NIGERIA: January 15, 1966 To General Abacha

Chukwuma Nzeogwu

BY EMMANUEL YAWE

As rural dwellers, marooned in our village in Benue Province, we rejoiced over the news that soldiers had terminated the first republic. The reason was simple; six years of independence brought no peace to Benue.

In 1960, just before independence, the Tiv Division of the Province erupted in violence in what has become known in history as the 1st Tiv Riots. The gravity of that 1st riot can be gleaned from the words of Sir Bryan Sherwood Smith who observed in his book “But always as friends” that more police men were killed in that one single riot than were killed in all the years of colonial rule in Nigeria. Bryan Sherwood was not an ordinary writer; he was the Governor General of Northern Nigeria who rounded up colonial rule in that region – 1954 to 1957.

Then in 1964, the same Division erupted in another round of violence. This time when it became clear that the police could not handle the situation, the federal government of Tafawa Balewa immediately invited the army. Thus for the first time after independence, the Nigerian Army was drafted into solving an internal security situation which ought to have been the responsibility of the police. Unlike the police whom they fought fiercely, the rioters welcomed the military as impartial peace makers.

There were still military men out there in the countryside of Tiv Division when the government was overthrown on January 15 1966. The joy on the faces of many in Tiv Division on that day is therefore quite understandable.

But it was short lived. Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu who murdered Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the Northern Region and proceeded to abolish his government said he was acting on behalf of the Supreme Council of the Revolution of the Nigerian Armed Forces. But there was nothing revolutionary and or rational in their actions.

It soon became clear to Nigerians that those who carried out the murders were not revolutionaries but revisionists and they did not represent the Nigerian Army but a tiny fraction of an ethnic/regional group of the national army. What their action did was to extend the crack lines in the civil society into the armed forces. In an emergent third world country where institutions are very weak, nothing could be more disintegrative than throwing these crack lines to men in arms.

To add fuel to injury, supporters of the revolutionaries threw caution to the wind. Provocative literature, pictures were produced en masse and musical records were waxed taunting the group that had suffered most of the casualties in the killing spree of January 15th.

The violent reaction on the part of those who felt their political and military were targeted in the selected killings was a logical development. Massive demonstrations and attacks against Ibo ethnic men whose officers in the military played a dominant role in the coup became targets. Many were wounded/ killed and their property destroyed. At the end of the day, the killings penetrated the barracks when there were more killings of men and officers. The assassination of the head of the first Military Government in Nigeria, Major General Aguyi Ironsi and the fall of his government was only a question of time. It happened on 29th July 1966.

Lt Col Yakubu Gowon took over from him. He was Head of State but his leadership was challenged by another Lt. Col, Odumegwu Ojukwu who led the Eastern Region – where he was appointed as military Governor by General Ironsi – in a rebellion to form a breakaway republic they called Biafra. Thus it was the military that led us to our civil war in which over a million people died.

After nine years in office, Yakubu Gowon, now a General was overthrown in a coup on 29th July 1975. Then succession by coup became the norm. He was lucky to have left office with his life. Others like his immediate successor, General Murtala Mohammed were not. In fact by the time General Obasanjo handed over power to Shehu Shagari in 1979, we had five heads of states, three out them left the State House in coffins. It was like killing our Heads of States was our national hobby.

After the exit of Obasanjo, the military took a short break and allowed civilians four years to rule to the end of 1983. General Muhammadu Buhari led another contingent of military men to boot out President Shehu Shagari on 31st December 1983. From then on, a succession of Generals took their turns to overthrow governments and run the country.

The last of them was General Sani Abacha who overthrew the Interim government that was headed by Ernest Shonekan an unelected civil Head of State who was appointed by General Babangida to create some space for him to step aside after the June 12 stalemate. Tragically, General Sani Abacha also left the State House in a coffin. We got the democracy we practice today from the military hands of General Abdulsalami Abubakar who took over from Abacha and implemented a business like transition program.

When Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeagwu shot himself to power, he complained about “ten per centers, nepotists and tribalists”. Unfortunately, his coup directly led to a civil war. His military coup also led to prolonged military rule which led to unprecedented corruption. At the time Abacha died in terrible circumstances of moral debauchery, corruption had reached a stage that nobody was talking of ten percent. In fact the whole process of tendering and awarding contracts was an inconvenience.

Nigeria was looted and re-looted.

SOURCE: NATIONAL ACOORD

Igbo In Canada Unveil Fresh Plans For Biafra

Image via Daily Post

BY JOHN OWEN NWACHUKWU

TORONTO, CANADA (DAILY POST NIGERIA) -- The Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA/Umunna) has announced that it will immediately commence intense lobbying of the South-East governors and House of Assemblies to declare a Biafra Memorial Day in remembrance of the over three million people of Igbo origin that died during the Nigerian civil war.

This was contained in a statement sent to DAILY POST on Sunday from Toronto, Canada by the chairman, Board of Directors of the socio-cultural and political group, Ben Allison, through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ahaoma Kanu.

The group also announced the 17th Biafra Memorial Events due to be hosted in Toronto, Canada on May, 18th, 2019.

The Chairman pointed out that there was immediate need to have a day instituted to honour “our fathers, mothers, brothers and kinsmen who lost their lives in the two and half years war is necessary so that the coming generations will be aware of the history of the travail, trials and survival of Ndigbo in Nigeria”.

His words, “The Biafra Memorial/Remembrance Week is an annual event organized by the association in remembrance of the over three million Igbo people who lost their lives during the Nigeria Civil War that lasted from 1967 to 1970.

“It is indeed worrisome that such a tragic event which occurred in the history of this country is being forgotten with an unrelenting continuous attempt by the establishment always in motion to suppress any activity initiated to remember victims of the Nigeria civil war; an action which, in the real sense, represents an ongoing suppression of people from the South-East from exercising their basic human rights.”

Speaking further, Allison said in the light of these, the organization will work assidiously with the five South-East governors and the various legislative arm of government to come to a decision to have a unified day to remember the victims of the war in the form of a Remembrance Day that will be observed yearly.

“Igbos in Canada has been observing the remembrance of our people who lost their lives and we will be taking this further to our various governors and elected lawmakers to see the need to come to a unanimous decision to declare a Remembrance Day for our fallen heroes. It will be done by unanimous decision of our elected lawmakers who have the autonomy to do so devoid of interference from the Federal Government.”

The President, ICCA/Umunna, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoro, in his remark, said there are activities to mark this year’s event which will be held at the Woodbine Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the Mayor of Brampton, Hon. Patrick Brown, is expected to be the special guest of honour.

“We have several activities to mark this year’s Biafra Memorial Event which includes

Biafra Memorial and Remembrance lecture, Igbo Heritage Gala and Awards Night and the Unveiling the concept of BIANU.”

Mr. Chris Nsoedo, Board Secretary, said that following some of the ill-treatment meted out to people from the South-East as witnessed during the just concluded general elections especially in Lagos State where there were reports of attacks on Ndigbo while they were exercising their civic right of voting, and with remarks made by a serving senator from the south West about Igbos not being trustworthy, the need for Igbos to come together under the BIANU umbrella is inevitable.

It added that “It is so sad that 47 years after the war Ndigbo is being treated as if they being tolerated and do not belong to the union called Nigeria. Yesterday it was attack on Ndigbo while voting, today we hear of their places of businesses being invaded and we see how the government unapologetically disenfranchises Ndigbo from government with disregard.

“The concept of BIANU, which will be activated on that day, is a call for Ndigbo to come together and think home and develop the South-East.

“The Theme for the 2019 Biafra Memorial/Remembrance Week is: THEY DIED THAT WE MAY LIVE; IN REMEMBRANCE OF OUR HEROES PAST.”

“ICCA/UMUNNA said it would continued to advocate matters of Igbo interest as it has done “for over 50 years past and is driven by the purpose of instilling a true sense of identity and pride in Igbo nation by keeping the memories of the Igbos lost in the civil war alive as well as promoting the language, culture, history, traditions and philosophy of Igbo nation in Canada.

Owerri Women: IPOB Declares Sept 14 Sit At Home In the S/East, Other Places

Image via Oracle News

OWERRI (THE ORACLE)--The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared September 14, 2018 as a day of total sits at home in the southeast geopolitical zone and other places where Igbo people reside in Nigeria and the world over. This was contained in a statement issued by IPOB Director of Media and Publicity.

The Sit at Home order according to Powerful is a result of ongoing campaign of ethnic and religious persecution, genocide and humiliation of the people of Biafra in general and Igbo people in particular by this Buhari regime, culminating in the abominable incarceration of innocent mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers in Owerri prisons.

“Following the incarceration of innocent mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers in Owerri prisons among other reasons
we the do hereby declare 14 September 2018 a day of general strike, mourning and resistance across Biafraland” he said

He noted that the inhabitants of South East/South South and all conscientious Biafrans living in other parts of Nigeria and the world are required to stay indoors away from work or daily business activities throughout the day of the 14th of September 2018 to register our anger and protest regarding the men and women killed at Afaraukwu in Umuahia during Operation Python Dance II on September 14 last year, those killed in Ngwa, Aba, Igweocha (Port Harcourt) and buried in unmarked mass graves as a result of unprovoked military invasion of Biafraland by the Nigerian Army.

He continued, “We shall also remember all those killed in the struggle for the restoration of Biafra independence since August 2015 when the army shot dead Mr Okafor in Onitsha on a peaceful march from Nkpor to Onitsha main town. Their sacrifice will neither be forgotten nor will it be in vain, because come what may, this generation of IPOB must and will restore Biafra.

“The sacrilegious and disgraceful humiliation of Igbo women, some of them great grand-mothers, ranks as one of the most abominable act of desecration ever visited upon the land of Biafra in recorded history. It will mark the defining event that completed the shame and humiliation of the Igbo race. The cowardice and impotency of Igbo socio-political and cultural leadership in the face of such humiliation by a single Fulani police officer in Owerri is confirmation, if one is needed, that South East and South South regions are conquered territories and vassal colonies of the Sokoto caliphate.

“Nationwide general strike observed as a sit-at-home across Biafraland on the 14th of September 2018, is the only way we Biafrans can honour our fallen brethren and legitimately remind our northern oppressors and their collaborators in our midst that enough is enough! We do not want another Operation Python Dance or another mass murder of Biafra agitators and humiliation of our mothers in our land. Biafraland we state categorically must emerge a free nation under God, whether our enemies like it or not.

“What happened at Afaraukwu; the desecration of house of a traditional ruler, the slaughter of innocent men and women: the wholesale massacre along the Ngwa segment of Enugu-Igweocha (Port Harcourt) Expresswa, countless number of mass graves across Biafraland, is repulsive, inhumane, barbaric and worthy of total condemnation by all right thinking people. We wait the day United Nations and other world bodies will give the issue of Biafra the same level of prominence it is giving Rhohingya.

“All businesses, offices, markets, schools and road transportation will be shut down for 24 hours from midnight of the 13th of September. There will be no human or vehicular movement across Biafraland. People are expected to stay at home to pray for the soul of the brave and reflect upon the bondage our land is under.

