THE SEEMING UNAVOIDABLE HOME OF BIAFRA AND THE WINNING MINDS
From the perspective of the agitators such as the
IPOB and NDA, it seems that Biafra is unavoidable and unnegotiable .The sound
of Biafra has reached its crescendo with high cris te cceur.The Biafra multum
in parvo cannot be exhausted without reference to the character of Lieutenant
colonel Gowon in failing to keep the agreement reached in Aburi ,Ghana, on
January 4 and 5 ,1967 especially, on the issue of resource control that is
still unresolved in Nigeria up till today . In quoting Adewale Ademoyega
semantically in his book: “Why we struck” ,he said that Biafra war could have been
averted if Lieutenant colonel Gowon had stuck to the agreement reached in Ghana.
Lieutenant colonel Ojukwu suggested after the death of General Ironsi that :The
supreme commander should be the head of states and not lieutenant colonel Gowon
as at then, since he was not the most senior officer ;That the pogrom in the north must stop and resource
control to boot. Late Ojukwu was the first graduate in Nigeria that enrolled
into the Nigerian Army with B.SC in history from Oxford university while Lieutenant colonel Gowon did
not have a degree certificate as at then .Ojukwu deserved not to salute
lieutenant colonel Gowon late alone Brigadier Ogundipe who was the superior
officer to salute him .The supreme commander then, was Brigadier Ogundipe who
was supposed to be the head of states. Besides brigadier Ogundipe, they were
two other brigadier officers before Lieutenant colonel Gowon: Ademulegun, Maimalari
and Real Admiral Wey of the Navy as well as Colonel Adebayo. Lieutenant colonel Gowon foiled the order and
took over as the head of states due to the outnumbered rank and files from the
north than those supporting Brigadier Ogundipe. Ojukwo insisted that “Aburi we
stand”, meaning that Lieutenant colonel Gowon should obey the agreements
reached in Ghana. After all the efforts were made to ensure that the agreements
should be kept but to no avail. On May 30, 1967,late Ikemba 1 of Nnewi declared
Biafra. He said that the southeast was pushed. He insisted that it was not
right, since the death of general Ironsi had not been officially announced for
the seat to be vacant and that Lieutenant colonel Gowon was not his senior as
well as an act of corruption. The corruption or problems we are talking about
today should have been tackled by Lieutenant colonel Yakubu Gowon who broke the
terms and reneged on the Aburi agreements, which was corruption, entrenched
tribalism in federal appointments which are still big problems bedeviling this nation.
These eggs of corruption have been hatched into birds that are flying
confusedly everywhere in this country .Is lopsided appointment of president
Buhari strange or different from that of Lieutenant colonel Gowon to any right
thinking Nigerian that is following history? Could we remember when we must be
indorsed by a military officer from the north or convert to Islam before being
absorbed into the Nigerian Army, NDA? Could we remember that Lieutenant colonel
Gowon failed to relinquish power to civilian administration in his tyrannical fruitless
nine years in office, which could have given Nigeria a restructured nation before
now? Could we remember Lieutenant colonel Gowon’s mockery of reconstruction,
reconciliation and rehabilitation after the civil war or did he return the
properties of the Igbos or confiscated cash? A total of N110 billion is being
budgeted in 2017 for the northeast rehabilitation which was an organized crime as
a gambit for 2015 presidential election. How many billions that was budgeted
for the southeast after the civil war? Did these depict a true and good man as
being eulogized by his votaries and disciples in the southwest or the most
corrupt ruler who should have been jailed for world crime –genocide in carrying
out bombing in market places, refugee camps during the civil war, which
contradicts the international law –rules of engagement? Did Gowon embrace
national cohesion by running inclusive government unlike General Obasanjo and President
Jonathan or did he imbibe the vibes of tribalism, nepotism, extremism unlike
President Buhari? Then, where can we trace the major foundation of corruption
bedeviling this nation?
According to
Gbulie in his book titled “Nigeria’s Five Majors “,page 13 he said that in 1964,
a group of young Nigerian officer-cadets, mostly Northerners, had declared
academically unfit and repatriated by the Canadian military authorities. The
same cadets were however pronounced commissioned by the Nigerian Federal
Government no sooner than they had arrived at the Ikeja Airport. Consequently,
they had to be absorbed into the Nigerian Army as commissioned officers, even
though they had received no requisite military training. Gbulie said that, in
an attempt to catch up militarily with the south that all the northerners in
his intake were trained at the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot and they
had become officers barely six months while most of them who had been sent to
Sandhurst had to do two long years to earn Queen’s Commission. The implications
were that not only had those northerners become commissioned officers within their
first year at Sandhurst ,but also had all risen to the rank of Captain before
they could appeared at the sovereign’s parade which served essentially as a
prerequisite for passing out as Second Lieutenant. Can a true nation be run in
this way or are we yet to be a nation?
