When former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, in his 1962 autobiography, “Zambia Shall Be Free,” criticised the continued colonisation of his country and made a case for its freedom, he was making a projection of what should happen. He knew that freedom and self-rule were not only important but also the ultimate.
Kaunda’s prophecy, as it were, came to pass two years thereafter, when Zambia gained independence in 1964. The former Zambian President, who passed on last June, must have died a happy man, having succeeded, working with other nationalists, in the liberation of Zambia, being at the head of his country’s governance for years and retiring as a statesman. For sure, Zambia was free from colonial rule.
On Thursday, when President Muhammadu Buhari visited Imo State, his first since 2017, the Kaunda book came to one’s mind. One could not help but substitute Zambia from the Kaunda phrase to say: South East shall be free. Yes, for President Buhari to visit a state in the South East, at this time when the impression some elements, who want to give the Igbo a bad name in order to hang them, give is that the geopolitical zone is insecure, is a plus for the people. If the President would have the confidence to visit the South East, shortly after the geopolitical zone was presented as the enclave of “unknown gunmen,” it says a lot about the real situation on the ground.
It is, however, important to say that one’s perspective of the South East being free is not in any way a call for secession or self-determination. It is an affirmation that a time will come in Nigeria when the South East, as a region, and the Igbo, as a people, would be in a position where they cannot be ignored. It means that a time will come when the Igbo would eventually get their due in a country where they freely live in all parts, feeling at home and plying their businesses. It means that a time will come when the country would have no choice than to let the South East enjoy equity, fairness and justice because these are their inalienable rights.
Those who said that President Buhari’s visit to Imo State was a mockery of the Igbo are just being mischievous. Any state in the South East, like any other part of the country, has the right to host President Buhari. The President is also obliged to visit any part of the country at any time convenient for him and for whatever business. Such visit is an opportunity for the President to see things for himself and make his personal judgment. It is also an opportunity for the people, through their leaders, to tell the President their problems and grievances and expect a presidential action to change their situation.
At present, the picture of the South East in the public domain is that it is a no-go area, where criminality reigns. Indeed, the South East has been falsely presented as a region where pro-Biafra agitators have taken over and are sovereign. This could explain why the authorities sent soldiers in their hundreds into the region, amid an avalanche of human rights violations and brutality. The situation has been so bad that innocent young men are being arrested indiscriminately and branded members of the amorphous Eastern Security Network (ENS). Pray, apart from its name, where has anybody seen the ESN operate like bandits do in the northern part of the country, kidnapping innocent schoolchildren and dignitaries for ransom and killing some?
President Buhari’s visit, therefore, is an auspicious opportunity for him to understand that the South East is safe and does not need the kind of militarisation seen today. Apart from herdsmen, who try to forcefully make their cattle graze in people’s pasture, destroying crops in the process without apologies, there is no real security threat in the region. Some people may point to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and say that the group’s activities constitute security threats. However, the reality is that the pro-Biafra group may not be as dangerous as people present it.
The method IPOB is using to point out the ills and imbalance in Nigeria, and demanding their correction, may be crude and unorthodox but it may not be a real security threat. It is obvious that most of the things attributed to the group are grossly exaggerated. Yes, some people would also say that sit-at-home orders of IPOB are being obeyed and carried out in the South East. However, such people fail to acknowledge the fact that South East residents are only applying the principle of self-preservation and precaution, staying away from trouble. Only pretenders would say that the economic losses brought about by weekly sit-at-home are palatable for the people.
President Buhari’s visit to Imo State, therefore, is coming at a good time. It is the right occasion for the President to reassure the people that they are really part of the country, not by mere saying it but by what they benefit from the union called Nigeria. It is great that the President has promised to help Imo State in infrastructure development. It is also good that he made a promise to the effect that the Federal Government would ensure security in the South East. Security and infrastructure development, among others, are important in a nation. They contribute to economic growth. Such gestures will help the South East to excel the more.
Talking about infrastructure development in the South East, one knows that President Buhari’s spin doctors would say that he has been walking his talk in this regard, pointing, perhaps, to the ongoing construction of the second Niger Bridge and rehabilitation of some highways in the South East. Well, the second Niger Bridge, when completed, will be a feat. It will be one of the legacies of the Buhari government. However, it must be stated that the second Niger Bridge is just a means to an end. The benefit of this project would fully be realised if those in authority stop treating the South East as a conquered territory. The kind of human rights violations in the South East perpetrated by security agents on the so-called special assignment are mind-boggling. People in the South East are treated like common criminals, just because of IPOB. What happens on the Onitsha-Owerri expressway, where commuters, under rain or sun, are forced to disembark from their vehicles and meant to walk past a military checkpoint, at a point in Ihiala, with the vehicles ferrying them meant to drive through empty, is a glimpse and example of the humiliation going on in the South East. With such treatments, the gains of second Niger Bridge can never be felt, as people who would use the bridge would still not be comfortable coming to the South East. When security checkpoints become more of a nuisance and points of extortion than a source of security, people, whether for leisure or business, would avoid the South East and the gains of the second Niger Bridge would be reduced.
President Buhari should do much more than he has done for the South East. His description of the South East as a dot in a circle was in bad faith. No matter what he thinks, a dot in a circle is an element therein and should be so respected. The South East is a component unit of Nigeria. The region and its people have contributed greatly to the development of Nigeria. The Igbo should not be treated badly because of IPOB. IPOB is a group. The Igbo are a people. IPOB and the Igbo are two different things.
We expect that President Buhari’s visit to Imo State would bring about good tidings for the South East and better understanding. It should be a point of contact for the government to start addressing those things that would make the Igbo feel better at home in Nigeria. Indeed, there are many things President Buhari could do to assuage the fears of Southeasterners. There is the talk about where the next President of Nigeria would come from after President Buhari. The South East needs Buhari’s support to become favourites in the calculation for 2023 presidency, especially as it concerns the All Progressives Congress (APC). Addressing the imbalance in the number of states in the geopolitical zones, as it affects the South East, is something President Buhari should have in mind. One knows that state creation is a constitutional matter and that amendment to the Constitution is within the purview of the legislature but President Buhari and the executive would still have some say, directly and indirectly, on it. If President Buhari is convinced that the South East deserves an additional state, for it to have the same number of states as the other zones, and says it, this will go a long way in shaping opinion and action of those whose duty it is to make this happen.
The Imo State government, on its part, should use President Buhari’s visit to correct its mistakes and mismanagement of developments in the state. Governor Hope Uzodimma’s mishandling of the IPOB matter raised the tension in Imo State and, by extension, caused the wrong perception of the South East.