Editor’s note: The agitation for Biafra has reached a very level especially with the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra.

In this opinion by Abdulrazaq Magaji, he points out that the agitators need to understand that their mentality of marginalisation is false.

The arm-chair revolutionaries

Dear segregationist

Let me begin by reminding you of what some of us think of your agitation. Some of us think, and honestly too, that rather than dissipate energy campaigning for Nigeria’s break-up, it is time you joined hands to end the Osu caste system in Igboland and emancipate the stigmatised members of the caste who, till date, are still victims of hate, discrimination and despising!

You may have succeeded in programming the members of the caste to join your hate campaign of seeing other Nigerians as sub-human but, truth is, in the unlikely event you succeed in your segregationist campaigns, the world will soon have another South Sudan and Burma to contend with. Tell me, what place has the Osu in the Biafra of your imagination? What guarantees are there that Osu will not become the target of ethnic cleansing in your imagined Biafra?


Biafra agitaors

Do you even understand the antics of the arm-chair revolutionaries who claim to be your well-wishers? From their comfort zones, they feed you with so much hate and incite you to carry arms.

It may sound blunt, but the only way to put it is that Nigeria has to remain one, united and prosperous country! Professor Chinua Achebe captured the essence when he said ‘there was a country’ that we all know lasted 30 months! This is a fact we must accept. We have to move on, and to move on is to build a great, united and prosperous Nigeria. As it is, we all have grouses, valid or otherwise, against the fatherland. Even the lecherous Boko Haram bandits reel out grouses!

The IPOB/MASSOB issue

If what I hear is true, there has never been a common ground among the arm-chair revolutionaries who pose as well-wishers, at home and in the Diaspora, in finding real solutions to the problems of Nigeria. Yes! I am referring to the constant deadly clashes between supporters of Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB and Ralph Uwazuruike’s MASSOB! Is that right?

You may not believe it but very few people advocate a break-up to redress perceived injustices. See what is happening in South Sudan! In just five short years, the people of ‘Africa’s youngest sovereign country’ have become refugees among former compatriots they were programmed to hate! As I write, thousands of South Sudan refugees say they feel happier and safer in among the Sudanese they were told to regard as mortal enemies! In other words, what the people of South Sudan formerly called a zoo has become their sanctuary! And, the people they were programmed to see as beasts and cannibals are now their protectors!

Truth is, the people of South Sudan were deceived by the elite into believing that the only way to cure a headache was to cut off the head! Just as you and other segregationists are busy deceiving innocent Igbo people of South East Nigeria to hate their compatriots!

While you reflect on the pathetic condition of the people of South Sudan, let me take you down memory lane. If you take a quick look at the recent history of Nigeria and, you wish to be honest with yourself, it is the Yoruba-speaking people of South West Nigeria, more than any other zone, that should complain of marginalisation. You know the South West was home to the candidate who was denied the presidency in 1993! Yes! I am talking about late Chief MKO Abiola and the June 12, 1993 election.

What the South West did and why other Nigerians and indeed the whole world supported their stand was that there was never a time the Yoruba people threatened to pull out of Nigeria over June 12! Never! Of course, misguided roughnecks otherwise known as Area Boys made noise to that effect but no persons of substance in Yorubaland supported the call. The underground Radio Kudirat and NADECO struggled to actualise June 12, but not to pull Yoruba out of Nigeria! That brought about President Olusegun Obasanjo.

You also recall that, as recent as the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, there was no way any politician from the South West could have constitutionally ascended the throne in the event of vacancy. Of course, you know the South West did not feature in the top four positions in that government. In fact, the South West did not feature in the top 10 in the Goodluck Jonathan government! Check the facts! You could not have forgotten that President Goodluck Jonathan literally cleared all the votes in the South West. It was only Osun State that voted for the adopted candidate ( Nuhu Ribadu) of the defunct ACN or Action Congress of Nigeria party in the South West. The South West did not threaten secession!

The case for Yoruba people

It is strange, dear segregator, that the reason you give for your agitation is that Igbo people are marginalised in Nigeria because they do not get to occupy strategic positions in government!

And, let me take you a little back in time! You could not have forgotten that a prominent Igbo, HE Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme was elected vice president of Nigeria just nine years after the civil war Now, when Dr. Alex Ekwueme occupied the number two constitutionally recognised slot, no Yoruba politician from the South West featured in the top four positions in the country! The Senate President was Dr. Joseph Wayas while the Speaker of the House of Representatives was Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke, another Igbo! The only prominent Yoruba politician, Chief Adisa Akinloye, was NPN chairman.

Nobody from the South West complained of marginalisation or threatened to tear up the country!

As you know too well, there is no group that is deliberately targeted for mistreatment in Nigeria!

