Congratulations on this epoch – making occasion of your liberation and freedom. It is the dawn of a new day and has been a long time coming for Biafra. The roads have been long, bumpy and uncertain. Lives have been lost in the struggle, thousands of them – if not millions; egos have been bruised. At the end of the day, the words of Albert Einstein comes to mind: If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.

Some people will wonder what the felicitation is all about. It would serve them well, not to judge Biafra by the height it has now achieved, but consider the depth from which it all started. It is only by so doing that they would fully appreciate the significance of this accomplishment. Let us observe a minute of silence in the memory of, and in recognition and honor to those who paid the supreme price in the course of the struggle.

As you begin this undoubtedly onerous journey to Nationhood, allow me to prescribe what I consider guiding principles upon which the achievement of an enduring greatness, which you so much desire and deserve rest.

LEADERSHIP

One of the first major challenge that you may face is that of leadership. Piloting the affairs of a new nation, a nation just emerging from the ashes of a disintegrated fiefdom is not an all-comers affair. It requires unique sets skill-set. It requires that individual that is genuinely ready to be a servant of the people. The president (or prime minister) as you may choose, should be a role model. When put on a pedestal, he must be of such character as will instil strong character in the Biafran youth and set the tone for ongoing civic engagement.

Your leader and all his appointed lietenants must be able to set the stage for an enduring economic and social system, upon which your future fate as a Nation will rest. Just as the fate of a building rests on the foundation, so must you ensure that your Nation produces that first leadership that eschews all forms of biases and see his constituency as the whole of the Biafra Nation. I am sure you have read the now infamous quote credited to former South African President, Pieter Botha where he said “Black people cannot rule themselves because they don’t have the brain and mental capacity to govern a society” – Unfortunately he seems to have been right in the case of most black nations.

You must also have seen what happened in South Sudan after they gained their independence as a sovereign nation; how brethren that collectively fought for their independence later turned against each other. This must not be the testimony of the new Biafra Nation.

Let it not escape the Biafran leadership that a great nation is built on a strong intellectual foundation. This means you must strive to ensure, paraphrasing the counsel of Chinua Achebe, that politicians with plenty of money but very low IQs are not given pride of place in the administration of your New Nation.

MINORITIES’ INTEREST

The interest of the minorities in Biafra has been a thorny and contentious one. It has even been one of the tools used by the “subjugators” to frustrate the quest of Biafran for their rightly deserved freedom. While I am wholeheartedly convinced that the Biafra Nation will be a Nation for all its citizens, with equal right, opportunities and privileges, I thought it needed to be called out for emphasis. Biafra would do well to harness the immense potential of all its citizens. It should strive to place round-pegs in round holes, irrespective of ethnic origin. It is only by so doing that you will forestall stoking an uneasiness with potential to snowball into agitation by its citizens.

However, I see enough cultural homogeneity within Biafra that will foster an all-inclusive communal co-existence. Biafra must uphold the core principles of unity, self-determination, excellence and social justice, all of which were key aspirations as originally contained in the Ahiara Declaration of June 1, 1969.

CONTINUE READING: https://africatodaynewsonline.com/2020/02/06/dear-biafrans-congratulations-biafra/

BIAFRA

[s]

yarimo:
BIAFRA

samuel19222:
Biafra is Dead

[/s] Should I bring hanke for you, so that you can clean your tears...

Zoo citizen
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