More Biafras to come

By Theodore U. Nnachi

~The SUN: Nnachi writes from Lagos.

IN times like this when there's severe economic de­pression or downturn or whatever you may want to call it some genuinely creative folks tend to come up with creative means of making money. From days of yore, money-making ventures had always and will always come through very risky ventures.

I would have written this piece long ago but for the fear of contempt of court and the palpable issue of subjudice in court cases involving the current rave of the moment in issues of Biafra named Nnamdi Kanu. I will tread carefully and not touch on very sensitive issues concerning the court case(s).

Now, in my own estimation, Nnamdi Kanu's Bi­afra under the auspices of IPOB - Indigenous People of Biafra, happens to be the third Biafra. The first of course is the widely known case of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu's Biafra. His case, and indeed the people's case from Eastern Ni­geria was a very genuine case of genocide; it was a case of a people, particularly Igbos being massacred in the North. And being pushed to the wall, they had no other option than to fight back.

When the federal military government of General Yakubu "Jack" Gowon decided to move from the originally stated minimal "Police action against the rebels", to a full scale war of attrition and annihila­tion dubbed "to keep Nigeria one is a task that most be done, Ojukwu has no other option than to declare the state of Biafra.

A little tact and diplomacy would have saved the situation in that years of sheer madness but three major factors came into play and war became inevi­table. One, the two young, hot-headed Lt. Colonels that were at the helm of affairs then were fighting a war of superiority and influence. Both were in their 30's, both were Lt. Colonels when they started the journey into military and administrative stardom. Both were Christians who would have listened to their inner minds that war wasn't always the best op­tion.

But unfortunately both were ill-advised and misled by powerful civil servants who were bent on having their names in history whether negatively or positively. In the end, both men came back from Aburi, Ghana to Lagos and Enugu respectively and continued their war of supremacy. Lt. Col Gowon as Head of State and Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces became a full 5-star General. Ojukwu also became a General of the Biafran Army as Head of State of the Repub­lic of Biafra. That was the first factor and the first Bi­afra. The second factor was the role of Great Britain our erstwhile colonial master. Britain and indeed the whole of the West believed then that divided Nigeria would mean that the vast oil wealth of Nigeria would be in Biafran domain. There was no guarantee that the Oxford-trained fiery warlord, General Ojukwu, would be amenable and malleable like General Gowon.

Thus the British continued their erstwhile fraternity with the North and wholly supported Gowon. They supplied every thing needed to keep Nigeria one as a "task that must be done...", this included supplying MIG Fighter jets and their pilots, surplus arms and am­munition they have been stockpiling for years when the Cold War with the then Soviet Union (now Russia) was still on.

The third factor which I mentioned earlier in pass­ing was the influence of big shots, financiers, powerful politicians and influence and opinion moulders on both sides who were raking in money (and power) from the two vastly inexperienced administrators. Most of them formulated policies that would prolong the war and thus continue the windfall from arms and food pur­chase, big business investments in oil racketeering and sale of cigarettes. Yes, cigarettes which in any war situ­ation in anywhere in the world is almost an accepted currency of exchange. Millionaires in both Biafran and Nigerian Pounds were made. People who went out to buy arms for Biafra allegedly made away with the cash leaning the embattled republic to suffer a certain defeat.

Decades after this unfortunate and avoidable in­fraction, another young man, a trained lawyer in the person of Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, came up with the idea of a second Biafra. With the aid of some people with creative ideas, he formed the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MAS­SOB).

They appealed to the sentiments of the Igbo and their sympathizers. They crated a welfare programme for former Biafran soldiers who were now amputees and the dregs of the society having lost everything to the ill-fated war. Initially the MASSOB venture was peaceful, orderly and focused as a movement to ac­tualize the new state of Biafra. But as Hadley Chase would put it, Uwazuruike and his friends got "the whiff of money". They raked in money from well-wishers in the Diaspora and elsewhere and started sewing military uniforms for the boys; they started having their "national" flag, currency and even pass­ports.

They did not stop at that, their leader whose name "Uwazuruike" in Igbo means "Let the world be at peace or at rest" tacitly encouraged the MASSOB people to stop participating in anything done in the national interest of Nigeria. No more participation in national census, registration for voters card and ac­tual noting. This, of course led to disastrous outings for the population and voting patterns of Ndigbo. The MASSOB guys who paraded themselves as a peaceful organization started forcing people to close markets and observe "Biafra" or "MASSOB" days! This, again, led to disastrous economic outings for a people whose mainstay is buying and selling. At the end of the day both Uwazuruike and his MAS­SOB lost influence. The fire simply went out. Since Mother Nature as they say, abhors vacuum, a cer­tain Nnamdi Kanu, hitherto unknown and faceless, sprang up as the Director of Radio Biafra.

With his radio station, location unknown, he started re-igniting the spirit of Biafra. This, I will call the third Biafra. As he grew in popularity especially with Keke (tricycle commercial) operators artisans, market people and the vast sea of unemployed Igbo youths across major Igbo-speaking towns, he formed the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

To my mind there is no difference between the new IPOB and MASSOB as both operated the same way with Biafran sun-rising logo, mufflers. T-shirts, etc. some fast guys equally raked in money printing souvenirs, flags, almanacs and gutter press magazines highlighting the spirit of Biafra. A vast majority of Ndigbo were deceived into believing that the United Nations, UN, is sympathetic to the Biafran cause and will "very soon" declare the sovereign state of Biafra. I am yet to ascertain the veracity of this claim. But one thing is certain, a lot of Igbo sympathizers and well-wishers have been cajoled into parting with their money with this kind of reasoning.

From the way things have whittled down as at now in Aba where I live, the IPOB agitation seems to be going the way of MASSOB. This is more so with the serious ban on public processions and protests in Abia State by the state government. Peace seems to be in the air for now but the question is: for how long? Those who have tasted the money-spinning attraction of a Biafra movement would be tempted to take up from wherever and or whenever Nnamdi Kanu steps aside.

In other words, those who have the dare-devil spirit of rising their lives to make money (and they are legion in Igbo land) would still think of making more Biafras in future. This will be so unless the Federal government of Nigeria finds it needful to at least repair and reconstruct federal roads all over the South-East. It should also borrow a leaf or two from the high performing governors of Abia State, Dr Okezie V. Ikpeazu and Mr. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (the only state governor in Nigeria that still retains the title of "Mr" after six months in office!) Both men within a space of just eight months in office and with the stressful, distractive election cases still performed excellently well. Now that the encumbrances have been put off their necks, I believe they would perform wonders in the two states beginning with 'A'.

President Buhari should think seriously about making the South East feel accepted. Let him declare a state of emergency on infrastructure, agriculture and industries in the region. Let there be a Marshall plan to restore the dignity of man in all the major cities of Igboland and see the real wonders of the people with the Midas touch.

My beloved uncle before the passed on, used to say, "if you want to eat rabbit stew you must first catch your rabbit". For there to be lasting peace and less agitations for sovereignty, Igboland must be developed. I will implore other state governors in Igboland to visit Aba now and see the magic a hitherto-unknown man called Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu did in the town and in other parts of the state in spite of dwindling allocations from Abuja. Igboland would be better for it in the long run and believe me, there will be less talk of Biafra.