Following the run up to the 2015 General Election, the US had predicted the collapse of Nigeria. I was also privileged to have reviewed some Intelligence Reports with concerns that there will be massacre of Christians and Southerners if the preferred candidate of the Muslim North was defeated .
With Rwanda fresh in our memories, no one was prepared for bloodshed including the then President. It was, therefore, a relief when unlike many third world leaders, President Jonathan decided to concede victory despite the election being rigged against him.
But just two years after President Jonathan saved Nigeria and 51 years after a bloody civil war that left over three million Igbo dead, the fatalists are unrelenting in their quest to waste more innocent bloods.
The vandals had been primed and tutored to believe that killing the Igbo is a jihad with the promise of 72 virgins. The weapons of war are buried beneath worship centers. The new sermon to their gullible audience is that of hate and incitement. They claim the President who has been on and off medical leave was poisoned by Christians and that his miraculous survival made him the first African to survive such a poison and the eleventh in the world.
My friend Abudlrazaq, a fierce loyalist and supporter of President Buhari went further in a whatsapp message circulated by him to claim that the Thieves Among Nigerians TAN have poisoned him and immediately started to announce that he was dead’’.
Was President Buhari poisoned? What’s the nature of his ailment? While we pray for his full recovery and also that the looming bloodshed hanging over Nigeria is averted, methinks it has become a matter of national interest that there will be a full disclosure of the nature of President Buhari’s sickness. The current secrecy and speculations surrounding his current indisposition may disrupt our fragile peace should, God forbid, anything tragic happen to him.
As an Igbo, I take with all seriousness the 90 days ultimatum given to the Igbo to vacate the Muslim dominated North by a coalition of Northern youth organizations.
This isn’t the first time the North will threaten the Igbo. Fifty one years ago and following the directives of their then demagogues, the Igbo were asked to leave the North . Those who ignored them threat paid with their lives. Over one million were killed in months of pogrom with no protection from the Government and the world. In fact the Northern dominated Nigerian military and security agencies aided and participated in the mass killing of the Igbo.
The consequence was the declaration of Biafra and the three-year-old intercine war that followed. Forced to remain in Nigeria, the Igbo has been unfairly treated and targeted. Successive governments climaxed by the current APC government did everything to treat the Igbo as unwanted and barely tolerated.
As Lugard observed in his handover note, the Hausa-Fulani’s has remained a nuisance and menace to her neighbours, the Yoruba very low and untrustworthy and the Igbo rebellious and too dangerous to be trusted with power. These are the prejudice we needed to overcome as a people and a nation which unfortunately we failed to overcome.
Fifty one years after the war the echoes of Biafra reign across the nation sometimes to the discomfort of those who believe restructuring to be a better choice to a broken nation with an unknown future. The adamant posturing of this regime against dialogue on most issues, disobedience to rule of law, discrediting and destabilization of other arms of government and negative view on restructuring which despite holding lots of hope is unfortunately not on their agenda.
This is why in spite of politics I view the quit order against the Igbo very seriously. What happens after October 1st and beyond is anyone’s guess. Will the killings commence? Will the government guarantee the safety of Ndigbo? Will the world abandon the Igbo as they did Rwanda? Can the Igbo who are unable to defend their homeland against Fulani herdsmen defend themselves in the far north where they are outnumbered.
I am loyal to Nigeria as my country and prefer a restructured Nigeria but will not ask Ndigbo residing in the North to wait to see if they will be mowed down. I will tread on the side of caution by asking them to gather all they can gather for Exodus.
The second book of the Old Testament tells us the story of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery and the parting of the Red Sea. Moses led them and their destination was the promised land.
Ndi Igbo must get ready to go home when they still have the time. There may be no Moses or parting of the Red Sea but there is a promise land. Do not engage them in any struggle because their land is not your land and their ways are not your ways. But as you depart bear no malice against them. Do not curse them , nor curse their land, nor their animals. Bless them and our God, the Lord of host will bless your inheritance in the land of our fathers.
Now the politics: What the northern youths said is actually the opinion of a wing of the northern establishment. The press conference was granted in Arewa House, Kaduna for a reason. What the northern youths said is the position of Arewa House.
As a Think Tank, the Arewa House knew and chose their target which is the majority of vulnerable Ndigbo all over the North doing business and flourishing. They know the quantum of investments Ndigbo have in the north. It does not matter to them that these Igbo in the North never marched for Biafra and didn’t want their businesses disrupted having invested all their sweats to develop the North.
In the agitations for separation or restructuring they expect Ndigbo to take these vulnerabilities into consideration. Since it appears our IPOB agitators are not taking them into consideration, they decided to remind us about them. The North has its own vulnerabilities too, which include that they have no oil and they have no access to the sea. Rather than engage the south in a noisy debate about resources they went quietly to work to try and mitigate the impact of their vulnerabilities. Since PMB came to power they are undertaking project initiatives that can wipe away their vulnerabilities. For example, fast tracking the Chad Basin oil project, oil pipeline project from Niger Republic to Kaduna, building of a refinery in Kaduna by the Chinese, building a 4,000MW electricity plants in three northern towns. In addition they are trying hard to maintain their relationship with the SS, especially Rivers State and their relationship with Lagos to keep access to the sea open. The day the North finishes the above projects it will drive the restructuring agenda.
The North in my view wants a safe landing, so that when they embrace restructuring the pains to their people will be limited.
The difference between us and them is that, they may be taking a long term approach to restructuring while we are taking a short term approach. We want restructuring or separation now without considering the impact our vulnerabilities will have on our people and our region. If it is true we have up to $4 trillion worth of investments outside Alaigbo and over 20 million of our people living outside Igbo land is it not a dumb strategy to adopt a short term approach? What have we done with ‘Aku luo uno’ which is one way to begin to soften our external vulnerabilities? The take away from the quit order given by Northern youths barring any eruption of violent reactions is that it is time to soften our vulnerabilities and this requires a long term approach and strategic plan for a final exodus.