What Odumegwu-Ojukwu failed to achieve, a million Nnamdi Kanu cannot achieve. Nnamdi Kanu is on a futile trip.
Of course, Nigeria cannot be allowed to continue on its shameful path where truth and justice are asunder. One was a military offi cer and the governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. He commanded both military and political leadership of the region. He started what has now turned into an unrelenting mania amongst those from the Eastern region – the clamour for the utopian state of Biafra.
Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu went to war to actualise Biafra and lost out badly.
Some will argue to this day that he did not need Biafra to resolve the prevailing problems of those days.
Something, however, was not in doubt, in pursuit of Biafra, ostensibly to liberate his people from the suff ocating hegemony almost bothering on fratricide on the part of the Northern oligarchy, Odumegwu Ojukwu saw an opportunity to actualise a power ambition.
Th e consequences of the disastrous Biafran experiment are yet to fade from conscious memory. Th e other is nothing but an upstart, a son of an Eze from Isiama Afara in Abia State.
Here was a boy who abandoned his studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to proceed to the United Kingdom where he eventually graduated from Guildhall University (London Metropolitan University, LMU).
Nnamdi has no political background, experience or structure to command. Neither has he any military command as back-up. Yet, he talks with reckless abandon, boasting that Nigeria has never seen anything like him.
He preaches hate and sows the seeds of ethnic discord, rancour and acrimony. Here was a jobless Nigerian youngster in the UK employed by Ralph Uwazuruike to man the Radio Biafra arm of MASSOB in England.
Being an opportunist, Nnamdi saw an avenue to carve a niche for himself. He thought of nothing better than to stir the sentiments of Ojukwu’s abandoned dream.
Knowing full well that his people, the Igbo people, are in dire need of ego massaging, he employed the smart use of Biafra rhetoric coupled with fi ery propaganda of hate to mobilise gullible people.
Here we are now, with the stupid, unfocussed and once again, bitter demand for Biafra. Th e problems confronting Nigeria as a country are the ingredients of discord and agitation. No doubt, Nnamdi Kanu’s reactivation of agitation for Biafra has a fertile ground on which to germinate.
Something is however very clear: the Biafra of Kanu’s dream is nothing but a pipe dream. It will never materialize. Th e Biafra Kanu has been selling to some gullible people is illusory and impracticable. Th is is not to say that Biafra can never materialise. No, Biafra could be but not with Kanu and defi nitely not the way he has been going about it.
A bitter Biafra is what Kanu is selling to gullible Igbo people. A Biafra that can only exist in the midst of antagonistic neighbours. Th e resultant acrimony will be worse than that between Israel and her Arab neighbours. Kanu has succeeded so far because the Igbo as a people have a problem.
For a people with exaggerated sense of self-worth and grandiose view of ethnic achievements to fi nd themselves at the back bench of political leadership is a bitter pill diffi cult to swallow. Despite their much publicised entrepreneurial skills, the fact is that the Igbo are very bad politicians.
Th is is the truth they know and cannot accept. Opting out of the Nigerian federation is a refusal and lack of will to accept their ethnic insuffi ciency in matter of politics. Th is detriment is the basis of their tenacious hold to an illusory dream of a utopian Biafra.
Entrepreneurial skill? Perhaps an opportunity to address this maligned expression.
From the Hausa man that rears and sells cows to the Yoruba man that buys from Hausa to re-sell and also engages in other trade ventures, to the Bini man that farms and sells clothing materials, to the Calabar man that engages in farming and fi shing, virtually every ethnic group in Nigeria exhibits entrepreneurial skills to diff erent degrees.
Th e fact that a particular ethnic group presents itself as very aggressive in trading matters and will not hesitate to indulge in unwholesome practices, including fake and sub-standard products and embarrassing indulgence in immoral drug trade, does not confer the myth of supreme entrepreneurial skill on this ethnic group.
Th is unbridled lust for materialism has been translated in the warped minds of members of this group into superiority such that they look down in disdain on other ethnic groups.
Igbo are arrogant, pompous and uncouth in their interactions with other ethnic groupings in Nigeria.
Th ey have been rude, aggressive and abusive to their various hosts across the land.
When the uncivilised behaviour of the Igbo elicits reaction from others, they cry marginalisation.
Igbo can abuse and insult virtually anyone and they expect the whole country to keep quiet.
When others reply, they shout hatred and demand Biafra. Th is is very vexatious! Back to Kanu.
What OdumegwuOjukwu failed to achieve, a million Nnamdi Kanu cannot achieve. Nnamdi Kanu is on a futile trip. Of course, Nigeria cannot be allowed to continue on its shameful path where truth and justice are asunder. What it takes to rescue Nigeria is a resistance to oppression and injustice that cuts across ethnic lines. It requires a moral re-birth to turn our sick country to a healthy one. Kanu has even tremendously damaged the Igbo cause. Th e extent of the damage will only be visible in years to come. Kanu is a disease which we have all allowed to fester for far too long.
It is time to call an end to an unprofi table venture. Nwachukwu writes from Lagos
