110 The continuous insistence never to engage the agitators, but to only isolate, kill, crush and finish the agitators, is erroneous and not likely to heal the land. The fact that I continue to hammer on this, in spite of the fact that my position makes me unpopular with the authorities and the politicians, should confirm my total conviction that the issues are deeper than the politicos know. Earlier mistakes in handling the issue must be corrected, certain clerics and elders should be involved.
The idea of solving the problem with bombs and bullets, might backfire.
111 I do all these, in the hope that I might expose the realities to those in charge, so, they would be better equipped with proper information and truthful knowledge of the problem. Past errors, I believe, were committed as a result of lack of proper information or maybe, due to wrong information. I present the truth, in the hope that the truth might heal the land.
112 The agitators are not miscreants manipulated by some people to cause trouble. They aren’t looking for power, money or relevance. They are an army of very angry folks, who don’t want their children to experience what they themselves are going through in Nigeria. They desire equity, level playing field for all citizens. They want to belong to a country, where they will be treated as equals, not as a conquered people.
They wish their mothers and sisters would go to the farms and come back alive. That admission cut-off marks into schools, would be fair to all and uniform. That infrastructural development and government appointments, would be fairly distributed. That there would be no 97%/5% dichotomy. That their ancestral lands are not the target of herdsmen, who seem to have backing from high places. They desire a country where they would freely aspire to any office as equal citizens.
113 They hunger to be heard and listened to, not to be shot and proscribed. They expect to be engaged, not to be tagged terrorists. They expect their own leaders to speak up for them, not the deafening silence that follows. They are angry at the dysfunctional structure of the country, the brazen corruption, the nauseating nepotism and the crippling of the economy.
They mourn the reality of their existence as clipped permanent onlookers, ostracised by a unitary military constitution. They watch in horror, as every effort to reconstruct the opaque polity and enthrone equity, is stiffly resisted by folks who say they are born to rule.
114 They weep on their pillows every night, as those who designed their existence as eternal onlookers, live large, as the country drifts. When they march unarmed, they are killed like chicken. When they turn to their leaders to speak up, again silence, deep silence. They are not allowed to head any military, paramilitary or security agency in the land. They feel unwanted and rejected. As they express themselves by venting their anger through hope of secceding, they are completely ignored and shunned, as if the government is saying “to hell with you”, “go to blazes”, “do your worst”. With a broken heart, and tears in their eyes, they rally together in search of dignity, serially denied them in a country, their fathers fought for the political independence.
115 Mistreated, denied their rights and abandoned by their own leaders, who seem only interested in taking care of themselves and their immediate families, they began to dream of a new nation, where they would be treated with dignity and fulfill their God-given potentials on earth. Envy, jealousy and hatred greet their every move at every turn. They desire justice, equity and fair play. That’s all. That’s who they are.
116 They are also shocked by a structure that encourages and allows outsiders to impose leaders on them. A structure that makes them helpless and hapless at the brutality of ruthless Fulani herdsmen, who clearly seem to be above the law. Above all these, is the quite frightening realisation that there are no plans whatsoever to address their grievances. No plans to give them any sense of belonging. They gave up. As children and grandchildren of the resourceful Biafran soldiers of 1967-1970, they are saying:ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. That’s who they are. Maltreated, disrespected, isolated, abused and disregarded children of the most high God. That’s who they are. They are no miscreants, they are no terrorists, they are no criminals, they are no trouble makers.
117 Our leaders should reach out to them, bring them to the table and reassure them that they belong to the big family and that they will be treated right. That a new constitution will replace the horrific decree 24 of 1999, that suffocates the country, stifles economic growth and encourages indolence and dependence on oil money. They should be brought to the table now, before things get out of hand. The suffocating unitary constitution, the ruthless and mindless oppression, the brazen subjugation of Ndigbo and the dysfunctional government that seems to support or at least, condone the horrific brigandage of the Fulani herdsmen, all contributed to what inspired fear and loss of faith troubling the land today.
118 The deliberate mistagging of the agitators as terrorists 4 years ago was wrong. The decision of the agitators, to defend themselves today is equally wrong. Innocent citizens will pay with their lives, if confrontation ensues. Economic life will be upset. Our great markets in Aba, Nnewi, and Onitsha will loose their patrons who come from all over West Africa and beyond. Nobody will travel to the South East to do business anymore, nobody wants stray bullets. The economy will suffer. Everybody looses, nobody profits anything. The country begins to crack. ISWAP in the North East gets stronger. Our already overstretched armed forces gets deeply troubled. The agitators do not stand a chance of winning the battle. But the whole land suffers.
119 The South East Governors, the elders and the central government, should put their heads together, to avoid a provocative military expedition to the South East. It would not solve the problem. A wrong military attempt to crush the FARC rebels of Colombia violently in 1964, only succeeded in deepening the crisis. It was only in 2017, that the government of Colombia, came down from its high horse to sign an agreement with the FARC leaderships, enthroning peace, after decades of senseless destruction. The costly mistake of applying military force on the Mindanao rebels in the early 1970s by the Philippino government deepened the crisis so much, that even the 1996 peace agreement could not stand. Peace only returned recently, with the granting of autonomy to the region by the government of Philippines, after years of avoidable carnage.
120 Sinn Fein’s demands for a measure of autonomy for Northern Ireland, was resisted for decades by London, IRA bombings and militancy that destroyed many lives for decades, was avoidable. The good Friday agreement of 1998, could have been signed decades earlier to save lives. Perhaps the colonial advisers do not know that the chromosomes and chromatids of Ndigbo, are totally different from that of the Irish. Any plans to first of all destroy lives and infrastructure, before finally yielding to power devolution to achieve peace, may backfire. Time to root for peace is now.
121 As a teenager, 40 years ago, I studiously followed the hunger strike of Bobby Sands and other Irish protesters. I kept the TIME magazine photo of Bobby Sands looking like a skeleton, those images still hunt me till thisday. The political decision to delay granting Northern Ireland some autonomy, for years, not until so many lives were wasted, doesn’t make sense at all. That’s why folks around here with some sense of history and some knowledge of global affairs are wondering: are they gonna replicate same strategy here? First, stubbornly refuse to dialogue, until lives are wasted before you concede. Hope it’s just our imagination.
122 The agitators must face reality. Human lives are precious and irreplaceable. Dialogue is never too late. Peace is always better than war. When people are killed, they never come back to life. Igbo land should not experience another round of violence and destruction. Talk with the Government please.
To be CONTINUED
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