By Femi Fani-Kayode
In a short contribution titled
"Biafra Without Our Consent?" which appears to have gone viral on
social media, a social commentator wrote as follows:
*Nnamdi Kanu |
"I think the current
generation of 'Biafrans' are the most funny people I have ever seen. How dare you sit in
your home or offices and draw your Biafra map and include places like Rivers, Cross River ,
Akwa Ibom, etc as part of your empire? Did you consult them? Did you seek their
opinions? You are forcing people to join a country whose commander in chief you
have already anointed- Nnamdi Kanu; whose currency you have already decided-
Biafra Pounds; whose official religion you have already adopted- Judaism; whose
God you have already chosen- Chukwu Abiama? Do you not realize that you are
doing to those people the same thing you accuse the British and Nigeria of
doing to you? For carving my state into your 'Biafra '
and renaming it without my permission and consultation, I have a moral duty to
stand against you with everything I have. I am not standing against you because
I do not want your freedom; I stand against you because I love mine too. I
don't stand against you because you don't have a right to your country; I stand
against you because I have the same right. I stand against you because your map
is an insult to me and my freedom to choose were I belong. Be warned!"
This commentator who I shall refer to
as Miss X and those that think like her are being disingenious and unduly
hostile to Nnamdi Kanu and the concept and spirit of Biafra .
She has made a point that appears to be
valid but that point is based on a false premise. That premise is that the
southern minorities would be compelled or obliged to be part of Biafra without their consent. This is false. It is not
true.
The truth is that each of the bordering ethnic nationalities, and even the Igbo
themselves, must and will have their own referendum before going anywhere. It
is entirely up to them what they do and where they go.
They cannot and will not be forced to
go with Biafra if they choose not to do so.
And neither can they be forced to remain in Nigeria if they choose to leave.
Everything that is done must and will
be based on the free and fair expression of the will of the people.
That is the basic point that needs to
be grasped and clearly understood. Miss X's fear is therefore baseless.
Yet we cannot leave it there. We must
consider the wider issues that her concerns have raised. We must learn to be
clear-headed and strategic in our thinking and actions. We must know what we
wish to achieve and we must learn from history.
The cost of petty bickering, division,
undue rivalry, pettiness and age-old suspicions amongst the southern ethnic
minorities and southerners generally is extremely high.
It has cost us virtually everything and
it has stripped us naked and bare before our enemies and adversaries.
*Femi Fani Kayode |
Someone is fighting for the freedom of
his people and you lend your voice to rubbishing that person and that cause?
That cannot be right and neither is it reasonable or fair.
The sooner that we southerners get it
into our skulls that there must be unity between us the better. Without that
unity we are nothing and we shall continue to fail and falter.
Yours truly has attacked and joined
issues with the Igbo in a series of literary debates and articles in the past
perhaps more than anyone else but now I know better.
Now I know that historical and
intellectual debate is one thing and political expediency and pragmatism is
another.
Now I know that we are fighting a
collective cause and that we have a collective adversary and oppressor who
seeks to destroy and devour us all.
Now I know that when my Igbo or
southern neighbour's house is burning, even if we are barely on speaking terms,
it is in my own interest to help him to put it out before that fire spreads to
mine.
Now I know that the "handshake
across the Niger "
that the late and great Ikemba, Colonel Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, the former Head
of State of Biafra, once spoke about is the only way forward.
Now I know that whether we like to
admit it or not Igbo and Yoruba co-operation, understanding and unity is a
fundamental pre-requisite to the freedom and emancipation of the entire south.
Now I know that the more I attack my
Igbo brothers the more I weaken myself, my Yoruba people and the south
generally from the incessant and relentless attacks, humiliation and
indignities that we collectively receive from the ruling core Muslim
Hausa-Fulani north.
Now I know that what fuels and feeds
northern hegemony and subjugation more than anything else are the petty
rivalries and divisions between the southern ethnic nationalities. And it has
made us utterly powerless and hopelessly weak.
