Ghost of Biafra and The Nigerian Condition by Femi John A.



Transforming a Mule into a Stallion
Nigeria, like all African states, was clumped together by European interests for the sole purpose of exploitation of natural and, maybe, human resources, without any real consideration for sovereign cultures and future interests of natives.

The original design was never for meaningful development or any spectacular greatness - just exploitation.

"Get in there and get the resources out quickly".

Somehow, even after decades of independence, that had not changed much. Just that the colonial interest is now replaced by personal interests of politically-exposed persons. Long story short, the people who have to grapple with the post-colonial realities have not found a way to make the Nigerian state work - which is sad.

Every Nigerian is, therefore, a victim. North or South. At home or in diaspora. Their country could have been way ahead of Malaysia and Singapore in terms of development.

However, no meaningful analysis of the Nigerian condition can emerge without placing the Biafra phenomenon in the mixing bowl - given its contribution to the debacle of the Nigerian state.

The Real Biafra Story

The crises began when a bunch of young army officers, on a whim, decided they could do a better job running the country than the incumbent political class. Interestingly, almost all these guys were from a particular region of the country - The East. They plotted a bloody coup which killed political and military leaders from every other region except, curiously, from the East. Evidentially - it didn’t only look like it was tribally motivated - it WAS tribally motivated. Some reports even have it that ‘heroic’ symbols of the coup leader, Nzeogwu- standing over the dying body of the Sardauna were brandished on bread in jubilation by some people of Nzeogwu’s tribe (Easterners) who lived up north.



Although the coup plotters were later captured, another army officer of an Eastern extraction, Aguiyi Ironsi took over the reigns of power, disbanded the political machinery, suspended the Nigerian constitution, scrapped Federalism and established the Unitary government in a brazen move to consolidate power.

Thus, the unfortunate chapter of military rule crept into Nigeria’s history. It was at this point that Nigeria lost, in one fell swoop, the institution of stable democracy for a long time - only to be regained at great costs after 30 long years. True Federalism has, since then, been lost, despite years of clamoring for it by many.

But that’s not even the deal-breaker.

Wait for it.

In what became another miscalculated and evidential tribal move, Aguiyi Ironsi sent the captured coup plotters to safety in prisons located in the East.

Tensions were high.

The atmosphere was charged.

The Northern part of the country quickly degenerated into killing fields. Non-indigenes, especially Igbos were slaughtered in thousands in what would be infamously called the 1966 Progrom.

Wagon-loads of Igbo corpses from the North were shipped by rail to the East.

Nigeria was only six years into independence. And it was a mess already.

Within six months, army officers of Northern extraction quickly organized a ‘revenge’ coup and killed Aguiyi Ironsi who was considered an ‘accomplice through benefit' of the Nzeogwu's coup. And from here Nigeria’s history tumbled rapidly into the dark valleys of Biafran civil war, extensive military rule, desecration of the institutions of government, barefaced tribal nepotism, religious intolerance and overall mediocre national condition from which Nigeria is yet to recover.

Indeed, there were no victors after the Biafran war. But there were vanquished. Both sides lost, not so much because of the war itself but, because the handlers of the country, for 5 decades since, failed to do what smart post-conflict nations do - own the story.



Taking the fight out of it.

The Nigerian state should have owned the Biafra story.

Nazi Germany’s Holocaust, Rwanda’s Tutsi genocide and even South Africa’s Apartheid were, probably, more gruesome than the Nigerian Biafran war. But those other nations found healing, moved on and even became the better for it. Why?

Because, the process of healing starts with i. open, honest communication, ii. accepting the facts of the crisis, iii. having a unified official narrative of the event and iv. seeking mutual redemption in forgiveness.

Nigeria chose a different path.

As if we underestimate the capacity of the human heart to forgive and heal in the face of honest, sympathetic and open communication. The nation failed to implement rigorous attempt to weed out bitterness and heal post-trauma victims, from both sides, on a national scale.

The Ghost of Biafra

Those children whose uncles and grandfathers died in the war are now men. They were raised in Nigerian schools where no mention of the civil war was made in their classrooms. No official narrative in their school curriculum. Only foreboding silence. And a quiet wish that all would somehow forget the past. And that they should also consider themselves lucky to be considered Nigerians at all.

It is in this kind of silence that rumours thrive, wounds fester, hate grows and hurts decompose into spontaneous violent rage.

The axe may forget but the tree always remembers.

Curious about their own history, they are left with only unofficial accounts of the war which are usually bitter versions. The kind that dehumanizes the people on the other side of the conflict. Conspiracy theories and the typical “we-are-the-heroes-they-are-the-villains" mythology.

Attempts by independent reports were, often, vigorously opposed by the state. And not until recently did one-sided accounts like Achebe’s ‘There was Once a Country’ and Adechie’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ crept into mainstream - even, then, not without a fight from the handlers of the Nigerian state.

The ghosts of Biafra are in town, not so much because of the ills of the 1967 civil war, but because no one was smart enough to openly address the pains and set the nation on the path of permanent healing, true nationalism and enviable greatness.

Already, all sorts of opportunists are positioning to milk the situation for political and financial advantage - which is typical of the Nigerian condition. Even, at its peak, the Boko Haram crisis in the North East became a deliberately prolonged money-spinner for opportunists who incidentally were supposed to be officially responsible for its speedy resolution.

Maybe the idea of secession would have made much sense 4 decades ago, but now it is only a reversal and distraction for the nation, especially today when the world is seeking to come together to solve big problems.

But people who are hurting have no capacity for rationality. Hurting people can only seek to hurt others - not minding if they are sabotaging their own destiny in the process. It is only after the pain is addressed that rationality crawls back into the equation.


Layers of Lessons

Maybe it is time we learnt from other nations who survived and grew past bloody conflicts. First, they have a unified narrative of the conflict taught in all their schools - thus, opening channels for honest discussions and leaving no room for conspiracies. Secondly, such weighty defining events have a distinct spot on their national calendar - a day to reflect on lessons learnt and appreciate how people hurt and heal. That is what Germany does, and Rwanda and South Africa, and other smart nations that successfully turned their ashes and scars into something beautiful.

Five decades after, the Ghost of Biafra is finally out in the street with its middle finger stuck up defiantly in the face of the Nigerian state. It’s obvious we need far more wisdom to handle this than when we first bred it.

Source: https://www./ghost-biafra-nigerian-condition-femi-john-a-?published=t

TRASH

[quote author=niceprof post=57054161]TRASH[/quote]

Uncle, must you comment if you have nothing meaningful to contribute?

cc. Lalasticlala
cc. mynd44

Mtcheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew I don't have time to read the trash abeg

yarimo:
Mtcheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew I don't have time to read the trash abeg

you only Learn if you read

Arda1000:
you only Learn if you read

I only have time to read important thins so that I can learn more

yarimo:
I only have time to read important thins so that I can learn more

for me I just make Time to read the perceived stupid things and some things I usually find meaningful things in them

yarimo:
I only have time to read important thins so that I can learn more

okay I already know the angle you are coming from

Nice read, not new though but i still had my mind refreshed.

Easy to be a victim when the story is coming from you.