Author: Elochukwu Ohagi, Philosopher, Teacher And Activist,
The game of the Nigerian government has always been to subjugate the East, cripple it and make it a place of slavery within Nigeria.
This is why there is no federal government presence in the entire South East except police checkpoints that made South East look like a region at intense war. My travel to Aba left me with many thoughts of war.
On reaching Onitsha – Owerri Road, I saw bags of sands decorating the roads with mean-looking soldiers with guns standing with attentive precision ready to shoot. Shooting anyone at any slightest provocation won’t be any difficult for them with the way they look. I thanked God we crossed, but we met more and more of them, causing many holdups to commuters.
Since after the civil war in 1967-70, South East has been set up for more conquering. It was like some group of people said that the South-East would never rise again. So the leaders that led the baby Biafra for three giant years were all dethroned, making way for Efulefus to become a majority in the stage of leadership in the East. And since the majority of the leaders are Efulefus, the East has been suffering lousy leadership.
Throughout the East, there is no single Embassy, no good federal roads and no military universities or its likes. There is no seaport, and when the people suffer from importing goods, paying massive amounts of money. The East is entirely barren except the few rising buildings from the individual strength of the people of the East.
More than 50 years of exclusion and injustice against the East, the people have decided to rise against their oppressors. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, a Prince from Afaraukwu Ibeku, rose from nothing to erect a formidable movement that stands today to question the atrocities happening in Nigeria.
In 2015 and 2017, when he was arrested and released, he told Nigeria that if they could end the injustices against his people and give them good roads, seaports, international airports and revert to the regional government, he could drop his agitation. But, instead, the Nigerian government has wished him away. Rather than take him seriously, they called him and his group band of miscreants and jobless youths. As they cajole and mock him, his group keeps growing until it becomes a massive movement.
The Nigerian government has ensured that political leaders in the East constantly clash with the IPOB movement. The government has achieved this by first making sure that more men of questionable character become political leaders in the East. These are men who watch their youth being killed without warning the federal government. In other words, men who put their political aggrandisement above the interests of their people.
The silence of the South-East political leaders over the abduction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a sign that the Nigerian government has ensured that political leaders in the East constantly clash with the IPOB movement.
The government achieved this by first ensuring that more men of questionable character become political leaders in the East. These are men who watch their youth being killed without warning the federal government. In other words, men who put their political aggrandisement above the interests of their people.
In his independence speech, the Nigerian President’s sudden mention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has shown the type of pressure IPOB gives to the Nigerian establishment. The President, as usual, has resorted to blackmail the leaders of the South East. Thus, in his independence speech, he said that one House Member is sponsoring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
However, the Nigerian government has nobody in their records as sponsors of IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. That’s because everyone knows that ordinary people are the ones sponsoring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB.
In this regard, it is clear the Nigerian government is playing with the psyche of political leaders from the Southeast. They aim to stop the already frightened governors and senators from doing the right thing even once. So they are prevented from speaking on behalf of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
But where was the mind of those who were deceived by Fulani?
It will be a shame if the governors of the South East listen to the shenanigans of Buhari, whose only intention is to settle the Fulani from West Africa all over Nigeria.
Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB were the only obstacles preventing President Muhammadu Buhari and his Fulani conquerors from overrunning the entire indigenous population. However, Buhari has removed that obstacle since he brought Nnamdi Kanu into the custody of the Nigerian security forces.
His next move seems to prevent the governors of the East from speaking about the injustice done to their people.
It is very presumptuous and impertinent of Buhari to claim that his government is investigating politicians from the East who are funding IPOB while he has not disclosed the names of those in his government who are supporting the activities of Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani herdsmen.
The extent of Boko Haram’s threat to Nigeria can be gauged from the territories they have conquered so far. The Boko Haram terrorists have ousted the Nigerian civil administration. Five hundred communities in eight political districts in Niger State are currently reportedly under the command of the Boko Haram terrorists.
According to a report by Enterbiafra.com, Suleiman Chikuba, the chairman of Shiroro Local Government Area, told reporters that eight wards, including Manta, Gurmana, Bassa-Kokki, Allawa, Kurebe, Kushaka, Kwati and Chukumba, had been taken over by the insurgents. In addition, the insurgents have reportedly threatened to take over the Shiroro Hydropower Plant, one of Nigeria’s largest energy infrastructures.
Time and again, the President tries to mislead people by giving the impression that it is not Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen or the terrorist organisation Miyetti Allah, but IPOB that threatens the unity of Nigeria.
The ideology of confederation as propagated by the founding fathers like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Aowolo etc., has already been destroyed by the Fulani conquistador.
The unilateral introduction of Sharia law in the twelve Muslim-majority northern states of Nigeria in 1999 during President Obasanjo’s regime is indicative of the erosion of the idea of one Nigeria propagated by the said founding fathers.
The twelve states that adopted Sharia justified and defended Sharia with reference to Section 2(2), which proclaims that Nigeria shall be one federation; Section 4(7).
Today, however, the same group of people oppose Biafrans’ quest for self-determination and the Southern governors’ ban on open grass cultivation.
While the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 seems to be barred by referendums, which perhaps is one of the main reasons it is seen as a fraud, the UN Charter (Art. 1 (2)), to which Nigeria has agreed, refers to the right of self-determination.
Apart from the imposition of Sharia law, the violent displacement of the indigenous population in southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt in recent days by marauding Fulani herdsmen and the terrorist group Miyetti Allah is another indication of the intention of Buhari and his kinsmen to establish a Fulani republic under the guise of one Nigeria. And yet, Buhari has the guts to accuse Nnamdi Kanu of disrupting the idea of one Nigeria.
We know, of course, that it is only those who are trying to resist this persistent threat from the Fulani irredentists, like Nnamdi and recently Sunday Igboho, who were described as terrorists by President Muhammadu Buhari in his speech.
The Nigeria government has been at their best in putting South-East leaders against their people. And the game is already on. Will South-East leaders do the right thing? Time will tell.
Here is just the truth; but the only real issue here is not that “Buhari” and his kinsmen are doing this, but that up to this moment some of our people are yet to believe the reality which stares them in the face: the fact that this is the Fulanization and Islamization agenda being executed.