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HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE MAP OF BIAFRA..........YOUR VOTE IS NEEDED
DO YOU BELIEVE IN BIAFRA?
Someone
who had read a piece I wrote sometime ago titled, “How I became a
Nigerian” confronted me with this question. I guess the query arose
because I’d indicated that Biafra was the first country I came to know
as a child. I actually did have to become Nigerian. Before I address the
question, let me state something by way of definition to eliminate all
ambiguity about what Biafra is.
For anything to be worthy of belief, it’ll either be a personality, an entity defined by socio-political and geographical parameters, or an idea usually encapsulated in a concept, philosophy or ideology. The Biafra in question is certainly not a personality nor is it a political unit with cadastral limits. That Biafra expired in the wee hours of 1970. That leaves us with the issue of Biafra as an idea. That, I think is the one I’ll be dealing with. To get a grip on the concept of Biafra, we must revisit the unfortunate events of the ill-fated first republic. After being granted that dubious independence in 1960 and becoming a republic two years later, the ship of the Nigerian state careened from one crisis to another in its elusive search for stability and legitimacy. And you can trust politicians on this count: their characteristic hubris and unbridled corruption will always nudge the polity to the edge of the precipice. In 1966, a group of ambitious, middle-level army officers took one look at the emerging scenario and elected to intervene; violently. Through a quirk of fate, the putsch was successful around the federation save in the south-east. Incidentally, the ring leaders of the initiative were mostly of south-eastern extraction or more specifically, Igbo. On the whole, that audacious initiative failed; as I believe it was destined to. The first republic effectively expired ushering in military rule headed by the inimitable General John Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi: an Igbo man. Predictably, there were reprisals against the Igbo and their interests especially in Northern Nigeria. Thousands of Igbo were horrendously slaughtered in a pogrom that was a precursor to the genocidal war. Aguiyi-Ironsi himself was to pay the supreme price in a well articulated military ambush in Ibadan. He was felled alongside his host, Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi; military governor of the Western Region at the time. The Igbo, no longer assured of safety outside their homeland were compelled to make the unpalatable and precarious journey home; abandoning all their properties and investment. The cerebral Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, then military governor of Nigeria’s Eastern Region, was under intense pressure to extract some form of guarantee for the safety of the Igbo across the federation. There were numerous summits and conferences convened in a bid to hammer out a compromise. In spite of the celebrated meeting of all stakeholders in Aburi, Ghana, then Nigerian head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon could offer no such guarantee as the killing and persecution of the Igbo continued unabated. It was this dire situation that forced the hand of the south-eastern leadership towards secession thereby declaring the sovereign state of Biafra in 1967. The horrors of the 30-month long civil war are properly documented for the benefit of all who’re not afraid to confront the crude truth. From the foregoing, it is clear that Biafra happened as a predictable reaction to a peculiar interplay of events. If there had been no coup in 1966, there would have been no pogrom and the military would never have come to power. There would certainly have been no Biafra. I’d like to draw an analogy from the hallowed institution of marriage. With over two decades under my belt, I can say without fear of contradiction that no one approaches the sacred altar of matrimony with the faintest thoughts of a separation or divorce. I wasn’t thinking of divorce on the 12th of December 1992 and I’m not considering it even now. That’s simply because I’m enjoying a little happiness in here. Unfortunately, I can’t make the same claim for many of my friends and associates. For many, marriage has become something to be endured. But it was not designed to be so. So when marriage ceases to deliver on the promise of happiness and bliss, the only option, painful and stigmatizing as it is, is separation. I recently watched a friend go through the gruesome process of divorce. The day the court finally dissolved the union, my friend came apart completely. That’s why God hates divorce. That explains why the Church has no procedure for annulling the marriage covenant. In there, it’s “until death do you part.” But the reality on ground is that the divorce courts are very busy. Governments exist for the welfare of the people. The legitimacy of any government is hinged on its continuing ability to provide for and protect its citizens. Governments must create and sustain the enabling environment for the people to thrive and realize their deepest aspirations. The right of a people to determine what those aspirations are is unimpeachable. So also is the process of realizing them. That’s what democracy is all about; the very same thing exotically christened self-determination. Those rights are inalienable. Biafra wasn’t an original idea. It wasn’t something that was scrupulously articulated. It was merely a reaction to a government that had failed to rise to the demands of the occasion: a