[s] Mixedfruit:
The Origin Of the Name “BIAFRA” and why South-South and South-East Must
Unite.
"Written By Russell Bluejack"
I write as an Ijaw son from Bonny and Nkoro in Rivers State. Ijaw is my tribe,
but
Biafra remains my national consciousness. I have noticed an inexplicable and
unnecessary division in the South-East and South-South in analogy to the
reinvigorated quest to restore the Sovereign States of Biafra.
I think our people in these sister regions should reflect on these political and
divisive ascriptions and rediscover themselves.
We are neither South-South nor South-East. We are the people of the
Eastern
Region, a people politically and economically impugned by our enemy in their
bid
to break our solid SOLIDARITY. We were too formidable for our enemies.
Some of our people think Biafra is an Igbo thing because they are ignorant of
the
origin of the name. Let me do justice to the origin of Biafra.
THE ORIGIN OF BIAFRA
Biafra is not aboriginal to Biafrans, since it was birthed out of the need to
work
together and escape the pogromists, rapists, land invaders, and religious
fundamentalists called Fulani.
The leader of the Eastern Region, Dim Ojukwu, an educated military officer,
assembled stakeholders from Ijaw, Obibio, Efik, and other tribes that
constituted
the region in his bid to come up with a name that would reflect the
heterogeneous ambience of the region.
Chief Frank Opigo, an Ijaw traditional ruler that hails from today’s Bayelsa,
suggested BIAFRA, and this went down well with everyone in attendance, for
it
referred to the water body that covers the entire region. What Ojukwu sought
after was a name that would not be exclusionary to any of the tribes (Ijaw,
Ibibio,
Itsekiri, Urhobo, Annioma etc) in the region. Biafra became the baby of that
quest.
Biafra, having come from a non-Igbo stakeholder, became the national
consciousness of both the Igbo and non-Igbo constituents of the Eastern
Region.
Thenceforth, the need to actualise the nation of their dreams, the Land of
the
Rising Sun, became the aspiration of every easterner.
The failure of Nigeria to heed the Aburi Accord reached in Ghana for
restructuring
stoked the fire of the agitation for freedom. The Sovereign States of Biafra
was
declared, but it was short-lived because of avoidable internal wranglings that
spiralled into the loss of the Civil War.
The incongruity in the Eastern Region was the result of the feud between
Ojukwu
and Dr. Kenule Benson Saro-Wiwa, an illustrious Ogoni son and Ojukwu’s
military
mentality and disposition.
WHY THE STRUGGLE FAILED IN THE 60s.
Popular perception has it that the struggle for emancipation from perceived
and
obvious oppression by Nigeria was scuttled by the Civil War. That is part of
the
truth, not the whole. Biafra was rocked by internal wranglings.
Two prominent figures in the region, Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa, became
estranged
friends over an issue that should have remained personal. In one of our
serious
meetings, I was made to understand this side of the story. Legborsi,
Emmanuel, a
very prominent Ogoni son who doubles as a formidable member of my team,
THE SOUTH-EAST/SOUTH-SOUTH COALITION FOR BIAFRA,
opened up the Pandora Box concerning the real cause of their feud.
Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa were caught in a love triangle, with Princess Amina,
the
daughter of the then Sultan as the magnetic force. As scions (sons of very
wealthy parents), they had the needed charisma to steer the imagination of
the
Sultan. Gowon, a senior military officer, joined the fray, but found himself as
an
underdog, financially and academically, for the duo of Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa
were of both fabulous financial and transformative academic standing.
Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa, once friends, now rivals, had to slug it out. The laurel
at
stake was Amina’s affection. Saro-Wiwa, dishonestly struck a cord in Amina’s
emotion and carried the day.
The Sultan, according to the veracious story, could not find his daughter and
had
the innocent Gowon, the suitor he abhorred, to blame for it. A triangle of hate
became the result of this misdeed by Saro-Wiwa: Gowon hated both Ojukwu
and
Saro-Wiwa; Ojukwu hated Saro-Wiwa for edging him out in the most
dishonest
manner; and Saro-Wiwa burned in annoyance over the contest.
An Ikwerre elder, nonagenarian, corroborated this story when I met him. He
told
me that the struggle hit the rock then because of two reasons:
(1) the feud between Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa
(2) the militarised mentality of Ojukwu’s.
The elder thinks that if Ojukwu, though well educated and exposed, were a
civilian, he would have appreciated the need to dialogue with other
stakeholders
before going to war.
If the stakeholders had been told what each constituent would benefit from
the
emerging nation, the leaders would have had what to say to their people to
excite
them to take the struggle seriously. Ojukwu, on the other hand, wanted these
stakeholders to convince their people to fight first and discuss later.
This did not go down well with them. Some, however, saw the need to fight.