“Any person or persons seen outside on the 14th of September 2018 will be classed as an enemy of the people because only collaborators in Ohaneze and South East Governors Forum that instigated Operation Python Dance and encouraged the army to kill unarmed innocent IPOB agitators will dare challenge this directive.

“As well as honouring our heroes that died in Afaraukwu a year ago and other places in Biafraland, 14 September 2018 shall expose who the saboteurs undermining the freedom of Biafra truly are.

Biafra: I ‘ll Sabotage Another War On Igboland – Nwodo

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

John Nnia Nwodo Image Via Youtube Screen Shot

LAGOS, NIGERIA (VANGUARD) --President-General of apex Igbo Socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia, has vowed to sabotage any attempt to levy war on Igboland in the name of agitation for Biafra. Chief Nwodo made the vow, yesterday, while addressing Ndigbo in Lagos at the practice pitch of the National Stadium.

Recalling how he lost his best friend at the war front during the Nigeria-Biafra war, how more than two million Igbo lost their lives and how many dreams were aborted, Nwodo said as a leader he would not fold his arms and watch his people suffer such destruction again. Nwodo said he is not against the agitation for Biafra self determination and cries of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB because the Igbo are truly marginalised and oppressed in Nigeria.

However, he said is opposed to the methodology of the agitators because it cannot work in Nigeria as currently constituted. 

The only way out, he argued, is restructuring and enthronement of fiscal federalism which will allow the states to control their resources, handle issues like police, education, health, mineral resources, etc while the Federal Government handle functions like immigration, customs, central banking, aviation and external affairs.

 Nwodo declared his opposition to another war in Igboland when pro-Biafran youths wielding placards stormed the venue while he was addressing the crowd. 

Pleading with the security not to deal with the protesters, Nwodo said: “Nobody should touch these youths. They are my children. When I was their age, I was in the trench fighting for Biafra. My best friend died at the battle front. 

More than one million people were killed in the battle, one and half million people starved to death…you can’t be a youth then without going to the battle front. I can’t allow that to happen to my people again. That is why I will be a saboteur in any attempt to levy another war on Igboland. That is why Ohanaeze wants restructuring of Nigeria.” 

Noting that Southern leaders, southern governors and senators, and the Middle belt have agreed on the need to restructure Nigeria, he said the rejoinder of Northern senators to the Southern senators’ call on President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure the country was watery. 

“Northern senators issued a rejoinder to our position on restructuring, that we are heating the polity but they did not address the points we raised,” he said. 

On the leadership crisis in Lagos chapter of Ohanaeze, he said the recent election remains nullified because it was held in breach of the directives of Ohanaeze National Executive Committee, NEC. 

He urged all Igbo in Lagos to end their differences, unite and go a fresh elections, which he assured will be transparent, free and fair. 

He Lamented that disunity is the major reason Igbo are not getting their fair share in the affairs of the state in spite of being over four million in population and contributing about 40 per cent of taxes paid in Lagos. 

Notable Igbo leaders at the gathering include: Chief Guy Ikokwu, Agunze Chibueze Ikokwu, Chief Sylvan Ebigwei, Eze Hycinth Ohazulike, Chief Eric Ebe, Prince Emeka Ogbu and Chief Fabian Duru.

Powerful Rhetoric Gives Insight Into Biafran Independence Narratives

BY JOHN CAMPBELL

Uboha Damia, a 75-year-old veteran of Nigeria’s 1967 civil war, holds a flag of the separatist Biafra movement during an event in Umuahia, Nigeria on May 28, 2017. (Lekan Oyekanmi/AP)

BIAFRA NIGERIA WORLD (COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS) -- The still unknown whereabouts of Namdi Kanu, a leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has led to public exchanges that provide insight into the mindset of at least some of Biafra's supporters. The IPOB is one of a number of organizations that are calling for the secession from Nigeria of the predominately Igbo and Christian states in southeast Nigeria, and the federal government has labeled it a terrorist organization. Following a security service raid on his house, Kanu has gone missing, either into hiding or, as his lawyer speculates, he has been killed by the security services. He is due in court to face treason charges on October 17. As he is a British subject as well as a Nigerian citizen, the British government has asked the Buhari administration for Kanu’s whereabouts, but it denied any knowledge of them.

Former Abia state governor Orji Kalu is claiming that Kanu fled to the United Kingdom via Malaysia, but this is strenuously denied by IPOB spokespersons. Mr. Emma Powerful, the IPOB’s media and publicity secretary, characterized the United Kingdom as being better organized and less corrupt than Nigeria. Further, it is “an island nation surrounded by water and it is near impossible to enter without being documented.” Accordingly, Mr. Powerful continued, the British government would know whether Kanu was in the country. The fact that the British government is asking the Nigerian government for Kanu’s where about is “proof” that he is not in Britain.

Perhaps more central to the IPOB’s outlook are Emma Powerful‘s comments about the threat posed by the “Fulani caliphate.” He accuses Kalu and other Igbo political figures who criticize Kanu as “Hausa-Fulani errand boys.” Among the Igbo errand boys, there is “an ongoing battle as to who will emerge the anointed son of the Fulani caliphate.” Fear of northern, Muslim domination of Nigeria is a long-standing theme in Igboland and other parts of the south. Some current Biafra supporters characterize the 1967-70 Nigerian civil war as a struggle between Christians and Muslims, in which the latter were victorious because of the “betrayal” of Yorubaland (a western, religiously mixed region of Nigeria), which allied with the Muslims of the north to destroy Biafra. The fact that the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, is a Fulani Muslim encourages this way of thinking. If fear of Fulani domination is one of Emma Powerful’s themes, another is bad governance. He states, “Our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before his abduction by Nigerian Army has brought an end to the era of cash and carry politics of subservience to Hausa-Fulani to the detriment of Biafra.”

Other pro-Biafra organizations are expressing support for Kanu. Uchenna Madu, the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), issued a statement that Kanu is a “true hero of Biafra either dead or alive.” Madu’s statement also raises the northern specter, if perhaps with more subtlety than Mr. Powerful: “This artificial entity called Nigeria will never be united or exist as one nation as long as these [sic] established mentality of a section of the country seeing themselves as the lords of Nigeria.” His statement denounced a military operation underway in the southeast called Operation Python Dance II, as well as government opposition to the fundamental restructuring of the Nigerian state. He criticized the “acceptance of deadly Fulani herdsmen as common criminals" by the Buhari administration, arguing that, in total, these actions have prompted the “eastern, western, and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria towards self-determination for survival.”

It is to be hoped that the Nigerian federal government will respond to the upsurge of Biafra sentiment with subtlety and political skill. Southeastern leaders are in fact meeting with Buhari today, reportedly to discuss the “alleged marginalization” of the region. It is also to be hoped that Kanu is alive and well. Were he to be made a martyr, it could very well lead to further unrest and the possibility of violence.

To Address Secessionists, Nigeria Must Decentralize Power

BY REMI ADEKOYA

WASHINGTON POST

Biafran Flag And Symbol Via BNW/Igbo Heritage Foundation

BIAFRA-NIGERIA WORLD (WASHINGTON POST) -- More than half a century after it gained independence from Britain, Nigeria is in crisis. Africa’s most populous country is caught in a struggle between maintaining national unity and ceding to secessionist desires from those demanding an independent state in the southeastern region of the country. As tensions and violence between the government and separatists approach a breaking point, a third, equally risky solution has arisen: overhaul the political infrastructure altogether and decentralize governmental power.

One thing is clear: Nigeria in its current form is not working for an overwhelming majority of its citizens and needs to be reimagined, renegotiated and redesigned. Change is the country’s only hope.

The southeastern region of Nigeria is populated mostly by the Igbo ethnic group, which makes up about 18 percent of the country’s overall population. The Igbos already attempted secession once in 1967 when their leaders declared the Republic of Biafra, leading to a bloody civil war that cost over 1 million mostly Igbo lives.

Today, there is no state in Nigeria called Biafra. The short-lived republic was not recognized by most countries, including Nigeria, and it was reintegrated into the country at the end of the civil war in 1970. Since then, secessionist groups, including the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, have called for a referendum on a proposed Biafran state, with the most recent demand this year marking the 50th anniversary of the civil war.

Tensions have particularly escalated with the 2015 election of President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government has launched a deadly crackdown on separatists. Buhari has said that he will favor constituencies in the North over those in the Southeast because the North polledoverwhelmingly in his favor during presidential elections, while the Southeast showed comparatively little support. This has left Igbos feeling further marginalized.

“There is pain and hardship everywhere,” Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, said in May.“What we’re fighting [for] is not self-determination for the sake of it. It’s because Nigeria is not functioning and can never function.” Kanu has not been seen or heard from in public since soldiers stormed his residence in mid-September. IPOB supporters allege he was killed or kidnapped by the Nigerian army, which in turn denies any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Today, Nigeria is still grappling with many of the same questions the leaders of the country’s independence movement optimistically attempted — and ultimately failed — to answer. Who are Nigerians? How do we make Nigeria work? In order to achieve lasting change, Nigerians need answers.

There was a paradox in Nigeria’s 1950s independence movement: while anti-colonialist, it needed to sell the idea of Nigeria as one state, itself a colonial construct after the British drew borders and declared it one territory. Borders that never existed before forced different autonomous groups and people together — the largely Muslim but ethnically diverse North was joined with the largely Christian but also ethnically diverse South.

To succeed in the difficult task of convincing a diverse population that it should work together, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who would become the country’s first president, proffered a seductive vision: Nigeria was the promise of participation in global greatness, only achievable through unity.

“The various communities or nationalities inhabiting this country have great traditions and a rich heritage of culture which, if pooled together, can make Nigeria great and enable her to take her rightful place among the family of nations,” Azikiwe said in a 1958 speech.

But it has not been a lasting vision.

Nigeria currently ranks a lowly 152 out of 188 countries in the United Nations’ Human Development Index. More than 60 percent of Nigerians live in poverty, and the state fails to provide basic amenities, including electricity and running water. Frustration with Nigeria’s failures has fueled IPOB’s popularity.

In September, the government controversially labeled IPOB a “terrorist organization,” and the army launched targeted military operations in the Southeast Igbo territory. Kanu’s disappearance has further escalated tension between separatists and the state. To quash the conflict and avoid another civil war, Buhari’s government has declared that “Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable.”

But crushing IPOB with military force is not going to solve Nigeria’s problems. As Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has articulated, “The right of the people to determine their future is what is nonnegotiable.”

Many Nigerians are now calling for a redesign, a devolution, a comprehensive political-administrative restructuring of the country. But will devolution work? In theory, Nigeria’s governance structure is modeled on the United States federal system. But in practice, it is a heavily centralized state, with power and resources concentrated in the hands of the president.

The states are weak and dependent on oil revenue distributed by the central government. Devolution would require state-level political leaders to work harder. Some say devolution won’t solve the problem of corruption in Nigerian governance. Others say that many of Nigeria’s states are not economically viable and would likely end up returning, hat in hand, to the federal government, which would be forced to bail them out or risk collapse.

