FROM THE BRINK

The Igbos must engage in skilful and engaging politics, if they must compete for power, writes Nnamdi Ebo

BRINK is a point at which something, typically something unwelcome, is about to happen. Did Indigenous People of Biafra’s activities reach a dangerous point where it was a national threat? Was IPOB a threat to sovereignty? Did IPOB create an escalating threat of doomsday in Nigeria? On August 1, 1966, approximately 1.8 million easterners (mostly Igbos) were massacred by northerners in a pogrom which triggered an exodus from the north. The last-ditch peace attempts occasioned by a stalemated power tussle between Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu and the northern military-oligarchy collapsed.

Ojukwu issued a “quit notice”: “. . .Republic of Nigeria should be split into its component parts; and all southerners in the North be repatriated to the South and all Northerners resident in the South be repatriated to the North”. On May 30, 1967, Ojukwu declared the State of Biafra to fulfill his dream for an Igbo homeland. On July 6, 1967, Nigeria-Biafra war broke out consuming approximately two million lives in just two and a half years.

Fast-forward to June 2017. Irked by renewed secessionist calls from the same Igbo, a coalition of northern groups issued a “quit notice”: “all Igbo currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the East are advised likewise”. Although made 51 years apart, those two statements are strikingly similar. Since the first was followed by war, there was panic amongst Nigerians that the second will be followed by war.

Although there is no evidence of concerted efforts to marginalise the Igbos, generations of corrupt leaders entered and vacated office with no plan to rebuild the East from the ruins of the Nigeria-Biafra war – fuelling Igbo disenchantment and growing anger. Enter the 50-year-old Prince of Isiama-Afara autonomous community in Umuahia, Abia State; ex-director of London-based pirate “Radio Biafra”; and leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.

Before IPOB, there was MASSOB but Nnamdi Kanu hijacked Ralph Uwazurike’s MASSOB ‘Radio Biafra’ and inaugurated IPOB. Radio Biafra went full steam, “inciting war” and spitting venom against the Hausa-Fulani oligarchy, the Nigerian government or both. It is interesting to note that during the Jonathan administration, ‘Radio Biafra’ invoked pro-Biafra sentiments and independence. However, during the Buhari administration, the radio went ballistic spewing hate speech, embittered Biafra-separatist propaganda and emotive personal attacks on the same oligarchy, the government or both.

Nnamdi Kanu’s bail was expressly guaranteed by some Igbo pseudoleaders and irredentists. They jostled for power in anticipation of “new Biafra” under the progenitor of “new Biafra”. Under this dispensation, IPOB foot soldiers commenced insurgent and belligerent activities: intimidation, harassment, extortion, indoctrination and irredentist propaganda in the southeast.

Nnamdi Kanu presided over political rallies, declaring no-voting in Igboland, created IPOB military wings, treasonable slogans, secessionist statements, vituperating satire on officialdom and hoisting the flag of defunct Biafra, in defiance of the Nigerian state – not minding the “Igbo quit notice” to vacate the north, which had quickly endangered and put the lives of more than 12 million Igbos residing outside Igboland at risk.

IPOB ignored rising hate speech and hate songs against their fellow Igbo, threats and counter-threats from all sides – caused by their belligerence. Despite looming catastrophe, Igbo intelligentsia, politicians, governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo failed to call the progenitor of “new Biafra” to order. Femi Fani-Kayode and Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, goaded Nnamdi Kanu in support of “self-determination”. Fani-Kayode hailed Nnamdi Kanu as “The Lion of The East” boosting Kanu’s ego and stoking the wild fire.

Back to May 1966, another Yoruba man, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, told Ojukwu in Enugu after Awo’s release from Calabar prison: “…if by acts of omission or commission the East is allowed to secede, the West will follow suit….” Republic of Oduduwa never materialised but Awo became Nigeria’s Commissioner for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the Federal Executive Council. So much for Yoruba support but Nnamdi Kanu plodded on, heating up the polity with a brazen assurance while Igbo and Hausa-Fulani made plans to vacate the east and north respectively.

In response to Buratai’s snake charming music, the python danced into Igboland to save Igbos from themselves. Are Fulani herdsmen qualified to be classified as a terrorist group? That’s a discussion for another day. However, troop deployment saved Igbos from the jaws of Igbo irredentists. They created enmity between Igbos and fellow Nigerians, foreclosing, for decades, chances of an Igbo presidency.

Is history repeating itself? Will Igbos be “abandoned” once again? Where is Nnamdi Kanu? Will fleeing and abandoning the “Igbo struggle” à la Ojukwu in 1970 be elevated to an Igbo art and replicated in 2017? His sureties are bound to produce him on his court-adjourned date.

There is no standard of classification of terror. American law is not the standard of classification of terror status. The level of primeval nationalities, multi-diversity, ethnocentric disparities, embedded ethnic loyalties, socio-political awareness and democracy is still primordial in Nigeria. What is not terror in America is war in Nigeria.

What’s in a name? Does it matter if the Nigerian military made a “declaration” or “pronouncement” on IPOB’s terrorist status – when a pogrom was on the brink? I will not join the debate over the legality or otherwise of IPOB’s proscription. For those fixated with legality and due process, if the python had not danced to the proscription of IPOB, a cross-exodus between north and east would have commenced, triggering a cross-genocide.

This country just missed the point at which a second civil war was to begin. IPOB created an escalating threat of doomsday and many Nigerians questioned Igbo allegiance to Nigeria. The Igbos must reform, reorganise, jettison their defeatist attitude, change their mien and engage in skilful and engaging politics, if they must compete for power. Nnamdi Kanu single-handedly brought the “Giant of Africa” to the brink. Nigeria just receded from the brink! www.nnamdiebo.com

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF CONCERTED EFFORTS TO MARGINALISE THE IGBOS, GENERATIONS OF CORRUPT LEADERS ENTERED AND VACATED OFFICE WITH NO PLAN TO REBUILD THE EAST FROM THE RUINS OF THE NIGERIA-BIAFRA WAR – FUELLING IGBO DISENCHANTMENT AND GROWING ANGER