₦airaland Forum

FreeIgbos:
In all we do as Igbos, we must never allow our enemy to intimidate us into accepting a situation that will harm us. I will counter each of your points respectively with positions we should rather go with.

1. You used Lesotho as an example of an enclave nation but you forgot that while Lesotho can easily survive and thrive with just 3 million people, Biafra on the other hand will have over 30 million people! With just 3 million people and surrounded by a peaceful and prosperous country, Lesotho can easily thrive by supplying to South Africa alone but same can't apply in the case of Biafra and Nigeria.

2. Your number 2 point is factual.

3. Point 3 is factual too.

4. Good and factual points here too. However, sometimes passport strength is also determined by demand and supply. Igbos travel a lot and in Biafra we would be demanding visas a lot which can also affect our passport negatively.

5. This point is neither here nor there. It adds no value in real terms.

6. Sure, all tax revenue remain in Biafra, no more robbing Peter to pay Paul.

7. Same as 6 above.

8. This would depend on how efficient we run our nation. Nothing should be taken for granted!

9. We would have no choice than to develop a world-class airline that would perhaps be Africa's best. Landlocked countries all tend to have relatively great airlines. Good examples are Ethiopia and Rwanda. Although, we would be semi landlocked since we would still have access to bring in ships/berges.

10. Yes, it may appear tricky on paper about our access to the Atlantic ocean. But we have no choice than to use any of the rivers that flow into the ocean as routes to bring in imports. We can allow smaller ships to come in or reach agreement with Niger Delta or Equatorial Guinea to use their ports to berth big ships and transfer into berges bound for Biafra. Any attempts to stop or sabotage us would be seen and dealth with as an act of war because it would be a threat to over 30 million people and their means of survival.

11. Nothing to add about point 11, it's factual.

Lastly, whatever happens we must not allow our Igbo brothers in the so-called SS to be cut off from us. Any of them shows willingness to join us would be protected and brought into our fold, any attempts to stopping it would be considered an art of war. You can't say that old Biafra boundaries in 1967 is not obtainable again and still want us to abandon our Igbo speaking people elsewhere. If we control both sides of the Niger River, which would be the case if our Anioma brothers come with us, it will enable us to use it as a bargaining chip as well. We must build a very efficient country that is technology and ICT driven or we perish.

FreeIgbos:
In all we do as Igbos, we must never allow our enemy to intimidate us into accepting a situation that will harm us. I will counter each of your points respectively with positions we should rather go with.

1. You used Lesotho as an example of an enclave nation but you forgot that while Lesotho can easily survive and thrive with just 3 million people, Biafra on the other hand will have over 30 million people! With just 3 million people and surrounded by a peaceful and prosperous country, Lesotho can easily thrive by supplying to South Africa alone but same can't apply in the case of Biafra and Nigeria.

2. Your number 2 point is factual.

3. Point 3 is factual too.

4. Good and factual points here too. However, sometimes passport strength is also determined by demand and supply. Igbos travel a lot and in Biafra we would be demanding visas a lot which can also affect our passport negatively.

5. This point is neither here nor there. It adds no value in real terms.

6. Sure, all tax revenue remain in Biafra, no more robbing Peter to pay Paul.

7. Same as 6 above.

8. This would depend on how efficient we run our nation. Nothing should be taken for granted!

9. We would have no choice than to develop a world-class airline that would perhaps be Africa's best. Landlocked countries all tend to have relatively great airlines. Good examples are Ethiopia and Rwanda. Although, we would be semi landlocked since we would still have access to bring in ships/berges.

10. Yes, it may appear tricky on paper about our access to the Atlantic ocean. But we have no choice than to use any of the rivers that flow into the ocean as routes to bring in imports. We can allow smaller ships to come in or reach agreement with Niger Delta or Equatorial Guinea to use their ports to berth big ships and transfer into berges bound for Biafra. Any attempts to stop or sabotage us would be seen and dealth with as an act of war because it would be a threat to over 30 million people and their means of survival.