These are all valid points, and no one can truly predict the results of a decentralized Nigeria. Regardless, Nigeria as currently designed is failing. While separatists demand an independent state, moderates demand restructuring and the president insists Nigerians must stick together, everyone agrees that something needs to give; the status quo has become unbearable for too many Nigerians.

A debate about restructuring is a starting point. Yes, it will be messy, as all of Nigeria’s diverse communities will want their voices heard and ideas implemented. But it is necessary for moderates to take the reins in order to finally place Nigeria on a plausible path to achieving the collective success Nigerians have been promised since independence. Otherwise, what really is the point of staying together?

Remi Adekoya is Polish-Nigerian and was formerly the political editor of the Warsaw Business Journal.

This was produced by The WorldPost, a partnership of the Berggruen Institute and The Washington Post.

Biafra: Crisis Looms In Igbo Land

BY UGOJI EGBUJO

VANGUARD, NIGERIA

Biafra Image Via BNW/Igbo Heritage Foundation

NIGERIA (VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 02, 2017) -- It’s not alarmist. Crisis is looming in Igboland. The sore has been allowed to fester, for too long. Pus has accumulated. Massage and warm compresses won’t do now. A surgical knife must go in.

The government must act decisively, one way or the other. Prevarication can lead to a costly gangrene. The wound must be drained and cleaned, so that it can heal. The wound dressing must involve comprehensive political engagement of the southeast, and a restructuring of the federation.

We are on a slippery slope. Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail by a court. He is being tried for offences bordering on treason. He has flouted the bail conditions. He must have been emboldened by the enticing temerity of the Arewa youths. ShettimaYerima and his Arewa youths committed treason. They issued a quit notice to Igbos to leave the north,or face severe consequences by October 1. They did more than plagiarize Nnamdi Kanu’s hate files .They were not arrested. They were not charged. 

The Federal high court judge that granted Nnamdi Kanu bail wouldn’t rightly be concerned about effect of Arewa youth’s impunity on Nnamdi Kanu’s actions as no case has been brought before him. So despite the double standards, the court may have no option but to revoke his bail. The law is an ass. The federal government has found its missing courage, it has asked the court to revoke the bail. The federal government is not permanently timid. The judge has no decision to make. Well, Nigerian Judges can be creative, sometimes. If the bail is revoked, Nnamdi Kanu will have to abandon his tour of his Biafra, and return to a ‘zoological’ prison in Kuje. That is now almost inconceivable. Almost. 

This is where it gets complicated. If Nnamdi Kanu’s utterances can be relied on, he would not submit himself for incarceration. Then once again, the judge will have no options. A bench warrant will be issued against him. When a Bench warrant was issued against Tompolo, the Nigerian police didn’t find him. So the federal government may let the police not find Nnamdi Kanu. Tompolo was discreet though. He sought refuge in the creeks. He was out of view, until he came to bury his dad. Nnamdi has said he cannot go on exile. It’s beneath him to go out of circulation, into hiding. That would make him lily-liveried. He was sent by God.

 He has been touring Biafra. So he isn’t exactly a Tompolo, who claims no territory. Tompolo wasn’t seen. Yes he wasn’t seen destroying crude oil pipelines. Nnamdi Kanu has no pipelines to put out of use. He can’t touch the economy. He has no way of bringing the federal government to its knees, from the shadows without amputating his nose, turning Igbo land into a cauldron. IPOB is now a non violent organization. That’s their new image. 

So the Police may be forced to arrest an ubiquitous and garrulous Nnamdi Kanu. However, it is not compulsory, not inevitable. This is Nigeria. The police declared Shettima Yerima and Arewa youths wanted . Shettima sauntered from place to place, huffing and puffing. The Police chose not to see him. So the police may easily fail to see Nnamdi Kanu. The government has an alternative. It may send the Minister of Interior to say something absurd that exonerates Kanu. The Judge will understand. This is Nigeria. The Minister of Interior said that the Arewa Youths claimed they were misquoted. Heavens didn’t fall. Shettima later denied the minister and his tales. Shettima is ,obviously, not a coward. He boldly stated he was withdrawing the quit notice to honour Buhari. The ijaw youth council president is sure Shettima had state dinners. 

The government has other options. It can send an official to waffle about heating up the polity. Then it can explain the decision to trash the court warrant and let Kanu roam as politically sensible. That’s what cowards do. In fact it can ask the attorney General to reverse himself, and say that Kanu cannot be arrested. And he would blame it on security concerns. That’s what the chief law officer said about his impotence against the Arewa Youths who committed treason in broad daylight.

 The government can always chicken out. So the wound can fester a little more. They have been warned. Ango Abdullahi warned them about Shettima, they capitulated. So Ohaneze has warned the federal government. Nnamdi Kanu could be set to bask in his own impunity. The Judge would understand. Nnamdi’s criminal case could be effectively over. Nnamdi may not risk going to Abuja. He is sure no policeman would come to his Biafra to arrest him. He has warned Buhari. He said his non violent IPOB would slaughter any Policeman who comes to arrest him in Biafra. That’s is his idea of civil disobedience. The Die is cast.

 The federal government can’t arrest Nnamdi without crossing the red line of double standards. The federal government cannot leave Nnamdi and his daringness without conceding sovereignty. Igbo elders are quiet. Igbo youths are restless. Emotions have replaced reasons. The elders have taken refuge in timidity. They now speak in muffled tones. The politicians can be forgiven. Politics entails opportunism. Nnamdi Kanu,increasingly, looks like a king or a king maker.

The churches have a strong influence on Igbo politics. Igbo politicians go to churches to declare their candidacy and to lobby the clergy and their congregations. The churches play politics of denominations godlessly. But the church claims to be the light of the world. Igbo church leaders are quiet. 

In northeast the clerics kept low profile. The core north didn’t like President Jonathan. People refused to speak up. Boko haram was troubling Jonathan, and making the place ungovernable. That was exciting. Powerful figures maintained a conspiratorial silence. Yusuf and Shekau preached, told the people what they wanted to hear. They talked about poor governance and corruption. They told them that democracy was sinful, ‘zoological’. That it was designed to keep the ordinary people in perpetual servitude. Their followership grew. Boko haram metastasized.

 Some Igbo Bishops are frolicking openly with Nnamdi Kanu. Some others are relishing the prospects of a loathed President Buhari being taught some lessons. Biafra is always seductive. Igbos are emotional about it. It is sweet nostalgia of what nearly was. The promised land. Anyone who comes in the name of Biafra is welcome. 

The Buhari government didn’t help matters. The sense of alienation has never been greater. Politicians who lost in 2015 took their grief personal. They have tapped into a rich vein of frustration and political insensitivity. The economic circumstances have yielded many idle hands. It’s a perfect combustible mix. The murderous forays of herdsmen fueled already inflamed tempers. A crisis looms in the east. 

So no one cares to interrogate the minds peddling this secessionist idea. No one questions their methods vehemently . It’s enough that they mouth marginalization of Igbos and paint a colorful Biafra. It’s enough that Buhari is cast as a symbol of oppressive, anti-Igbo, Islamist, Hausa Fulani hegemony. Igbos are truly marginalized. The Bishops ought to be discerning. They claim spiritual insight. They can’t be as impressionable as the rabble. They can’t be as excitable as youths who didn’t experience the civil war. They cant afford to be enthralled by mere charm. Some of them actually now find Kanu intimidating.

 Kanu says Jesus is not God. The Bishops don’t care. He mocks Mary. The catholic priests are unperturbed. If they are perturbed ,then they are filled with the spirit of fear. God gave them the spirit of power. Kanu says New Testament is junk. The priests don’t treat that as heretical. The priests must announce their allegiance to Christ. It wouldn’t matter if Kanu were a self respecting atheist who didn’t defame and ridicule other peoples religious beliefs. Kanu can’t get away with duplicity. He says the worship of Jesus is Idolatry.

 It is good we don’t mix politics and religion. It is good we keep the state away from religion. But Kanu has not stopped announcing that God sent him. He said that God has decreed that there would be no election in Anambra state. We have spirit filled priests who claim they hear from God. Why can’t they confirm or condemn Kanu’s spiritual pronouncements?

 The IPOB spokesman claims Kanu is a Christian. Kanu denies that he is a Christian. Why is it difficult to know whom Kanu is? If you ask hard questions , you will be told its not about Kanu. But who decided there will be no elections in Igboland? Kanu hears from God, so he says. He may actually hear from God. Since he drops the name of God, Igbos must be told what God he worships. The role of a priest is not just to collect tithes and offerings. A priest owes the people and the society a duty to expose religious charlatanism and sorcery.

 When a man goes to Agwushi and collects prayers, and jumps over to adoration ground of father Ebube Muonso and collects more prayers, that’s syncretism. It could mean nothing. But it could be a window into a mind filled with confusion. Priests can’t sit astride and watch the people dance on the brink for lack of knowledge. Why is the church silent? Who is an anti Christ?

 Truth and reason have been battered on Aba highway. Igbo priests are passing by like the Rabbi who snubbed the man beaten by highway robbers. Where are the good Samaritans? Where are they? The church perhaps isn’t ready to dabble into politics . Igbo churches dabble into it only when telling members to vote a Catholic and against an Anglican or vice versa. 

Who really is an antichrist? A murderous Fulani Herdsman who kills some Christian farmers? Or a man who peddles damaging falsehoods about Jesus Christ and the Bible? If the church cannot speak for moral reasons, why can’t the church speak for prudential reasons? Why can’t it defend Christian theology against an onslaught from a charlatan? 

Nigeria, they say, is a zoo. Our leaders act with impunity. Then the messiah comes for the Igbos and no one is ready to hold him to account for his speeches and positions. Only a few are interested in interrogating his mind. What sort of freedom do Igbos dream of? A freedom that would excommunicate dissent and plurality of views? A freedom where every critic is a marked traitor? Ohaneze is timid. It may have actually become redundant. It sees the crowd that follows Kanu around and it is ready to embrace a little demagoguery, once in a while. Kanu has labeled Ohaneze leaders corrupt old men willing to sell their consciences and birthrights, for crumbs. Ohaneze excuses IPOB’s waywardness as understandable youthful exuberance. Ohaneze has no balls. So Ohaneze fudges and fudges. 

Ohaneze knows Igbos are marginalized. But Ohaneze knows that Kanu’s exuberance puts Igbo lives and property at great peril. Ohaneze knows that the overall interest of Igbos is best served by an equitable Nigeria and not secession. Ohaneze knows the time has come. But Ohaneze is cowardly, or impotent. Without a bold church, without foresighted courageous politicians, without a fearless Ohaneze, who can save Igbos? 

Political intolerance has been sown in Igbo land. There is this new song . A very rhythmic and danceable song by one Don Prince, aka Sampe. The sort of thing you hear in Pyongyang. It says Kanu is the leader, and there will be no elections henceforth in Igbo land. It says anyone who votes in Igboland would be sent to the north. The song has gone viral. The youths have become automatons. Anyone who raises a voice against Kanu and his IPOB is branded a traitor. In one of his glib talks on Radio Biafra he boasted that the names of traitors were being compiled. IPOB is that non violent group that once threatened to murder Obasanjo. A few days ago it openly threatened to kill any policeman who dared to re arrest Kanu. The elders wallow in denial. They dismiss the dissemination of hate and brigandage as youthful exuberance. They think Kanu would get Igbos an autonomous region, and then disappear. 

