly Igbo soldiers.

Ojukwu felt Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe was the highest in the hierarchy of power and should be made head of state. But when the coup plotters insisted and made Gowon the head of state, Ojukwu got pissed and this led to the civil war. Brigadier Ogundipe opted out peacefully, but pride did not allow Ojukwu to let go. Apart from the Aburi Accord in Ghana, there were a lot of other accords to settle issues amicably, but Ojukwu was bent on ruling his own oil rich country “Baifra”.

There was nothing like the "REPUBLIC OF BIAFRA " it's an illusion. That assertion was made on 30th may 1967, and was just for a selfish purpose (leadership ) Why did you think Ojukwu fought?, Who was he fighting for. Now another self-centered Nnamdi Kanu wants to take advantage of your sentiments . Ojukwu fought because he could not allow Gowon who was in the same rank as he was be head of state. Taking advantage of his father's wealth, he arrogated himself to a god of war without minding how many lives he would destroy.

Did you think Biafrans rebels combated openly with the Nigerian army? Apart from some cheap ambushes like the Abagana, where could they have confronted the Nigerian armies. Biafrans dealt with Biafrans. The rebels captured Igbo cities and tormented innocent lives. Raping young women and forcefully taking wives from their husbands. Recruiting boys between the ages of 13-15 and above into their army. Killed any person suspected of sabotage. The saboteurs were worn the Nigerian army uniform, killed and termed Nigerian soldiers. Igbos suffered, but Nigerian armies rescued the captured cities one after the other, until all was rescued.

Benin City was captured by the Biafran soldiers alongside Auchi, Agenebode, Okene, Asaba, Agbor , Iloshi and Atani while indiscriminately shooting and killing armless civilians in the process. Unbeknownst to General Banjo (the leader of this mobilization who was a Yoruba) a unit of Biafran soldiers under Lt. Col. Oechi attacked the government residence of Mid-Western Region governor David Ejoor at the behest of President Odumegwu Ojukwu to capture Ejoor dead or alive. Not wanting to appoint an Igbo over non-Igbo citizens General Banjo suggested that either David Ejoor, Sam Ogbemudia, or Col. Trimnell be made governor but Ojukwu refused and ultimately placed the Igbo medical-officer Albert Okonkwo governor.

Ojukwu would finally execute Vitor Banju, Emmanuel Ifeanjuna (The first black African to ever win an international gold medal) and one Alale following a plot to agree a ceasefire with Nigeria. Let me try to make it short. I think some of these so called pro-Biafrans should know that the only solution is to try to accept a modus vivendi and let’s live in peace and unity, and stop living in cloud cuckoo land with the stupendous misbegotten idea of Biafra. Nnamdi Kanu is an illiterate who sat in some classrooms, but it did not have any positive impact on him, and he has succeeded in brainwashing some gullible and incredulous igbo group to joining his selfish cause.

Now he has been lionized, praised, reverend and worshiped. That is exactly what he wants. Can anyone remember the names the igbos who have died for this Nnamdi madness? No! Only Nnamdi Kanu is the cynosure.

The truth is that Biafra was an Ojukwu Scxx