Over time IPOB has stated their fight is about freedom, liberty, justice, honour and dignity not political
power in Nigeria.
The author Onyebuchi J. Ugwu in this piece urges Igbos to embrace the options of recognition and leap of faith to allow
them survive in Nigeria.


THE ABSURDITY OF THE LIVES OF THE NDIGBOS IN NIGERIA
The IPOB, its members and supporters of other pro-Biafra groups, I sincerely advise and implore all, just as many have
done, to apply breaks to the agitation. I believe, they have not heeded advice, not because they want to be killed by the
trigger-hungry and blood-thirsty Nigerian soldiers but because Revolt is a natural tendency in every living being.
It is only expected of a living creature like the "Biafrans" to revolt in a Nigeria where there is meaninglessness and
illogicality of the human life. This is what a French philosopher Albert Camus calls "The absurdity of human existence".
Absurdism as Camus explains, triggers Revolt from those "The Igbos" whose condition in a society "Nigeria", is
meaningless and illogical.
However, in order to find meaning to their existence, the Igbos decided to revolt, but the Nigerian Authority who never
wanted the liberation of the Igbos, with the pretence of "One Nigeria" that has never been one, resorted to exterminate
the Igbos if the Igbos refuse or reject the enslavement by Nigeria.
READ ALSO: I feel for Biafrans, only God can help you now - IPOB’s US coordinator
My Igbo people, the great French philosopher left human beings (The Igbos) with the choices of su*cide, a leap of faith or
recognition. S*icide as one of the choices is an admission that life is not worth living. Since the ultimate fate of man is
death, suici*e is a way of quickening that ultimate fate, which perhaps is a solution to the problem of living a helpless
life in a futile Nigeria.
For me and other Igbos, su*cide will never be our option nor choice. We cannot allow them to exterminate us. We will
rather apply breaks to wait for a moment. This is because we never created ourselves, neither did we locate ourselves to
this geographical entity "Nigeria" devoid of purpose and meaning.
I, therefore, suggest and implore us to embrace the options of recognition and leap of faith which lead to survival in an
absurd Nigeria. This is because the only alternative open to man (us) is to embrace his(our) own absurd condition in
Nigeria because the ability to give meaning and logic to life lies in the recognition of life's absurdity.
However, the government of Nigeria has adamantly refused to acknowledge that it is inherent in man, the freedom to
create his own meaning and purpose of life. Historically, it is normal that human beings like the Igbos, attempt to find
meaning in their lives.
This quest to find meaning, most times, leads man (The Igbos) to see the meaninglessness of life in the absurd Nigeria
where he (The Igbos) would never be allowed to exist as human beings with the tendency to revolt in the face of
danger.
Hence, I implore us to compensate for the meaninglessness of life in Nigeria by laying a strong belief in God, thus
escaping to religion and faith. This is the best choice open to us (The Igbos), a leap of faith.
Many would say that they do not have faith in the religious, that the religious have, often times, condemned the agitation
to liberate God's own people (The Igbos). Most painfully, some of the religious are Igbos. I pray you (The Igbos) who
have tried to prove your ancestral link to the Isreal, to learn from the experience of the Israelites in Egypt.
Umu Nne m Na Um Nna m, the Israelites went through hell in the hands of Pharaoh but at the end, God made them
better than the Egyptians. Our faith should be in God, not in the religious for God has made us to know that the devil will
perform miracles just to deceive those he can deceive. The devil cannot deceive us with his fake miracles, gifts and
rhetoric in Jesus name! AMEN!
Remember what happened to those who blamed and tongue-lashed Moses. Remember that all who came out of Egypt did
not enter the Promised Land. Remember that not all who called Him, Lord, Lord Lord, will be recognized as children of
God in the Great Beyond. Let us leave God to judge both true and fake religious!
Please, let us apply breaks, so as not to be exterminated by this Nigeria-Pharaoh before we (The Igbos) leave Nigeria-
Egypt. But, I assure you that if we all lay our strong faith in God, He may not do it exactly as He did if for the Israelites.
Remember, Igboland is already a land of honey, our Promised Land. So, there will be no need of geographical relocation
but the Nigeria-Egypt will leave us (The Igbos) forcefully by intervention of the Divinity or willingly when God says it
will be!
Interestingly, I would want you to know that you and I are not totally wrong as some ill-hearted people see us to be, we
are only hopeless and helpless in a hopeless and helpless Nigeria. It is only he who does not exist that will not search for
survival in when in danger. The means and how to survive is a different thing.
Leadership by coercion, as has been exemplified by the government of Nigeria-led by President Muhammadu Buhari,
has NEVER been a good attribute of a democratic system. This government has been employing coercion as its
indispensable tool to lead only those the President sees as his haters.