So they would take over and restore order. That’s the strategy. So the madness is a ploy. They whisper it, they nod their heads, smile knowing smiles, and wink. They are deluded. Some would say it has gone beyond Kanu. That’s true. The problem of Igbo marginalization was never about him. But no one should deny this frightening development. Nuisance can be fruitful. But nuisance can outlive its usefulness.

 It’s good that the governors of South East states have met with Kanu. 

The government has a political problem to solve. It has attended to it with arrogance , and sometimes with half-hearted condescension. Hesitancy and prevarication are no good options. The Federal Government has to be decisive. Military high handedness would be counter -productive. Constructive political engagement that enthrones law and order in the immediate term and equity, fairness and sense of belonging on the long term, must be commenced now. Any person who breaks the law and or threatens security of our country must face the law.

Farewell My Mentor: Adieu, Chuba Okadigbo

 From Ehirim Files Archives

By Ted Onyeji, New York
September 30, 2003

Nigerian vice presidential candidate for the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, gestures during an interview at his home in the state capital Enugu, April 17, 2003. Okadigbo stated no winner from the ANPP would sit in a "police parliament" after alleging gross election rigging during the recent parliamentary elections, the first democratic poll since the end of military rule in 1999.


NEW YORK (BNW MAGAZINE)--I met him only once in 1982.  A tall and handsome, oft described as brash, but articulate young political stalwart. He was the youthful, vibrant, educated new breed infusion, appointed to the position of special adviser on political affairs in the second republic, during the Shagari regime.

In his charming characteristic attributes, he became the darling of the young people, and almost single-handedly embodied the hope and aspirations of the youth of Nigeria in general, and especially, that of the Igbo youth, who were still grappling with the notion of one Nigeria, and a sense of political rebirth. It therefore did not come as a surprise, when Chuba Okadigbo embarked on a quest to encourage the youth to participate in the new government, by making himself accessible to them.

Growing up poor, in the trackless jungle of a congested Lagos metropolis, I was among those whose ambition and aspirations was kindled by the glow of this young politician.

After summoning up the courage to write, to convey my admiration for what he meant to me , I was resigned to the realization that most Nigerian politicians were nonchalant to such overtures. Suffice it to say that it came as a pleasant surprise to me, when I received a correspondence from him as follows;

