Some events in Nigeria
never stop to baffle me. Where were all the South East governors when the
self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu
and his cohorts were engaged in activities that are against national and social
mores? The South East governors did not make any conscious attempt to call the
self-acclaimed “paradigm” of the IPOB to order. Their sane red caps never
functioned well at those points but rejuvenated when Operation Python Dance
swung into action to subdue the situation.
Kanu has inveterate
struggle for Biafra and he got it all wrong by allowing his fellow Biafra
agitators to lunch attacks against innocent Nigerians and their property. He
has put the Biafran cause in an irredeemable position by instructing his ardent
loyal boys to engage in activities that are aberration. If Kanu and his cohorts
do not abjure the Biafran cause, it will continue to pose a serious threat to
the unity of Nigeria.
One of the problems of
fighting for a cause without anticipating positive and negative outcomes and
making impact-driven consultations through amicable means is that one gets
blindfolded by selfishness which makes one to be bereft of socio-economic and
political acumen. This is the exact position Kanu has found himself in.
The government of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria will never accede to Kanu’s demands of
disintegrating Nigeria for the establishment of Biafra. A lot of experts in Peace and Conflict
Resolution foreshowed the federal government of the national security threat
Biafra cause poses.
Kanu is only using the
Biafran cause for self aggrandizement. He truly does not have the interest of
the Igbo at heart. If he really does, he would not have allowed violence to be
a “component” of Biafra.
Since Kanu is not an
amenable person by nature, it is likely that he will continue to engage in
activities that will provoke more Nigerians and make him become anathema to
Nigerians. Many people in support of Biafra expect Kanu to receive approbation
for the break of law and order he has caused in some parts of Nigeria, but most
people see him as antithesis to peace.
Most of the IPOB
agitators who have engaged in various destructive activities were beguiled by
Kanu. He has brainwashed them with his “selfish philosophy” to commit calumny
against President Buhari and anyone who opposes Biafra.
From all indications,
Kanu will not fervently have compunction for the wrong he has done to Nigerians
through his actions. He has shown how recalcitrant he is by refusing to even be
receptive to the advice of those who truly care about the Igbo and Nigeria as a
nation.
Trying to establish a
sovereign nation by force can never work in our present world. Kanu is an
enlightened and educated person who is supposed to be abreast of the realities
of the fast-changing world and should not use obsolete means to abstain
sovereignty.
If Biafra must be established,
it has to be through dialogue, referendum, legislative delegation and peaceful
movement. Anything short of these will make the cause to be abortive and recent
actions by Kanu and his cohorts have already placed it on that line.
By Terfa Naswem