MNK, that is what his admirers and followers call him. They are many, running into millions. They love him, venerate him, and even worship him. They proclaim that they are ready to forego their properties outside Igboland, their wives and children, money, contacts insofar they follow MNK to achieve what he professes. What does he profess? Total and unconditional liberation of Igbos in an illusive country they admiringly call Biafra.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,MNK is not the first to proclaim Biafra. Genera Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu had initially done that on May 30, 1967. He ran the country under a civil war situation for three years. Ojukwu proclaimed that war with an alleged five rifles and mortars with a motley of not more than a battalion of soldiers against the mother country Nigeria. Of course, Nigeria had a huge war chest then better than Biafra. The war ended officially on 15th January 1970. The scars of the war on the Biafran side:: kwashiokor, property loss, career loss, three million deaths, failed education careers, marriage dismemberment, family disintegration, defeated psyche, etc.
These were the ugly situations of the Igbo people numbering like forty million all over the world when Nnamdi Kalu borrowing from his crony Raphl Uwazuruike Movement for the Actualization of Biafra ( MASSOB) started his own Biafra in 2015. Well-meaning Igbos like this writer, Igbo Senators, Ohanaeze, Governors et al, advised him to look very well before he leaps. He rejected and repudiated their pleas and admonitions. He openly proclaimed that his time was not one for advice or listening to tales of ancestors or admonitions of what he called ‘Otellectuals’ instead of intellectuals.
In the blaze and enthusiasm of the moment, MNK observed a guard of honour at Afara Ukwu Umuahia in his father’s palace with a rendition of the national anthem, of, the defunct Biafra as Head of state. Rebellion, Separation from the constituted country- Nigeria! He used just his voice without any fall back plan like Uwazuruike to announce a Republic of Biafra. When questions were raised, Kanu and his followers retorted that “Turkey was behind their struggle”. Hmmm! Where is the Turkey today? Yet not a few blindly followed that tactless proposition. They cited East Timor, Eritrea, South Sudan, South Africa, Barcelona, etc. Their arguments did not resonate because the examples they proferred were half truths, and the circumstances were different. The timing was completely different.
Today, more than sixty thousand deaths have been officially recorded since Uwazuruike and Kanu started their quest for the Biafra of their dream.. Properties worth trillions lost to deliberate incerndiariazation. The economy of a whole region dislocated and man hours frittered to an unwholesome forced holiday of sit-at-home every Monday in the past five years. All these would not have occurred if Nnamdi Kanu knew his trajectory. It would not have happened if he had tact and strategy. In several of my articles written during the volatile times of virulent unknown- gun- men insecurity in 2021, i advocated he Kanu declares, a ceasefire, and watch the battery of events. My family was hysterically opposed to me, for venturing to put a word in a matter almost everyone kept mum due to fear of dying through decapitation or roasting alive as reprisal from the ardent murderous followers of MNK.. Kanu unleashed terror cadres on Igboland, called names and directed vehement death sentence on all layers of Igboland- rich or poor. His brand was terrifying, and it was clear he would be defeated like those before him. The chicken have come home to roost!
Like Nnamdi Kanu, like many of us Igbos in Nigeria. We must be circumspect in our dealings with other people of Nigeria and the world. Our strategy of lamentation – they hate Igbos- have not worked since 1900. European Colonialists hate us, Hausa/ Fulani hate us, Ijaw/ South South hate us, Yoruba hate us, and we hate ourselves. The future belongs to any group, race, or people who are tactful, strategic, futuristic, and accommodating. The world will never belong to one race of people. MNK, and, his, followers are so intolerant of other views. Everybody; Governors, Senators, state legislators, captains of industries, technocrats, and all politicians and traditional rulers are Hausa/ Fulani slaves insofar they question his acerbic methodologies. Let it be known that Igbos are not slaves in Nigeria despite the avid marginalization perpetrated by Igbo detractors. Separation is not the solution. Integrations through political, legal, and diplomatic engagements will bring the much sought emancipation in Nigeria.
Prof. Batos Nwadike( Oyi of Igboland) is the Chancellor of Leadership By Example League International( LELI) and Writes From Bohcynth Hotel Behind Concord Hotel, New Owerri, Imo State.