The arm-chair revolutionaries, the same commissioned agents who pretend to be your well-wishers live in affluence in Europe at the expense of gunrunners. It is from their comfort zone that they sneak into Nigeria to pollute the mind of people with hate campaigns.

Finally, dear segregator! You should realise that IPOB and MASSOB are not being honest with you. The moment to reflect is now!

Prove them wrong. Free your mind! Turn your back to hate and do not allow it to consume you! After all, there is enough room in the sky for all birds to fly in. Remember that the task is to make Nigeria a great and united country. This was the message of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as it was of Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe. It has been the message of Ohaneze Ndigbo!

It’s a task that must be done!



This opinion first appeared in The Guardian






https://www.naij.com/1094291-opinion-open-letter-a-segregationist.html

rubbish.

Rubbish

Rub bish

The first three commenters though. bet they didnt read it.

Whoever wants to go should go Abeg. Nobody is holding anybody back. Go through the proper channels and go.

Rubbish

Stupid ,Mad Northerner ,Insane,Dumb Crazy Apelike Writer.

Can u Imagine What Guts The Dumb Danfofio Descendant Had To Pen Such Stupidity !!!

I don't Want To address His Point, OSU Is Not Hs Problem Idiotic BMC Agent !!

This is what I call absolute BS!!

@OP, This is what you really need to tackle. This is the biggest problem of Nigeria not OSU, not IPOB not MASSOB. The illiterate north using violence to Lord it over the rest of Nigeria. Go and get a life and stop having heart attacks about us. Biafra must come sooner or later. Putting us in the same country with you and your region is man's inhumanity to man

I feel like strangling someone this afternoon.
Why must they always use south Sudan as an example as if there are no other countries that have broken way and still be more successful that the country they broke away from ?

Again, don't expect Afonjas to clamour for secession because they are always on the fence in every issue, waiting to fall on the side that wl favour them ,waiting for Igbos to go before they start their own agitation not knowing that freedom is not given on a platter of gold.Sometimes, blood is even shade.This letter is useless and has no weight.
#Notoforcedmarriage

.

[quote author=cstr151 post=54681969]

Tell me these proper channels, mr man.
In the UK, you can actually register parties that favour secession and independence, so secession then becomes a matter of votes.
Can you in all honesty tell me the proper channel in Nigeria? Do you actually believe that your INEC will register a biafran political party for biafran agenda?

#sigh.

You mention UK. Does the UK practice the same form of democracy we have in Nigeria?
Does U.K use the same constitution as the federal republic of Nigeria? Or is it the UK that'll come and grant you your referendum?

Why do you think that If it isn't done the UK way, then there's no other way?
Must INEC register a Biafran party before you get your biafra?

By the way what happened to APGA, that east Nigerian political party? How much support did it get from the Igbos?

Some people said secession is illegal according to the Nigerian constitution, and that is very correct. So how do you get this proper channel when the law forbids it already and a hypothetical biafran party that has a mandate to change it will never be approved.
I keep hearing about proper channels, but nobody is smart enough to tell us what it actually means especially in a third world backward Nigeria devoid of proper democratic tenets.

Yes, you heard right. There's no proviso for secession in the Nigerian Constitution which not only makes it illegal, but also makes groups such as MASSOB and IPOB illegal and Kanu Nnamdi a criminal in the eye of the law.

Haven said that. The law was written by man, not God, hence the law can be subjected to review and change at any point in time.

The secession clause could be added If the National Assembly passes it and it is signed by the presidency.

Ofcourse this would mean that the region that needed this badly would have to kowtow to their very much hated brothers in the southwest (which we know will never happen, not in a million years) and the north central to be able to get it passed at the national assembly.

A president from the southwest is more likely in the nearest future than one from the southeast. This is the truth and this is the political reality of the day, no Thanks to the clannish perspective, divisive utterances and pure hatred and bile emanating from the east towards other Nigerians on and offline.

So, one would think that again, the easterners will throw their weight behind a Yoruba candidate for president. (Again, we know this will never happen in the history of humanity)

If the two conditions up there are met, then, the constitution is amended to accommodate a referendum-based secession. If you're able to have majority vote of I think two-thirds, Biafra is yours.

But I need you to understand that this is only possible when the ethnic group is a patient, Long planning and intelligent one.

The only way to get biafra as far as Nigeria is concerned is for the US to get interested and force it. But then a lot needs to be done to get their attention and make biafra a priority.

Sorry to burst your bubble but America, though more powerful than Nigeria militarily will not dare. The direct influence of America on a country as large as Nigeria has waned considerably.

What for you think they'll do? Invade Nigeria and declare Biafra free? Lol.

