“Keep Nigeria One”, “One Nigeria”, ‘The Unity of Nigeria is not negotiable’’
These are the slogans on the lips of dictators/tyrants, the vicious cabals and oppressors in authority, who do not want Biafra and other ethnic nationalities to have their freedom. These mantra frequently used by the political class to hold the mases bound and impoverish them are the continuous swan songs of the Nigerian nation.
The unity of Nigeria is not negotiable indeed; yes, it is not negotiable when you love the proceeds and wealth of the land but hate the owners and inhabitants of the land. Who says that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable when the masses are fed up with President Buhari’s unimaginable level of nepotism and favouritism?
Proceeds from natural resources (oil and gas) in our region are used to build social amenities such as schools, hospitals, roads, electricity and railway lines, even across to Chad and Niger, whereas the regions from where the resources are derived are totally neglected and impoverished (no motorable roads, no light, no railway lines, water etc): yet you do not want people to renegotiate the unity of the country.
The three-year genocidal war carried out to wipe out Biafrans is still fresh in our memories. You want the land of Biafra, but you do not want the people of Biafra. You hate Biafrans, but you still do not want them to leave to become an independent nation. Your soldiers kill us when we complain and agitate for good governance, and they also kill us if we refuse to talk.
How long shall we continue to suffer injustice in this President Buhari’s quasi-democratic governance?
Can one Nigeria hold when all the security chiefs come from one region (Hausa/Fulani) to oppress, dehumanize, and marginalize other regions? No! Can one Nigeria hold in a country where there is no equality before the rule of law; where separate rules apply to persons who commit same offence because of ethnic differences? No! When we carry placards to protest, you jail or kill us because we are Biafrans, on the other hand, when Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram carry AK47 rifles, menacingly flung over their shoulders and matchets; killing, butchering, maiming and raping our mothers, daughters and sisters like the cattle they rear, yet Nigerian authorities tend to look the other way.
It is the height of hypocrisy for the Nigeria presidency and her cohorts to be calling for ‘one Nigeria’, while secretly aiding Boko Haram and other terrorist groups from the North of the country to destabilize the peaceful regions in the South.
How can One Nigeria work out, when a nepotistic dictator with his clique of cabals that have no regards for the rule of law, are in power to favour just a section of the (Hausa/Fulani ethnic groups) country? Is the Judiciary (which ought to be an independent arm of government) still the last hope of the common man in Nigeria, as the saying goes? When the Executive (the presidency) usurps the duties of the judiciary and decide judgements and rulings in the court based on ethnic differences and interest, won’t the unity of Nigeria be renegotiated. I doubt the existence of ‘One’ Nigeria when a Northerner commits an offence, and he is patted on the back and even compensated, but when a Southerner commits the same offence, he is paraded in the media and sent to jail immediately without any fair trial.
Biafrans, Southerners and all lovers of freedom, it is time to rise, speak up and fight for your freedom. Since our political class can no longer speak for the mases, but have rather become willing tools in the hands of our oppressors, dictator, and cabals to subjugate and oppress us, we should rise up and join IPOB to fight for our freedom. Shall we continue to fold our arms and watch the ethnic jingoists in power run us over with foot soldiers (Fulani herdsmen) and take over our lands? No! It is time we declare our stand; either to remain as one Nigeria and face extermination or go our separate ways as a new nation.
Borrowing the words of Sir Peter Smithers’ (the then Secretary of State in the Colonial Office between 1952-1959) in his article titled “Nigeria Lesson”, “…putting diverse racial and social entities together as Nigeria was a grave mistake which has cost many lives and will probably continue to do so. It would have been better to establish several small states in a free trade area.”
History will always remind us that at some point in time, many freedom fighters and agitating groups have risen and fallen like empires and ancient kingdoms, but IPOB has risen and is still standing tall. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the leader of IPOB has been staking his life to set every ethnic group entrapped in Nigeria free. Everyone needs freedom, everyone should stand up and support IPOB. Freedom for Biafra is freedom for all other ethnic groups entrapped in Nigeria.
I stand with IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu for freedom of not only Biafrans, but other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. Nigeria’s unity is negotiable now or never.
Simon Nweze, wrote in from Abuja, Nigeria.