11. Nothing to add about point 11, it's factual.

Lastly, whatever happens we must not allow our Igbo brothers in the so-called SS to be cut off from us. Any of them shows willingness to join us would be protected and brought into our fold, any attempts to stopping it would be considered an art of war. You can't say that old Biafra boundaries in 1967 is not obtainable again and still want us to abandon our Igbo speaking people elsewhere. If we control both sides of the Niger River, which would be the case if our Anioma brothers come with us, it will enable us to use it as a bargaining chip as well. We must build a very efficient country that is technology and ICT driven or we perish.

selemempe:
In this piece, I'm going to let you see why getting Biafra with only 5 SE states may not be a bad idea.
I will list my points below.

1. Other enclaved countries. Biafra would not be the only enclaved country in the world.
Lesotho is entirely enclaved inside South Africa. They have a population of almost 3 million and still have a higher GDP per capita than Nigeria. As far as we can have an internationally brokered deal with Nigeria to freely allow us use Nigerian airspace for civilian planes, we would be just fine.

2. Oil and gas money The south east has more oil and gas reserves than the Federal allocation it gets.
With oil in Abia and imo States and gas in Anambra state, we have enough of that resource to gradually build a more sustainable economy if we plan well. Don't forget that Nairobi Kenya was built with money from tea and coffee. Nairobi is more beautiful than Lagos built with oil money.

3. Military Today Igbos have no military and have no right to form a military. If we are allowed to go with our 5 states, we would have the right to build a military, To buy as much deadly weapons and defence technology as we can afford to buy. We can get Israel to even help us with a low budget iron Dome technology for aerial self defense. We can be able to take the war to any future enemies without being sitting ducks.

3 Customs, immigration today Igbos have no right or sovereignty to defend our land. Any abokì can walk from futa jallon and come and settle in the hills of Enugu. All we can do is rant as far as fulani government refuses to act, we can't do anything. Any trailer filled with whatever can drive into SE today without us being able to check what is inside. With biafra we can legally mount checks on our borders to check what is going in and out according to international law. Do you know that oil is being smuggled out of Anambra on a daily basis? In biafra, we can have checks for things like that legally

4. Passport if they allow us take our 5 states, we would also be obliged to drop the overabused Nigerian passport that can't even get you into Cape Verde. We would create our own passport and build its reputation on a virgin ground and with hindsight on how reputation can ruin a passport

5. Foreign diplomacy today Igbos are not known in international politics. With our 5 states, we would have the right to join the United Nations. We would have the right to build relationships with other countries on equal basis. We can even become a closer friend and protege to Israel, Our president can stand Infront of the UN general assembly every year to speak for us. We would automatically become a sovereign people. Very very important

6. Federal tax if we get our 5 states as biafra, all the billions of naira that goes from our region to Abuja in taxes will stop. That is money that we can use to build our nation

7. Federal fees instead of paying Nigeria government for things like passport, driving license, vehicle papers, radio and TV licences etc, you pay it to the Biafran government. That money can help us achieve a lot.

8. Policing in our 5 states, we will no longer have abokì people mounting road blocks on our roads and killing our hustling youths in the name of policing all because of deep-seated hatred. Biafra police would be 100% Igbo

9. Airport and travel with biafra of 5 states, we would now fly and land in Enugu (for instance) instead of Lagos or Abuja. Our government can even partner Air Peace to create an airline carrier that can later rival Ethiopian airlines. Where there is a will there is a way. Remember that

10. Sea port it gets tricky here but we have options that may be better than going to Lagos to clear our goods. We can import with more air cargo than with ships. Or We can spend money and dredge the river Niger and dock at Onitsha river port. All we need to do as a country is to buy barges and keep them at onne port, once a ship docks there, all cargoes going into Biafra would be transferred to the badges and sailed up the river Niger to Onitsha. Or We can also negotiate with Nigeria to use the Enugu-port Harcourt rail to transport containers and pay Nigerian customs. Either way, we would be fine.