The end-result is that we have all been
turned into pliant and cowardly slaves.
This has been the case since 1960 and
it will continue into eternity if we don't sit up, grow up and set aside our
many mutual suspicions and differences.
The Biafrans are simply asking for
their own country and for an affirmative referendum to give it legitimacy.
No-one can be made to join Biafra against his or her will or by force. It appears to
me that this is obvious.
In any case, did Miss X or her
forefathers give their consent to becoming a Nigerian in 1914 when the
amalgamation took place?
Where is her sense of outrage about
that? Did she warn the British or the north about that and did she promise to
attempt to fight them because of it?
Were we not all just herded into Nigeria like
cattle at the time? Were those of us from the south not just lumped together
with a north that the British described as our "poor husband" whilst
we were described as their "rich wife?"
Have we not been raped, sodomized,
cheated, battered and butchered by that poor husband ever since?
Have we not been turned into second
class citizens and slaves in our own country? Has Miss X protested about that
and has she expressed her outrage and "warned" our collective
oppressors as well? Does she not feel a sense of revulsion and outrage about
that? Or is her outrage and warning reserved only for her fellow southerners?
The people of Biafra
are fighting for the self-determination of their own Igbo people and anyone or
any other group that wishes to join them. Is that a crime?
Would you seek to deny them that right
and instead join sides with their oppressors and keep them in Nigeria by the
usage of state-sponsored terror, guile, deceit and tyranny?
I do not accept the notion that the
Biafrans seek to compel anyone or any group of people to leave Nigeria with
them if they do not wish to do so.
That would be unacceptable and it is
not their intention. Unlike Nigeria ,
being part of or joining Biafra is not by
compulsion but rather a matter of choice. And that choice can only be made in a
free and fair referendum.
If you do not wish to be part of Biafra
and leave Nigeria
then don't join them and instead stay in Lugard's "happy"
contraption. That is your right and your prerogative.
Yet the truth is that with or without
you the Biafrans will achieve their objectives and realize their dreams and
aspirations as long as it is God's will and the desire of the Igbo people.
Whatever you and your people choose to
do, either to go with Biafra or stay in Nigeria, do not allow yourself to be
used by the retrogressive core north, the primitive forces of oppression and
the asinine peddlers of lies, ignorance, and falsehood to destroy someone
else's yearning for freedom from oppression and aspiration for liberty.
I say this because such an aspiration,
yearning and quest is not only noble and pure but also deeply courageous.
It is an aspiration that we should
mirror and admire and not attempt to rubbish or belittle.
This is all the more so because it has
been paid for by the blood and suffering of many that have been killed over the
last 50 years for daring to voice it, including many young people and many
children.
If Miss X's Efik ethnic group had
suffered just 10 per cent of what the Igbo have been subjected to since 1966
they would have agitated to leave Nigeria long ago or perhaps been
driven into extinction by now. That is the bitter truth.
Finally let me say this: whether anyone
likes it or not Nnamdi Kanu symbolizes the Biafran struggle today.
He has earned it by the suffering he
has endured, by the immense courage that he has displayed and by the gargantuan
risks that he has taken.
He has energized his people and
inspired and brought hope to millions of Igbo youth all over the world.
He has given them back their pride and
self-respect which is something that no other leader has managed to do since
the end of the civil war.
This is a beautiful thing and I wonder
why anyone that lays claim to being enlightened or educated would attempt to
besmirch or denigrate him?
Why try and demean him or discredit and
belittle the views that he and his followers hold so dear?
Whether anyone likes it or not the
truth is that Nnamdi Kanu speaks for millions.
And many other ethnic nationalist
groups in the South and Middle Belt have precisely the same aspirations and
dreams of emancipation and freedom that he espouses, enunciates, epitomizes and
holds so dear.
The challenge that they are faced with
is that, unlike the Igbo, they have yet to produce a leader like Nnamdi Kanu
that can unite and rally them together under one banner and lead them to the
promised land.
*Femi
Fani-Kayode is former Nigerian Aviation Minister
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