default solution, if you may. In essence, Biafra represents the resolve of a people to demand for a better deal. That’s what started in Tunisia, swept away the well-entrenched Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and has Libya’s Gaddafi’s future hanging by a thread. Syria’s Al-Assad and Yemen’s Saleh are fairing no better. Despotic regimes everywhere are predictably jittery, and why not? When people say the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, I assume the well being and security of all Nigerians have been factored in. I assume that that unity is founded on the bedrock of the peoples’ unalloyed and unforced commitment to the nation’s growth and sustenance. And the nation’s primary focus must be to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. Where governments falter or fail in this fundamental task, they lose the moral basis to demand the peoples’ commitment, and the unity of such an entity becomes accordingly compromised. Husbands are obligated to love their wives while wives are enjoined to submit to their husbands. Even though a wife’s submission should not ordinarily be predicated on a husband’s love, we know all too well that the performance of one encourages the other. So a husband who has ceased to love and cherish his wife cannot simply turn around to demand submission. And if such a woman approaches the courts demanding the quashing of the union, he would have no tenable basis to oppose it. As with husband and wife, so it is with a nation and her peoples. I hate divorce as perfectly as I detest the idea of secession. But I’ll have no qualms recommending both options if the circumstances so demand. The Boko Haram exponents are well within their right to demand to live how they wish. What they do not possess is the right to injure other people’s interests in the process of actualizing theirs. The charter of an organization is not complete without a provision for opting out. If you can subscribe, you must also be able to unsubscribe. So do I believe in Biafra? I think I answered that question a very long time ago. OLUGU OLUGU ORJI mnia nnanta2012@gmail.com oluguorji.wordpress.com |
Ayokunle Odekunle: Biafra – ‘Forgotten’ but not forgotten (FLASHBACK)
By Ayokunle Odekunle
To
the ethnic group that rose from the claws of near extermination to be
the driving force of Africa’s largest economy, you have my respect.
A big house
A
foreign village headmaster named Lord Laguda came around to colonize 3
families and some sub-families staying in a very large compound. These
families stay in separate quarters within the house and were clearly
independent of each other. Each of the 3 families and the other smaller
sub-families had something unique they produced. For his selfish reasons
and that of his Queen in Igilandi named Queen Alake, the three totally
unrelated families alongside sub-families staying around their area were
forced to come together as one and form a clan now named Naigara.
The
names of the families are Arewa, Yariba and Ndigbo. These families have
very different characteristics. Arewa family are the largest and highly
temperamental. This family believe it is their birthright to lead
others wherever they find themselves as God ordained them to be leaders
right from the time of creation. Not that they are too good at that
though. The Yariba family are the most educated but very hypocritical
and arrogant. They believe that since they have the most exposure and
education, they are better than every other person alive. The Ndigbo
family are the most illustrious, industrious albeit greedy people.
Before
Lord Laguda left them, he placed the Arewa family as the leader of the
Naigara clan and ensured the family was placed in vantage positions.
This did not go down well with the two other families and sub-families
who felt like second class citizens in Naigara.
So, there we have it. Three unrelated families staying together as ‘one’ in a house.
As
is the case with things built on shaky foundations or marriages built
on deceit and cohersion, things started falling apart. The center
threatened to start withdrawing it’s support
After
Lord Laguda left them and allowed them rule themselves, these people
started showing themselves as lacking the ability and capability to
lead. In the Yariba family, there was serious fighting between Owolowo
and Abintola over who will emerge as the Mogaji of the Yariba ruling
house. This fight led to serious crisis and soon, Yaribaland was named
Wild Wild West. Politicians and council chiefs in Naigara suddenly made
the treasury of Naigara their own. The Agbekoya boys (Military boys)
watched as things had degenerated in Naigara. They had to act fast.
The
crisis got more intense. There was an attempt by some members of the
Ndigbo family to overthrow the leadership of the Naigara clan and
install the ambitious Yariba man called Owolowo (he was in jail then).
The coup failed but an Ndigbo man named Oronsi emerged as leader. The
Arewa family members were very unhappy with this development. Since
naturally, they have been ordained by God to lead and for others to do
follow follow, they couldn’t imagine themselves being led by those
Ndigbo people. Some members of the Ndigbo family started singing and
dancing Ayinla Omowura’s subliminal songs to taunt the Arewa family. The
members of the Arewa family prevailed on their militiamen to take over
power. They did, and Oronsi was killed. As if that was not enough,
members of Ndigbo family were killed like chicken. It was a massacre. It
got so bad that children of the Ndigbo family ran away from the
apartments of the other families back to their own wing of the house.