In showing
magnanimity and true leadership by President Jonathan, the INEDC boss, Atiru
Jegga, is from the north. Almost all the security chiefs were from the north
under Jonathan’s administration, ranging from the NSA, Colonel Dusuki, chief of
defence staff, Air Chief Marsha Alex Badeh, without any military chief from the
Igbo extraction after the removal of General Ihejirika due to the pressure from
the north on President Jonathan, still the southeast conceded and supported the
JEG led administration to move the country forward. The question is, how many
has the north conceded? The north always believes that they are born to rule.
On October 12, 1960, the parrot newspaper wrote, quoting in the following
words: “the new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great ground
father Osuman Dan Fodiio .We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power .We use
the minorities in the north as willing tools and the south as a conquered territory
and never allow them to have control over their future.” Would justice Onnoghen
being confirmed if President Buhari had been in the country or will be replaced
by his junior from the north? These words demonstrated in the national census
in which fabricated figures were produced by the north so as to have unfair
advantage over others in resources allocation and appointments in the federal executive
council in this country as well as in the creation of more states in the north than
other regions. This word is the ideology of ambition without vision that power
must go to the north or Nigeria will boil as manifested through Boko Haram as a
willing tool as well as exploiting some propagandists from the southwest to
keep their ideology alive. These were the reasons for January 15, 1966 military
coup in an attempt to rewrite the wrongs and clean up the country from
corruption and to build a nation where everyone would have access to facilities
as well as resources for his development. This was frustrated by some comrade in arms as well as
some roles played by Ojukwu, Ironsi, Madiebo, Nwawo . According to Adewale
Ademoyega, he said that Nwawo successfully convinced Major Nzeogwu with all
assurance that he would be safe to withdraw from the coup which later turned
against him. Nwawo who was manipulated by Gowon to approach Nzeogwu believing
that he could interface with the north which he failed.Nzeogwu later died
along Nsukka axis during the civil war after his released.
It manifested in
the use of divide and rule game in the south-south to create enmity with the
Igbos so as to rule them by depleting their resources as well as their
environment with pittance being paid to them in return while the lion share
goes to the master with the oil wells as double portion. The same thing
happened in Cross River during the civil war, when they were promised heaven
and earth with the engagement of Cameroon to stop Igbos from accessing arms so
as to add insult to injury which resulted in land dispute .This land has been decided in favour of Cameroon by
the international Court of Justice. Most of the occupants of that area have
been evacuated to Akwaibom in an uncared refugee camps without good medical facilities.
But, who was to be blamed? Was it the one who gave out or general Obasanjo who
accepted the judgement without an appears or an act of God as a retribution for
attacking their brothers during the civil war? The oil and fish rich peninsula
was lost to Cameroon without any appeal within ten years window.
On the
economy, what are those functioning auto-mobile plants, big industries that
were built by Lieutenant colonel Gowon? Did he plan for the future generations
or did he help the current deurmekaar situation or concentrating that power
must remain in the north whether capable or not? During his reins, he surprised
the whole world that Nigeria had enough money and did not know what to do with the
money. He gave money to some countries in which Botswana was a beneficiary .But
who is to be blamed? Nigeria is blessed with the worst citizens .The two
problems of Nigeria are bad leadership and followership .It is supposed to be,
where leadership is wrong, the citizens will be right with one voice but, where
both are wrong, the system will crash and retrogress. The problem of Nigeria is not corruption because;
corruption is a metaphor of leadership and cannot be found under good
leadership. Three countries were mentioned by the US in the past including
China, Nigeria as potential economic giants. Where is Nigeria today? Can a
country led by the least intelligent people grow? Can we continue progressing
in the negative direction or look into negotiation and unity of this country
especially on resource control? On the front page of the Punch Newspaper, July
24,2016 , a civil war veteran, General Alani Akinrinade added his voice :
“Nigeria will break up if it is not restructured, that the APC had promised
that during their campaign that they
will do so”.
