Press Release by Igbo National Movement on the So-Called Sit-at-Home Calls Announced by some IPOB Members.

Dear President of Town Unions/Association

Dear Chairmen of Village Meetings

Ndi Nna na ndi Nne al’Igbo

 

Anyi ekele kwa onye-öwula. Ndu mmiri, ndu azu; Onye biri, ibeyá biri.

 

PRESS RELEASE BY IGBO NATIONAL MOVEMENT ON THE SO-CALLED SIT-AT-HOME CALLS ANNOUNCED BY SOME IPOB MEMBERS.

 

K’anyi wepu aka enwe n’ofe tupt ówuó aka mmadu - A stich in time saves nine

 

Without doubt, nd’Igbo have legitimate grievances against the outright vindictive and discriminatory policies and practices visited on us by the structure of and those who have ruled over the affairs of Nigeria, the country we were enmeshed in via fiat of British colonial governments. Practices which have served to push many of our young men and women to extremes in their natural quest for existence;

 

Without any doubt, nd’Igbo have a legitimate and internationally recognized right to self-determination and to have unhindered control over the management and administration of our lives and those of our future generations. A right, the actualization has become imperative due to the continuing aggressive anti-Igbo posture of and structure of the Nigerian State which has become an existential threat to nd’Igbo;

 

Without doubt also, under the present rulership of Nigeria, more than ever before except perhaps when the Nigerian State embarked on genocidal war of attrition against nd’Igbo, the very existence, homeland, lives and sustenance of nd’Igbo have come under sustained and persistent assault, making continued stay in the Nigerian territory an existential threat to nd’Igbo. An existential threat which, as our forebears will advise: like a bee perched on the scrotum has to be confronted with tact, lest our adversaries have cause to smile over our travails.

 

It is this issue of tact to address our common issues that has compelled the Igbo National Movement (INM) to address this correspondence directly to our customary age-old institutions for which nd’Igbo are unique amongst the peoples where they reside (our Community/Town Unions), and our Family units, in the believe that we will be able to abstain from self-destructive practices that will primarily be injurious to our people and not serve to attain intended objectives.

 

Due to impairments foisted on our customary institutions, the voices of reason amongst our People have been apparently drowned in an avalanche of vociferous emotion-driven babble which, feasting on the urgent desire of millions of our youth for emancipation, have embarked on paths that are fundamentally detrimental to our peoples and play into the general desires of those who do not wish nd’Igbo well.

 

Without any iota of doubt, the commemoration of the sacrifices of past martyrs is a universal practice and observance, whether it be sanctioned by the State or not. Nd’Igbo have for long, paid similar respect and reverence to their heroes’ past

 

What is however irrational are efforts to cut off one’s nose in order to spite one’s face – the meaningless call for a so-called ‘sit-at-home’ for specific days over unspecified durations for doubtful objectives. An old Igbo adage posits thus: okenye anaghi anu n’obodo ewu amuó n’óbu (an elder will not be around and allow a goat to deliver in tethers). It thus becomes incumbent for voices of reason to speak up, lest we are consumed by irrationality. 

 

By design, the rulers of the territory we presently find ourselves within under international guidelines/recognitions, Nigeria, have adopted policies which basically confine the vast majority of nd’Igbo to fending for self, via self-employment, and thus desirous to maximize returns per day.

 

For an entity claiming to be interested in the welfare and wellbeing of nd’Igbo to embark on activities geared towards reducing the number of days during which a self-employed may work, and following up with not just threats of violence for those who do not agree with such irrational decisions, but following up with actual destruction of private properties, harms to the individuals and in some instances, killing fellow nd’Igbo whose sole ‘wrong’ is the desire to provide for themselves and their families beats the imagination and call for sober reflection and outright condemnation by those with the overall best interest of nd’Igbo at heart.

 

Already, resulting from the first forced observance of this ‘sit-at-home’ on Monday 9th August, the losses suffered by nd’Igbo, in addition to loss of lives, properties and incomes estimated at several million US Dollars, include the disruption of academic opportunities for children in secondary schools in the Igboland who missed out on crucial examinations.

 

What can be claimed to have been achieved by observing/enforcing the said ‘sit-at-home’? Absolutely nothing but wastage and loss of lives, properties and incomes by nd’Igbo!

 

Must this path of folly be continued? Certainly NO! Continuing will only lead to more deaths, harms on nd’Igbo, losses and destructions all within Igboland – with no impact whatsoever either on other parts of the Nigeria where no sit-at-home is observed/enforced or on the cause for Igbo self-determination.

 

In keeping with yet another age-old adage of our people urges that ‘agbakó ñuo mamiri, yáá gbá ufufu’ (in unison more can be achieved), INM hereby calls on the proponents of the weekly sit-at-home campaigns to reassess their actions, retrace their steps, utterances and modus operandi and eventually be part of wider Igbo efforts at actualizing self-determination. The current ‘Eze-onyeagbalam’ (the all-knowing monarch) posture being displayed by the proponents of the sit-at-homes is self-injurious, counter-productive and ultimately un-Igbo.

 

To the leadership of Community and Town Unions and Associations spread across Igboland, and our Parents whose wards, children and possessions will bear the brunt of the continued ill-thought sit-at-home calls, we urge all to reach out to the proponents of this Call with the purpose of ensuring that commonsense and better tact prevails.

 

Igbo gáádi.Udo