Meanwhile,
the leader of the Ndigbo family, a short, sturdy man known as Olukwu
was not happy with the way his people were being mistreated and
maltreated. He called the new leader of the Naigara clan named Lakubu
Kowon and told him of the intention of the Ndigbo family to go on their
own.
Kowon disagreed
To
make things worse for everybody, Kowon decreed that from then on, each
family will cease having their own exclusive apartments (End of
Regionalism). Each party, he said will have to share the main sitting
room. Furthermore, he decreed that each familes will have to convert
their large rooms into 4 rooms (Creation of more states). Olukwu thought
these policies were aimed at the Ndigbo people.
He called Kowon’s bluff
People
tried to broker peace between Naigara and the Ndigbo family. Olukwu and
Kowon were invited by Kofi Asante to the land of the black men called
Khana. To a place called Akuri precisely . At the meeting, Olukwu
(Oxford trained guy) asked Kowon “Do you concur that the Ndigbo family
should secede and go on their own”? Kowon who did not understand the
meaning of the word ‘concur’ said “Yes, I concur”. So Olukwu got back
home and told the Ndigbo people “Kowon has agreed that we can go on our
own o”.
Pronto, Kowon said “I didn’t agree o. I only concurred!”
There
was no turning back from here. Olukwu in a room known as Ahiara
declared that from now his people had formed the Republic of Biafra and
ceased to be a part of Naigara. Kowon refused to concur this time
around.
And a bloody war began
The
Naigarians and Biafrans fought a very bloody war. The Naigarians
however failed and/or refused to keep the battle to the battle ground.
They went into the rooms where the children of the Ndigbo slept and
killed their children. They went to the markets, hospitals, schools and
threw bombs. They killed the old harmless people waiting for God to kill
them honourably. They killed the goats and chicken who were deserving
of honourable deaths on Christmas Day only. They dishonourably took the
virginity of the young girls.
They killed innocent Biafrans and their animals
Funny
enough, the same Owolowo whom the Ndigbo people who planned the first
coup wanted to make leader was released by Kowon and made him the Seriki
of Naigara. It was Owolowo who planned and executed wicked and
obnoxious economic policies to frustrate the Ndigbo people. Owolowo
popularly said “Why should I feed my enemy? Why should I allow them have
food”.
That
was it. Innocent children who did not know the cause of the conflict
were made to pay. These children who were used to eating Ogbono and Akpu
now saw lizards as a delicacy to crave for.
Lizards ran out of stock. Wall geckos too. Delicacies. Gone. Nothing more to eat.
Kwashiokor,
marasmus and all sort of diseases set it. Breast-feeding mothers ran
out of breast milk to give their badies. The babies died. The mothers
anguished. 9 months of hard labour. Gone. Wasted.
Owolowo,
Kowon, Banjamin Adakunle and the Naigarians failed to remember that
wars should only be fought on the battle field and that civilian targets
should be avoided as much as possible. That is in consonance with the
Geneva convention.
The
water in Biafra turned to blood. There was no food anywhere. No
medicine to cure the sick. The soldiers were weary. The Naigarians were
winning. Olukwu ran way and left his people behind.
The war was over.
Sad story
It
is appalling that the tales of the Biafra war are being kept away from
the public. From this present generation. The leaders of tomorrow.
Nigerians
love to live in grand illusion and/or insane delusion. They like to
believe things are fine even when it is clear to see. We love to wish
away things; consoling ourselves that things can be worse and so we
should be content with the present.
I have news for you
You
wish you can wish away history? You cannot. History is not something to
be avoided or hidden from public glare. It is something to be taught to
the present generation so the future can be better and they can learn
from the mistakes of the past generation.
The
immediate and remote causes of the January 1966 coup, the July 1966
coup, the Biafra genocide are being hidden from this generation who
ought to be the leaders of tomorrow. The mistakes that led to the 1966
coups, the Western Nigeria crisis of the early 1960s, operation wetie,
the 1976 coup are being repeated albeit unknowingly. Those who do not
remember the past are condemned to repeat it. If you do not know your
history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know
it is part of a tree.
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