Igbo and the wisdom of the west

By Hyginus Azubike
~vanguard Nigeria. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018.

WHEN the presidential flag-bearer of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku
nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, joy was universal. In the political history of Nigeria, no such nomination was greeted with the type of elation with which Nigerians received it. From North to South and East to West, the citizenry proclaimed Atiku's choice as the best Nigeria has witnessed preparatory to general elections.

Most Nigerians were excited by Obi's nomination due to his performance as Governor of Anambra State. They believe, rightly, that teaming up with Atiku, they will replicate the Anambra wonder.

As Nigeria's Vice-President when Obi was Governor of Anambra State, Atiku must have closely observed the younger man; and was satisfied with Obi's several positive contributions at meetings and saw in him what the rest of Nigerians did. Atiku himself said of Obi: "In 2016, my running mate, former Governor Peter Obi, gave an Independence Day speech at 'The Platform' event organised by Covenant Christian Centre in Lagos.

It was an unforgettable Independence Day event which, according to Google analytics, was the most searched item in Nigeria on that day. Why was that speech so attractive to Nigerians? It is because Mr. Obi gave a detailed breakdown of the reality of governance in Nigeria today, which is one of a wasteful squandering of the riches that should have gone into the development of our youth".


However, it was both shocking and perplexing that the opposition Obi got was from the South East, the very people who are supposed to be at home with the wonders that he did in Anambra State. In what looked like diplomacy's way of saying 'No' to a person, a group of persons said that they were against the process by which Atiku nominated Obi. They went as far as issuing statements and initiating moves intent on truncating the choice. What was instructive was that while they were on this, the Westerners appealed and even send a delegation to Atiku that they were fully ready for the post should the Easterners lose it due to their folly. This singular act should stick as food-for-thought for the people of the East.

BIAFRA IS THE NEMESIS OF NIGERIA -LNC 06/02/17

By Tony Nnadi
Secretary-General, Lower Niger Congress.

 Biafra is the nemesis of Nigeria. Both are now mutually exclusive. For one to live, the other must die. In 1970, Nigeria got a Pyrrhic Victory over Biafra. The then French President, Pompidou (next from Charles De Gaulle), whose Country played more than a casual role in the entire imbroglio and who knew what most people did not know about that Biafra War and the People against whom the genocide was directed, had warned the bloody, murderous aggressors, marauding as One-Nigeria, led by willing-tool Yakubu Gowon and his collaborator-in-chief, Awolowo, to immediately address the issues that led to that War with Biafra (1967-1970), otherwise in no more than 30 years, the generation that did not wield guns in the Battlefields of Biafra, would rise up to conclude that War on their own terms. 

Obdurate Nigeria did the opposite, by deploying several punitive policies to put down the East, compounding the woes and devastation already imposed by that War on the East and its Peoples and environment. Shuttering of the Eastern Economic Corridor which was a carry-over of the Land, Air and Sea Wartime blocade of Biafra, Mass expropriation by way of Abandoned Property,  £20-per-pre-war-account heist. Indigenization Decrees. Thick Glass ceilings for Public Office, Civil Service, Military, Police against the East.

Caliphate-propped  Head-Slave, Olusegun Obasanjo whose heinous roles in that War, especially towards the tail-end, remains a subject of genocidal Inquisition, went about gloating and boasting about the death and burial of Biafra, for many years, in absolute folly.

By 1999, so bad had things gone that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (former CBN Governor, now Emir of Kano), whose grandfather was the Emir of Kano, deposed by Premier Ahmadu Bello,  raised an urgent alarm and admonition to the Alliance of the Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie, along the same lines as the 1970 Pompidou's premonition, concerning the impending Biafra Exit Hurricane that would be driven by a younger generation of terribly oppressed Biafrans, who neither know or care about Ojukwu or Nzeogwu, for their own reasons, emanating from the scorching of Nigeria.
Sanusi had warned that when that day comes, no Conference would solve the problem of Nigeria. Here are the words of Sanusi:

"The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have conspired to keep the Igbo out of the scheme of things. They have been defeated in War, rendered paupers by Monetary Policy Fiat, their properties declared abandoned and confiscated, kept out of strategic public sector appointments and deprived public services. The rest of Nigeria forced them to remain in Nigeria and has continued to deny them equity. Our present political leaders have no sense of history. There is a new Igbo man who not born in 1966 and knows nor cares about Nzeogwu or Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the streets who were never Biafrans. They were born Nigerians and are Nigerians, but suffer because of the actions of earlier generations. They would soon decide that it is better to fight their own war and maybe, find an honourable peace than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity. The Northern Bourgeoisie and the Yoruba Bourgeoisie have exacted their pound of flesh from the Igbos. For one Sardauna, one Tafawa Balewa, one Akintola and one Okotie-Eboh, hundreds of thousands have died and suffered....If this issue is not addressed immediately, no Conference will solve Nigeria's problems" (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at a Public Lecture Titled: "Issues in Restructuring Corporate Nigeria" 11th September, 1999, at Areas House, Kaduna, cited at page 167 of Ezeani Emefiena's book, "IN BIAFRA AFRICA DIED").

