By Terfa Naswem
Some events in Nigeria never stop to baffle me. Where were all the South East governors when the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and his cohorts were engaged in activities that are against national and social mores? The South East governors did not make any conscious attempt to call the self-acclaimed “paradigm” of the IPOB to order. Their sane red caps never functioned well at those points but rejuvenated when Operation Python Dance swung into action to subdue the situation.
Kanu has inveterate struggle for Biafra and he got it all wrong by allowing his fellow Biafra agitators to lunch attacks against innocent Nigerians and their property. He has put the Biafra cause in an irredeemable position by instructing his ardent loyal boys to engage in activities that are aberration. If Kanu and his cohorts do not abjure the Biafra cause, it will continue to pose a serious threat to the unity of Nigeria.
One of the problems of fighting for a cause without anticipating positive and negative outcomes and making impact-driven consultations through amicable means is that one gets blindfolded by selfishness which makes one to be bereft of socio-economic and political acumen. This is the exact position Kanu has found himself in.
The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will never accede to Kanu’s demands of disintegrating Nigeria for the establishment of Biafra. A lot of experts in Peace and Conflict Resolution foreshowed the federal government of the national security threat Biafra cause poses.
Kanu is only using the Biafra cause for self-aggrandizement. He truly does not have the interest of the Igbo at heart. If he really does, he would not have allowed violence to be a “component” of Biafra.
Since Kanu is not an amenable person by nature, it is likely that he will continue to engage in activities that will provoke more Nigerians and make him become anathema to Nigerians. Many people in support of Biafra expect Kanu to receive approbation for the break of law and order he has caused in some parts of Nigeria, but most people see him as antithesis to peace.
Most of the IPOB agitators who have engaged in various destructive activities were beguiled by Kanu. He has brainwashed them with his “selfish philosophy” to commit calumny against President Buhari and anyone who opposes Biafra.
From all indications, Kanu will not fervently have compunction for the wrong he has done to Nigerians through his actions. He has shown how recalcitrant he is by refusing to even be receptive to the advice of those who truly care about the Igbo and Nigeria as a nation.
Trying to establish a sovereign nation by force can never work in our present world. Kanu is an enlightened and educated person who is supposed to be abreast of the realities of the fast-changing world and should not use obsolete means to abstain sovereignty.
If Biafra must be established, it has to be through dialogue, referendum, legislative delegation and peaceful movement. Anything short of these will make the cause to be abortive and recent actions by Kanu and his cohorts have already placed it on that line.
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