Yesterday I was caught in the web of an interesting discourse with a friend, a topic that relates to the struggle of the ‘’Biafran’’ people, this friend of mine chastised me that upon having plethora of articles scattered all over the internet I am yet to write an article that discusses about Biafra and the pains the people are facing within this geographical enclave called Nigeria. For a minute I was sober and didn’t have an answer for him; I reflected on what he said and felt I should have written something but on a second thought, I felt it is best to express my feelings about the Biafran agitation. Below is my candid answer to this my friend.
I am from a family that bore the brunt of the brutish life under the civil war, my late dad Hon. Mike Ejezie (R.I.P), a true war veteran and a loyal Biafran developed Bronchitis during the war and failed to properly treat it, this war hang over had complications on him down the years that ultimately led to his death in 2010 from a swollen Heart. I am therefore right to say ‘’ I am a Biafran’’. But are we truly Biafrans? For me, Biafra exhumes fearlessness, hope, equality, strength, perseverance, struggle, intelligence and most of all, the ability not to be stupid. The Biafrans in question have virtually all that I have listed here but lack the most important which is the ability not to be stupid. It is a shame that we shout Biafra need freedom but at the same time we intertwine ourselves voluntarily to the shackles of our said oppressors in Nigeria. As a student of History in the University, I might be privileged to have read more about the Biafran war and the struggle for integration in the early years after the war but oral history and general historic perception have passed the needed information down to the lowest of people in the remotest part of the Biafran land. We are all aware of the extermination efforts made by our brothers up north to stifle our voices and abilities down; our currency (Biafran pounds) was converted to junks just to impoverish us, properties, lands and businesses owned by our brothers in other parts of the country where taken away and our brothers were forced to start life afresh (Melford Okilo and Horsefall of Rivers State will readily come to mind as enforcers of such barbaric policy). I believe no Biafran can say he or she isn’t aware of the sufferings faced by our fathers after the war. But you know what; they are still repeating the mistakes made by our parents before the war.
Don’t get me wrong; I believe in Nigeria and I want our Biafra to be part of it but with equal rights and privileges to grow at our own pace. But if Biafra is our best bet to actualize our dreams then what have we done to make it possible. Making it possible isn’t just by ranting and protesting on every street but rather careful and stringent planning is the way forward. I ask again “what have we done to actualize our goal, what have our political leaders, businessmen and civil servants have done to resurrect the spirit of Biafra?’’ The answer is NOTHING. They have actually made it virtually impossible to actualize. Which ethnic group in this country has more investments outside their ethnic enclave, which group have made their states poorer but enriched other states, which people have the best houses in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna, which ethnic group have the best hotels in Abuja? We all know the answers to these questions. According to El Rufai in 2003, the Igbos own about 67% of the landed properties in Abuja so what the heck are we talking about. I am lover of my eastern and Port-Harcourt life and I seldom visit Lagos unless on official appointment or business ( I can’t believe I haven’t attended a wedding or a social event in Lagos; awful) but the few times I have been there I have noticed in disdain how we pride ourselves to owning so much in Lagos and less in our places. Our business men keep erecting factories in the congested Lagos state and even in Ogun state while their place of origin rot away in poverty. From Badagry to Mile 2, Marina to Epe, and from Ikeja to Berger, Biafrans have invested heavily in those areas. Early this year I visited my sister living in Satelite Town, I couldn’t but admire the palatial residential buildings in her neighbourhood but was pissed off when I got to know that about 95% of those buildings are owned by my brothers from the east; I was further shocked when we went out that same evening and everyone around me spoke Ibo language. This is the problem; believe me, half of those owners of such houses haven’t moulded a block back home. So how do we want to achieve Biafra when the common steps we can’t take, How do we want Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers and other southern states to develop when we have left it at the mercy of the poor to develop? Meanwhile, I salute our brothers in Nnewi, Aba, Onitsha and other towns who are living their dreams within the eastern enclave. Our politicians lack unity of purpose; they struggle for the crumbs thrown to them by those in power, they lack political ideology and believe in nothing except their selfish interest. They cross carpet just to win elections and nothing more. We are all testament to the resilience of people like Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State who stood his ground when the central government almost overran the western region; today he is reaping the fruit as the undisputed kingmaker in Nigerian politics. Who among our leaders has such willpower to stand firm even in the midst of political antagonism? We can remember how PDP swept the South East in 2015 but barely two years after, are our politicians not jumping ships just to gain favour; so what example are they setting for us as future politicians?
With the listed realities above, I say BIAFRA IS AN ILLUSION until the right steps are taken. We must learn to support a common cause, if the bourgeoisies in our midst aren’t ready to do the right things then we youth must take the right steps for our children of tomorrow. We must not achieve our dream in a vague manner and unprepared unless we want a lawless and failed new nation like South-Sudan or degenerate to what is happening in Syria and Libya right now. It is high time we develop new strategies of how to achieve our target; protesting indiscriminately and vomiting vituperations won’t take us forward rather we are going backwards. We must learn to have unity of purpose to achieve our Biafra if necessary.

