Biafra: Fifty-Three Years of Frosting

Biafra: Fifty-Three Years of Frosting

M.O. ENE

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

PREAMBLE

Tuesday, May 30, 1967: From a break in the clouds of bloody civil crises, a sovereign state emerged in the East: Biafra. On July 6, 1967, Nigeria declared war on a people it had physically persecuted and psychologically scarred its unborn generations. The deep disparity in firepower and manpower was Goliath v. David reenacted.

Biafra put up a heroic fight. Nigeria resorted to renewed genocide: indiscriminate bombing of defenseless civilian targets and criminal use of hunger as a weapon of war. Over a million children alone died. Still, it took an unholy Anglo-Arab-Soviet alliance to pause Biafra on Monday, January 12, 1970. Biafra’s political and military structures have folded, but Biafra lives.

REMEMBERING BIAFRA

I instituted the annual Nigeria-Biafra War Memorial on Friday, May 30, 1997. It comprised remembrance services for all victims and lectures. The concept was to hear from participants, document experiences, pay tributes to those who sacrificed so others may live, and learn the lasting lessons. May the departed heroes continue to find peace.

In the inaugural lecture, I noted that the body of Biafra as-was will remain in the silos of stories, but we must revive, reclaim, and reuse the soul of the Sun, the ‘half a yellow sun’ with frosts that rattles Nigeria 53 years after a “no victor, no vanquished” cessation of hostilities.

BIAFRA LIVES

In ‘Why Biafra Lives,’ July 1997, Lewis Obi wrote: “It is a living testimony of political wickedness which time will not heal because it is both physical and psychological. :::: And the power of Biafra remains that, as an idea against political oppression, it can never die.” Biafra was a child of circumstances, a nation of necessity. As George Orwell put it, “It is better even from the point of survival to fight and be conquered than to surrender without fighting.” Hold heads high: We survived!

After all the atrocities and bloodbaths, the war is not over. Bloody battles rage nationwide. Subversive strategies still surface. Bemused Biafrans watch and wonder why ‘going on with one Nigeria’ is so difficult for over half a century!

Pini Jason posited in 2002, “One of the things standing between Nigeria and greatness is the fear of freeing itself from the fear of the Igbo.” The Igbo have never been, nor will ever be, a threat to anyone. Alas, after decades of denials, futile frustrations, mean marginalization, and the pathetic phobia, freedom and progress elude Nigeria.

He who holds another down is himself locked down. A goat lying on the ground is lying on its hide—not on the ground. The moon may look like a ceiling light, a dot in the sky, but no one’s hands can cover its shine. Obstruction is false and futile.

FROM ABURI TO ABUJA

Ndiigbo are realists, rugged republicans, and dedicated democrats. Even with the clamor for Biafra re-actualization by some, many Ndiigbo dive deeper into the heart of Nigeria, sweating, suffering, and surviving among hostile hosts, and patriotically pointing out paths to greatness. Alas, failed parts do not make a functional whole. Think Titanic! To fix the fault, repair the part. Nigerian nations must stay apart a bit or burn in the friction of a fundamentally flawed federation.

At Aburi, Ghana in 1967, Odumegwu-Ojukwu presented a seamless solution that could have saved Nigeria decades of dismay. Gowon signed and then reneged. In Abuja 1994, Ohanaeze Ndiigbo presented a modified six-zone geopolitical structure. It remains unconstitutional but in use! Back in Abuja 2014, Ndiigbo presented a similar structure: a functional federation of strong geopolitical zones.

QUO VADIS?

Stop trying to save Nigeria as-is and preaching equity in a soiled system with a corrupt core. Shelve re-actualizing Biafra as-was. For a change, let’s stop worshiping wishy-washy oneness and rebuild our own crumbling components. Our culture is our future.

Ndiigbo never wanted out of Nigeria, not even after the pitiful Pogrom. Biafra was a rapid response to the unilateral abrogation of Aburi Accord and dismemberment of the Eastern Region. A peaceful and progressive Nigeria is still preferred.

Far too many Igbo people do not want to dismember Nigeria. The facts are obvious. Indeed, if Ndiigbo had a cultural cohesion before European colonialism, they could have built an enduring economic territory stretching from Dakar to Dar es Salaam.

Ndiigbo stitch Nigeria together with avid adventurism, consummate commerce, economic and educational endeavors, Nollywood movies, intermarriage, sports, etc. Remove them and the green giant with clay feet crumbles. It is better imagined!

ALADỊMMA AGENDA

We have frosted Biafra enough. A new front for pan-Igbo nationalism will not lose the soul of Biafra, or better, Biafara. The Biafran revolution was about equity, democracy, freedom, justice, peace, and progress. If we preach and practice these principles, Ndiigbo will produce a prosperous, peaceful, and purposeful nation based on ancestral philosophies, a nation worthy of emulation among other Niger-area nations.

If the land of a nation is great, it accommodates everyone equitably under the rule of laws: Àlà dị mmá, ọ bata onyeọbụla ọfụma. A mutually beneficial nation promotes constructive coexistence. Folks thrive where they live, be it in Aladimma, Arewa, Bornu, Middle Belt, Niger Delta (BRACE) or Oduduwa. Switzerland refers, UK too.

SOUL OF THE SUN

Biafra was not an exclusive nation of Ndiigbo. Biafra excluded Igbo communities in current Benue, Delta, Edo, and Kogi states, but it incorporated non-Igbo neighboring nations in the Niger Delta: Efik, Ibibio, Mmong, Izon (Ijaw), Ogoja, and several riverine peoples… many of whom harbor Igbo-phobic sentiments. Building a successful Igbo nation will free these bordering brethren from the anxiety of economic emasculation.

With the Aladimma Agenda, the Igbo will reclaim the soul of the Sun shining on lands across Igbo-cultured communities. The Oduduwa kite flies without raising an eyebrow, even when violent; ditto, Arewa with Sharia, flag, and armies of Islamist insurgents. Ọ’ụ gịnị jizi Ndiigbo?

CONCLUSION

“Biafra” may someday re-realize in a restructured region. As with now Ghana, it may not be an Igbo country! It took only weeks to conceive and actualize Biafra in 1967; it should not take years to reactivate Biafra’s brainbox for industrialization, as did Germany and Japan. Poise should bow to pragmatism. Life is too short.

Neither referendum nor restructuring is rigidly required. Secession is secondary, even counterproductive. We need unfettered and competitive Nigerian markets. Ndiigbo have adequate technological prowess, devoted diasporas, and the human resources to chart the course and cause the electoral emergence of their best hands in every state.

Question is, why defer a daylight search for the proverbial black goat? Let us reclaim the soul of the Sun and let go of superfluous socializations in sundry associations, discourteous debates, and internalizing intense intolerance that is both pathetic and puerile.

Let’s concentrate on nurturing a nation. Borders are irrelevant; borders do not make a nation. The important thing is that Ndiigbo function in an enabling economical, geopolitical, and sociocultural space, doing better what they do well in antagonistic areas. The nation will advocate for Ndiigbo worldwide and be a light for the socioeconomic advancement of neighboring nations, Nigeria, and Africa. Anything else is flying a cool kite at the mercy of wild winds.

#moe, 5.30.2023

@aladimma