Neither can trump declare any embargo on Nigeria.

This is an internal matter and no nation will want a part of it. Not America, not Russia, not Israel and definitely not the UK.

As a matter of fact, I don't even think Trump gives a sh1t as it's obvious He despises Nigeria and Nigerians.

ESDKING:
I feel like strangling someone this afternoon.
Why must they always use south Sudan as an example as if there are no other countries that have broken way and still be more successful that the country they broke away from ?

Again, don't expect Afonjas to clamour for secession because they are always on the face in every issue, waiting to fall on the side that wl favour them ,waiting for Igbo to go before they start their own agitation not knowing that freedom is not given on a platter of gold.Sometimes, blood is even shade.This letter is useless and has no weight.
#Notoforcedmarriage

@bolded, you're the only ones enslaved in this country that needs freedom. Yorubas don't feel the need for freedom because we are in our homes, the land of our birth and the land of our ancestors, moving freely and interacting freely. We are indeed freeborns and not slaves to anybody.

Excellent write up. For now, the threat posed by the secessionists is a distant one but they are encouraged to continue to drown in their delusion

Whenever you see someone say "Nigeria must remain one!", just ask them why.

What is so hard to understand when a group of people say they want to be on their own?

People talk as if Nigeria was created by divine intervention, it was not. Nigeria is the creation of European businessmen. There was a time we were not together. What has now changed that it is 'unity or death'? Because Lugard came to Africa?


Just yesterday, Scotland announced that it will be holding a referendum on independence in 2019. The same Scotland had a referendum in 2014 despite being part of Britain for over 300 years.

The Hausa/Igbo/Yoruba man have just been together roughly 100 years but some people are shouting "we must be together forever"

Why do you want to be with someone forever? Are they your Siamese twin?

Are they your property?


These people that are fighting and ready to go to war to be with other people, have they no shame?

If you must be with people who dont want you, it is time to ask your self why.

Freedom and self determination is the right of everyone no matter what

[quote author=ElsonMorali post=54683002][/quote]
[b]And what is that way to get biafra? I used the UK example because their democracy is real and constant.
And there is nothing like different democracy. It may take different platforms but the fundamentals are the same. And the fact that you cannot find parrallels between the UK and Nigeria with regards to secession is really telling.

APGA is not a biafran party. It is the largest controlling party in the east but it is not biafran. Incase, you don't know , it has the largest igbo support.
Asking it to become biafran in ideology would make it vulnerable to treason charges and dissolution by Federal Forces .
So, no , it is not very feasible as an agent for biafra atleast for now.

And secondly, your national assembly cannot pass the secession clause by themselves. It does not favour their interests and in all honesty is not what their constituents voted them for.
The only way to get a national assembly favourably disposed towards biafra is to get people who actively got voted on a biafran platform to go there and fight for it, and that is currently not possible.

And no, we will not vote for a yoruba president because a yoruba president cannot give us biafra neither is it in our best interests in Nigeria too. There is no real difference between a yoruba president and a fulani president. Infact i actually believe a very educated and progressive fulani president will be far effective and helpful to a long term biafran agenda than a yoruba rubber-stamp who will be looking not to upset the apple cart and get himself removed by his fulani superiors.
The last time we made an alliance with yorubas for independence,we got seriously burnt. So, it is madness to repeat the same mistake twice.
Infact, given how the one naijeria mantra is most vociferous in yorubaland than anywhere else in Nigeria even though it is not actually practiced anyway, it is a stupid venture to support a yoruba candidacy.
As for the rest of your accusations about igbos not getting the presidency due to their supposed clannishness - that is irrelevant to the discourse so i will not bother to go that line.
Long term planning and intelligence is very easy in a system where the political variables are democratic and constant.
How do you plan for a biafra in an utterly politically chaotic and unstable jungle like Nigeria where getting biafran representatives is ''legally'' impossible.


The US have many ways of pushing foward secessionistic agendas in weak, corrupt and fractured nation states like Nigeria and making it successful. Invading is an overkill.
Yes, i agree that trump does not currently see any need for such actions. There are ways to change that too. But it requires unity of purpose, serious intelligence, and lobbying.
[/b]

OVI75:
Stupid ,Mad Northerner ,Insane,Dumb Crazy Apelike Writer.

Can u Imagine What Guts The Dumb Danfofio Descendant Had To Pen Such Stupidity !!!

I don't Want To address His Point, OSU Is Not Hs Problem Idiotic BMC Agent !!

You can scream, kick, curse and rein insults all you want and still your Biafra will never come. Your dilector who said worse things about our country is paying the price for his ungraded utterances.

When u have two bodies figting one common cause supposing they have a country, what we happened?