The southeast have demonstrated high sense of nationalism,
patriotism as embellished in the word of late Dr. Azikiwe “one Nigeria”. Igbos
feel that Nigeria is one by settling everywhere with massive real estate
development in Nigeria than other tribes. On the coup d’ etat carried out by major Nzeogwu, it was propitious but, for the spirit of patriotism,
both revisionists ,Ojokwu and General Ironsi of the southeast nixed it and decoyed him to hand over the
reins of the government of Northern Nigeria to Lieutenant colonel Hassan
Kastina of the north who also ,assured
him safety and to continue with is
revolution but only for Nzeogwu to be
arrested immediately after landing at the airport ,Lagos which was as a result
of the intervention of Ojukwu and Ironsi who later appeared as the enemies of
those that they protected. Lieutenant colonel Gowon influenced general Ironsi
whom in a bit to pacify the north, both organized military hardware used to
have arrested Major Nzeogwu without knowing Lieutenant colonel Gowon’s hidden agenda. General Ironsi further posted Lieutenant colonel Ejoor
to southeast in order not to allow the revolutionary army to continue with
their plans after Adewale Ademoyega and Ifejuna had failed to carry out the
coup in the southwest and southeast which made it lopsided and was scandalized
by the five southwest officers that were not promoted by General Ironsi as
Igbos’ coup despite, they were two or more south westerners in the coup. This
ruffled a few feathers and attracted sentiment as well as whetted the situation
that the north used to the extreme that led to the death of general Ironsi in a
counter coup, July 29, 1966 by rebels who were seeking secession headed by
lieutenant colonel Gowon that was later legitimized. The session was abandoned
after the British had advised them that the north is landlocked and they are
more resources in the south .Before the death of general Ironsi, most of the
officers that surrounded him were northers, that later put him into trouble,
unlike president Jonathan, who also lost his election and being carpeted as a
corrupt leader by cynics and propagandists.But ,how many south easterners that surround President Buhari now?
Some
people have realized that the south –south and southeast creation in the Eastern Nigeria is merely for divide and rule strategy in order that the same
people will see themselves different and will be conquered.
In
2016 police recruitment, the shortlisted figure for Kano, Kastina, Jigawa is
more than that of the entire southeast zone .In the DSS recruitment, Kastina alone,
has 51 slots while a state in the southeast is having 6 slots and the entire
south –south zone is having 42 slots in the era of President Buhari that
claimed all the integrity. Can we talk about the exclusion of the southeast
zone in the railway foreign loan project so as to deny them of development due
to hatred and tribalism? Is it the secret recruitment to favour the north which has become a second nature such as the Central Bank and others?On the other hands, can those who made the country of
their own image of the current Boko Haram and benefit from foreign donations as
well as the huge budget that twice the 13% of the NDDC, allowe the IDP camps
to be closed? Before the emergence of the Boko Haram, northern leaders said
that the youth in the north must be paid like those in the Niger Delta and the
country will be ungovernable. Is the statement true from the Nigerian Army that
the federal government under President Buhari’s administration had paid money
to the Boko Haram to pacify them and they had used it to have acquired weapons
to fight them? Is it true that the Kaduna State governor, Governor Nasir El-Rufai
had paid money to Fulani Herdsmen so as to pacify them to stop killings
and dominating lands in the Kaduna south Christians occupied area after
claiming that they were foreigners and he did not know them? Since he did not
know them, how did he know those he paid money? How many commanders of Boko
Haram have been released with reference to huge numbers of the innocent IPOB
members that are still scattered in different prisons? Why is the killing
perpetrated by Herdsmen is on daily increase in this administration but in
let-up when Mr. President was not in the country? Does it confirm the
Islamization of the Buhari’s government?
After 2015 presidential election,
president Buhari had the golden opportunity to put this country on the right
footing and write his name in the golden book of record, because he had all the
supports from all the ethnic groups in this country but, he muffed it. He
appeared on the revenge side and considers his office as a private and northern
fiefdom. In his insincere words: “I belong to everybody and belong to nobody”.
He contradicted the statement when he
said in US that he would give some 5% and some 95%. In 17 appointments in
security chiefs, 14 slots, 82% went to north with none to southeast. His salient
nature in the Fulani Herdsmen killings as well as the cancellation of the Maritime
University in the Niger Delta, in addition to lopsided appointment in the
federal executive council has reduced the confidence of the people in his administration
to a decrepit disguised sectional leader. Hence, the realization of his campaign
agenda appears like Alice -in-Wonderland and as will-o’the-wisp .Also, it
confirms that the credibility and the integrity arrogated to President Buhari by
the southwest is for deceit to serve both interests and stretches credulity to the
limit. This shows a president that is biased, tribalistic instead of running an
inclusive government so that every region we feel to be part of this country.
Nigeria is a heterogeneous country. It is as a result of the aforementioned and
some statements that have made to remind Igbos of their past precisely, civil
war which could be traced to Mr. President had triggered the agitations by the
Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB,NDA,etc.
