I’ve found the wisdom to categorise our chaotic attempts to understand the agitations for actualisation of Biafra into two. Even though I only sympathise with the group that has exhumed Biafra to make a point about that atrocity perpetrated by our provincial fathers between 1967 and 1960, with the intent of introducing the new generation to what the Igbo race of the eastern Nigeria experienced, I dissent with their conclusion that secession from this federation is the only justice.
The second group are the ideologically hollow apostles of what may best be described as “Neo-Biafra” – a fanatical activism built on historical revisionism and sensational references to the history of the Nigerian civil war to portray the federal government troops that fought the insurgent “Biafrans” as bestial war criminals. Under umbrellas like Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the indoctrinating Radio Biafra, characters that are not even a part of the Igbo political establishments have emerged to threaten and blackmail the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To dismiss their hate-preaching campaigns as harmless or their terrifying boasts as empty is to exhibit ignorance of the recent history of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s multi-ethnic divisions are bound by dangerous distrust that could be easily exploited by any criminal who understands our vulnerability to ethnic, religious and regional polarisation. Many confused young people who identify with the Igbo would sign up for membership of any pro-Biafra militia, as they would elsewhere; as the confused Nigerians who identified with Islam had done in Borno, signing up for Boko Haram; the Ijaw in the Niger Delta, and the Eggon in Nasarawa.
The equation is easy to solve; the first variable points to the gullibility of those recruited, and the second points to their economically catalysed restiveness, which is a severe problem across the country. We have legions of idle, wasting millions of youths easy to access and be engaged and used for whatever may register an activity in their life. All they need to exhibit their nihilistic valour is a smooth-talking, confident criminal ideologue in the mould of, whats his name, Nnamdi Kanu, to bamboozle and dazzle them with dishonest slogans of imaginary paradises.
There are questions “Dilector” Kanu may never provide honest answers to; like the responsibility for the development of the eastern region. That the East isn’t what it was envisioned to be isn’t the fault of Governors Rimi, Kachalla, Kure and Sarakis of the north; our peculiar federation is such that our quasi-autonomous regions are given not only resources but restricted free hands to develop their various capitals, and also boosting their internal revenues.
If the East is the genius of this federation as presented by Dilector and his foot-soldiers, the inference is that the East has produced the most post-modern political thinkers and leaders in the country. If the East is the genius of this federation, then it’s a claim that former Governor Orji UzorKalu was a better Governor than Lagos State’s Governor Babatunde Fashola, or that Governor Ikedi Ohakim built Imo State in better ways than Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso built Kano.
So, if Biafra is realised today, are its leaders going to descend from the outer space? It’s still going to be led by billionaire capitalists like Orji Kalu and Ifeanyi Uba, whose political wisdoms are nothing to write home about. This is a smokescreen easy to see through. The biggest problem with “Biafra” is not even its existence in this union, but in the quality of the people elected by some of the same people now advocating secession. If Dilector and his fraudulent ilk aren’t only half clever, they ought to realise that exploiting their assumed popularity to win an election may be the smartest way to redeem the region and turn it into the Dubai and Detroit of Africa they imagine of Biafra. Let’s have a round-table to debate the lies of this beautiful country of some idlers’ malarial imagination. May God save us from us!