The
festering relationship between Ojukwu and Saro-Wiwa led to a huge sabotage.
The bottom line of the accounts of Legborsi and the elder is that our people
were
not united. Our disunity caused by personal grouse and lack of tact cost us
that
war. It is incontrovertible that we would have won the war had our house not
been in disarray.
THE URGENT NEED FOR OUR UNITY NOW
Several years have gone by, yet the socio-economic and political
inconcinnities
that gave rise to the agitation then still stare us in the face. As a matter of
fact,
there is no gainsaying that if our fathers had reasons to fight then, there are
more
reasons to fight now.
The situation today is worse than it was then. Oppression, socio-economic
exclusion, and glaring prejudice meted out to the South-South and South-
East, the
real economic mainstay of this contraption called Nigeria, have reached
unbelievable and unimaginable proportions.
Even Ojukwu could not have conceived the precarious level of hate shown to
us
by the sons and daughters of Uthman Dan Fodio. The unfair treatment we
are
shown should make our unity imperative. Our personality issues and lack of
tact
gave them the happenstance to divide us and make us conquerable. We, the
South-East and South-South people, are the victims of their jihadist rituals.
Our
women get raped, our lands invaded, our crops killed, and our men
butchered.
The Igbo, Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Annioma, Ibibio, Efik etc have always lived
together in love and conviviality. A critical observation of our values and
culture
reveals our common ancestry. We dress alike, eat alike, behave alike, and
worship
alike. How different are we, brothers and sisters? Let us come together and
fight
this monster.
They have sent their soldiers to occupy our two regions out of fear of our
imminent reunion. Exasperated by their inability to stop us from uniting, they
have
taken to poisoning our children under the pretense of immunization devoid of
the
viva of the health departments. In their bid to hold on to power at all cost,
they
flouted the constitutional proviso concerning absence of the President.
Their hatred for us led to the embargo placed on our Igbo brothers and
sisters,
which makes it difficult for any of them to become President of Nigeria. We
and
our Igbo brothers and sisters are the real victims here. We have to come
together, sit together, discuss together, reach documented agreement, and
escape
together.
Our unity is the only leeway out of this fortress called Nigeria. Is it not
shameful
that whereas we have all the resources the Gambari are the ones exercising
power over them all? Our Igbo brothers and sisters own both oil and the
business
environment that sustain this oppressive dungeon called Nigeria, but travel to
the
East and you will weep. They killed the Bill seeking the relocation of
company
headquarters to regions where the raw material is fetched. They killed the
Bill
seeking compensation to develop the Eastern Region. Whatever comes from
the
South-East and South-South dies on arrival.
If bills that seek better welfare packages for our regions always die, who is
that
mad person that is telling you that we can restructure this dangerous citadel
that
they claim belongs to them? Was it not the failure of Nigeria to heed
restructuring
agreement that sparked off the Civil War? The only way out of this quagmire
is
the unity of South-East and South-South. Let us unite and live in peace and
harmony. Our sister regions need respite from rape, massacre, genocide,
pogrom,
alienation, discrimination, and prejudice.
Let us keep our unreal differences aside and face the enemy together. They
will
continue to defeat us as long as we remain divided. Our division is their
strength,
but our unity is their weakness. Jasper Adaka Boro, Dr. Ken Saro-Wiwa, and
Sen.
(Dr.) Obi Wali are some of the great men this fake nation has killed
gruesomely.
We have not found Mazi Nnamdi Kanu even as I write. Do you see how they
hate
us? The python that danced in the East has become a crocodile smiling in
the
South-South.
Brothers and sisters, Saro-Wiwa was guillotined by Nigeria after a kangaroo
judgment. Boro was used and shot. Obi Wali was butchered like a condemned
chicken. Our beloved leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is nowhere to be
found
because of his liberating activities. Nigeria is a place where it is a heinous
crime
to speak up against oppression and neo-slavery.
Nigeria has become too dangerous for Christians. Nigeria has become too
stuffy
for anything that breathes. We have to go, brothers and sisters. We have
overstayed in this prison.
We do not even know who signed the 1914 amalgamation, since all our
nationalists were either adolescents, toddlers, or unborn at the time. Nigeria
is the
property of Britain’s under the management of the Fulani. Let the South-
South
and South-East come together and rebirth Biafra. They hate us and we hate
ourselves.
Let love and understanding lead the way this time. Let us dialogue and end
our
differences once and for all. The enemy has become vicious. We should
become
more tactical now. May God bless us all as we heed this clarion call. May
God
bless the entire constituents of the Old Eastern Region.
"Russell Idatoru Bluejack is a thinker, revolutionary writer, university tutor,
and
socio-economic and political analyst that writes from the creeks in the
coastal
part of Biafra".
copied [/s] Landgrabber |
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