The first thing that comes to mind when the mention is made about the renewed but pipe-dream fight for the actualization of dead Republic of Biafra, is that it is for all the Igbo people in the South East, and perhaps, their appendages from the minority South South, with Alhaji Asari Dokubo as the chief minority leader.
But, with the dreamer-in-chief (Director of Radio Biafra), Nnamdi Kanu and his group implying recently that the umbrella body of the Igbo people, the Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo is being cut off from the senseless struggle, one begins to wonder what is Kanu and his fellow travelers are trying to achieve and for who.
Nnamdi Kanu was quoted as saying by members of his deranged Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) that he will rather die in jail than the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of his release and that he has no business with the Igbo Socio cultural Organization.
”I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release,” he said.
In a statement, the IPOB’s United Kingdom spokesmen, Dr. Clifford Iroanya and Emma Mmezu, said: “Our march to freedom is unstoppable; this is something Buhari ought to know. We have come to die for Biafra if that is what it will take to be free. Our resolve should not be underestimated. As our leader will always say, “Nigeria will kill us, we will kill them but in the end we will win.”
At the other extreme end are the reasonable members of the Igbo nation, made up of Ohanaeze with elders and leaders-of-thought as members as well as the youth wing of the same Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo. These other groups are said to be trying to establish contact with federal government for the release of Kanu who has been standing trial for felony and other offences. They alleged that members of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ohanaeze Youth met with some Americans, at Nike Lake Resort Hotel between 6pm and 7pm Saturday evening.
The American Nigerian yankee leaders of IPOB made it clear by saying: “If any country or group is coming to Nigeria to discuss anything concerning IPOB and the release or freedom for our incarcerated leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnandi Kanu, it is no Ohanaeze Ndigbo or their youth wing that will speak for us, because they are not our members and so cannot represent or speak for us. We urged the Americans who came for the meeting that the alleged representatives of IPOB did not represent or have our support. Nobody speaks or represent IPOB except its principal and designated officers.”
And what is in contention here, and what is in contention even in the whole brouhaha about Biafran Republic?
The IPOB, in the statement, betrayed the real intention by saying, as an after-thought, that those who attended the controversial meeting were impostors who are not members of IPOB and that they are the usual Ohanaeze contractors who will always condemn IPOB, but will be first to hijack anything good that is coming to South East states through IPOB.
“it is only All Progressive Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, whom they have been working for against IPOB that recognize them. We never asked anybody called Ohanaeze Youth leader to represent IPOB. He is not our member and cannot speak for us in anything or meeting.”
It is quite clear that after all, the fight for the Republic of Biafran by a handful of day-dreamers: the fight which late Ikemba Emeka Odumegwu Ojikwu waged in a more unifying way and based on some kind of sensible reasons, is all about seeking for attention and, above all, the material gains that accrue to such attention. It is a fight by some emigrants who find no job to do in the countries to which they ran.
Indeed, if, as obviously is, members of IPOB are speaking in diametrically opposition to the respected and nationally recognized Igbo unifying body such as Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, which Biafran Republic they are talking about and for who?
It is looking pretty that even the Biafran Republic is already dead on arrival, for the simple fact that should it be actualized, in the wildest nightmare of its proponents, the larger and more respected segment of the Igbo community would be excluded or forced to live in perpetual conflicts with the IPOB members.
It is becoming clearer that members of IPOB regard you as an Igbo man or woman only if you are its member, and by implication, that it is only members of the IPOB that are Igbos who will be the citizens of the proposed Republic of Biafra.
Which brought us to a reasonable conclusion that IPOB is another None Governmental Organization (NGO), formed to negotiate for the plum, buttered side of the bread for its members only. That you have to register as members to be an Igbo person and therefore partake in the goodies that Biafran Republic would ooze out!
In other words, even if you are an Igbo King and you have not registered to be bonafide member of IPOB, you better don’t go near the organization, because you would not benefit any share from the spoils… when they start falling in, if they would. [myad]