A good leader seeks to know the problem of those he leads, he tries his best not to be provoked even in the face of what
can provoke the most patient person, but instead, the leader of Nigerian State President Buhari is provoked by the
agitation for the Independent State of Biafra, to the extent that he (Buhari) has undermined the sacredness of human life
by ordering his Army to kill the Igbos as it is ongoing in the Southeast, a thing that God Himself values most.
Oh! This is why the Holy Bible says in (Prov. 29:2) "when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the
wicked beareth rule, the people mourn". This is exactly what the Igbos are facing now. No sane person will say that the
Igbos are not mourning now. But, it is unfortunate that it appears there is nothing we can do.
Help For The Igbos: Local, Regional and International
There is absolutely no hope for local, regional or international aid. My Igbo people, let me say that we are just in a
wrong country where we cannot contribute or be active part of the governance and therefore, we feel marginalized.
Unfortunately, we are in slavery because we cannot and should not even attempt to be liberated. Any attempt of
agitation for liberation is termed "terrorism".
That is giving a dog a bad name to get it hung. In tears, I know my people are helpless. My brothers and sisters are killed
and we are denied of giving them ritual burial as our tradition demands, just because we are under inhuman reign.
The Governors of the Southeast who should be mourning their people who have been killed, but for fear of being termed
"terrorists' supporters and sponsors", decided to join in proscribing the IPOB.
Oh! South-eastern youths are blamed and called all sorts of names, and this is the justification some of our elders,
religious and traditional leaders and politicians give for the many souls that we cannot number because of the "kill and
carry" associated with the Operation Python Dance of the President Buhari-led Army.
Who can help us? We owe it to the memory of our beloved ones we have lost, who were abandoned by those who could
have saved them, and who have paid the supreme price in our battle for liberation from slavery, to resign to faith in God
who did it for the Isrealites from Egypt.
However, the government of Nigeria should be rest assured that if the issues are not resolved, they may succeed by
intimidating the Igbos into their shells and coerce the members of IPBO into surrendering the agitation for Biafra, but
surely another spring shall rise in God's stated time.
Therefore, I implore my brothers and sisters to remember those we have lost, try to look at their faces even though they
are no more and wait unto God. I chose this part because my heart can no longer bear the colossal loss of my people in
the hands of wicked government of Nigeria-led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yes, many groups and individuals who still have reverence for the sacredness of human life, have condemned the
categorization of IPOB as a Terrorist Organization and the Killings in the Southeast by the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led Army.
Our tears and the condemnations, though I know, could never have touched the devilish-hearted government of Nigeria
who only purportedly signed a document for proscribing the IPOB before President Buhari left for the UN meeting in
the US.
It was alleged that he did sign the document should any of the world leaders raises the issue in US. Or should it be the
fear of the humane position of the President of the Senate Dr. Bukola Saraki and his Senate that made President Buhari
to sign whatever document before he left for the US?
It could not have been the position of the Senate when he knows that he is a paymaster to some of the senators of even
Igbo extraction who would rather thwart good intentions of other senators once they are paid a paltry as against the
lives of their people. In fact, it could be the fear of the world leaders in the US but if it is.
That is a true indication that the government of Nigeria deliberately commits illegality, criminality of killings of the
Igbos but "serpently" covers her atrocities before the world as the President Buhari-led Army made away with dead
bodies of Igbos they killed in Operation Python Dance in the Southeast.
The government of Nigeria need not be afraid of world leaders because this is not the first time Igbos are dehumanized
and killed like mosquitoes. We have travelled this road before, when between 1966 and 1970, we lost almost 3 million of
our people in a battle for our liberation.
What then did most foreign governments, world superpowers, international and regional organizations do? The
Southeast of Nigeria is not an exception and will not be the last where crimes against humanity will occur.
There were crimes against humanity in Syria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Congo, Darfur, Somalia etc but the international and
regional Organizations and governments rather looked the other way. The quietness of the world leaders and bodies, is
by inference, supports given to devilish leaders like that of Nigeria, to exterminate some people.
If there is any government of the world that can fight crimes against humanity, why have they not fought the
government of Nigeria-led by President Muhammadu Buhari? There is no hope of safety in any government of the world.
I have come to agree that the leaders of the world who keep quiet and calm when people are killed like mosquitoes, no
matter whatsoever reason, especially when they are not armed and have not killed anyone, are also devilish and
inhuman.
Ndigbo, the only hope of safety is in God who can drown the Pharaoh-like President Buhari and his Army in the Red Sea
for the liberation of the Isrealites-like Igbos.
https://www.naij.com/1127245-an-open-letter-ipob-ndigbo-by-onyebuchi-j-ugwu.html