BY ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
Even though some fraudulent thugs have hijacked the Biafran struggle and are almost succeeding at painting it as another thuggish adventure, Biafra is an idea that will never die. Biafra is no longer about secession and wasn\’t even originally a secessionist idea, but a struggle for equity, for survival, for good governance, not just for the Igbos, but for all Nigerians. The Biafra conceived by some of Igbos best intellectuals of the 20th century, with Ojukwu as its face was a response to the aggression of roguish Northern Nigerian military personnel, who slaughtered thousands of defenceless Igbos without provocation. Even with all these deaths, Ojukwu never made secession, a first proposal. He articulated a political and structural plan, that if Nigeria had adopted, more than half of the problems we are confronted with in today\’s Nigeria wouldn\’t have been here with us.
No nation survives by trying to erase its history. Every history, no matter how ugly is relevant to a nation\’s progress. Today, America celebrates the Black History Month, Martin Luther King\’s birthday is a national holiday and many programs are being sponsored by the American government to promote the memories of thr several abuses which Blacks suffered in America. The American Civil war history is not a forbidden topic in American schools. Just few days ago, I read about a program by a Black archeologist to exhume and identify many thousands of Blacks killed in Tulsa by White Supremacists many bad years ago.
Remembrances are no treason and shouldn\’t be treated as such. Our Southeast governors and political leaders are not well advised. Support for a program such as this is not support for secessionist ideas. The Southeast political leadership must own this idea and control it, so that miscreants and scammers will not continue to hijack it for their selfish and irresponsible aims. Biafra has become a big and lucrative franchise to fraudsters and terrorists, because the Southeast political leadership has continued to shy away from their responsibilities.
There is actually no force in the world that is capable of erasing the memories of Chukwuma Nzeogwu who was one of the finest military tacticians and fighters of African origin, but who was among the first casualties of that civil war. No ammunition can stop the remembrance of Ifeajuna, a vastly talented soldier, sportsman and intellectual who died by firing squad, in what some people continue to believe is a major misjudgment of Ojukwu and no force in the world will erase the memory of Bruce Mayrock who set himself ablaze in protest against the sufferings of Ndigbo during the civil war. We cannot forget Christopher Okigbo, one of Africa\’s greatest writers. The millions who lost their lives, the billions of Pounds of lost investments and the many dashed dreams can never be forgotten.
We must acknowledge that Biafra is an idea that will never die. It is an idea midwifed by the people, all the people of old Eastern for their survival. It is an idea that consumed more than three million lives. It is an idea sealed with the blood of innocent youths, children and virgin girls, so, it will never die. The more we try to suppress it, the more it torments us.
What we can do is to follow the thesis of Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu on \”Biafra of the Mind\”. A Biafra that is not an independent nation per se, but a nationality of people within Nigeria who are trusted, who are not mistreated and who have the same rights as other nationalities within the Nigerian union to aspire, to win and to be protected. Biafra should become a mindset of equity, good governance, tolerance and unity. Yes, unity of the Nigerian nation. That\’s what the new Biafra should be, that\’s what those who conceived the original Biafra wished for.
The greatest honour we can therefore do to the memories of the over three million Igbos who lost their lives in the war is to ensure that Igbo land is at peace and that within our own powers and according to our resources that Igbo land is prosperous. When our actions lead to more deaths and fresh devastations of Igbo land, we are doing the memories of these heroes no good. We are inadvertently telling them that their sacrifices were worthless, but when we work for peace, for progress and for prosperity of Igbo land, we would have done their memories so much honour.