Though belated, I write to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 23rd November, 1981. I thank you immensely for the kind sentiments expressed therein. You might wish to contact my personal secretary at the above address, for an appointment as to how and when we can meet. With every good wish and a happy new year. Yours sincerely

~~~ Chuba Okadigbo.

Why did I keep this letter for over 20 yrs, you might ask. Your guess is as good as mine.

We arranged to meet at his office in the presidential compound. I had my doubts if this meeting would actually take place, because of the timing. The government was busily engaged in the last minute preparations for a papal visit to Nigeria. Pope John Paul II, was due in the country in 48 hours, and Chuba was charged with the coordination of the arrival.

Nevertheless, I found myself sitting in front of my mentor, in his office, amid the chaos of the incessant phone calls that were prompted by the pending papal visit. Yet, looking rather calm and unruffled, I was treated to the most engaging 30 minutes of conversation with this endearing role model. After apologizing for not being able to spend more time with me, he encouraged me to pursue my ambitions and goals in life, despite the hardship of my background. I saw in him the promise and opportunity that awaited all Nigerians in this dawning era, and I left his office buoyed with hope and enthusiasm, and a feeling of pride and nationalism.

Months later, I was confronted with a tough situation, and had to make a choice. It was hardly a difficult decision for me. I had turned down a supervisory position with my employer, and the perks of the entitlement to a down payment for a Volkswagen beetle. There were bigger and better things for me to accomplish. I was bubbling with vigor, hope and enthusiasm, and the sky was the limit.

That was the aura that Chuba Okadigbo brought to my generation. Though I may not always have agreed with his politics, the fact is undisputable, that no Igbo politician since the second republic have worked more than Chuba, to champion the cause of a wholly inclusive one Nigeria. For this, his reward was vilification and humiliation, even from the highest quarters, for the sheer reason of his origin.

I will never see my mentor again, because his life was snuffed out in a haze of poisonous gas, a testimony to the deference , or lack of , that was accorded a person of his stature.
Perhaps, in an irony, he succumbed to this uncanny but cryptic way of his demise, to lament the final futility of the pursuit of one Nigeria.

As for me and many in my generation, he would always be a mentor and a role model, and would be greatly missed. The tragedy of Nigerian politics is the cannibalization of its best and brightest citizens.

I named my son 'Chuba' 12 yrs ago, representing a continuation of the hope and aspiration that he gave us all.

Recalling A Nation's Ills, Chinua Achebe, Storytelling, The Pogrom And Story That Never Ends

AMBROSE EHIRIM/THE AMBROSE EHIRIM FILES

There Was A Country
A Personal History Of Biafra
By Chinua Achebe
Penguin Press: 352 pp., $27.95

A young Igbo boy, surviving the pogrom, back in good health, smiles as he holds his little brother, who has not fully recovered at the UNICEF convalescent center in Okporo, Orlu August 17, 1970. Achebe mentioned the hospitality and goodwill his family received in Okporo during the time of random travels and relocations while the federal Nigeria forces advanced toward the capitulation of Biafra. Image: Bettmann Collection



I had no knowledge of what was going on about a Nigerian national state and what had been the root cause of the outburst of uprising in the 1960’s post-independence nation which had been politically confused from a bad and corrupt leadership when the organizers of the first coup that overthrew the government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa struck January 15, 1966. But I had sensed as a little kid, that something, somewhere, had gone wrong when my father and his kinfolks would gather to discuss what had unfolded in their native land; that a sitting government had been toppled and war was about to erupt in the ugliest of circumstances, and after all said and done to avert war, and if not for the sudden 180-degrees turn in declining to decisions reached at Aburi, Ghana, by a federal Nigerian delegation and a Eastern Nigerian team led by Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, and, other attempts made to stop what had erupted from killing Igbo on a wholesale scale, the situation wouldn’t have been what the country looks like today.

And I did notice the propaganda from the airwaves my father and his kinsfolk tuned in to from that transistor radio which had become their lifeline in what was going on in their native land, coupled with the pogrom which took place, and all had to wonder if any of their families would survive the ordeal in what Ojukwu had called “ a premeditated and diabolical act,” by the vandals and architects of what Nigeria would not recover from until eventually the right thing is done. I remember the scenario where everybody, of my father’s kin, would sit at the tables talking about the fate of Nd’Igbo with an ongoing pogrom all across Nigeria and what had caused the systematic massacre of Igbo in a country they had engineered its structure from the beginning. Oftentimes, the question popped up in the classrooms; a teacher had asked if we were aware of the ongoing internal strife taking place in Nigeria and how the Hausa-Fulanis with a collaborative Yoruba have singled out a people for mass slaughter. It had become a way of life for the time being and Nigeria had taken the center stage becoming the major topic of all subjects in relative discourses.

Like American leaders (Bill Clinton's formal apology to Japan on the events of World War II), Russian's Boris Yeltsin's formal apology to the Romanov's on that fateful July 17, 1918, when Czar Nicholas II and his household were slaughtered during the Bolshevik Revolution, and just past this July 22, 2012, French President Francois Hollande formally apologized to the rounding up by French police, 13,152 Jewish men, women and children on July 16 and 17, 1942, "locked them up at the Velodrome, a bicycle stadium, and later deported them to German concentration camps" where most of them perished. In Nigeria, the bigots and haters who have lived in denial over the years and continue to tell us no such thing as the pogrom took place when Igbo men, women, infants and children were sought from house to house for extermination, and when children and their mothers were desperately starved to death, should bear in mind that their victims will not fall into oblivion just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the German concentration camps, the case of the Romanovs, the Rwandan genocide and all cases of that nature. We hope one day the right thing will eventually be done.

As this had happened, nothing that I knew was going on and, I was also not physically there to have experienced Obafemi Awolowo’s orchestrated ‘Economic Blockade’ which had denied access to food and medicine to the children of Biafra during the course of Yakubu Gowon’s-led genocidal campaign against the Igbo nation.

It was not until I arrived my native land as a kid that I began to get a grip of what my father and his kinfolks were doing in the days of a troubled nation and the reasons why they were disturbed. Like my father, his kinfolks had relatives living in every part of Nigeria, thus the worry and the uncertainties, and fate surrounding their relatives when the crisis turned ugly.

The result would be a tragedy. The Igbo nation had been targets of genocide in a deliberate act and conflict that would consume an estimated 3 million people. Upon my arrival to my native land, all I saw was a people in shambles, relatives I have not known and had begun to get the drift, and by listening, I captured the event from the war stories told by my uncle on what had happened in the enclave during the 30-month siege, which included my relatives I did not meet, who did not make it back when the counts began. It was a typical eyewitness account. With my uncle, I was able to adapt without culture shock and his gist about the pogrom and 30-month invasion of Igboland begun my learning on the facts and logics about the Biafran war. And the story never ends.

Before the speculations on the possibilities of Chinua Achebe to tell his story and what he had known about the pogrom and what would eventually erupt as a full-blown war between nations, many did wonder why it had taken the master of letters and storyteller , Achebe, that long to release information in his possession; the stuff he had known based on his personal encounter in what had transpired over time during the Biafra-Nigeria war.

Many had also questioned the relevance of Achebe’s book at this very point when numerous books on the subject matter have told stories of the conflict in a war Achebe had described as the first war of its kind in a warfare on the face of the African continent.

Also, as it had happened, the relevance of Achebe’s book came into question when a literary friend had openly asked and confronted the literary icon’s book, demanding why Achebe “isn’t telling the world” about his American experiences based on the number of years he’d lived on the shores of America and, the importance of a book in that regard since he’s been earning his living on the American shores for quite a while, which concludes the necessity of a book from that perspective. And, that, those big boys who created the mess in the heydays of a fabricated Nigeria are almost gone, that the ones left who have not tracked their stories for book format have nothing much to say, if not at all.

As it had turned out, Achebe explained the delay which is in the body of this literature.

But of course, Achebe had us waiting. And we waited. And the book, as I would say, came out at the right time when stories of the war and its effect have begun to wane in steps deliberately taken by the Nigerian government and the alleged ‘victors’ in order to wipe it out from memory and outrightly to deny generations to come the privilege to know detailed analysis and breakdown of the pogrom and a civil war including the roadmaps to the conflict and what had caused a war of nations with ominous consequences.

Taking into account Achebe’s previous noteworthy books, “Things Fall Apart,” “A Man Of The People,” “No Longer At Ease,” “Home And Exile,” “The Trouble With Nigeria,” and other related stories, it shouldn’t take too much probing to elicit testimony that most of the nation’s problems had been surrounded by social-related issues and bad leadership, lacking since the nation was given its freedom by its colonial master, Britain, in which a Biafra that was left with two choices as a result of the pogrom and failed dialogues to reach a common ground to avert war; and the options to either be free or remain enslaved was what resulted to a brutal war that shouldn’t have taken place if the decisions reached at Aburi, Ghana, were upheld and respected, and if it had been realized by a federal Nigeria mandate that an unprovoked attack would be much more costly, the invaders probably would have done a rethinking of their strategies.

The name Biafra did not surface out of the blue. Biafra was not a fabricated state and was not a one man’s idea. Biafra did not exist as a nation because it wanted out of a fabricated Nigerian republic on purpose. Biafra was born out of having a choice rather than being permanently enslaved. And Biafra was not an idea which came out as a result of being politically impotent. Biafra did send the message. Nigeria would never be the same again.

Then again, fact is, the history of the anti-Igbo pogrom and the war cannot be complete until there are significant accounts, or thereabout of what happened at the federal Nigeria occupied regions of the Hausa-Fulani dominated northern regions, the Yoruba speaking majority of the Western region, the Midwest, an occupation of multilingual people and, the eastern Nigeria inhabitants, and the people among whom the Igbo lived with, in and near the Igbo landscape.

In uncountable occasions, and still counting on a whole lot of complicated issues regarding Africa’s most blood soaked event - the anti-Igbo pogrom and a brutal war that followed - in which its account, assessments and effects by way of casualties from every aspect of the encounter, and from around which the invaders and nihilists took hold, in the attempt for what they had envisioned and conceived, and the people in question to be exterminated, and the stories yet to be wholly told in its entirety, takes into account the timely arrival of Achebe’s “There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra.”

The story not yet told and why it has been very important to be told on a personal experience and from eyewitness accounts perspective which is also necessary for posterity and for humankind to be on alert for it not to happen again, makes Achebe’s new entry to the bookshelves a read that deserves to be well noted.

It has seriously bothered the mind since Achebe’s book release; first, from the British Guardian published excerpt of Achebe’s “There Was A Country,” and as prelude to what would explode among folks who had not read the book but would spew out the venom in them to seek relevance on the basis Obafemi Awolowo was mentioned for his wrongdoing regarding the state of affairs and his participation when children, infants and their mothers were desperately starved to death, and the question of his take on that. The irony in this very outburst of anger and frustration by the Awoist who did not pay attention or care to read the book before the hearsay of this is what he wrote about Awo and things like that relative to tabloid news, was the supposedly fervent Awo followers who had lacked the ability to make sound judgments before displaying their ignorance which did become sickening. Actually, I was not surprised and had expected the ruckus from a people hatred had been baked in their genes it becomes so obvious and impossible to erase.

Oftentimes, situations like this occurs with people in denial which is dangerous and deterrent to seek the truth and notably from a long-awaited book that is still incomplete with a whole lot of stuff not revealed we should assume the author must have been aware of, or must have known either by his running errands for the Biafran state, or, may have been passed through to him during exchanges of correspondences; and, or he must have deliberately wanted not to add for a lack of merit. The Awoists dabbled into name-calling; most, if not all, from a book they were yet to read and analyze.

What the British colonists did which still haunts the country today is unquestionably their leaving serious unresolved internal problems covering every aspect of the nation’s economic, social, and political life despite the fact that British intent was to establish a class of "black Englishmen" who would be their partner in religion and administration that would compel their subjects to abandon their origin and culture in order to assimilate with the British way of life and culture, which in itself was another tragedy. But as the case would turn out to be, Britain played its significant role when Achebe reminds us that the British transition as they prepared the country to independence was profoundly smooth considering himself to be lucky and part of a generation that sprang out in that whole era. Achebe writes;

“My generation was summoned, as it were, to bear witness to two remarkable transitions -- first the aforementioned impressive economic, social, and political transformation of Nigeria into a midrange country, at least by third world standards. But more profoundly, barely two decades we were thrust into the throes of perhaps Nigeria’s greatest twentieth-century moment -- our elevation from a colonized country to an independent nation.”

At a time of a Achebe’s generation that flourished, over "seventy-five percent of Nigerians were illiterates and techniques in development had to be slow," thus tools for modernization largely absent while many suffered from ill health. Nigeria had not been earning from oil. It's foreign revenue was derived from palm oil,groundnuts, cocoa and other cash crops. When the oil production arrived, it was exploited by foreign companies with no regulations and at the cost of a labor intensive indigenous workers. Nigerian college graduates then were very few for the nation's need in skilled labor. There were fewer schools and limited opportunities. Nigeria, at this particular time, was not practically solvent and buoyant in human capital as we find it today. Achebe and his class of intellectuals were very few, ala, not much resistance or challenge when a bunch of ethnic groups were struggling for an identity in the quest for nationhood.

Today, it’s been three generation since the agitation for independence Achebe and his generation found themselves in toward the struggle, coupled with the dialogue for sovereignty which turned out to be very unfortunate in the quest for freedom and independence. The founders of Nigeria’s statehood who hurried for independence did not think about the consequences of joining a collection of nations with different ethnic backgrounds and cultural practices together; thus, in their constitutional conferences to have suggested to the organizing body overseeing the platform for nationhood that the agenda did not add up and was not necessary for the formation which takes into account many instances as to why Nigeria should not have been one country if the agitators had paid attention to the complexities and consequences that may result from the ethnic collaboration for sovereignty under a one Nigeria platform.

But then again, we must bear in mind that a sense of national pride and patriotism took form with Nnamdi Azikiwe, Achebe had held on high grounds for Zik as he was called by his admirers, his insights and what he had tailored for a promising country while negotiations with the colonists about independence continued apace. Achebe does not forget the significant role Zik played during the course of the nation’s independence and the impact it had toward the ideals of a democratic fabric and nationalism and, how finally in championing Igbo (Biafra) nationalism with the presentation of papers seeking resolve to the Biafra-Nigeria war. Achebe reminds us of Zik's attempts to end the war with the speech at Oxford University where Zik came up with “a fourteen point peace plan” for proposal by the United Nations measure seeking resolve to the Biafran war which has become a model adopted by the United Nations in its method of operation today.

While we are at it, Achebe also tells us the friction from around which Zik withdrew his support for the Biafran cause and how Ojukwu had been blamed for Biafra’s demise on the grounds of Ojukwu not listening and taking into accounts, counsels proffered to him as strategies while the war raged on.

The Biafran war, without doubt, has been of utmost concern to many of us, especially those of us who were not in the country at the time, and those not yet born. And it had been on these basis that we were able to locate ourselves and commit ourselves collectively when the Biafra-Nigeria-World and its related sister links was created, to generate a forum for related discourses and dialogue, and also to seek the truth on who had been the key players and what role and decisions were made at the time of an emerging Biafran republic. Precisely, on that score, Chinedu Ibe, who had joined us out of Chicago suggested contacting and connecting with the late Okechukwu Ikejiani who then lived in Canada. Not a whole lot came out from the tele-conferences held with Ikejiani, in the several attempts to eke out stuff with him and what he had known during the struggle for Biafra save for the revival of the Ahajioku Lectures as a backbone to the 1950s, 1960s Igbo Union. Ikejiani died in Canada some years ago while Ojukwu departed just about a year ago.

With all said about Biafra that I have read and still reading from every source even though we will not get to know all the facts with some of the subjects gone without trace of their storylines, Achebe, here, in “There Was A Country” links us to Ikejiani’s thoughts and what Zik had in mind for Biafra while Ojukwu ignored most counsels, in that regard, by way of what probably would have worked if Ojukwu had considered and taken seriously what Zik had observed and thought was proper. In Ikejiani’s own words as Achebe presents it:

“His [Azikiwe’s] feeling was that when a leader of a nation wants to go to war, he should consult people. Primarily Ojukwu should have consulted Zik. Secondly, he should have consulted [Michael] Okpara [premier of Eastern Nigeria]. Thirdly, he should have consulted other leaders. The only people Ojukwu consulted were [Louis] Mbanefo and [Francis] Ibiam. I have Ibiam’s letter here. It was a great mistake. I told Ojukwu [to] invite these people [and inform them]. He told me they would compromise. That’s what he said. He didn’t invite them, never asked them questions. That’s not how to lead. That’s what led us into trouble. There are many areas we would have compromised. Ojukwu did not compromise. That’s one of the mistakes we made in the war...It wasn’t that Zik opposed the war.. Anybody with an intellect, with a sense would consider carefully the implications of a war. War is destructive. There’s no country that went to war that didn’t suffer, not one. When we went to war, we destroyed everything we had. That’s true.”

While Achebe continues with his tales which overwhelmingly transcends the opening acts as in a Shakespearean drama, he drives us through the landscape of his ordeal at the time the pogrom had commenced and a target of the hit list of a battle between his art of using the pen precisely on a book he had just published and the barrels of the military machines in their several attempts looking for him while he hid from place to place until he evaded the experiments of the military firepower that came to find out which of the two had more impact -- the gun or his pen.

In Minna, the case of a six year old, Achebe Michael Okongwu, had already seen what the pogrom looked like when the northern Islamic nihilists who were also hoodlums invaded the classroom where he had begun to take classes in the first grade, came looking for Igbo subjects for termination in what had been premeditated. His first grade teacher, a Yoruba lady mistaken to be Igbo by the nihilist was slaughtered as they were on the rampage looking and searching from spot to spot , locations where the Igbos were hiding. Okongwu continues to tell his story of a six year old who was caught in a conflict he knew not about and had experienced the trauma of dead bodies on the streets while his family flee from Minna and trekked hundreds of miles in between shuttling on jalopies until they found themselves home in their native Ogbunike. Okongwu still do not know how they ended up to a place he’d not seen before that was called home. He had realized Minna was not originally home. His father would join them at a later time after clearing the hurdle with his wounds.

A story that never ends.

In 1982, I had bumped into Okongwu in Lagos and, we were both in our early twenties, and about, youngsters, caught up in the crossroads with a future full of uncertainties in an unstable and unpredictable Nigeria. We had thought Nigeria was beginning to have form with onward objectivity in a second republic that was a little bit over two years old, and with prospects of becoming Africa’s true giant as the new political beginning began to emerge. Both Yakubu Gowon and Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, the culprits of the Civil War who were wanted by a federal Nigeria for crimes the state had alleged they committed, would be granted presidential pardon by Shehu Shagari and, would be free to return back to their native lands. Little did we know that the military juntas would strike sooner than later to place Nigeria permanently in a coma.

On the New Year’s eve of 1984, the Muhammadu Buhari-Tunde Idiagbon-led military juntas would strike and wrestle power from a corrupt administration of Shehu Shagari. Within months of the military takeover, Okongwu left for the United States and I would not hear from Okongwu again; not even a letter on the goings on and how life’s been treating him out there in a strange land.

1989, I had gone to one of the Igbo-related social events in the company of my cousins and friends I have known from Lagos and part of getting around knowing the big city when I bumped into Okongwu and almost could not recognize him from the last time we hanged out in Lagos. He had added a lot of weight. He had wondered what brought me to Los Angeles since I never mentioned about my family all through we were in Lagos. We spoke a little bit, exchanged information and went our separate ways.

And, the late Mark Ojo, too, had a story which bears the same resemblance with that of Okongwu and his sixth grade teacher. Ojo, I had met in Los Angeles through the same kind of social gathering when I encountered Okongwu. Ojo and I, talked at length about the pogrom from around which the Orwellian drama affected him during the northern Islamic nihilists and hoodlums’ invasion of his neighborhood. His father who the nihilists had mistaken for Igbo was stabbed to death while his entire clan watched, somewhere in the woods of Ado Ekiti. Ojo and I spoke quite often, and each time we met our discourse had always been on a fabricated national state, and a country that was not meant to be one in the first place had it not been the events that followed the constitutional conferences miscalculated by the founders and their inability to rethink their strategies on dialogue toward sovereignty with the colonists to have arrived a favorable contract in which the tribes as independent national states should have been given a top priority, and the consideration they were entirely a different people, having no need to be joined together as a one united nation. Ojo did not get to put his story in book format. May his soul rest in peace!

Obafemi Awolowo, during agitation and the followed up constitutional conferences toward independence, had made it patently clear in his assertions he had viewed as legitimate that Nigeria as a nation doesn’t exist, using an analogy akin to the colonists and conquest, that the Scot, the Welsh and the Irish were all different entities which summed up his line of argument that there’s no such thing as Nigeria. Nigeria does not exist; thus a geographical expression.

Eventually, there was a Nigeria, now at a terrible cost. As with men with vision, Achebe had already told us about a nation clouded by social ills with a government that would be impossible to run when he wrote “Things Fall Apart” in 1958, telling us the story of a defiant Okonkwo who would not succumb to a modernization theory and concepts, but a cultural heritage that must be maintained. Achebe retold the story tracing back his family’s lineage and encounters with the missionaries and, the conversion which brought in the push factor era. Born under humble circumstances, Achebe applauds the colonists for smooth transition toward nationhood, considering himself lucky and among the greatest generation that went through series of dialogue with the colonists in what eventually did evolve to an independent national state. Before the UK release date of “There Was A Country,” Achebe in his interview with the Iranian journalist Nasrin Pourhamrang, editor-in-chief for the Hatef Weekly, which was published at The Africanist, and whose [Achebe] book "Things Fall Apart" has been translated in Persia, Achebe told Pourhamrang when asked his about to be released book and what kind of story his readers should be expecting when the book graces the bookshelves and why it took that long for the release. Achebe tells Pourhamrang;

“I was telling three interweaving stories using an autobiographical prism to recount two broader stories - the story of pre and post independence Nigeria, and the story of Biafra and its aftermath; and on why it took that long to write about Biafra, I was not ready...I had to find the right vehicle that could carry our anguish, our sorrow, the scale of dislocation and destruction, our collective pain in many ways, I can say that I have been writing this book for about four decades - at least in my head and the very scribbling on paper almost as long - particularly the research, interviews, data collection etc. I discovered while working on the book, quite interestingly, that it would not be a straightforward work.I found that I have to draw upon prose, poetry, history, memoir, and politics and that they were independently holding conversations with each other - perhaps because no one genre or art form could bear the weight of the complexity of our condition. The Biafran war was such cataclysmic event that in my opinion changed the course, not only of Nigeria which has not recovered from that conflict, but of all of Africa.”

On the aftermath of Biafra, a people in shambles, demolished and plundered, was the remains of an agitation in quest for self-reliance in a struggle that lasted thirty months. Achebe had asked from the column that outraged the Awoists, Awolowo’s followers, why has the war not been taught in schools today? And I think, a better question should have been, why are the schools in Igbo-related states not made it mandatory for the pogrom and Biafra war to be taught in elementary civics and government classes? Must a federal government determine every part of our destiny? And why now that democracy surfaced with legislation, why is the matter not yet brought up by the state governors who run the affairs of state and the legislators who make the laws? Why would an issue like the pogrom which affected every family in Igbo land should not be talked about and engaged in relative discourses? Are we pretending nothing really happened? In Igbo land, none of its elite and ruling classes have thought and put into consideration the pogrom and Biafra war scholarship; why is that? Not even a legitimate memorial and museum for the most blood soaked event in the entire region.

Question to be answered: In the thirteen years Ojukwu was in exile, what were his plans on that mantra "whilst I live, Biafra lives," to give hope? Who were his counsels and subordinates during his life in exile? What was his communication with those he left behind on the slogan of 'whilst I live, Biafra lives'? What happened to his presumed memoir on accounts with his commanders' advisers regarding his life in Ivory Coast and his take on a Biafran national state?

On Ikejiani, Achebe did not tell us about his sojourn and possible contacts while he exiled in Canada and what had been planned ahead. Who and who did Ikejiani had meetings with about a postponed Biafra, considering the magnitude of his role during the Biafran war? People like N.U. Akpan, what were the outcome of his meetings and interviews with the international press in London? Where are the papers connecting him to the Republic of Biafra? On Zik, what were his thoughts after ceasefire and how did he connect with Ojukwu both in exile and at home? Would it be all the players went about their separate ways and never mentioned anything about it upon capitulation? A story that will have no end with question marks?

Achebe had told stories like the usual Achebe who is fond of recalling societal problems, and with stories that have been re-told and re-told, over and over again, with formats anew in every detail of his releases. All in all, “There was a country: A Personal History Of Biafra," the long-awaited memoir to have provided us in great detail all that he had known about the errands he ran for his colleagues who called the shots and had been in key positions to have made sound judgments, but took a whole lot for granted in a desperate situation requiring collectivism which was negated by Ojukwu, who had consulted with just a few, according to the report presented by Achebe from Ikejiani, missed a lot of expected gist considering how close Achebe was with those who called the shots.

“There Was A Country,” should not be confused with Achebe’s other projects; it’s not his finest, not even the previously released collection of his essays, “The Education Of A British Protected Child: Essays” “Things Fall Apart” is yet to be beaten by Achebe himself, in all his works.

References:

"Nchamere Nd'Igbo: Evidence of Anti-Igbo Pogrom" - Photo Essay/Documentary by Ambrose Ehirim

"The Crime Committed in France" by President Francois Hollande - Speech to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Vel d' Hiv Roundup.

"Chinua Achebe: Peaceful World, My Sincerest Wish" by Nasrin Pourhamrang, (Interview) The Africanist

"Aburi Accord Plays On" by Ambrose Ehirim, The Ambrose Ehirim Files/Biafra-Nigeria-World

"The Revolutionary Years: West Africa Since 1800. T.B. Webster and A.A. Boahen with M. Tidy. Longman Group; 1980

BNW Face-2-Face: MASSOB Leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, Takes the "Hot Seat"

On Sunday, September 8, 2002, MASSOB Leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, took the BNW "Hot Seat" and answered burning questions about MASSOB, the group's recent leadership crisis, and the Biafra Movement. The questions were compiled from a list submitted by members of BiafraNigeriaWorld Forums


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Let's begin the conversation by asking you to introduce yourself. Tell us when and where you were born, where you went to school, and what you do for a living.

