Let The Igbos Unite To Fight Their Common Detractors Rather Than Destroying Their Common Heritage

NJOKU MACDONALD OBINNA

I will not waste your productive business time or political engagements with unnecessary  histrography, genealogical or anthropological academic exercise.

With the ongoing security impasse across the Northern and Southern hemisphere in Nigeria  occasioned by social injustice, inequality, marginalization and dehumanization of a particular ethnic group in preference over  another through the body language or background support of the Federal Government, all can not be said to be well with ndi Igbo in Nigeria yet, the future looks brighter for this entrepreneurial and industrious group of people. 
Permit me at this point, to invoke an emotional ancient African idiom, which had its very roots in Igbo wisdom:
“Onye na amaghi ebe mmiri bidoro mawa ya, agaghi ama ebe okwusiri – He who doesn’t recognize the point at which the rain began to beat him wouldn’t recognize when the rain ceases to fall”. 
The Igbo race, arguably, became deeply drenched in that awesome nation building rain by way of separate episodes of pogrom:
The Jos Massacre of ndi Igbo in 1945. 
The Kano Massacre in 1953, and the September 29, 1966 Massacre, in which tens of thousands of Igbo men, women and children were slaughtered! This last event led directly to the Civil War of 1967 -1970 , which in turn resulted in mass starvation and deliberate anti -Igbo genocide; dehumanization.

The Post-Civil War experience and maltreatment against the Igbo race is clandestinely playing out as the Federal Government under President Muhammad Buhari is allegedly using tacit disposition to show the Igbos that they are not part of the country he rules like a dictator. This is practically evident by his obvious lopsided appointments as Northerners are given almost all the strategic and juicy positions in the country in total negligence of the ‘Federal Character ‘; starting from the Military, Paramilitary, oil sector, the judiciary, etc. 

Can one say the rain has abated? I don’t think so!

The organised anti-Igbo massacre in Kano in 1980, Maiduguri in 1982, Yola in 1984, Gombe in 1985, Kaduna in 1986, Zango -Kataf  Kaduna Massacre in 1992 , Bauchi in 1991, Funtua-Kastina in 1993, Kano in 1994,  Damboa , Kano in 2000, Apo 6 Massacre in 2005, etc, sent a strong dangerous signal that the Igbos are not truly loved and accommodated by their Northern counterparts yet, they continue to play the most strategic economic roles toward the development of the country wherever they have chosen to settle down.

The above were desperate and trying times for the nation especially, to Ndi Igbo, who remain soft targets at any slightest provocation in the North. It was also the darkest days in our nationhood as Nigerian soldiers were being used m by elements in power to commit a number of crimes against the Igbos from the South Eastern part of the country; fellow citizens in the contraption called Nigeria. An ugly situation where Military officers were rounding people up and summarily executing them, particularly in the North.

The reported ongoing militaristic slaughter of Igbo people in the North by an extremist militant group known as Boko Haram is yet to abate! No matter how an interested party may want to cover this pogrom and genocide against the Igbo race in this hurriedly arranged marriage between the North and the South , a dispassionate analysis will candidly tell you that this marriage is no longer working. 

While the country witnessed a relative peace between 1999 – 2003 under President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the advent of our nascent and modern democracy, the insecurity situation became more pronounced under President Goodluck Jonathan but went berserk when a supposed former Military General, President Muhammadu Buhari, lost his territory to the insurgent Boko Haram group, bandits, Fulani Herdsmen and now ‘unknown gunmen’  in the South East. Every region in Nigeria has its militia group that is almost succeeding in hijacking  the security architecture in these states ; starting from Ebonyi State, Enugu State, Anambara State , Abia State and now the land of Hope; Imo State.

There were occasions when Igbo people had been massacred by Northern Nigerian Muslims who had been provoked not by direct misconduct by the Igbo but perhaps because Prophet Mohammed was insulted in far away United States of America by a musician or because Allah’s name had been taken in vain in Los Angeles by an American satirist!

