By Julius Oweh

It is highly unfortunate that some misguided Igbo youths are gullible enough to fall for the crap that is the Biafra dream.  For some years, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is in running battle with the federal government of Nigeria and challenging the sovereignty of the nation. As if goaded by the activities of MASSOB, a certain Nnamdi Kanu and his group, the Independent People of Biafra are running a pirate radio state, Radio Biafra.

Biafra protesters

I have listened to the broadcast of the station and it is a gallery of sedition and seditious materials. The laws of the country are very clear on how to deal with sedition and seditious elements.

But beyond that, the attraction of Biafra to some people of Igbo extraction should make the government to put on its strategic thinking cap and how to deconstruct the myth surrounding the Biafra misadventure.

What MASSOB and Radio Biafra are doing is nothing short of challenging the authority of the federal republic of Nigeria and no responsible government in any part of the globe would tolerate that. The Nigerian civil war ended forty-five years ago and that some people are still incubating the satanic idea of balkanizing the country is very unfortunate and another clear indication that the Nigerian federation is not just working.

There are too many dissemblers proffering solutions on how to develop and build a virile nation.  Furthermore, most members of the political class are more enamoured of what they could get from the Nigerian project without thinking of the survival and sustenance of the nation. This is a trying period for the Buhari administration. My advice is that the Department of State Services should not make a hero of Nnamdi Kanu.

The man should be tried for sedition and the law should take its course. Furthermore, the operation of a pirate radio station is an illegal activity and the relevant sanctions should be applied. Let those misguided youths protesting about Radio Biafra and Kanu know that ours is a country governed by law and that anybody that runs afoul of the law should be prepared to face the music.

But the annoying thing about this Biafra issue is the conspiracy of silence on the part of the Ohaneze Ndigbo and the political leaders.  These people should not give the faintest impression that they support what their children are doing. By keeping silence, they are encouraging the youths on the path of destruction and should that happens, all of us shall be the casualties. The Igbos are very intelligent and hardworking and could be found in every part of the world.

But the unfortunate thing about Igbos is that in the realm of political calculations, they hardly put their acts together and they should not blame that on anybody. It is still on record that one Igbo politician said without reservation that it was better to play a second fiddle than not playing anyone. If some Igbos perceive their not too visible presence in the political arena as marginalization, the onus is on them to work and correct that mishap. Taking the re-enactment of another Biafra episode would not help matters.

The so called Independent People of Biafra are trying to include other people in their fanciful Biafra and it is a clear case of desperation. And recently the Itsekiri people told the protagonists of Biafra to keep away from Delta State.  The Itsekiri Leaders of Thought led by Pa  Johnson Ayomike as chairman and Edward Ekpoko as secretary frowned at the inclusion of Delta state in the proposed Biafra.

Listen to them: `We recall with pains the day the defunct Biafran army invaded Warri and Benin in the then Mid-west region on August 9 1967. Never again will the Itsekiri tolerate such invasion. The Itsekiri nation is committed to the unity of Nigeria and will do all it can to promote and protect it as one indivisible country. As Major General Philip Effiong said on January 14, 1970, the Republic of Biafra ceased to exist. We, the Itsekiri, wish it to be eternally so for the peace and development of our great nation`.

And this was also the theme worked on earlier by the Arewa Consultative Forum and it asked Igbo leaders to warn their youths for agitating for secessions. The ACF chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie counselled thus: `The agitators of this unholy division are in their safe abode outside Nigeria and the most painful aspect of this agitation by the young Ndigbo elements is the silence from the elders who experienced the bitter pill of the secession attempt, the 30 month civil war and who knew the consequences of such futile agitation.

As you will recall the issue of Biafra was settled in 1970 after the war. It is therefore sad and unfortunate that 45 years after, when Nigerians are now united in a democratic system of governance, that some elements are now busy drumming up support for another war and secession through Radio Biafra and MASSOB  activities.`

Biafra protesters

Not minding the sentiments of these two ethnic nationalities, the solution lies more with Igbo leaders. Those who experienced the war should drum it into the ears of the youths the consequences of war. Furthermore, if the Igbo have some grievances, they should channel them through their representatives in the National Assembly.

Nigeria is operating a constitutional government and if they are so pained in staying in the nation, they should ventilate their views and if possible, a referendum organised. As it stands today, the vast majority of Igbos are against Nnamdi Kanu and his group that want to continue to bask in the limelight. The Federal Government should deny them that opportunity.

As for those operating the pirate radio state and issuing seditious statements, they should be sanctioned according to the laws of the land. In deconstructing the Biafra attraction, legal and constitutional means should be used and that the operation of the Nigerian federation should be in transparent and just manner that everybody believes that he is an important stakeholder. That is the way to put Nnamdi Kanu et al out of circulation and relevance.