By Austin Emaduku
I know this is going to be a touchy topic for some, but we must continue to tell it the way we feel it. I may even receive some flacks for being anti Igbo for the effort. I do not, however, intend by this offering to offend or stereotype. So, I apologise ahead of time if it comes across that way. I am just making my contribution to the national discourse from my observation of the goings-on in our country which, of course, may be wrong.
Something tells me that deep down, the heart of every Igbo man is with what Kanu is doing. This is because they still want Biafra. The pain of the civil war is yet to be assuaged and may not actually be possible to be assuaged. I do not believe there is any conscious efforts towards this.
No doubt, the Nigerian state has not done much to assuage these feelings. Notice must be taken therefore of the fact that the present-day agitators are people who never witnessed the civil war. For them to push the Biafran idea with so much fervent vigour and hate towards the Nigerian state is indicative more of parental indoctrination than of deprivations or discriminations experienced firsthand.
This is understandable to some extent. The method is however what bothers me. Lessons seem not to have been learnt at all. Those who witnessed the civil war seem not to have told the young the evils of war and the young seem to be blinded to the adverse effects of war in other parts of the world. This explains the inciting war rhetoric reminiscent of the pre-civil war period. It is Biafra by any means.
I may be wrong, but I believe the Igbos will be the greatest losers if realisation of Biafra comes by the way of war. No one has higher stake than the Igbos in this country. They thrive more outside the homeland and are in every nook and cranny of this country more than any other ethnic group. The quantum of their investments across the country is unrivalled. This is where I believe reason and a change of strategy is required. There is so much imbalance in this country that requires redressing, but…
Why would the Igbos want to throw all that they have in this country away and for what? Will the Igbos strewn across the country be willing to go back home in one swoop evacuation in the event of the outbreak of another war? Have they considered the logistical and humanitarian problems this might pose?
I ask this because there seem to have been not enough response to Kanu’s reckless rhetoric. What has the larger Ndigbo done to counter the support base of Nnamdi Kanu and the crowd we see in the videos?
What we have seen can best be described as muted opposition which can also be interpreted as tacit support. The clock is ticking. The atmosphere is tense. It requires just a little spark to cause a conflagration. We must tone down on the war rhetoric. Saying one thing and doing another is duplicity
Get more stuff like this
Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox.