By EZEOBIA ENUGU-EZIKE
Biafra, as declared by Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, on the 30th of May 1967, comprises today’s South-South excluding Edo and Delta States and South-East geopolitical regions of Nigeria. The aim of this article is not to highlight the reasons for the declaration of Biafra in 1967. This has been done by so many authors. The aim is to highlight the reasons why Biafra that was officially pronounced dead on 15th January, 1970 resurrected in 1999 with the birth of the Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) led by a certain lawyer called Uwazurike.
At this juncture, it is necessary to ask if Biafra would have resurrected if there was actually “no victor and no vanquished” as declared by Gen. Gowon (rtd) at the end of the Civil war that followed the declaration of Biafra. The answer is an unqualified ‘No’. The truth is that to a large extent, the “no victor, no vanquished” slogan remained largely on paper.
For example, for about twenty years after the unfortunate civil war (which I will rather blame on our system instead of on anybody) nobody from the South-East was considered good enough to be promoted to the rank of a General in the Army, or Commissioner of Police in the Nigeria Police force. The late legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, when asked by a journalist why he said that the marginalization of the Igbos has continued unabated since after the civil war asked rhetorically “where are the Igbo Generals or Commissioners of Police?” Of course, the journalist had no answer because none existed as at that time.
Even in the constitution of the military councils that ruled Nigeria during the military era, the marginalization continued. Since the war ended, almost all the rioting and uprisings in the North seemed to be directed against the South-East indigenes with the attendant looting and burning of their property. For more than two years after the emergence of Boko Haram, their attacks were directed against Southerners since only churches and Southerners were the target. It was only later that it got out of hand and everybody including Moslems, became targets.
A good number of Igbos have been killed in the North under the guise that they committed sacrilege against Islam. Recently, an Igbo woman was murdered in broad daylight in front of her shop and in the presence of her husband. Her offence was an alleged sacrilege against Islam. Sometime ago, an Igboman, Mr. Akaluka, was killed in Kaduna, his head cut-off and staked on a pike and taken round Kaduna city in broad daylight for an alleged offence against Islam. This is akin to asking the Igbos: what can you do? You can’t do anything. If an Hausa man is treated like this in an Igbo city, all the Igbos in the North would be burnt to ashes.
Only last week, an Igbo man, a patent medicine dealer, was accused of dealing in illicit drugs. He was reported to the police who investigated the case and found him innocent. He was consequently released. Yet, his house was attacked in the night by Hausa youths. Though he escaped, he sensed danger and decided to relocate. These youths discovered his plan and laid ambush on his way to his new location and murdered him. One can go on enumerating crimes committed against the Igbos in the North indefinitely. It should be noted that the opinion of this writer is not that other peoples’ religions and values should not be respected. No, they must be respected by all means. But, offenders should be arrested and prosecuted, and if found guilty should face the full wrath of the law. Not jungle justice.
All federal projects in the South-East have decayed beyond comprehension. Enugu-Onitsha Expressway is closed, the same for Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway and Enugu – Obollo Afor Road etc. The South-East is the only zone without a functional international airport. Let nobody be deceived into believing that Enugu and Owerri airports are now international airports. Since they were declared international airports, how many planes from outside the country have come in or gone out of those airports? Only two! The South-East deserves international airport(s) more than any other zone because the Igbos travel more than the people in any other zone.
At the inception of this APC administration, Buhari made twenty-six major appointments without giving any slot to the South-East. This prompted our highly respected Igbo leader, ex-Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, to remark that “Buhari is number one supporter of MASSOB” when a journalist asked for his comment on the matter.
The marginalization of the South-East is so glaring that it cannot be covered by any means. During the last presidential media chat, a journalist asked Buhari to comment on the fact that the South-East feels marginalized. Buhari’s response was “who is marginalizing who, is the Governor of the Central Bank not an Igboman”? Buhari did not name anybody he had given appointment from the South-East. Nobody from a whole geopolitical zone! Emefiele is truly an Igboman, but not from South-East. Can an appointment given to a Yoruba man from Kwara State be said to be an appointment given to South-West?
It should, therefore, be noted by all Nigerians that no Igboman is against MASSOB/IPOB in his heart. For those who appear to be against it are only people that want to please Buhari because of what they are getting from him or what they hope to get from him. Those who do not hope to get anything from Buhari but have not joined the movement, it is only because they feel that MASSOB/IPOB can never achieve Biafra and they are, therefore, careful about wasting their energy on an unrealisable project.
This group of people believe that those in a position to allow Biafra go out of Nigeria MUST never let it go. Not that they do not believe in what the movement is doing. If therefore, a referendum is conducted today in the South-East, they will vote massively in favour of leaving Nigeria where they believe they have been turned to second class citizens.
Ezeobia writes via [email protected]
It should be noted by all and sundry that if not for the fact that the South-East has been treated like a conquered territory since the civil war ended, the average Igboman would have loved to be in one Nigeria because the Igboman is the only Nigerian that has invested in all the villages of the 774 local governments in Nigeria. If they do not believe in one Nigeria, would this have been possible?
EZEOBIA (ENUGU-EZIKE)