As actors in the field of play, the LNC can say with a measure of certainty, that that day spoken about by Sanusi in 1999 is here. That day Nigeria was warned about in 1970 by France has come. 

As the defunct Nigerian Federation is being taken to its interment,  the Biafra that went into hibernation mode since 1970 is sprouting back to life, unstoppably. The 1967 War is about to end. A Referendum already being processed, will decide the future of the Territory.

3Million Volunteers are currently being Registered by the LNC for training and deployment towards various Referendum Tasks.

Tony Nnadi
Secretary-General,
Lower Niger Congress.
06/02/17

It is Israel’s responsibility to ensure Biafra stands –Kanu

~Punch Nigeria. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has stated that Isreal has a
responsibility to ensure that Biafra stands as an independent nation in Africa.
He said this in an interview moderatedby one Adam Rotbardon an unidentified Israeli television station and shared on the interviewer’s Facebook page.

He said, “Israel has to live up to their obligation to defend Judaism and Jewish faith all over the world. We are being persecuted. We are suffering as a people and I believe it is the responsibility of Israel to make sure that Biafra stands as an independent entity in Africa.”

Kanu claims that over 50 million Igbo people practice Judaism. He said,“Biafra has over 70 million people scattered all over the world. They have called us the wandering Jews of Africa. Those that identify themselves with their Jewish heritage are about 50 million people.”

When asked if this number of people practised Judaism, he said, “Yes, in terms of their prayers, in terms of the Torah that they read. Asignificant number of the population practise Judaism as we do in IPOB.

“When Christianity came with colonialism, a lot of our Jewish practices were suppressed. We were made to feel ashamed of our Jewishness.

“We want to go back to the way we were before the British came. Most of our problems were basically made by the British.

“We want an independent Jewish State, a Biafra that is absolutely independent of anything that has to do with Nigeria, for the simple reason that we were independent before the British came.

“There is a paranoia that, should Biafra get closer to Israel, 70 million people would somehow flock to the land of Israel, but that is not the case. We are seeking Biafra, so we can get and return to Biafra.

Kanu also alleged that the Nigerian Army tried to kill him. He said, “Nigerian Army came to my house to kill me. They killed 28 people in the process.”

When asked why he wasn’t killed, he said, “My people evacuated me before they could get to me. And they smuggled me out of Nigeria.

“I would say, I’m relieved that I managed to make it to the only place that I feel safe in the whole world (Israel). I could have gone back to England, but I still don’t feel safe enough to go back to England.”

LET WISDOM AND REASON GUIDE ON NIGERIA AND BIAFRA

By E O Eke.
Email: eoeke@aol.com

A PLEA TO MY PEOPLE

I have decided to continue to make my case for a future for Igbos within a restructured Nigeria under the rule of law. Hence, the article below, which I first argued in an Igbo forum last year, shortly before the government moved against IPOB.

The issues Igbos face in Nigeria is not peculiar to us. However, we seem bent on approaching it in the way that will ensure the worst outcome.

We seen to ignore the very first thing we need to do, which is organising our politics in Nigeria around the problems we face in Nigeria.

This will be the foundation of our success. Without it, the federal government will rightly see those agitating for Biafra as trouble makers and will with time, harden attitude towards them.

The Biafran struggle needs to metamorphose into struggle against, corruption, bad government and injustices against Igbos and others in Nigeria.

The support it enjoys amongst Igbos should be converted into political currency to enlighten our society and elect honest and informed people, who share the passion for civil, better and fairer society, ending discrimination against Igbos and believe in accountable government. Such leaders would be in the best position to demand for restructure of the country into a true federation and make informed choices about our future.

It would be difficult to actualise Biafra, when those, who seek her actualisation are not part of mainstream politics, disregard constituted authorities and are interested in exploiting the franchise for personal gains.

These and more are the facts, which those agitating for Biafra have chosen to ignore as they take advantage of the people. This is part of what I argued long before Radio Biafra.

The way forward.
For more than six years I have warned about the danger of the type of ethnic nationalism that is fuelling the agitation for Biafra. I have said and continue to say that it is an ill wind.