[quote author=cstr151 post=54684035]

And what is that way to get biafra? I used the UK example because their democracy is real and constant.
And there is nothing like different democracy. It may take different platforms but the fundamentals are the same. And the fact that you cannot find parrallels between the UK and Nigeria with regards to secession is really telling.

Nigeria and the UK are not practicing the same form of government. I'm not even going to argue that with you.

APGA is not a biafran party. It is the largest controlling party in the east but it is not biafran. Incase, you don't know , it has the largest igbo support.
Asking it to become biafran in ideology would make it vulnerable to treason charges and dissolution by Federal Forces .
So, no , it is not very feasible as an agent for biafra atleast for now.

Of course it is the largest Igbo support because it exists only in the east.

My question is not whether it can become a Biafran party or not, my question is If such a party that was founded by Ojukwu could be jettisoned for PDP, a Hausa party in the east, what makes you think a Biafran party will pull much weight.

Besides, do you know How many groups are claiming to fight for Biafran right now? From MASSOB to IPOB, etc. I wonder How you wan take do am.

And secondly, your national assembly cannot pass the secession clause by themselves. It does not favour their interests and in all honesty is not what their constituents voted them for.
The only way to get a national assembly favourably disposed towards biafra is to get people who actively got voted on a biafran platform to go there and fight for it, and that is currently not possible.

Please read my earlier comment and meditate on it. I've already answered this there.

And no, we will not vote for a yoruba president because a yoruba president cannot give us biafra neither is it in our best interests in Nigeria too. There is no real difference between a yoruba president and a fulani president. Infact i actually believe a very educated and progressive fulani president will be far effective and helpful to a long term biafran agenda than a yoruba rubber-stamp who will be looking not to upset the apple cart and get himself removed by his fulani superiors.

Your luck. You've always aligned with the Northerners against the Yorubas anyway. I guess Buhari will soon release Nnamdi Kanu and give you your Biafra.

You'll have a other opportunity to vote in a Fulani or Hausa come 2019 under PDP. I wish you the best as you cast your votes again.

The last time we made an alliance with yorubas for independence,we got seriously burnt. So, it is madness to repeat the same mistake twice.

Proof of the alliance or you're a liar and a propagandist! I think we both know you're lying. And it's just So sad that you'll descend to this level.

Infact, given how the one naijeria mantra is most vociferous in yorubaland than anywhere else in Nigeria even though it is not actually practiced anyway, it is a stupid venture to support a yoruba candidacy.

Oh yeah? Have you been to Yorubaland before? How many people do you see chanting one Nigeria? Maybe you and your folks don't know, here let me educate you. The average Yoruba person out there in the western part of Nigeria or anywhere else for that matter doesn't give a flying Fvck If Nigeria remains one or gets blasted into many tiny bits as Long as Yorubas are together.

No one that I know in Yorubaland cares about Biafra. In fact ask your brethren living in the west If anybody talks about Biafra there. You'd be shocked. Nobody cares.

As for the rest of your accusations about igbos not getting the presidency due to their supposed clannishness - that is irrelevant to the discourse so i will not bother to go that line.
Long term planning and intelligence is very easy in a system where the political variables are democratic and constant.
How do you plan for a biafra in an utterly politically chaotic and unstable jungle like Nigeria where getting biafran representatives is ''legally'' impossible.

You want your Biafra? You'll have to play the politics needed to get the Biafra. Politics is played everywhere and sometimes You'll need to kiss the ass of your enemies (the Yorubas) to get what you want (Biafra).

Politics is played everywhere. You use the system to your advantage. But not you folks. So proud and full of yourselves (no offence). You want everything handed to you on a silver platter. Well, How has it worked for you So far?

Obviously you can't get it by fighting either...

The US have many ways of pushing foward secessionistic agendas in weak, corrupt and fractured nation states like Nigeria and making it successful. Invading is an overkill.
Yes, i agree that trump does not currently see any need for such actions. There are ways to change that too. But it requires unity of purpose, serious intelligence, and lobbying.

Bro! Bro!! Bro!!! How many times I call you? For the sake of the fact that I love Igbos, I'll tell you this once again. The United States of America is not coming to help you. They are not cleared to dabble in Nigerian affairs either directly or indirectly.

Maybe you don't know, I'll let you know today that the state of California is planning to secede from the US. So If you think America doesn't have it's own problems and it will come and meddle in yours, my brother, forget it.

The northerners that are always crying when aver BIAFRA say that they want to go, i want to ask them what is the reason they don't want them to go?. Even if the whole northerners convert to christians it will never stop biafra not to come. NORTHERNERS are the virus we have in this country that believe that they are the owner of nigeria. Let them stop their preaching. The country we are with them has no future.