Biafra; The Way Forward!

PRELUDE 

There’s a court case. A group of secessionists want a referendum. Everywhere is full, as the judge takes his seat. Outside the court, people are agitated and chanting, “We want Biafra! We want Biafra! Referendum now!” Judge settles down. So, who are the people asking for a new country? The Agitator-in-Chief rushes forward with a map. “Here, my lord, is the map.” The judge takes a look. “But I see my town there. I see Ekpeye Kingdom there, and we are not Biafrans! Agitator-in-Chief is agitated. “My lord, Ekpeye is Biafran land!” Judge looks at him. “Is it the land you are after or the people? Go and edit your map, and until then, no referendum.” Court! Pandemonium!

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 THE REAL ISSUE

 In 2017, I shared a cab with two Igbo passengers in Port Harcourt while I was headed to a park for Ibadan, and Nnamdi Kanu was on the radio, saying a lot of things that made me feel uneasy. The boys and the driver were enjoying it, making comments along the way. At a point, they mentioned the disinterest of other ‘foolish’ Biafrans in the ‘struggle.’ I tried not to join the conversation until one of them said they would eject those ‘rebels’ from Biafra land when the time came. As one of the ‘rebels,’ I said, “If you want the so-called rebels to join you, then do the right thing, instead of calling people bad names from a distance.” Oh boy, they nearly jumped me for it. 

If history is anything to go by, it is on record that many folks down south rebelled against the defunct Eastern Region, not because they had a penchant for rebellion but because they felt marginalized. Again, that is subject to different interpretations because some Igbos deny marginalizing anyone, just as the Nigerian government said, ‘No victor, no vanquished.’ In the end, the feeling of the ‘victim’ determines his reaction, no? Today, Igbos can easily recall the rebellion of Southerners in the Biafra cause but they hardly open the page that contains the why of the rebellion. 

To be clear, those who wish to have a country called Biafra are within their rights to demand a country of their own if they feel consistently denied a political or socio-economic place in the scheme of things. I mean, agitation, political or otherwise, is a human phenomenon and always arises. For the government, the response should be one of two things: to proffer solutions to the causes of the agitation or let the agitators go. Easy peasy. But, if only…. Over time, governments prefer two other entirely different choices: ignore the agitators or declare them enemies to set up clashes with the police. In all of this, the one glaring issue that the Biafran agitators are never dealing with is that of identity. 

WHO ARE THE BIAFRANS? 

Who, indeed, are the Biafrans? Biafra’s key agitators keep pretending as if all the people in 'Biafra' are homogenous and in agreement with the secessionists. Should this not be sorted out before anyone climbs the rooftop to make demands? It appears that this is not a priority for the agitators. They are not interested in identifying who is fighting with them and who is fighting against them. It is just about the war and the glorious end. Where is the path to victory or do they expect a deux ex machina? 

Let me digress a bit. I want to believe that you, my reader, are very logical, so, it's not a risk to put my faith in your ability to rationalize this and not simply respond emotionally. 

We don’t always get to choose our countries or families. I was born here and later got to know that ‘here’ is Nigeria, so I am Nigerian. My only response is patriotism. If for any reason, the country is divided, you just find you are 'something' else and must be patriotic. I said that to say this: the essence of my treaty is not to denounce Nigeria or condemn the idea of Biafra. Rather, it is to zoom in on the one thing that we can say is the elephant in the room: identity. 

WHY IS THERE AN IDENTITY PROBLEM? It was all Eastern Region. Nigeria is a melting pot of tribes, languages, and cultures, both big and small, and the south is equally heterogeneous, if not more. In partitioning the regions, all the southernmost tribes and those in the east were lumped together. Of course, since the Igbo were the biggest tribe, and the Igbos were very entrepreneurially mobile, their southern dominance had even begun way before the political divides. So, when the Eastern Region attempted to withdraw from Nigeria, he used the map of the ‘Eastern Region’ and renamed it ‘Biafra’ without, perhaps, consulting the southern peoples. Consequently, everyone on that map became a Biafran. 

Remember that before the Civil War, people from Ijaw, Kalabari, Ogoni, Ikwerre, etc. were already feeling marginalized, clamoring for state creation or secession. Read The Twelve-Day Revolution by Isaac Adaka Boro, Nigeria’s first secessionist. Of course, the Eastern bloc sees him as a betrayer –they may be right—but what they hardly pay attention to is the why.