Chief Uwazuruike: Okay. My name is Ralf Uwazuruike. I was born in Okwe, Okigwe Province around 1958, 59, 60. I attended the Okwe Primary School, and the Okigwe National Secondary School before I proceeded to India. I studied Political Science at Punjab University, and read law in Bombay University. Then, I came to Nigeria and went to Nigerian Law School and was called to bar on the 6th of June, 1991.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You say 1958, 59, 60. Are you unsure about your date of birth?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes. In those days, people did not always have birth records. But, through my parents and people that I have been told were born the same time that I was born, I know I was born during that period.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Did you do any sport at school?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes, I was a goalkeeper throughout my school years.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Why did you opt to study in far away India?


Chief Uwazuruike: I studied in far away India because I had the mission of understudying Mahatma Ghandi. As I said before, I went to India and my interest in Biafra started when I was about nine years old, when my sister Mary died in my lap during the civil war, when my mother went to buy medicine for her and my father when to “Comb in” [reconnaissance] to search for Hausa enemies in the bush with others, a little girl left to die because she was suffering from kwashiorkor. After her death, I felt that I should start the issue of Biafra again when I realized that we had lost the war. Millions of other children died of the same deprivation, and of the same injustice.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You had mentioned earlier in another speech that you began the MASSOB Movement following the failure of the Obasanjo administration to appoint Igbo ministers into key positions. And now you are referring to a much earlier period in the sixties when the War had just ended as the beginning of your quest for Biafra. Which one is it?

Chief Uwazuruike: Both. I saw the 1999 incident as a launching pad. Otherwise, I consummated the idea right from 1966 or thereabouts. It was in 1970 when the war ended when I said I would revisit the issue again. So between that time and after I finished my school, I was looking for an opportunity and when in 1999 Obasanjo could not appoint Igbos in any meaningful position in his administration, I felt the time had come for me to pick up the struggle.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: How did a young man like you end up being addressed as "chief"?

Chief Uwazuruike: I was coronated a "chief" by my people in Lagos following what they perceived as my good work to the people and to the community in Lagos. I was not the only person. The coronation was organized by the all Igbo-speaking states in Lagos, and seven of us were coronated at the same time. I represented Imo State. Prominent people in Igboland were there. Ojukwu was there; the Eze from Delta State was there; and the former Chairman of the Eastern Council of Chiefs from Enugu was there. It was a big occasion.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Do you hold a chietancy title that has its origin in Okigwe?


Chief Uwazuruike: Why not? The thing is that I don't like these chietancy title things. Since I assumed the position as the MASSOB leader, I told myself I would never take any title. Since then, I have received 15-20 chieftancy title invitations and I didn't attend any of them.

BiafraNigeriaWorld: How would you respond to the allegation that you started screaming "Biafra, Biafra!" because your candidate, Ekwueme, lost to Obasanjo at the primary? In other words are you using Biafra as a bargaining chip and/or cheap blackmailing tool and are you willing to settle for less than Biafra?


Chief Uwazuruike: I am not using Biafra for blackmail. As I said, Biafra came up right from the time we lost the war. It was in my mind that I would one day bring up the issue again, and I was looking for an opportunity to do that when the issue of Obasanjo's 1999 election came up and his failure to appoint Ndi'Igbo to good positions in his government. I'm not into MASSOB to serve anybody, neither Ekwueme nor any other person. I am into MASSOB for the general interest of my people and for the emancipation of Ndi'Igbo from the slavery status in Nigeria.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: How come you didn't take long to join the "Igbo president" bandwagon? Are you not worried that you might come across as being inconsistent?


Chief Uwazuruike: No. The Igbo Presidency wagon is of right. Nd'Igbo deserve to be the president of Nigeria in as much as Nd'Igbo form part and parcel of Nigeria. What I am saying is, for the past 30 years after the end of the civil war, no Igbo man has been the president. If there is any other president in Nigeria, it should be an Igbo man. An Igbo president should not stop MASOB from its agitation for Biafra. I would rather we redouble our effort for Biafra today if an Igbo man is president. And we would prefer an Igbo man as president rather than a Hausa or Yoruba man.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: From the threats you issued on Iwuanyanwu and one "Chief" Martin Okeke, it does appear your organization is acting more like a glorified errand boy for Ohaneze. Is MASSOB responsible for the dirty jobs of the high and mighty in IgboLand?


Chief Uwazuruike: No, there is nothing like that. Our position is that Ndi'Igbo or Igbo leaders should not use the newspapers, radio or television as a platform to reconcile themselves or to settle their scores. If there is any problem, Ndi'Igbo should go to Ohaneze or stay in Igboland to settle whatever differences they have. No Igboman should come to the public to say no Igboman should be president of Nigeria or start working against the general aspirations of Ndi'Igbo. If we find out that we should discipline that person, that is a problem in Igboland today. There is nothing that any Igboman regards as virtue as far as Ndi'Igbo are concerned. Rather, every Igboman would like to work for a Hausa or Yoruba man, but we never work for another Igboman. We are saying that no Igboman is bigger than the whole generality of Ndi'Igbo. And if you think that nobody should talk to you or discipline you, MASSOB is there to discipline you. That is why we chose somebody like Iwuanyanwu who people feel is mighty overlord and all that. For saying that, we said we must strip you naked and parade you in the streets, and he ran to America. And if any Igboman does that tomorrow, we shall do that to him.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: What is your relationship with Ohaneze and do you think they share your goal of Biafra actualization?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes, I have a good relationship with Ohaneze. By Ohaneze, I mean the present-day Ohaneze under the leadership Eze Ozobu, because he is a disciplined man and he has shown a sense of responsibility to Nd'Igbo through his leadership. We see the present day Ohaneze as a leadership by example and it is a body that MASSOB can work with. We don't believe in Igbo leaders who go to Abuja to look for contracts. Chief Ozobu, being a retired justice, has some honor and has some credibility and we feel that we can work with him. And you must remember that Ohaneze represents Nd'Igbo and Nd'Igbo are one of the ethnic groups in Biafra. Biafra embraces those who are not Igbo-speaking, but Ohaneze, being the umbrella organization of Nd'Igbo and Nd'Igbo being the majority in Biafra, has a lot at stake.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You were at the last WIC convention in Houston, TX right?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: What do you think was achieved at that congress? Someone said it was a showcase of unity in diversity meaning pro Aremu, pro IBB/Hausa fulani and pro Igbo/Biafrans gathered together. Personally, how did you feel sitting on the same table with Ojo Maduekwe and Omar Sanda Nwachukwu?


Chief Uwazuruike: Like I said, these people you have mentioned are Igbos and they are my brothers. Their views may different, but my sitting with them does not matter. What matters is the view of MASSOB, which I represent. They are entitled to their own views, but their views will not influence my own view if I feel that their views are wrong. The World Igbo Congress is a platform for Nd'Igbo to come and express themselves, and we were all there, including the ministers campaigning for Obasanjo, but they saw in the World Igbo Congress that the majority of the people support the Igbo presidency and they did not make any impact.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Who is your Igbo candidate for the presidency of BiafraNigeria and why? Would you support Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu, were he to beat the other Igbo candidates?


Chief Uwazuruike: I have no Igbo candidate and I am not interested in who becomes the president of Nigeria from Igbo stock.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Would you support Ike Omar Sanda Nwachukwu were he is to beat the other Igbo candidates?


Chief Uwazuruike: MASSOB is not supporting ANY of the candidates.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Are there still any MASSOB members in detention, and what are you doing to secure their release?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes. As of today we have about 58 MASSOB members in detention. About 28 of them were arrested in Onitsha after MASSOB held its rally at Onitsha and about 30 or 31 were arrested in Owerri after MASSOB had its rally in Owerri. MASSOB sent their new national legal advisor from Onitsha to secure the release the members who are currently being detained in Abuja. And our lawyer was arrested as well. He is still in Abuja now with the rest of the members.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: What is your lawyer's name?


Chief Uwazuruike: B. Alue.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You mentioned 58 members in detention. You also mentioned rallies in Onitsha and Owerri. When were those rallies held in Onitsha and Owerri?


Chief Uwazuruike: We hold general rallies once a month. The one in Onitsha was held on the 10th of July and the one in Owerri was held around the 15th of August, and on the 13th of this month, we are holding a rally at Enugu.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So those arrests were made during those recent rallies held this year?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: This may be a bit redundant in light of the answer you just gave. But, I will ask anyway. What is the current status of MASSOB vis a vis your purported suspension by Uche Okwukwu and co.? Is your organization still active? What are some of its latest activities?


Chief Uwazuruike: My organization is most active now because the organization grows day by day. Like I said before, in law, we say “Nemo dat qui non habet” (one does not give what one does not have). So neither Uche Okwukwu nor Logenius has the right to suspend me because I was the person that brought in Logenius Orjiako into MASSOB and gave him an appointment and I was the person who recruited Uche Okwukwu as our legal adviser. And an employee of the company cannot sack the managing director or the chairman of the company. That is a ruse. It is only on the Internet that that has weight. On the ground, nobody knows them.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Are you saying there is no mechanism in place today for removing you as leader of MASSOB?


Chief Uwazuruike: This is a revolution. After 30 years, no Igboman talked about Biafra. I came out to talk about Biafra. I have my modus, my techniques, my principles. If you think my principles are not okay with you, go and form your own organization. It is there for the public. If they like what I'm saying, what I am doing, to follow me. If they don't like it, they'll reject me. But you cannot come to my organization and say you have suspended me or want me to follow your principle, which is not in line with what I am advocating.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: There were strong accusations against you by some of your erstwhile lieutenants, which we would like you to address mainly: Self-enrichment by using MASSOB's resources to build homes in Okigwe and taking bribes from the Imo state deputy governor.


Chief Uwazuruike: First and foremost, all the properties used by MASSOB are my properties. The house MASSOB is using in Lagos as their secretariat is my personal house, and the national secretariat of MASSOB in Okigwe, which was burned by the government last December is also my house. And for the past 3 years that these properties have been used by MASSOB, nobody has paid rent to me.

Secondly, before MASSOB was inaugurated, I single-handedly funded MASSOB before these people came on board, and I am doing that for my interest. I'm not asking anybody to pay me for it. And if you say that I am using MASSOB resources to build a house, all these houses that are used by MASSOB, did I use MASSOB resources to build them? I bought them. I built some of them with my money and if somebody is saying that I am using MASSOB resources to build a house, from where did the resources come from? Who contributed? Did we levy any money for anybody to pay, or did the government give me money? Did any country donate money to MASSOB? You ask such person, where did the money come from?


BiafraNigeriaWorld: What about the deputy governor?


Chief Uwazuruike: I don't have any relationship with any governor or deputy. Do you understand it? Like I said about my house.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So you did not take any bribe from the deputy governor of Imo State?


Chief Uwazuruike: Why should I take any bribe from a deputy governor? I can change a car. Or somebody can give a car to me. Somebody donated a car to me. But it was not a deputy governor. A businessman donated a car to me. When the police came to Akigwe, stormed my house and vandalized a bus I was driving. I was walking the streets and somebody saw me, an Igbo man who felt what I was doing was good for the Igbos and bought me the car. So this idea of deputy governor is just nonsense.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You mentioned that most of the money spent by MASSOB is your own money. I asked you earlier what you do for a living. I don't recall that you answered that part of the question. Do you mind answering it now?


Chief Uwazuruike: I am a legal practitioner. I have practiced law for more than 10 years now. Throughout my practice I was into property. I buy and sell land and houses. Before MASSOB, I had five houses in Lagos and when MASOOB started I sold one and later I sold another one which I'm using to rebuild a house in my village after they destroyed my house in Okigwe. Before MASSOB I had five vehicles. I was driving 3, my wife was using two. I sold the two vehicles of my wife and sold one of mine for MASSOB. Today, the two that are remaining are vandalized by the police and are immovable. All these things are my personal things.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So, those are the sources of all the funds you personally expend on MASSOB.


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes. Sure.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You have also been accused of aligning yourself with some of the eastern governors and compromising the safety of MASSOB members.

Chief Uwazuruike: It’s funny. I have no direct dealing with any eastern governor. As a matter of fact, you ask any of them if I have ever come to their office for the first day. The only governor whose office I have ever gone to is Orji Uzor Kalu, and that was when Longenius Orjiakor was alleged to have bought guns given to MASSOB members to fight against Bakassi. Then, two Bakassi men were killed by MASSOB men, and four MASSOB members were killed by Bakassi. Then, Orji Uzor Kalu summoned me and I went and they said, look, what is happening? Then we discussed the issue and I investigated and Longenius Orjiako told me that actually he bought some guns and gave them to our members to challenge Bakassi because Bakassi people were terrorizing MASSOB members. Then I asked him where he got the money and he said his junior brother gave him the money. He said 1.3 million Naira. He said he was sorry. I said no, you don’t' do things like that. If you want violence, you have to form your own organization. If I'm the leader of MASSOB, I have to control MASSOB. Then, I suspended him according to our rules and regulations, non-violence, that's all.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You have been accused of exhibiting dictatorial tendencies in running MASSOB affairs.


Chief Uwazuruike: I'm not a dictator, and no other person will say it. If I were dictatorial, I wouldn't have given all the powers and privileges I gave to them. Twice I came to America, I brought them; I gave them open hand. Today, I'm in America and they are not with me.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Why did you make the statement that you are bigger than MASSOB, and that if anybody doesn't like what you are doing, they should go and form their own organization? Do you intend that you will always be bigger than MASSOB?


