Would the other Nigerian tribes sit aside and watch as they did in the past as our eastern brothers were humiliated, mistreated and eliminated?
Would the other tribes decide that it has nothing to do with them?
Pastor Martin Niemoller in a poem given his account of the 2nd world war said;
" First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. "
It is said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing - (Edmund Burke) and this unfortunately is what has happened in Nigeria for decades.
From 1966 mass pogroms of eastern Nigerian citizens was witnessed both locally and by international observers until after the war in 1970. However 47 years after, the Ideology of Biafra is still alive.Time has therefore proven that you can kill a people, quell an uprising by brute military force but an ideology is not is easily extinguished.
The problems which led to Late Odimegwu Ojukwu calling for an independent state of Biafra included but were not limited to political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which existed in the Nigerian society. Looking at our present situation, these issues highlighted still exist and as a matter of fact have acted as a catalyst to fuel the passion of our brothers in the east towards achieving their objective to be free of a country which they no longer consider to be a part of.
Fast forward to 2016, how is the government of the day handling this issue? it would seem that they have taken the same disastrous path which was taken by their predecessors leading to the deaths of countless lives. In a publication by Amnesty International about 150 peaceful pro-biafran activists were killed , though the Nigerian military disputes this figures, Amnesty International was able to put a figure to the death toll after analysis of videos, photographs and eye witness testimonies.
It is a wonder why peaceful protest and rallies such as that staged on the 20th of January, 2017 by the IPOB are always considered a threat requiring the presence of the military and police who often take this as an advantage to unleash brutal assaults on the hapless protesters leading to the imprisonment, persecution and extra-judicial killing of these peaceful agitators. Meanwhile, issue which require dire military presence and intervention such as the killing of Nigerians nationwide by Fulani Herdsmen who were classified on the global terrorism index as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world have received little or no attention.
There is nothing new on the face of this planet, and so it is important that as people we learn from our past, so that same errors don't resurface in the future. However unlike any other government on the face of planet earth, the Nigerian government is adept at repeating it's mistakes and that is why the adoption of a militarized approach in dealing with the Biafran situation has been counter-productive as the ideology still lives.
Therefore, it would be more effective to approach the situation from a democratic standpoint, as people have the right to determine how they are governed. Potential Biafrans see their union with the rest of Nigeria as a case of an arranged marriage gone south from which they seek an annulment, and like a woman who has been constantly brutalized by her husband she seeks refuge and help.
There have been other countries which have agitated for and gained independence from it's central government, for example Montenegro which was separated from Serbia in 2006 after a referendum. It would be more logical and less destructive to human lives if a referendum is carried out to determine the ultimate decision of our eastern brothers. A referendum does not mean that the Biafran idea would succeed, it may fail just like the attempt of Quebec to leave Canada in 1995, but at least let the position of the people be known.