It was obvious, then, that Southerners did not want an Igbo identity and have mostly remained aloof to the Biafran struggles till now. In there, was Ojukwu’s mistake. He went to war leading a mixed army of soldiers and unsoldiers, conscripted fighters who were not committed to the cause, because, apart from the real Igbo soldiers, many fighters from other southern tribes were soldering perfunctorily. And the reason was obvious: they did not want to be part of either the Eastern Region or Biafra. Yet, they were forced to. Some of them attempted absconding and were killed. My father, for instance, still has the cicatrix of the gunshot on his wrist when he was caught running away. He recalls the experiences of ‘training’ while all he was thinking about then was a chance to ‘mia.’ Some others (in)directly sabotaged the war efforts and were heavily dealt with when caught. 

However, that is the past. The essence of this discourse is neither to demonize Biafran authorities nor idolize the ‘saboteurs,’ for Whether Ojukwu was right or wrong in his assumptions or approaches no longer matters because decades have since passed, and Biafra was not born. If anyone [or group] decides to reawaken that dream today, that person [or group] must pay attention to history to avoid this particular mistake of the pioneers. It is not about emotion. That assumption cannot, should not, must not be made again, that everyone in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, or any other state is automatically a Biafran –or occupying Biafran land, for what is the land without its people or what is a people without their land. 

One interesting habitual response I have observed of the Igbos whenever some southerner protests the forced identity is angry dismissal, laced with a God-forgive-him-for-he-is-a-lost-fool condescension, a crass display of tribal superiority. Like, “Keep quiet, you are a Biafran!” Sometimes, it is a pitying look that says, “You don’t even know who you are.” But why would a victim of a grander disrespect shamelessly victimize others? Nigeria says to you, “Keep quiet, you are a Nigerian” and you are unhappy about it. Why do the same to others then? Ever heard of the biblical forgiven debtor who would not forgive his own debtor? 

In a nutshell, Ojukwu wrongly assumed that everyone under his ‘Eastern Region’ was automatically a Biafran, and that is understandable. For the dream-pushers, it is unforgivable because it is very disrespectful to tag a set of people with a different identity without their consent. 

I said to an Igbo person that Rivers people are not Biafrans, and the response was, “It’s okay. When the time comes, you will know.” Wonderful. Such a tone! In Nigerian-speak, 'you will know' is a big threat. 

The danger in this indiscreet arrogance is its revelation of the future of the Ogoni- or Ijaw man in a Biafran system that will hardly recognize him as an individual. It foretells that the level of marginalization witnessed under the regional system would be nothing compared to the future experience in a Biafranated world. 

How can you convince my folk to accept the Biafran dream and have a referendum with you when you pay no attention to us? Take the mic, please, and answer: what do we become when we make it to the promised land? Your pets? 

THE WAY FORWARD

I’ll end it here, for now. The way forward. This is not a way forward towards a better agitation, I must admit because I am not an agitator and would hardly know how best to agitate. But since we are supposedly in the equation, the agitators should understand that they would be taken seriously if they, too, took the ‘other foolish Biafrans’ seriously. 

Every right-thinking Nigerian knows that these agitations, whether code-named Biafra, Arewa, or Oodua, are residual problems arising from the rinsed, repeated failures of the Nigerian system, to which we have all contributed –a topic for another day. But if there must be a Biafran agitation, which concerns me directly because my home is on that map, there must be a roundtable. 

Those who want Biafra must seek the opinion and consent of those who have not said they want Biafra before including them in the structure. Two, those who dream 

Biafra should be clear about their intentions with the southerners: is it the land you have tagged ‘Biafran’ or the people? It's unclear how you will get one without the other, though. If you want only the southern lands, let us know what you plan to do with the southern people, and if you want the people, then share your political blueprint and how we fit into that structure.

This is the 2020s and everyone is more politically conscious. It is misleading to think that people will walk into a union where they are political onlookers. You have another thing coming. Two cannot work together unless they agree. How much more a larger number? Anything other than this, the Biafra agitation will remain the farce it is unless they edit that map with its ridiculous state names. I rest my case. 

 -McDike Dimkpa 

 The Oracle