Biafra: A Home Truth

By Chuks Akamadu

THE current pro-Biafra wind blowing across the length and breadth of south- eastern Nigeria and some contiguous parts of the south-south geo-political zone reminds me of the timely warning of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido. Not too long ago, the banker- turned traditional ruler was reported to have cautioned the nation on the grave danger in failing to pay proper attention to the worries of Ndigbo, noting that this generation of Igbo youths would likely dare the Nigerian state in an unimaginable manner since they neither suffer from a hang-over of the Nigeria/Biafra civil war – having not witnessed it, nor do they harbor any memories of that darkest page of Nigeria’s story book.

I would like to add that the present crop of Igbo youths grew up with a be- ware-of-the-enemy-within mindset, a siege mentality and a vanquished orientation, all of which combine to leave them in highly inflammable state. To make matters worse, the environment where they were nurtured was (and still is) rich in lack, rich in deprivation and rich in hostility. It is little wonder, therefore, that they willingly received the strange dogmatic exhortations of an Nnamdi Kanu and his Radio Biafra as food (holy sacrament, if you like) to their drained souls.

Elsewhere, I had argued that who I see on the streets clutching Biafra flag are not Biafran patriots – and they are not Biafra enthusiasts either; they are frustrated youths who are at war with a system that appears irrevocably committed to shrinking their individual prospects of survival and forecloses their chances to prosper.
Fortunately for them, the Radio Biafra hate ministrations capture, in significant ways, both their corporate imagination and existential realities whilst Nnamdi Kanu’s present duel with the law has offered them a window for self-expression.