On the
other hands, one will ask ,what if this crude oil was found in the north, with
all the aggressiveness to dominate power to infinity, can they give a damn or concede as low as 13% ?Can anybody go there for exploration let alone owing oil wells ? Can we mention one
country that individuals own oil wells and ostentatiously richer than a nation
in the likes of General TY Danjuma, IBB and others from the north? Can the
north agree on 13% or from 70% and above? If the southwest was collecting 50%
and above in the cocoa booming period and the north, 50% for groundnuts, why is
it that the Niger Delta cannot do so? Is
the formation of the NDDC sincere or insincere because, some members are from
the north for their own share? Have those boards formed for the Niger Delta translated
into any physical development? When will all the agitations be met? Has the
cleaning of Ogoni Land started? Well!
one whose father had sold his birthright at the womb for a piece of bread or at
a brainwash against his brothers,
despite their warnings , will continue
to fight for it with reduced rights when
he grows up, until he regains all his rights and freedom.
The question is, where did we get it wrong? Is
it right for a lieutenant colonel to become the head of states ahead of a
brigadier general and jumped to a general? What can he give? Can you give what
you don’t have? What a faulty legacy. Can a building on a faulty foundation last?
Can a car travelling on flat tyres reach its destination? Is there a need for continuity
in a marriage where you are not well accommodated in the family, rather than
being pushed away after so many years without equal rights and justice? On the
side of the Igbos, have they got Moses to lead them from the Egypt to Israel or
is Kanu the one? Frankly, Nigeria is at a crossroads and the unity is
negotiable .Hence, restructuring Nigeria through resource control as first said
by late Chukwuameka Odimegwu Ojugwu and agreed in the Aburi should have been done before-hand. Why is it that the
southwest who advised Lieutenant Colonel Gowon to renege ,now championing
resource control as first said by Ojokwu in the Aburi with a different name "restructuring" after oil was discovered in the Badagry,Lagos ?Is it different
from Ojokwu’s resource control ? Why allowing it to have caused injury before
now due to selfish regional reasons? It is unfair and unfortunate! Can these
characters unite a true nation? Do we still need angels to tell us that Nigeria is
only united by oil?
Similarly, is the emergence of Nnamdi Kanu
as the Biafra leader ready to die and lead his people to the Promised Land
without compromise or give up his stand? Did Kanu stay behind to ensure that
other agitators that are still incarceration were released before him, unlike
Ojukwu who abandoned his soldiers in the war front to Ivory Coast, on January
11, 1970 which marked the end of the civil war? Late Ojukwu denounced Biafra
which made him appeared as a forerunner than a leader of Biafra. Ojukwu was not
ready to die for Biafra despite millions of Igbos whom he pushed into
unprepared war without equipped ammunition. According to one of the five majors
that struck , Adewale Ademoyega,he said : “I started to ask myself if there was
anything of the soldier and not everything of the actor in Emeka Ojukwu .If
Ojukwu he was an actor ,then he must be a tragedist”. He described late Ojukwu as
an actor than a soldier to have pushed his people into an ill-prepared war in
fighting with their flesh without commensurate
weapons .Despite the death of over 10 million of Igbos during the civil war ,Late
Ojukwu contested presidential election under APGA for Nigeria enterprise. Late
Ojukwu said again that Biafra is of the mind....Before he left for Cote d’ IVoire
,he said: “Why I live, Biafra live, if I am no more, it will be a matter of
time that the noble concept will be swept away oblivion”. On January 12, 1970,
the unconditional surrendering of Biafra was announced. With all these, can he
be described as someone who was ready to die for the course or a forerunner who
was overwhelmed by opportunity, ego, and quest for total control? Though,
nobody can question the huge wealth of his father, his own wealth, his energy
that he exhausted almost all in fighting for the concept.
Finally, the three things that will favour
the feasibility of Biafra are: When the haves and have nots of the Igbos will
come to terms with their brothers in the Niger Delta and will be all ready to
die for the course; When Moses is sent; And the plebiscite .Also, eliminating
Biafrans from the surface of the earth tantamount to eliminating the entire Igbos.
Has Biafra reached the required years to become a country after fighting a war and the
people are still persisting in the struggle , tracing from 1967 to 2017 ?Despite
millions of Igbos who have died for this struggle, it still fervid and difficult
to separate their minds from their deprived home.If Sudan and UK could hold their referenda ,why would there be a double standard for Biafrans since,millions of agitators have died for their rights to self determination?Similarly, the need for
plebiscite cannot be easily over-emphasized. Hence, with the continue push and
marginalization of the Igbos in this country such as the only region with five
states while the north central and north west have seven each, the continuous
killings of the Igbos in the north with impunity, the uncountable killings and
disappearance of many IPOB members who are seeking self-determination, unequal
balance of power, unstructured system that favours the north and southwest, the
alleged written agreement between the two tribes that no Igbo person can be a
Nigerian President and all sorts of villainous treatments as well as atrocities
against the Igbos in Nigeria, it is undoubtedly clear that Biafra has won many
minds and its eventuality seem unavoidable.