Chief Uwazuruike: As a matter of fact, I'm sorry I made that statement. I made that statement in anger. I was trying to tell the world that every and each member that is in MASSOB today is there on the belief that the government has tried so many times to bribe me and I couldn't be bribed. Some of these members I took to some of the negotiations where money was offered to me, and I rejected. They saw this, they told others. People said if this is the case, here is an Igbo man who could not be bought and they came into MASSOB. People tried to see me because of the things they hear about me, and people are into MASSOB because they know I cannot betray them. So for somebody to come and say he has done this and that, I tried to tell him, look man, Uwazuruike formed MASSOB and MASSOB is synonymous with to Uwazuruike as Biafra is synonymous to Ojukwu, as ANC is synonymous to Nelson Mandela. As India National Congress is synonymous to Mahatma Ghandi. So, MASSOB minus Uwazuruike is shaky. There was no time that a group of people came together to form MASSOB, no.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: We understand that you are very important to MASSOB. But today, Mandela is not heading ANC. And in India, Ghandi was shot and killed and the party he headed continued. What program do you have in place for succession in MASSOB? It has been observed that your name is synonymous with MASSOB and you take it (MASSOB) wherever you go, leaving nothing behind. For example, all our forum members who have been home lately agree that MASSOB activities in the East has been on the lowest ebb since you migrated to Lagos. How do you respond to this?


Chief Uwazuruike: I don't think there is anything like that because this information is wrong. MASSOB today in the east is the talk of the town. As I'm talking to you here now there are rallies all over the east. We have covered the local government areas and we are into all the wards in the east. And I don't like playing to the gallery, newspaper advertisement. We don't like it because that brings the security against us. We are on the ground, and there are migrating to Lagos. All these rallies are not being held in Lagos. I was in Onitsha against the security directive that I should not come. I was in Owerri and two armored tanks were placed on Okigwe Road to keep me from coming but when they saw all the crowd they quickly ran back to their barracks. As I'm going home now, I'm going directly to Okigwe. My family is in Lagos. Once in a while I come into Lagos to see my children and my wife. Then I go back to my base.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: What program do you have in place for succession in MASSOB?


Chief Uwazuruike: We have a hierarchy in MASSOB. But what I have refused to do is to say that this is my executive, this is my financial secretary, this is my treasurer, this is my deputy. Because once I do that, the government will catch up on that and bribe some of them to scuttle the movement. So if I'd had an executive where perhaps Uche Okwukwu or Longenius Orjiakor was my secretary or my deputy, the government would have used them to scuttle MASSOB.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So, if something happens to you today, who would succeed you?


Chief Uwazuruike: If something happened to me today, MASSOB hierarchy knows the next in line. We don't expose all these things in the papers because of security implications.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You live in Ijeshatedo. Is that correct?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Don't you think it is absurd for a leader of the Biafra movement to reside outside Biafra and in enemy territory?


Chief Uwazuruike: Before I started MASSOB, I was in Lagos. I have properties in Lagos. I'm not a tenant. I have kids who attend school in Lagos. My wife is also in Lagos. East is the warfront. They burnt my house in Okigwe. Suppose my wife and children had been there. I am in the warfront. Must I go to the warfront with my wife and my children? I have lived in Lagos since I came back from India. From Lagos I started the movement and I am fighting and struggling.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: There are many pro-Biafra groups in operation today and there does not seem to be much co-ordination. Do you think that the emergence of so many groups compromises the message?


Chief Uwazuruike: Not at all. Rather, it is a welcome development. Today, we have the BF, Ekwenche, Igbo USA, BNW, we have PANDEM. We are partners in progress. But there must be a consensus, a working relationship, an umbrella, something that makes us sit together once in a while to review the progress we have made. The issue is the actualization of Biafra. The more the merrier. That is what I told my subordinates, Uche Okwukwu and Orjiakor. Go and form your own organization. If it is a Biafra oriented organization, I will work with you. But you must have your own agenda. If you are not comfortable with non-violence, go and form your own organization and do whatever you like there.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Why has MASSOB not been restructured after some of last year's turmoil?


Chief Uwazuruike: It has been restructured. When Uche Okwukwu and Prince were there, we had an eastern coordinator. But immediately after that, we introduced a provincial system. Ojukwu had twenty provinces. Today, we added four provinces covering Delta, Agbor, Warri and Ughelli. These places were not part of Biafra during the war, but today, they are Igbo areas and they have shown interest. We included them. Today we have directors who serve as ministers. We have fifteen directors of MASSOB covering director of education, director of welfare. Administrators serve as governors of these provinces. We call them provincial administrators. Then at the local government level we call them districts. At another level we call them ward officers. All these things were not there before.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Are there any other of the allegations by Uche Okwukwu and his group that I have not mentioned that you would like to address?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes. According to the findings of the committee set up to investigate why Longenius bought guns, which he admitted, we found out that one Igbo politician living in Abuja working for Obasanjo, recruited the two of them to (1) fight against Orji Uzor Kalu, two.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: When you say two of them, two of whom?


Chief Uwazuruike: That is Uche and Prince. … to fight against Orji Uzor Kalu. The politician is from Abia State, Aba in particular, working in the presidency. Then, to fight against MASSOB. And Prince himself, admitted that to me in the office of one of my relations called Prince Chibeze. And it’s the same Prince and some of my relatives begging me to come and forgive him and all that. I don't act on hearsay. He admitted to me once that his brother gave him 1.3 million Naira to buy arms, and later we found out that the money was actually from one of Obasanjo's men. So they were sponsored to scuttle the objectives of MASSOB.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: It is very desirable that a leader understand the temperament of his individual team members in addition to knowing himself. Can you seriously say you knew Mr. Okwukwu's temperament, especially now that you have gone through last year's controversy with Mr. Okwukwu?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes, I would say that. If I knew him as I know him today I wouldn't really have appointed him as our legal advisor. Or if I knew Longinus Orjiako as I know him today, I wouldn't have appointed him eastern coordinator then. We learn every day, and experience is the best teacher.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: You said earlier that they had apologized. Does this mean that they are now back in the fold? Or does it mean you have forgiven each other and everybody is doing their own thing now?


Chief Uwazuruike: Well my friends called me. There is one Sam Obi that lives in Aba who is my childhood friend told me that Longenus came to him and asked him to plead on his behalf that I should forgive them, he wants to come back to MASSOB. Then one provincial administrator with Chief Osechukwu also said Longenus came to him and was begging that he should be recalled and all that. This is not a private decision. I have to consult my members, and I'm consulting with them and I have to see their opinion.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Are you concerned that your strained relationship with Okwukwu could hamper the interactivity of Ikwerre Igbo and Okigwe Igbo for instance?


Chief Uwazuruike: Today, Port Harcourt, in the last rally, Port Harcourt came fourth as the zone where MASSOB is at its highest. We count that by counting how many buses each zone came with. So Onitsha came first, Aba came second, Owerri came third, and Port Harcourt came fourth. But that was at Onitsha. Then in Owerri, Onitsha came first, Aba came second, Port Harcourt came third, before Owerri. Then you begin to talk Enugu, Umuahia and all that. So Uche Okwukwu doesn't mean anything because I have people in all the local governments in Rivers State. And Uche was working as our legal advisor, he was not working as an officer, or as a ward officer or as a provincial officer. He was our legal advisor. When we had cases, he would go to court and we would pay him. There was no case he did for us that we didn't pay him for. As a matter of fact, when we were here in the US, in this room, the morning we were leaving to go back home, I shared money to them. Uche was demanding N5,500 for each detained member, as opposed to the N2,000 we used to pay for each. That was where we started having problems. I said no, we can't do that. I gave them money to hold on to until we reached Nigeria, and up to this day they are holding it. Come to the east and you will know what is happening, I'm not exaggerating. Come and see what is on the ground. If Uche Okwukwu and Prince could rock the boat for MASSOB, I would never dare sack them, because MASSOB and Biafra are important to me.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Now that the other faction has metamorphosed into the Eastern peoples' Congress (EPC), will your MASSOB be willing to extend the right hand of fellowship to them since you are both sworn to protect Biafran interest?


Chief Uwazuruike: Why not? Inasmuch as they are for the actualization for Biafra, they are my best friends. I would only look the other way if they started singing another tune or saying that they are for Nigeria and they are not for Biafra. They are our brothers. Why not?


BiafraNigeriaWorld: We know that in your last few "detentions" by the BiafraNigerian government, you were "detained" at Abuja Nicon Noga Hotel where you were locked in negotiation with a key government functionary (Jerry Gana). Keen observers believe you were intimidated by the opulence of the environment and intellectual wit of Obasanjo's representative, and that you emerged out of that detention a thoroughly changed man with no more stomach for the struggle. Is this true?


Chief Uwazuruike: First of all, it was not really Jerry Gana who was talking with me. It was an official from the presidency. I don't like mentioning peoples' names. It was in Abuja. I was in Abuja under detention. They burnt my house. Why did they burn the house? Because I did not agree to their terms. That was about the third time they were offering me a bribe in Abuja. They have offered my bribes three times in Abuja, two in Lagos. In Lagos, one was in FESTAC extenstion, the other in my own house. So this last one, it was like come here and we shall deal with you. So they burned my house. The newspaper carried the story on the front page. They showed it to me and I said okay, fine. You have burned my house can you let me go?


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years. Yet, he and the ANC emerged victorious. Have you prepared yourself and MASSOB to withstand that type of ordeal?


Chief Uwazuruike: Let me tell you. I will be very happy in my grave if I die in this cause much less going to prison, I'm ready to die. And you know, I'm not afraid. If I was afraid, I would have stopped. I'm ready to go on terms of imprisonment for 40 years, and I above that I'm ready to die the next minute for MASSOB and Biafra.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Let's discuss your relationship with the Diaspora Igbo intellectuals. There was a recent development published in a pro yoruba website where a Yoruba professor called Bolaji Aluko was alleged to have contacted a US agency website to request the removal of militant OPC from the list of terrorist organizations. Do you see the need for your MASSOB to draw from the intellectual pool of such orgs as BF , BLM, BAF, Ekwenche US, Ndigbo Gen. 60-70+, BNW etc.? Do you know these groups and are you carrying them along?


Chief Uwazuruike: I'm already working with these groups, and as far as I'm concerned, I saw this morning. My brothers and sisters are those who believe in the cause of Biafra. And in as much as a group believes in the actualization of Biafra, that group is my darling, that group is my friend, my everything. I'm prepared to work with them. That is why I'm saying we should have an occasion where we can see ourselves, talk together because so many of these people, I have not seen them. All the times I've been to the US, I have been sponsored by all these bodies. And I can't do without them.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: How many phases are there in your plan for Biafra Actualization and at what stage in that plan are you at the moment? Can you give a breakdown of the first stages that you have already gone through and a quick run down of what to expect in the future?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes. We have 25 stages in the actualization of Biafra. We are now in the fourth stage. The first stage had to do with recruitment and mobilization for members of MASSOB. These things go from one state to the other. The second stage had to do with declaration of Biafra. Which I did on the 22nd of May, 2000 at Aba. The third stage had to do with the development of the primary aspects of sovereignty. We instituted the Biafran court, the Biafran police, the Biafran intelligence agency, and other infrastructures and other bodies. Today we are in the fourth stage which is civil disobedience. This civil disobedience will take us some time because it has to do with disobeying government laws, doing things that we want in Biafra without recourse of what the Nigerian government is saying. In this stage we have put in place the Biafra Liberation Front. This Biafra Liberation Front is an alternative government. With this Biafra Liberation Front, we have provinces we call the Biafran Territory and we have directors serving as ministers and they do the same work that Nigerian ministers and Nigerian governors do.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Would you commit to providing a full list of all the 25 stages to go on your website?


Chief Uwazuruike: No. Because if I do it, the government will know my stages and they will scuttle it.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So you don't want the stages to be public material?


Chief Uwazuruike: No. This is sensitive information, and that is what saves MASSOB. Do you know, if Uche Okwukwu and Longenus had known our stages, they would have stolen it. They would have used it as their own platform, their own agenda. I don't tell anybody, including my mother, my wife, the stages.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: So the stages are announced as you reach them?


Chief Uwazuruike: Yes, the stages are announced.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: In the past, MASSOB indicated that there would be no elections in Biafra. Later that statement was modified to mean that there would be no federal elections in Biafra. What is MASSOB's stand today?


Chief Uwazuruike: Today we have the same stand. Elections will be held in the local governments and states in Biafra to allow our brothers and sisters to take control of our states because they remain in a vacuum. But as far as federal elections are concerned, elections into the national assembly, the presidency, MASSOB has also modified that position. We say that if an Igboman, and by Igboman, we mean that if all the six parties go to Igboland and pick their presidential candidates, we will allow the election. But if all the six parties fail to go to Igboland as they did to Yoruba in 1998, and choose their candidates, we will not allow any elections.


BiafraNigeriaWorld: Thank you for the interview and we wish you a safe return to BiafraNigeria.


Chief Uwazuruike: It was my pleasure.