Decoding the Biafra challenge

Depending on how one views it, the whole Biafra conundrum is either a sword of Damocles swinging about Nigeria threatening to cut it to pieces, or a Gordian knot whose unravelling should help provide answers and pointers to the glorious future that awaits the country.

Whichever way one choses to look at it, it is no longer prudent to continue to dismiss the renewed agitations by activists for a Biafran Republic from Nigeria as merely a quixotic stunt by a gaggle of misguided and ill-bred young men. Nor should we continue to entertain the notion that the movement will somehow lose its steam in the face of expected conflicts and contradictions within it, and against the Igbo nation and Nigeria at large. To hold onto this position amounts to self-denial and ultimately to miss the chance of learning the lessons of the Biafran agitations with a view to profiting from it for a nation in search of answers to existential challenges.

What then can we realistically and critically make of the Biafra challenge?

The first reality is that the fault lines of ethnicity, religious and regional differences have been allowed to fester for too long to the point that they now constitute a clear and present danger to the nation as a whole. For any other country, the diversity in ethnicity, religions and cultures that exists here in Nigeria, second to none in Africa and one of the most prominent in the world would be cause not just for national celebration and pride, but also as basis for projection of Nigeria as soft power on the world stage in various forms.

But our political elite rather than see and utilize this as a positive tool for national integration and projection have turned it instead into a negative weapon for vicious political contest most often at the expense of the very Nigeria they seek to lead. In this context,it is disheartening to observe that the we-versus-them narrative which politicians frequently deploy to seek relevance has cascaded down to all facets of our national life at all levels. The Biafra challenge which has morphed from the normal narrative of marginalization into a secessionist movement is but a reflection of the asymmetrical realities of the Nigerian state. The danger is that other manifestations of Nigeria’s identified fault lines may chose to follow the Biafran path thereby putting the nations existence in peril.

The second reality to draw from the Biafra challenge is that there is a deficit in moral and political capital in our polity. It is instructive that a movement will sprout and constitute a challenge not by symbolic, relatively mild and tolerable acts of civil disobedience, but by open threats, subversive declarations and defiance, daring the institutions of the Nigerian state to act against it with seeming impunity. It should also be worrisome that even after the long expected but belated interventions and admonishments of the Federal Government, the Governors of the South-east states and the Ohaneze, the leaders of the Biafra movement have not only remain defiant, but have instead shown the middle finger to all these institutions. Why? Let us not be deceived here. That the Federal and responsible state governments in the Southeast found it difficult to act promptly and decisively on the Biafra matter may not necessarily be due to any form of benign disposition on its part or the need to observe the principles of freedom of speech and association as enshrined in the constitution.

It is no secret that majority of the populace in the country do not feel the positive impact of both the federal and state governments in their lives. A government or authority that shows very little care about the welfare of its citizens loses the moral and political right to instruct them to behave in a certain way. It is like the analogy of a negligent father who expects to have his words obeyed in the household despite himself.

The young men who have constituted the Biafra movement have tapped into the generational, moral and political deficits of a system and society that denies them not only the comforts and convenience of the present, but the assurance and guarantee of a future. Into this tinderbox of wilful neglect and alienation by both the Federal and state governments, the Biafra challenge with its romantic appeal to greatness to a people whose talents they rightly or wrongly believe have been shackled by an uncaring state, and a call to acts of derringdo defiance in achieving that greatness, delivered skilfully by a smooth operator to the young and impressionable who constitute the majority segment of the population, is a veritable recipe for sustained and uncontrollable confrontation. Simply put due to aforementioned reasons the youthful leaders of the Biafra movement and their teeming youthful supporters across the South-east will neither heed, their elders nor the governors and elected officials from the various states of the region and the federal government.

The third existential reality of the Biafra challenge is that despite all the glib statements about the unity and indivisibility of the country and the fact that we have become integrated over the years of living together, the truth is that all these cannot provide an excuse for complacency in the task of nation building. A saying in Hausa goes “Idan kana da kyaukakara da wanka” which roughly translates into meaning that; that a person may be naturally good looking does not mean that he should not take care to improve his looks.

All around, evidence abounds of the fact that despite our supposed unity and integration relationship between our various people is still tenuous and furtive. I attribute this mainly to the fact that the institutions and template of intra and inter-ethnic, religious and regional relationships across the country have become overstressed and creaky for lack of progressive, regenerative ideas. It stands to reason glaringly that we need to devise new templates of relationship and engagements within and between the various segments of the people that make up this potentially great country.

Like all nations which have predated it and gone on to become great in the global stakes, Nigeria needs rejuvenation. It is a necessary rite of passage on the way to fulfilling its manifest destiny of being the African superpower it should be.

In this context it has not escaped me that there are strident calls for a restructuring of the country which has gained urgenttraction on the heels of the Biafran agitation. But while the calls may be timely and necessary in reflection of the mood in the country, we must be careful how we handle this imperative. There are those who from their pronouncements on the matter see it as an avenue to pursue personal political goals. Again there are those who see it as a tool to spite others and cut them to size. For yet another set of people, it is a perfect avenue to construct the Trojan horse that would allow their foreign principals into Nigeria to actualise their agenda into turning the country into another Syria.

Although seemingly fragile, Nigeria is not without built in shock absorbers.

The Biafra challenge although ominous and threatening from a superficial look should be seen rather as an opportunity to reset and create the template for a better future for generations of Nigerians to come. The sword of Damocles currently hovering over Nigeria with the Biafran challenge may well provide the spur for the untying of the Gordian knot paving the way for Nigerias glorious future.

Iliyasu Gadu Ilgad2009@gmail.com