I read an article on gamji.com by a Nigerian National titled ‘Of Biafra, Warmongers And The Rest Of Us’. ‘Alerting’ the Nigerian Government about activities of Biafrans and all the danger it poses to Nigeria as a political entity. The writer being naïve of the Biafran case went on rambling on what the Government of Nigeria should do to nip Biafran activities and peaceful clamor for a Sovereign Biafra in the bud. What more do you want the Nigerian Government to do that it has not been doing?

It really baffles me that Nigerians do not get it, the writer of the article I mentioned above expressed his ‘surprise’ that somebody in his chat room declared without fear that he was Biafran. I was with a Nigerian Lady in Johannesburg currently and she introduced me to her Namibian friend as ‘also Nigerian’. I was very quick to let her friend know that I wasn’t Nigerian but Biafran. On her probe to learn more of my country, I went on to explain to her in an un-embellished manner about the Biafran Nation, it’s History, travails and Hope to rise from the quagmire of Nigerian occupation and also went ahead to let her know that; though my friend is Nigerian we are friends and will all remain so. My Nation will be neighbor to hers and our peoples (like the creator has fashioned it) will always remain good friends and trading partners in a truly free Africa. After my brief lecture to this acquaintance, my friend called me aside and said that she felt ‘embarrassed’ by my statements.

How could my Nigerian friend fathom why I prefer to be Biafran rather than Nigerian, The roads in her region are not as bad as mine, My Nigerian friend has no brick walls erected to checkmate her from excellence. She has not been systematically driven into exile like me. Her people and Obeya’s have not been massacred and hounded home to their region by Nigeria; Her people are not slaughtered in yearly rituals of genocidal proportions in a country that is supposed to protect them as nationals. Her people have not seen themselves in a brazen design to negate them rights of citizenship and has not been relegated to perpetual marginalisation and servitude to the other regions. How can she understand when her environment is not degraded and her people can occupy properties of my people seized from them by their so called a nation?

Obeya claimed that the solution to the Nigerian mis-marriage is not a divorce of the unwilling partners and went further to propose that we should continue living in peace like we have always done since after the war. I want him to firstly let me know what his definition of peace is. He like other Nigerian writers has continued to downplay the slaughter of Biafrans, which still carries on till today. He said that by ‘official count’ One million people were lost in the war, is that a way of re-writing history? Mr. Obeya we lost over three Million Biafrans in the war from starvation and genocide unleashed on our nation by Nigeria. In the same vein we are still been killed in yearly pogroms all over Nigeria under the peace you describe. Biafran businesses are targeted destroyed by Nigerians from Lagos to Kano, from Bida to Yobe and Biafrans do not feel free and do not see the peace you describe. Mr. Obeya further advised that “the improvement of the security apparatus to quell riots and also the change of hearts among brothers ” would bring the social solutions Nigeria need. My questions to you on these theories are; what has Nigeria done to prevent massacre of Igbos/Biafrans and destruction of their businesses before they occur? (Even when they occur what does Nigeria do?) So Igbos/Biafrans will continue to be sacrificed as guinea pigs in your un-ending experiments on how to quell riots? You said also “We need re-education in learning to tolerate each other despite our religious and tribal differences” What has Taliban Nigeria done to promote peaceful co-existence of peoples in the North of Nigeria? The same question goes to the Western Nigerian Governments who target Igbo/Biafran Businesspeople with punitive laws to frustrate all their efforts in their endeavors.

In your gibberish of an article you still fail to see why peaceful separation cannot solve Nigeria’s problems. Is Nigeria a divine creation or the project of British socio-economic interest? If Nigeria’s President and Peter Smithers, (Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State and the Secretary of State in the Colonial Office (1952-1959)), can say the following in April 2005:

"The British colonial authorities created the Northern and Southern Protectorates without taking cognisance of the distinct cultural and linguistic differences of the various ethnic groupings and worse still, without any form of consultation with the people. They compromised opportunities for internally driven development, underdeveloped the society and negated structures of endogenously propelled state building." Olusegun Obansanjo The PUNCH, Wednesday, April 27, 2005.

It was a mistake on the part of the colonial power to have forced the different ethnic groups into a single political entity. Peter Smithers, (Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State and the Secretary of State in the Colonial Office (1952-1959) Guardian Newspapers 27^th April 2005.

Why do you then believe that Nigeria was made by God hence cannot be peacefully ‘dismantled’ to correct the anomalies of 1914? If the builders of a structure and the custodians of that structure comes out to tell the world that their structure’s foundation is flawed. Will it not be stupidity/foolishness not to dismantle the structure than trying to build more on top of the flawed foundations?

Mr. Obeya the problem we have is that nobody tells people like you to shut up if you are devoid of meaningful utterances. If your article was aimed at proving that being Biafran is criminal then you are should prepare for the shock of your life. I state it unequivocally ‘I AM BIAFRAN’. I am involved in preaching the peaceful separation of my Nation from yours and everyday I win more converts to this message and everyday Biafra keeps growing. I hope this news will be more than shocking to you; it should give simpletons like you heart attack.

Chukwuemeka Sunny-Unachukwu belongs to the breed of Young Igbos that will continue to resist the Unity of Nigeria on the Igboman’s or any other nationality’s expense until there is Justice through a Sovereign National Conference of all Nigerian Ethnic Nationalities