11. Capital flight to Lagos and Abuja Igbos who are quick to build their mansions and businesses in Lagos, Abuja, port Harcourt etc would be forced to come home as they automatically lose the right to live freely in Nigeria. Those returning igbos and their money would help us start building or country from day one


12. I will come with more points but however, I'm not saying it would be a walk in the park. I'm just saying it is still better than Nigeria 1000%. But Building an enclaved biafra that makes sense would take a higher sense of responsibility and imagination than our current leaders are exhibiting, but it can be done

Modified
This thread is about those who are quick to blackmail Igbos and Biafra with the term '5 enclaved states'. It is not in any way meant to say that Igboland doesn't extend beyond 5 south east states.
However it is meant to show that we have more to gain in an enclaved biafra than in Nigeria.
I want people who are opposed to this idea to tell me how it is better for Igbos to remain in Nigeria than to leave with our 5 core states (at least for now)

selemempe:
local governments are homogeneous and their boundaries are known.
We have roughly 115 Igbo speaking local governments in Nigeria. 96 of those are in SE region

oyatz:
Not all LGAs are homogeneous sir.

Now let us look at this scenerio,

1) In Ika North LGA, there some who says they are not Igbos but there are some who regard themselves as Igbos, will the referendum hold in such places or only those who identify as Igbos will vote?


2) In Delta State , a local government that's NOT having boundaries with the Anambra State vote for Biafra, are you going to jump over other LGAs to claim this lone LGA.

3) Will non-igbo Indigenes/residents also vote? In Etche LGA, how do you differentiate Ekpeye, Ijaws, Ogoni and Ikwerres living in the LGA?

4) If being Igbos is the criterion for voting in the referendum, how do you justify the insistence of the agitators that the referendum must also hold in Warri, Obudu, Ikot Abasi or Yenegoa which are non-igbo territories?

OfoIgbo:
Unacceptable.

Gowon is not the one to determine the borders of Igboland.

There are millions of Igbos in the SS, and they must come with us if they want.
We will not be abandoning our SS Igbo brothers to perpetual slavery.

Baawaa:
Odua nation with 6 south/west states

Igboid:
For Igbos saying no to SE only Biafra, you need to start seeing the bigger picture.
After Germany lost the WW2, the allied forces divided Germans into West and East Germany.The West influenced West Germany while the East was under Soviet Union Communism control.
Additionally Soviet Union annexed parts of Eastern Poland to Soviet Union and in return elected to pay Poland back by adding parts of Eastern Germany to Poland.

So when Germans wanted to reunify their country, USSR insisted that she would not give up East Germany control unless Germany accept to give up German territories they had assigned to Poland.

For years Germans refused and fought tooth and nail to get those lands back, but they were weak at that point in time and those against them were stronger.
Eventually Germany accepted that USSR redrawn map of Germany that had seen Germany lose many of it's Eastern villages and towns to Poland.
It was a bitter pill, but it was a necessary sacrifice to achieve German reunification.

Read about it here:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line


Today Germany has grown so strong that she can take those territories back if she wishes and no fool can do shii! But she doesn't even care about them anymore. Success is a form of revenge.Germany is the biggest economy and richest Country in Europe, that knowledge is enough for Germans.

So Umunna! Let's start from somewhere. In the future we can choose to adopt the German(forfeit forever) or Israel ( slowly reclaim) strategy once we get stronger.

IGBOSON1:
This is why i ignore all these silly Igbo that want to fall into the trap of Igbo haters who have been trying to sell the narrative that Alaigbo is just 'your 5 south-east states' that Gowon wickedly tried to hem us into in 1967! Where do they expect Igbos like me from that useless 'south-south' to go?

These parasitic Igbo haters are not from the so called 'south-south'.....they're outsiders who want to maintain their control over the hydrocarbons in the area, as well as be in a position to try and economically frustrate a newly emergent Biafra Republic! Some of them who're actually from the 'south-south' are those presently in and around gov't in their states who feel their enjoyment will cease the moment their ethnicity leaves Nigeria....either independently or to be part of Biafra!

ProfAmaben:
Excellent article. Biafra should be 5 states alone, I detest South South, they are exactly like the Yorubas, bitter and hate filled.

selemempe:
people who speak a dialect of Igbo are Igbos.

OfoIgbo:
Unacceptable.

Gowon is not the one to determine the borders of Igboland.

