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I am Biafran: A Reply to Sunny Unachukwu Chukwuemeka By Francis Kizito Obeya
Sir, I have read my “prepostrous (sic) postulations and the past few days have left me at crossroads. I am torn between dignifying your comedy of errors and half-truths with a reply or giving it the answer that should best be reserved for … (I shall not print that word here.) What informed my decision to respond to your acerbic-toned article was the fact that you have used this medium to air your views while others, yes others have embarked on a more private path to respond to the aforementioned discourse. Yours was not the only flak I received for that article and I sincerely hope that it will not be the last since I am just filled with curiosity to explore the mentality and thought processes of you and your ilk. I have received mails ranging from direct personal insults to actual intellectual discourses aimed at convincing me on the need to see a viability of the illusionary republic that is meant to be the panacea to all Igbo problems. There were realists also who saw my point and went away wiser but as for the dreamers and idealists, I guess nothing can be done if a man has a tendency to the fanatical instead of the logical.
For starters I should consider myself a pathetic sight if I can brag about any embarrassment I have caused a friend whose only crime was to introduce me as her brother. It is also a double tragedy if I appear on a public website to declare that occasion as my moment of glory. How did your Namibian friend feel when she checked the world map and saw not even an iota of land marked “Biafra?” I bet you did yourself in before you uttered a word. But don’t be crestfallen Mr. Unachukwu, yours was not the greatest faux pas on that subject. Among the mails I received was one from a gentleman who told me that “Biafra” has a seat in the United Nations. That sent me “Googling” to the UN’s website in search of the truth to that claim. My search turned up nothing directly or indirect ly related to any “Biafran” agenda in the past 2 decades in the United Nations. I guess the quest for this republic is making some people overreach themselves, don’t you think? You also raised some questions in your article that I would love to tackle: How could your fellow Nigerian (the lady in question) want you to wake from your reverie of a “Biafra Republic?” Her roads were not as bad as yours, she has not been oppressed as you are, her people have not been deprived of milk and honey as yours nor are they victims of genocide as yours. Check out the most amusing of it all: her environment is not degraded. My dear man, I shall supply your answers point for point but not from your friend’s viewpoint but from the viewpoint of every Nigerian from the North, South, East and West. Could you pinpoint any region that has had it so good within the timeframe you are considering? The north? What makes the North have the pickings better than everyone else? Because they produced the most presidents? Take a trip up north and see the life of the average northerner to confirm if life is cushy cozy as you must imagine it is. Would you like to talk about the south? Polluted rivers, unemployment, lack of infrastructure, poor healthcare and exploitation by oil companies and the government. The East and West? Communal clashes, power tussles, struggle for supremacy and poor infrastructure. So who is eating the cream off the cake? Open your eyes brother; we are all burning in the same fire. Some of your peers spoke of a northern oligarchy, tell me that there is no oligarchy in the east and I shall tell you to open your eyes but that is another story. Who should we blame when the roads are bad? To answer that we need to realize that there are three trunks of roads in Nigeria: A, B, and C. The federal government maintains trun k A, state trunk B and local governments trunk C. It is a well known fact that maintenance of federal highways has always been a Nigerian headache so let’s talk about the state roads that doesn’t require the Federal government’s approval to work on. Have the governors in Eastern Nigeria developed the state roads? What is the maintenance culture there? Local roads in the East ranks among the poorest anywhere in Nigeria and whose fault is it this time? Nobody imposed a governor or local government chairman on you, so why are they not doing the best they can so that we can accuse the federal government of marginalization and conspiracy to keep the Igbo down. If you want to talk about environmental pollution, go and see the case of the Niger Delta. Don’t even think about including that region in the “B” dream, you will get a nightmare.
Sunny, when I think about your kind- self styled exiles- I chuckle with laughter. You stay in very comfortable lands where the economy is rich and all is well and fight your teacup battles from that safe perch. How many of you in “exile” are ready to come home, leaving behind your dollars and pound sterling and advance the cause which you fight? What contribution have you made to improve the life of your people apart from sowing seeds of discord in their minds in a bid to have them sacrifice for you so that you can come in later and pick up the pieces like a vulture feasting fat on easy flesh? I want to take you up on the genocide. In every religious riot in the north, the body count includes people from every region in Nigeria so why mock my suggestion of a better security apparatus? How does the formation of “Biafra” put a stop to further religious incidents or does it provide an alibi for the clamor for a new country? Get real, man. If every tribe that has lost people in riots and clashes begin to bay for secession, then we should be able to produce a country per household a few decades from now. Religious unrest is a big problem in Nigeria. It does not consume the Igbo alone and the instability that comes with it marks the country as an unfavorable place for investment. I am not speaking through my behind when I suggest an effective security organ to contain riots. You did yourself in again when you poured scorn on my prescription that we should live in the one Nigeria as brothers. What are your views then? That we are enemies? If I dreamt up a “Biafra” that exists will there not be people of Igbo extracti on living in the north, owning properties, stores and establishments ? We are a diverse people and we are yet to learn the art of living well together. This does not however, provide you a crack to slip through and poison the minds of Nigerians. You did make mention of a “Taliban Nigeria” Careful how you play with words, my brother. I shall talk more on this when you reply and explain what you mean by that. I won’t pretend that I don’t know what you mean but to give you the benefit of the doubt, I would welcome a definition on that so I don’t assume anything.
So the Nigerian President and some Briton said that our marriage was a mistake. On whose authority pray, do they speak? In your own imagination what makes a “Biafran” secession the only way to right that mistake? If tomorrow a man stands somewhere safe and declares that Australia has no right to be under the British Crown then shall we expect Great Britain to hands off Australia and hand her over to the aborigines? Let’s not be quick to quote statements that we want to hear, let’s be very careful how we judge. So what good do Mr. Peter Smithers and Harold Smith have in mind when they make statements as these? Ar e these comments geared towards bringing about peace in the West African sub-region? Well, they know the sort of audience that heed such words and from all indications, unachukwu, they found one. You continue to talk of peaceful separation. Can you outline how that peaceful separation will unfold? I bet you don’t know. It was Tracy Chapman that once sang” don’t you know/talking ‘bout a revolution sounds peaceful?” It is easy to say “we come in peace” but there is nothing in your stances, actions and attitudes that connotes peaces. In biafraland .com one of your so-called historians was asked why the Ikwerres , Ogonis and other tribes of the Niger-Delta do not consider themselves Igbo and his response was that they do not have a choice thus hinting at the sort of “peace” we shall see if the “B” republic ever gets off the ground.
You have called my article “gibberish” and no matter what I say or do, fanatics like you will continue to hold on to their belief. After all a dog that is destined to be lost will not listen to its owner’s whistle but I wish to close with these thought-provoking remarks: when will Igbo stop shooting herself in the foot? One day it is Biafra the next day it is Igbo president. It simply makes one doubt your seriousness. A record of 4 senate presidents(and counting)in 2 republics is not a sign of a people who can govern themselves or a sign of seriousness to be self-determined. As I write I still wonder who the governor of Anambra is and also the Obi of Onitsha. I also wonder if the members of Enugu state house of assembly are preparing transportation money to journey to Abuja in order to hold their seating there since Enugu might not be a safe place for Assembly members. Wait a minute, another one bites the dust! It is Jerry Ugokwe, rep of Idemili constituency. Sunny, by the time you read these words you must have finished studying the deliberations of NFP-USA. What was the main agenda? “Biafra” or an Igbo president?
I rest my case.
Francis Kizito Obeya. Pennsylvania, USA.
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