By Elochukwu Nicholas Ohagi
The proclamation of Biafra as a sovereign state by Chuckuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu did not go down well with Britain. However, the reason for displeasure is not that Britain was concerned about Nigeria’s Welfare, but that it saw the creation of a Biafra as an obstacle to British national interests. Therefore, Britain did everything it could to end Biafra.
Unfortunately, many people do not understand that it is to the colonial masters’ advantage to see Africa in a desolate economic state. Therefore, the merging of the southern and northern protectorates was a clever move by the British colonial masters holding Africa in an eternal state of desolate. The grand plan of these British criminal machinations was to create confusion and destruction forever through the disunity of the ethnic groups thrown together. You should know very well that you cannot bring people with different beliefs and ideologies together and expect them to live in peace and harmony.
To end Biafra, millions of people had to die; Britain, with the help of the BBC, lied to the world about Biafra. They labelled the biafran as rebels and gave it to the world as the reason for killing them.
Starvation was used as a weapon of war; The areas of Biafraland (land, water and airspace) were blockaded by the Nigerian government with the help of the UK and consequently, food supplies were stopped. Thus, more than 2 million children in Biafra died of starvation.
But thanks to the ingenuity of the Biafrans, they were able to stop the hunger. Even when the world refused them weapons, their engineers produced local weapons of all kinds and kept the war going.
Biafra and its history show that Africa is not incapable of thinking. Africa can think, produce, and govern properly. Biafra is a case study.
Biafra maintained its telephone system, refined its oil, produced machine guns and armoured vehicles for three good years. And they governed properly under heavy bombardment.
The centuries of fear caused by the wisdom and ingenuity of Igbo men is why the world will not leave Biafra alone. During the slave trade, Igbo slaves resisted in Europe and America and Britain, a country that enjoyed the natural resources of the East and by extension Nigeria.
The story of Igbo slaves in 1803 in Georgia who chose death by drowning in the Georgia River over the alternative of slavery is also a testament to it. These slaves went ashore and then walked into the river together under the leadership of a high Igbo chief, chanting in the Igbo language, “The water spirit has brought us, the water spirit will bring us home.
Britain has no confidence in a sovereign Igbo country because it does not believe that Britain can still have control of the oil before it settles things in Nigeria when the Igbo get a foothold in Nigeria. Thus, not only does Britain not want Biafra to come into existence, but it also does not want the Igbo to run Nigeria’s affairs. In this regard, the Fulani and Britain have ensured that Igbos have been excluded from governance in Nigeria since the civil war.
However, just when it looked like the Igbo had accepted their position as slaves and second-class citizens in Nigeria, a prince emerged from Afaraukwu Ibeku and awakened his people’s consciousness. With him, IPOB was born as a freedom movement. The call for the restoration of Biafra became an anthem for every Biafran youth. The Igbo Youths were so determined that thousands paid the ultimate price for freedom with their lives in recent times.
The Nigerian soldiers, on many occasions, shot and killed many Igbo youths waving the Biafra flag. Hundreds have been kidnapped and many more are in prison in Nigeria. Their offence is to be Biafrans and demand a referendum to determine where they want to belong.
Of course, it is claimed that the right to self-determination is a basic human right, but I doubt that the European colonial masters accept that very claim when it comes to Africa. Recently, on June 29, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was transferred to Nigeria after the Nigerian government abducted and tortured him in Kenya. On September 14, 2017, the same Nigerian government had attacked Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s father’s house killing about 28 people in his house.
The abduction of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya shows the same game that Britain played in the creation of Biafra. They appeared before Nigeria and committed atrocities from behind.
After the kidnapping, there were perfidious and extremely serious attacks on the heart of the IPOB movement, namely the Doss. The attack was planned so that the attackers penetrate the movement and from there try to destroy the heart of the resistance.
If they win this battle, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will be rendered useless or even killed, and the movement will be extinct. That is precisely the plan. This master plan is the hand of Nigeria, but the voice of Britain.
The emergence of Biafra will certainly boost Africa. It will prove to the world that it has misjudged Africa. But Britain doesn’t want Biafra to exist because it is precisely this that would end its centuries-long control over Biafra and Africa in general.
For Britain, the best way to keep Africa in check is to prevent the emergence of Biafra. However, the truth is that it is solely in the hands of Biafrans to decide whether Biafra will be free or not.
Elochukwu Ohagi, philosopher, educator and activist, 2021.
Edited By Robinson Afamefuna Ambrose
A welly articulated article that puts in summary of the beginning, situation and solution to the restoration of Biafra just as the headline.
The DOS is the heart of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu and it will only take the will of Chiukwu Okike Abiama to destroy it because it was Him that sent our great leader who created that office.
The enemies will do their best, but at the end victory shall be ours because the time has come.
Thanks for sharing and I will share it too 💪🏾💪🏾.