Dear Biafrans- By Etcetera

Etcetera talks about the state of Biafra, the recent
shut down of Radio Biafra and how he thinks the
Igbos have been marginalized in Nigeria. He also
talked about the growth of Nigeria.
I have been receiving a lot of mails and phone
calls in recent weeks requesting that I lend my
voice in support of the ongoing campaign for
the sovereign state of Biafra and to also speak
up against the recent shut down of Radio
Biafra by National Broadcasting Commission. I
have decided to make my opinion known to
those who have been bombarding me with
requests to support the Biafran movement.
Yes, I believe that the Igbo have been
marginalised in Nigeria right from 1970 till
date. I also believe that as a people, the Igbo
have every right to speak out and seek
redress. I believe that no tribe or ethnic group
in Nigeria deserves to be marginalised or shut
out by certain quarters of government because
of an incident of the past. Just like every Igbo
man, I believe that Biafra was a good dream
born out of a necessity at that time. It was a
good dream which went horribly wrong and
became a nightmare for us, the Igbo people
and the whole of Nigeria from 1967 to 1970,
from which I believe we have woken up.
It will be foolhardy to dream the same dream
in the same way and manner without
thoroughly accounting for why and how it
turned into a nightmare, and factoring in the
changes that have taken place in Nigeria since
the 1960s.
The thought that the actualisation of the
sovereign state of Biafra is in itself the
solution to all the problems of Ndigbo is to
display an understandable naivety about
human nature and today’s politics. What we
need as a people is a new vision that will
encompass the lessons of the past, the
changes that have taken place since the end of
the civil war, the reality of present day Nigeria
and demand for a system founded on justice,
liberty and equality under the rule of law for
Ndigbo and non Igbo as well.
I believe this new vision is attainable. They
say charity begins at home and in this regard,
I believe it is time for every honest and
sincere Igbo man or woman, to channel his or
her energy towards actualising good
leadership and government in Igboland by
joining the political process. It is time for
every one of us to unite against corruption in
our land.
It is time for Ndigbo to come together to
reverse this ubiquitous trend of bad leadership
ravishing Igboland and put in place a system
that would enable the best of us to emerge as
leaders. Great nations are ruled by their best
minds and not by a band of common thieves
without respect for individual liberty and
democracy that do nothing but devise
ingenious ways to looting the treasury and
serve the vilest and most primitive of human
instincts.
Without this political and cultural change
embedded in the concept of our future,
Igboland will remain underdeveloped, and that
in itself, will constitute a gargantuan problem
for us in the future. Making this necessary
change in igboland will ensure that if and ever
or when Nigeria collapses as a result of our
collective idiocy, irresponsibility, ignorance
and corruption, and the jumbo pay of
politicians, Ndigbo will be better placed to
build a new nation based on justice, equality,
rule of law, tolerance, development and
honesty. War has never been the solution to
any problem.
I didn’t witness the civil war but from what I
saw in my recent visit to Maiduguri, Adamawa
and Plateau state, I have become a disciple of
dialogue as a means to resolve issues. If
Biafra will become a reality, it shouldn’t be
through the barrel of a gun. It is wrong to
seek divorce by putting a gun to your
spouse’s head. We should realise that a
divorce from Nigeria is also possible if the
Nigeria state comes to its natural end because
of years of ethnic and religious prejudices,
injustices, and vision-less irresponsible,
corrupt leadership that failed to lay the
foundation of a viable state and make the
necessary social investment for its survival.
This might be the natural course of events if
Nigeria continues to sleep walk into disaster
and neglect honest nation building. We
shouldn’t continue to pursue the Biafra dream
in the way and manner some people and
groups are doing at the moment without
regard to the present reality. It can only
undermine the whole essence of the struggle.
As an Igbo man, there is nothing I want for
Igbo that I do not want for other ethnic
groups. There is nothing
I wish for my fellow Christians that I do not
wish for Muslims. We are all humans after all.
We are all brothers and sisters divided by
language, skin colours and religion. I believe
that enlightenment is recognition of this basic
facts, and that underneath our skins, flows
blood of the same colour and minds that can
think alike and able to overcome the
prejudices which our difference try to impose
on our judgment. There is nothing that can
justify the killing of a fellow man. I can only
lend my voice to a vision that doesn’t entail
the destruction of lives and property.
I am sorry to say that the continuous clamour
for the recognition of Biafra by America may
not yield much because of the selfish nature of
America’s foreign policy. If there is nothing in
it for America, America won’t get involved. We
are a great and industrious people.
For a start, won’t it be better to seek
economic independence and have Nigeria and
the rest of the world depend on us for
something? Today, Africa has gone from car
assemblage to total manufacturing.
I am proud that I am alive to witness this
history, that a Nigerian made car can actually
be better that the Toyotas and Hondas of this
world, and it is all due to the ingenuity of an
Igbo man. Ndigbo, this can be a place to start.
Igbo kwenu!!