From the above backdrop, when one honestly and dispassionately takes a closer look at the Nigerian project today under President Muhammad Buhari, one will see that there is an irrefutable evidence of blatant anti-Igbo bias in the manner in which the political architecture of this federation is constituted. Gross injustice is the ultimate outcome of that deliberate discrimination and obvious ‘divide and rule’. 
If not, how can a responsible Federal Government protect and shield terrorists; bandits, Fulani herdsmen and the insurgent Boko Haram members, who find pleasure in killing and maiming innocent people and raping our women? You negotiate with them to drop their arms, grant them amnesty and even absolve the seeming repentant ones in the Army and other security outfits.

The bitter truth remains that the current APC Government under President Muhammad Buhari has failed Nigeria and Nigerians. Today, it is so glaring we are witnessing collapsed security architecture, massive unemployment, youth restiveness, weak economy, poor social security, abuse of human rights, etc.

The security situation across the country has become so bad as foreign and local investors drag their feet to invest in Nigeria. No wonder,  the President was  referred to in an exclusive front page edition of Tell Magazine as ‘THE GENERAL CONQUERED BY  TERRORISTS’. 
(See Tell Magazine, front page, February 8, 2021).

Watching the mass of Nigerians across the country flagrantly killed as a result of the activities of the various militia and separatist groups in the North and South without finding lasting solutions to proactively address  the menace has sold the President out as being weak and grey as the country is gradually but assiduously sliding to a killing field, unabated.

The same Government through its security agents arrest, detain and in some cases, allegedly kill innocent protesters and freedom agitators in the South East.

Unfortunately, the recent burning of Police Stations in Imo State, Anambra State, Ebonyi State and Abia State, the killing of both Igbo  security personnel and innocent citizens by these unknown gunmen has put a question mark on the true intent of these agitators, who are killing their brothers and sisters in vain as the economy of the South East continues to dwindle in geometrical progression.

Rather than destroy our brothers and sisters; their hard earned investments, why not press home your grievances and make  demands from the leadership of the South East?  If there is a common enemy ndi Igbo are collectively facing, it is the wicked enemy of marginalization, hatred against ndi Igbo and their collective interests. 

Sadly enough, the President has not taken pragmatic steps or shown any interest in addressing the rising insecurity impasse and  civil unrest in the South East.  And I am of the strongest opinion that this expression of conscience should form the tradition of the deepest values we share as a people.

Therefore, anyone with an iota of  conscience has a duty to take a moral stand against this injustice whenever and wherever it manifests.

Ndi Igbo as true born, have this impulse to demand justice and the instinctive revolt against injustice constitutes the most essential ingredients of humanity and our agitation for freedom and not mere acceptance in the Nigerian Project wherein Igbos are critical stakeholders.

However, this should go beyond the rhetorics of  ‘An Igbo Man for President;  ‘as we are not pursuing an orthodox argument with the zoning of the Presidency to the South East. This is rather, a struggle for justice, equity and fair play; of equal participation and spread of opportunities through  the instrumentalities of persuasion not necessarily by the use of barrels of gun, but through intellectual engagements, aggressive convictions of our ideas imbedded in our common requests and aspirations  consultations, mobilization, projection and a creative vision for a stronger, successful and more United Federation. 

“There is no way any war is winnable by use of force or political subterfuge. If anyone says it is going to be won by the  barrel, then this country will continue to slide into more crisis.Dialogue remains a vital key to addressing the rising agitations in the South-West, South-East and South-South.”

According to Prof. Wole Soyinka; “When dialogue is missing, you have monologue”.

Rather than voraciously attempt to clamp down on these freedom agitators in the South East; as the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) under Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,  has inadvertently raised the social bar of awareness to the chagrin of the international community, the  South East Governors should fashion a way to accommodate their proposal for a formidable security network in the region, so far,  it is formed to truly safeguard the territorial integrity and protection of lives and property of ndi Igbo.

Conversely, an average Igbo man will tell you that ndi Igbo had been completely drenched and soaked in this bloody rain to the point of suffocation. It is therefore, about  time to be freed or accorded their deserved place of pride in the Nigerian Project.

It is the way to go! And South East Governors and other respected Igbo leaders and critical stakeholders shouldn’t neglect this clarion call.

– Njoku Macdonald Obinna,Media Consultant|PR-Expert
Publisher,
4th Estate Reporters