by Eze Eluchie,
Over half a
century after the formal end of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War (the Biafra
Genocide) during which over 2 million people, mostly of the Igbo nation were
killed, the term ‘Biafra’, following from the collective devastation, losses
suffered in human and material developmental terms, retains deep emotional
connotations to the Igbo peoples of South Eastern Nigeria.
Palpable and
sustained acts of exclusion, deprivation and deliberate physical
underdevelopment of the region by the central government in the Nigerian
federation has served to push the ordinarily resilient and resourceful Igbo
youth to the cozy embrace of smart alecs who are ever willing to, without any
genuine thoughts for the peoples welfare or ‘liberation’ beyond individual
self-aggrandizement, feast on the sense of ‘marginalization’ to reap bountiful
pecuniary and egoistic harvests.
Smart Alecs:
With tens of
millions of energetic and creative youths, disillusioned with the inequitable
and unjust Nigerian system to feast upon, it did not take too long for
characters that, to all intents and purposes are no different from con-artists,
to cash in for the kill – to seek to enrich themselves, using the emotions and
pains suffered and felt by the peoples of South Eastern Nigeria during the
Biafra Genocide as bait.
Oddly enough,
when the leadership of these supposedly ‘Biafra actualization’ organizations
are confronted to provide basic specifics of their agitation, such as (i) What
really is the territorial area of the proposed ‘Biafra’?; (ii) Will the
proposed ‘Biafra’ be a secular, religious or ethnic entity?; (iii) What efforts
are being made to ensure genuine grassroots ownership of the agitation
process?; the response is often combative accusations of ‘sabotage’. What the leadership
of these organizations have in abundance is: smart ways to raise easy cash from
the millions who are endeared to the concept of Biafra, the belief in freedoms,
liberty and egalitarian spirit – ideals quite distant from the Nigeria of
today.
Movement for the
Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)
Firstly, an
amorphous organization, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign
State of Biafra (MASSOB) created by a supposedly India-trained Lawyer, Ralph
Uwazuruike, comes on board - without any discernible plan or chart towards
‘actualizing’ its purpose. With unemployment rates in the 80% to 85% range and
the streets of urban and rural communities in the South East region clogged
with illions of youths, “stay-at-home” orders and rallies to ‘actualize the
State of Biafra’ clearly proved a very popular tool for mobilization – MASSOB
wasted no time in honing in on this. Under Uwazuruike’s ‘leadership’, MASSOB
unleashed such scams products as: (1) the sales of Biafra International Travel
Passports; (2) production and sale of Biafra currencies; (3) production and
sale of Republic of Biafra Identity Cards; amongst other paraphernalia. Despite
raking in millions of Dollars from the sale of the above items, the leadership
of Uwazuruike’s ASSSOB failed to tell their hapless followers that they (the MASSOB
leadership) traversed the globe in their Nigeria International Travel
Passports, retained truck loads of Nigeria’s currency, the Naira, with which
they acquired massive estates and lived very luxurious lifestyles above the dreams
of millions of their followers; and had valid Nigerian Identity Cards with
which they navigated various bureaucratic hurdles of existence in Nigeria.
One major
expository fraud of the Uwazuruike MASSOB was when they pranked the now late
war-time leader of the Biafra Republic, Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu, to visit
Washington DC., USA, to ‘open’ the Biafra House’ in the United States. Upon his
arrival in the United States, Ikemba Ojukwu was led to a multi-storey office complex
located at No. 1717 K Street, Suite 600, Washington DC 20036, USA., where a
‘ribbon cutting’ ceremony was lavishly celebrated, with the Rising Sun Biafra
Flag majestically swaying with the winds atop a flag post on the premises. As
lavish and emotional prayers were said at the venue, Ojukwu was palpably close
to tears, believing that he was in the midst of persons who had any iota of
genuineness and integrity. Alas, at the end of the events, as the Ikemba Ojukwu
entourage were still a few blocks away from the ‘Biafra House’, the flag Ojukwu
had heroically saluted, was lowered (and has never been raised till this date)
– the MASSOB folks, whilst fooling the late Biafran leader that they had
acquired a building, had merely paid per the hour on a premises that had
conference and virtual office facilities for hire. Cold as Death. If they could
do this to Ikemba Odiegwu Ojukwu, these characters
Indigenous Peoples of Biafra
(IPOB)
Piqued at
not being able to access what he deemed a commensurate part of the loot MASSOB
had succeeded in fleecing their membership and believers in the ‘Biafra cause’,
a young, then unemployed loquacious charismatic youth, Nnamdi Kanu, who had manned
MASSOB’s efforts at enlarging their constituents via use of online social media
facilities opted to break out and create a separate outfit – the Indigenous
Peoples of Biafra, with the Radio Biafra London (RBL) as its main thrust.
Coasting on
the wings of the immense reach of RBL’s internet-based mediu, the inability of most
of its listenership to discern between empty boasts laced with outright lies
and spiced with abusive vomits on the one hand, and practicality and reality on
the other, IPOB’s popularity amongst Igbo youths exponentially soared. Mazi
Kanu was able to amass a cult-like followership for himself within a period of
less than 2 years. Cashing in on the Kanu-mania,
plots to fleece the hapless youths disenchanted with the Nigerian situation
were immediately rolled out. Such fairy tale ideas as (a) the need for arms
purchases for a ‘Biafra guerrilla force; (b) the need to purchase radio transmitting
equipment to rival those of the British BBC; (c) the need to raise and sustain
a Biafra Secret Service and other bureaucratic establishments; amongst others
fables, as spurious as they are and sound, proved to be money-spinning tales for
the IPOB leader.
Donations
rolled in, in the millions of Dollars from all over the world, as some Igbo’s
who fell for the scam had genuinely thought that a ‘saviour had come’ – some
actually equated Mazi Kanu to the Jewish exodus inspiration and leader, Moses.
