Nigerian entertainment maverick and activist, Charles
Oputa,popularly known as CharlyBoy has penned an open letter to Biafra
Agitators, advising them to shun the
call for secession, but pursue“a national Biafra”.
Below is the full text of the open letter as made available
to News Gallery.ng
A
LETTER TO MY PEOPLE – BY CHARLYBOY
Fellow Biafrans,
I know some of my Igbo
brothers and sisters are not happy with me simply because I have not used My
Brand as CharlyBoy to advocate for the clamor of The Biafran state.
However, like I always
say, there is more than one way to achieve a purpose. Though I may disagree
with my Igbo brothers and sisters on the choice of rhetorics and methodology,
our objectives are to a large extent identical because we all want to bring
an end to the marginalisation of the common peoples, by the evil cabals who
are holding Nigeria to a ransom and getting away with their obnoxious
impunity and criminality.
Those who truly know
and have followed me know that I am not a Group soul and I have always dared
to follow the path least traveled in the continuous struggle to add value to
my environment.
It is indeed laughable
that despite being a native chicken, Nwa afo, son of Biafran soil with a
fullblown Igbotic blood, I have been persistently labeled a wannabe Yoruba,
Hausa, Tiv and an Ijaw man simply because I have consistently maintained that
I believe in the unity of Nigeria.
To start with, I go
like tell una sey you may not be totally wrong if you call me the man from
all tribes in Nigeria. This is because I believe in the oneness of all
Nigerian peoples. I believe that we have gotten to a point in our national
history where a Yoruba man cannot live in isolation of an Igbo man. Likewise,
an Ijaw man cannot live in isolation of a Hausa/Fulani man. All tribes in
Nigeria today have become a mat of interwoven fibers that cannot be
segregated. There have so far been intertribal marriages, intertribal
business ownership, and intertribal partnership; and countless other
intertribal collaborations and relationships in Nigeria. For this reason, my
question to those agitating for secession would be that if each tribe decide
to secede from Nigeria today, what then would happen? Who would lead the new
nations? Will the people be happy? Will injustice be defeated in the new
societies? Will criminality end in leadership positions? Will there be
happiness in the new nations? Will the people finally have a country to call
their own? – These are important questions we must ask ourselves and provide
answers to before we even start to beat the drums of secession.
Having said that, I
must state that whereas I am a Biafran at heart, what should engage our minds
is not a sectional Biafra but a national Biafra. The fight for Nationalists
who will drive the discourse and the engagement necessary in answering the
Nigeria National Questions must not be bogged down by petty sentiments,
tribal colorations and religious propaganda. The Failure of the Igbo nation
and all Nigerian tribes and peoples is the fault of influence peddlers and
directionless decision makers.
The crux of the
Biafran agitation is that my people are tired of a system that has
perpetually failed them. My Igbo kinsmen are tired of a system that enriches
the rich and impoverishes the poor. My people are tired of a system that
glorifies impunity and criminality. My people are tired of decades of
oppression and marginalization. However, the deeply rooted disgruntlement in
Biafra land is not peculiar to my Igbo brothers and sisters only; all the
common peoples in the 500 tribes in Nigeria are victims of a failed system
and persistent oppression. And this is essentially where I disagree with my
brother Nnamdi Kanu that though Biafra is right, it should be a national
cause and not a sectional one.
Let me be clear: The
Brand CharlyBoy is not only a Global brand but also a national brand that should
not be reduced to a sectional brand.
The problem in this
nation is not the lack of a space where we all can coexist but the lack of
men of integrity and progressive nationalists. We lack the right kind of
leadership that will fight for the interest of the common people. And if at
all there would be an agitation, it should be geared towards sanitizing the
currently bastardized Nigerian system. Our agitation for Biafra should be
about having the right leaders in positions of power and not power drunken
people with insatiable appetite to plunder and loot.
Therefore, my people,
I insist that the suffering of the People from the South East is also the
suffering of the people from the other geopolitical zones in Nigeria. And the
oppression of the Igbo people is also the oppression of all Nigerian peoples.
An injury to one is an injury to all. A Biafra state is not going to change
the players of the game, it will only exacerbate the sufferings of the
victims of the game.
In conclusion, my
people, let us dutifully work ourselves back into reckoning by fighting for
Fairness, Justice, and Equality for all Nigerians; Not Ibos Only; Yorubas
Only or Hausas Only but all Nigerians.
Areafada CharlyBoy
President of All
Frustrated Nigerians.