Last week
some misguided Arewa youths in Kaduna issued an ultimatum to the Igbos living
doing business in all northern states to leave the north before the 1st of
October
this year otherwise they would be forced out. Ever since that chilling
warning was issued the diminutive Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai, was
reported to have asked the security agencies to arrest and prosecute the
signatories to the declaration. The Kaduna declaration could be said to have
amounted to a declaration of war against an ethnic group. Neither the Kaduna state
government nor the federal government has done anything serious about
apprehending the authors of the Arewa hubris up north. Like the issue of
marauding Fulani herdsmen and their murderous exploits, the governments at
different levels are treating this matter with the usual kid gloves. A threat
to national cohesion is punishable under our laws.
The Arewa
youth groups must have been angered by the success of the sit-at-home campaign
by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) last May 30 marking the jubilee of
the declaration of the Biafra nation in 1967. Many non-indigenes must have been
affected by the sit-at-home directive which was followed to the letter by
residents of the predominantly Igbo population of south-eastern Nigeria.
According to the statement credited to the Arewa youths the observance of the
IPOB-mandated non-violent protest amounted to a brutal encroachment on the
rights of those termed as non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful
businesses in those areas illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the
Igbos.
The issue of
Biafra, Arewa and Niger Delta militancy bear the hallmarks of failure of
leadership in Nigeria. There is restiveness in the land as poverty and
frustration grow -- even in the urban centers. The youths graduating out of
schools are roaming the streets without gainful employment. And cost of living
is skyrocketing due to the recession and fallen value of the Naira. The
President is far away in London battling with an ailment very few people know
anything about. The Acting President is doing his best to bring leadership to
bear on the national scene even against machinations by the identified Aso Rock
cabal led by COS Abba Kyari. Nigeria seems to be on the brink, at crossroads!
While it is
true that most of the 'youths' threatening the corporate existence of the
nation were not yet born during the Biafran pogrom they live in a modern world
where wars are happening here and there. They are conversant with the war
against terrorism around the world with blood flowing from Somalia to Syria,
Iraq to Mali, Nigeria to Libya. They know how Boko Haram had made life
miserable for those living in Maiduguri and other locations in Borno state and
elsewhere. War is not something to wish for unless one has a satanic message to
deliver!
In a nation
where people (irrespective of the ethnic or religious divide) go into office
with the sole intention of looting the treasury then we must begin to
interrogate ourselves about the need for the sustenance of such messy
politico-social atmosphere. In a nation where the provision of basic amenities
of life seems to be a luxury reserved for the rich and prosperous then peace
would be elusive. Any nation that prides itself as rich must take statistics of
the life expectancy of the average citizen into account before vaunting its
greatness or aspiration for same. No nation can ever be taken seriously where a
majority of her peoples are daily fighting each other on ethnic lines or
desperately wanting to get out of an imposed 'union'.
Days before
the commencement of activities marking the fifty years of the existence of the
Biafran agitation the Lagos-based 'Sun' newspaper had reported online that many
women belonging to IPOB and other associations were protesting naked in
Abiriba, Abia State, following the alleged arrest and harassment of their
members by military men at Ohafia during their general meeting. The action of
the soldiers angered the women who later stripped naked and marched to the
palace of the traditional ruler of the community protesting the soldiers'
action. The traditional ruler assured them that he would make sure that those
arrested were released.
The
information gathered had it that the soldiers stormed the venue of the meeting
with 20 Hilux vans and without provocation started beating, arresting and
tearing the women’s clothes resulting in some of them being stripped naked
before taking them to their barracks! Food, clothing, and accessories belonging
to some of the women were seized by the soldiers and taken to the Ohafia
Barracks in Abia State. If this does not amount to provocation by zombie
soldiers then one wonders what would. Invading premises where unarmed women
were meeting and violently pulling the trigger and shooting in the air to
disperse them is an act of intimidation and barbaric display of force,
something deplorable.
Using
unnecessary force to put down an unarmed protesters gathering should not be
allowed in a democracy like ours. While we recognize that this democracy is
challenged on many fronts there must be strict compliance with democratic ethos
by those controlling the security apparatus of the state. It boggles the mind
and raises the question of justice when excessive military force is deployed to
quell a simple demonstration or insurgency. No one deserves to be killed
extra-judicially but that sadly seems to be the plight of those clamoring for
Biafra. Thousands had lost their young lives just for identifying with Biafra
while hundreds are still languishing in jail for voicing out oposition to the
federal oppressive tendencies. Yet the quest for Biafra continues unabated! No
one can kill an idea rooted in time and ideology of a determined people.
Biafra,
fifty years after, seems to be a dream postponed, a hope rekindled and a future
held in abeyance! Nigeria, despite our patriotic stance, can never survive for
a long time without the meticulous restructuring of the dysfunctional
federalism we are presently practising. The present federal chaos gives the
Biafra, Arewa and Oduduwa republican dreams more meaning and appeal! It is
better we jaw-jaw now than war-war sooner than later.
The solution
to the Biafran nationhood agitation is simple: referendum! Organize a free and
fair referendum and let the people decide. That remains the only legitimate way
of establishing the quest for freedom or vanquishing same legally and logically for good. According to
a renowned philosopher: "no man is good enough to be the master of
another". The Igbos deserve to be the masters of their own destiny either
within or without the Nigerian convoluted federation. It is not a crime to
demand for a better 'deal' in a Nigeria where injustice reigns.
A few
instances would suffice here to buttress a relative point. Singapore was once
under Malaysia as a federating unit until it was excised unilaterally from the
union by reactionary forces. Today they are better and the socio-economic
miracle of the late Lee Kuan Yew has taken the city-state from the third to the
first world. South Sudan was for decades under the political diktat of the
Arabs in Khartoum. It took years of war for an internationally-organized
referendum to bring about a nation with Juba the as capital city. Though it has
not been easy politically ever since that flag independence was obtained but
freedom was achieved for a majority black population hitherto living in
servitude. Kosovo as a province of the defunct Yugoslavia suffered under the
dictatorship of the late Slobodan Milosevic until former US President Bill
Clinton and European allies used brute force to liberate the people from
bondage.
We are for
national unity because we believe that we are better, stronger and greater
together. But in the event of the Arewa youths executing their anti-Igbo
quit-notice on or before our 57th independence anniversary then no one should
shed tears for the demise of a wealthy but poor nation raped and abused. Before
the sun rises in the east therefore,
heralding the actualisation of Biafra in its power and glory (a brand new nation
under God) Biafrans must, in unity and with one voice, declare defiantly that
the future of the land of the rising sun is bright. And that that future, for
all intents and purposes, is Now!
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
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