Using its
propaganda outlet, the Radio Biafra London, ludicrous stories were bandied
about of support for IPOB and ‘Biafra independence’ from such world leaders as
Donald Trump, Benjamin Natenyahu, Angela Merkel and so on. News was likewise disseminated
that several international organizations such as the United Nations, the Africa
Union, and the West African regional body, ECOWAS, had already reserved space
for the ‘Biafra Flag’ and a delegation from IPOB in their meetings. These lies,
ridiculous and laughable as they were, proved infectious. Repeated and
garnished with rumours, the lies attained a life of their own and further embellished
the invisibility and deity status of the IPOB leader.
As the dates
for the commencement of ‘guerrilla warfare’ and the BBC-like broadcasts passed
and became elusive, the major donors towards the IPOB cause, who were in real terms,
victims of a sophisticated scam, began to demand for refunds. It was at the
stage that the Federal Government effected the arrest of Mazi Kanu. The arrest
of Nnamdi Kanu, inadvertently proved to be the IPOB leaders saving grace from
the clutches of those who he had fleeced of huge sums.
Inept State
Interventions.
As with the
case of MASSOBs Uwazuruike, the arrest by State authorities, prolonged
extra-judicial detentions, failure to abide by due process and the rule of law
in prosecuting suspects and palpable partiality in the treatment of persons merely
congregating in pursuit of the universally enshrined and accepted right to
self-actualization on the one hand and extremist Islamist terrorists on the
other (with the former unfortunately harshly maltreated whilst the later are
accorded red carpet-like papering by Nigeria State operators), swiftly and
justifiably, transformed detainees associated with the clamour for Biafra (no matter
how uncoordinated and farfetched such clamour is) to super-hero status in the
perception of most Igbo’s.
Unprofessional
and grotesque response by Nigeria State security and military operatives which
led to more extra-judicial killings, maiming and destruction of properties in
diverse locations in Igbo land, such as in Aba, Owerri, Onitsha and elsewhere,
served to galvanize and strengthen support for what is supposed to be ‘the
Biafra cause’. This inadvertently or indirectly, made characters who
ordinarily, after extracting huge financial benefits to themselves, would have simply
faded with the winds, continue to remain in circulation, albeit with less sway.
Post-incarceration
period.
In an odd
twist of faith, after the originators of the twin identified organizations
which were able to commercialize the concept of Biafra for self aggrandizement
have had a prolonged encounter in the custody of the Nigerian government and
its notoriously sleazy approach at addressing issues, the said originators
seemingly capitulate and adopt stance that were hitherto at variance with the
ideals they had previously projected and expressed a willingness to ‘pay the
ultimate price’ for. In the case of Ralph Uwazuruike, soon after his prolonged
‘incarceration’, he came out a “new person”, willing to enter into alliance
with such characters as the Chief security Officer and henchman to Nigeria’s
brutal dictator, General Sani Abacha, Major Al-Mustapha, and profess lines and
positions that were clearly at variance with the views of the an overwhelming
majority of Igbo’s.
In the case
of Mazi Kanu, after an absence of several months from public glare, when all manners
of theories were ventilated on how the Nigerian State might have eliminated the
once loquacious IPOB leader, Kanu, in a most suspect manner deftly reappeared
in public supposedly via a radio broadcast on his RBL. Ironically, in the
broadcast supposedly made by Mazi Kanu’s, listeners were baffled that the IPOB
leader who appeared incapable of making any sentence without raining abuses and
ethno-religious invectives on Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, appeared
quite civil and respectful in his statements, as though very concerned not to
hurt President Buhari. Rather Mazi Kanu opted to, against the widespread
accepted desire of the Igbo peoples to use the democratic opportunities created
by the forthcoming general elections to make their views known on the direction
of Nigeria, urged the members of his IPOB (who are all Igbo’s) to boycott the
209 general elections – a boycott that will strengthen the existing status quo
in Nigeria.
Going forward:
Like MASSOBs
Uwazuruike before him, IPOBs Kanu is clearly, with his continuing opting to
take positions at variance with the generality of the Igbo nation since his
interaction with the Nigerian State, on a path that will consign him to the
side lines as the ever pragmatic Igbo’s continue in their legitimate quest for
self-actualization, self-determination and general wellbeing within a
restructured and renegotiated Nigeria.
Vigilance is
urged, to ensure that going forward, the victims and descendants of victims of
the Biafra Genocide, will not allow opportunists to exploit their grief and
lack of closure for pecuniary gains.
There are
countless peoples of the South East region and others interested in the cause
of Justice, Accountability for international cries, Ensuring Closure over past
acts of ass atrocities, Equality, Self-determination and Self-actualization,
who are assiduously working towards the lofty goals itemized above – these peoples,
comprised of ordinary folks, activists, professionals and peoples from all
works of life, are conscious of the fact that there are established diverse
procedures and protocols to attain desired quests, and will continue on these
paths till desired goals are attained. The immediate victims and descendants of
victims of the Biafra genocide should thus be at liberty to engage and interrogate
future agitations to ascertain the genuineness and goodfaith of such quests –
and not merely be used, fleeced and duped, as has thus far been the case.
The era for
those who feast on the blood of martyrs, trampling on the graves of the victims
of a most atrocious episode in our history, the Biafra Genocide, for pecuniary
gains, must not be allowed to continue.
Picturea: {Pix 1} MASSOB leader, Ralph
Uwazuruike, alongside now deceased war-time leader of the Biafra Republic, Ikemba
Odimegwu Ojukwu at the ‘opening of ‘Biafra House’ in Washington DC; {Pix 2} IPOB
leader, Nnamdi Kanu, receiving obeisance from his members.