Written by Ejezie Darlington
www.jezrainfo.com

The truth as it is.

darlingtonNYIG:

Yesterday I was caught in the web of an interesting discourse with a friend, a topic that relates to the struggle of the ‘’Biafran’’ people, this friend of mine chastised me that upon having plethora of articles scattered all over the internet I am yet to write an article that discusses about Biafra and the pains the people are facing within this geographical enclave called Nigeria. For a minute I was sober and didn’t have an answer for him; I reflected on what he said and felt I should have written something but on a second thought, I felt it is best to express my feelings about the Biafran agitation. Below is my candid answer to this my friend.
I am from a family that bore the brunt of the brutish life under the civil war, my late dad Hon. Mike Ejezie (R.I.P), a true war veteran and a loyal Biafran developed Bronchitis during the war and failed to properly treat it, this war hang over had complications on him down the years that ultimately led to his death in 2010 from a swollen Heart. I am therefore right to say ‘’ I am a Biafran’’. But are we truly Biafrans? For me, Biafra exhumes fearlessness, hope, equality, strength, perseverance, struggle, intelligence and most of all, the ability not to be stupid. The Biafrans in question have virtually all that I have listed here but lack the most important which is the ability not to be stupid. It is a shame that we shout Biafra need freedom but at the same time we intertwine ourselves voluntarily to the shackles of our said oppressors in Nigeria. As a student of History in the University, I might be privileged to have read more about the Biafran war and the struggle for integration in the early years after the war but oral history and general historic perception have passed the needed information down to the lowest of people in the remotest part of the Biafran land. We are all aware of the extermination efforts made by our brothers up north to stifle our voices and abilities down; our currency (Biafran pounds) was converted to junks just to impoverish us, properties, lands and businesses owned by our brothers in other parts of the country where taken away and our brothers were forced to start life afresh (Melford Okilo and Horsefall of Rivers State will readily come to mind as enforcers of such barbaric policy). I believe no Biafran can say he or she isn’t aware of the sufferings faced by our fathers after the war. But you know what; they are still repeating the mistakes made by our parents before the war.
Don’t get me wrong; I believe in Nigeria and I want our Biafra to be part of it but with equal rights and privileges to grow at our own pace. But if Biafra is our best bet to actualize our dreams then what have we done to make it possible. Making it possible isn’t just by ranting and protesting on every street but rather careful and stringent planning is the way forward. I ask again “what have we done to actualize our goal, what have our political leaders, businessmen and civil servants have done to resurrect the spirit of Biafra?’’ The answer is NOTHING. They have actually made it virtually impossible to actualize. Which ethnic group in this country has more investments outside their ethnic enclave, which group have made their states poorer but enriched other states, which people have the best houses in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna, which ethnic group have the best hotels in Abuja? We all know the answers to these questions. According to El Rufai in 2003, the Igbos own about 67% of the landed properties in Abuja so what the heck are we talking about. I am lover of my eastern and Port-Harcourt life and I seldom visit Lagos unless on official appointment or business ( I can’t believe I haven’t attended a wedding or a social event in Lagos; awful) but the few times I have been there I have noticed in disdain how we pride ourselves to owning so much in Lagos and less in our places. Our business men keep erecting factories in the congested Lagos state and even in Ogun state while their place of origin rot away in poverty. From Badagry to Mile 2, Marina to Epe, and from Ikeja to Berger, Biafrans have invested heavily in those areas. Early this year I visited my sister living in Satelite Town, I couldn’t but admire the palatial residential buildings in her neighbourhood but was pissed off when I got to know that about 95% of those buildings are owned by my brothers from the east; I was further shocked when we went out that same evening and everyone around me spoke Ibo language. This is the problem; believe me, half of those owners of such houses haven’t moulded a block back home. So how do we want to achieve Biafra when the common steps we can’t take, How do we want Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Delta, Rivers and other southern states to develop when we have left it at the mercy of the poor to develop? Meanwhile, I salute our brothers in Nnewi, Aba, Onitsha and other towns who are living their dreams within the eastern enclave. Our politicians lack unity of purpose; they struggle for the crumbs thrown to them by those in power, they lack political ideology and believe in nothing except their selfish interest. They cross carpet just to win elections and nothing more. We are all testament to the resilience of people like Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State who stood his ground when the central government almost overran the western region; today he is reaping the fruit as the undisputed kingmaker in Nigerian politics. Who among our leaders has such willpower to stand firm even in the midst of political antagonism? We can remember how PDP swept the South East in 2015 but barely two years after, are our politicians not jumping ships just to gain favour; so what example are they setting for us as future politicians?
With the listed realities above, I say BIAFRA IS AN ILLUSION until the right steps are taken. We must learn to support a common cause, if the bourgeoisies in our midst aren’t ready to do the right things then we youth must take the right steps for our children of tomorrow. We must not achieve our dream in a vague manner and unprepared unless we want a lawless and failed new nation like South-Sudan or degenerate to what is happening in Syria and Libya right now. It is high time we develop new strategies of how to achieve our target; protesting indiscriminately and vomiting vituperations won’t take us forward rather we are going backwards. We must learn to have unity of purpose to achieve our Biafra if necessary.

Written by Ejezie Darlington
www.jezrainfo.com