By Paul Onomuakpokpo
With northern youths
giving Igbo residing in their region an ultimatum to quit before October 1 or face dire
consequences, the agitations for the dissolution of the Nigerian union are fast
reaching frenzied heights. What obviously provoked the rage of the northern youths
were the ceaseless agitations for self-determination by some indigenes of the
south east. Such agitations being championed by the Movement for the Actualisation
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra
(IPOB) culminated recently in the shutting down of the major towns of the south
east on May 30 in
commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the quest to create
a Biafra Republic out of Nigeria.
President Buhari, Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar |
Of course, the northern part of the country,
like other regions that make up the Nigerian nation, has the right to respond
to the clamour for secession by the Igbo. But what is intolerably scandalous is
that the approach they have adopted amounts to self-sabotage. For, it rather
portrays them as a people who are not really interested in responding fully to
the demands of restructuring of the polity but are rather only motivated by
greed and the envy of the success of the Igbo.
If the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar’s
claim during his visit to the south east that the Igbo easily become objects of
hate and annihilation because of their success were a Freudian slip, the
position of the northern youths do not disguise their hankering after the
wealth of the Igbo. If the northern youths were really interested in
restructuring, the first step they should take is not to give the Igbo an
ultimatum to leave their land. Even if Nigeria breaks up today, this does
not give the northern youths the right to seize the property of the Igbo. Are
the Igbo war criminals or their property are proceeds of corruption that the
northern youths would seize them? The Igbo are free to live and own property in
any part of the world, including the north as foreigners if the country breaks
up.
Besides, it is not
only the Igbo who have been asking for a redefinition of the terms of the
existence of the Nigerian nation. The south south and the south west have also
called for the same purpose. It is ludicrous for the northern youths to single
out the Igbo for intimidation and possible liquidation as if other people were
comfortable with the injustices upon which the nation has been built for
decades. They should not think that after allowing the Igbo to go they would
continue to feed off the resources of the south south.