There are millions of Igbos in the SS, and they must come with us if they want.
We will not be abandoning our SS Igbo brothers to perpetual slavery.

selemempe:
1. The ikas will vote and majority will carry the vote.
2. Yes. There are cases like that all over the world. Check Gaza map and see where it is even though it's in Palestine.
3. Ekpeye have Igbo names, ijaw and ogoni don't. Ikwere can vote if that's their registered voting center on their pvc
4. That's what we are trying to kill. We want our people to leave non Igbo speakers alone.
Are you ok now

koondog:
Yorubaaa...leave us alone. We will decide for ourselves and will take with us all our blood in your useless south south. Look at people in Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Igodomigodo, Ikwerre, do they look like Yorubas or Hausas to you? They don't. They all resemble Igbo. We look different from Yorubas and Hausas. STAY ON YOUR OWN, LEAVE US ALONE, WE ARE NO THE SAME TYPE OF HUMAN BEINGS AND OUR BRAINS FUNCTION DIFFERENTLY!

ProfAmaben:
Excellent article. Biafra should be 5 states alone, I detest South South, they are exactly like the Yorubas, bitter and hate filled.

selemempe:
A sovereign state of biafra with just the 5 states of SE is better than nothing.
I will leave you with this picture below. If you don't understand what it means vis-a-vis Biafra, then you don't have the cunning or intelligence to talk about biafra

oyatz:
A dialect of Igbo (just as in other languages) is not easy to define because languages are often in spectra.

Some will tell you that their language is similar but not the same as Igbos.
If you go to Delta State, you will see some communities that speak languages that are similar to Igbo language but as you move westwards, the similarities with Igbo reduce gradually

OfoIgbo:
Unacceptable.

Gowon is not the one to determine the borders of Igboland.

There are millions of Igbos in the SS, and they must come with us if they want.
We will not be abandoning our SS Igbo brothers to perpetual slavery.

koondog:
Yorubaaa...leave us alone. We will decide for ourselves and will take with us all our blood in your useless south south. Look at people in Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Igodomigodo, Ikwerre, do they look like Yorubas or Hausas to you? They don't. They all resemble Igbo. We look different from Yorubas and Hausas. STAY ON YOUR OWN, LEAVE US ALONE, WE ARE NO THE SAME TYPE OF HUMAN BEINGS AND OUR BRAINS FUNCTION DIFFERENTLY!

ggood:
you must accept it by fire and by force South South Igbos are not real Igbo, so they are not Biafra

Nigercity:
Oga no sane Igbo man wants to form any country with you sir...
But you see etche,anioma (excluding ika), Ohaji, oyibo and co
Start clear out of there
As for ikwerre we have already dashed you guys!

Goodluck in your 9ja delta country

OfoIgbo:
With this your logic, I will also tell you that SS Igbos are not real Ijaws. SS Igbos are not real Urhobos. SS Igbos are not real Edos.

But SS Igbos speak Igbo language and have Igbo culture, so that makes them way more related to me, than they are to you

Philadelphia:
Don’t speak like someone who is demented or crazy.

You’re mentioning Niger Delta and oil fields as though you even know anything about these terms.

Don’t you know that Abia and Imo states are Niger Delta States? And by virtue of being Niger Delta States, they’re also “South-South” as your divide and rule masters call it. Let me emphasize to you that another term for “Niger Delta” is “South-South”. So if Abia and Imo states are also “South South” states, why don’t your leaders tell you as well? Na the divide and rule mentality be that.

By the way, I hope you know that Abia and Imo states are oil producing states? If Nigeria has been surviving with only 9 states out of 36 states producing oil, what do you think if there are only 2 out of 5 Biafran states producing oil? You think Biafra will not survive?

So far, what’s the developmental index of these 9 oil producing states compared to Kaduna and some other states in the northern parts of Nigeria that doesn’t produce oil?

Finally, Akwa Ibom being the largest oil producing state in Nigeria is nowhere close to Lagos in terms of development, infrastructures or internally generated revenues even though Lagos is said to have discovered crude oil in 2016.

You see? No be by oil o.

The age of Methuselah has no significance with the wisdom of Solomon.

You get the point now?

That is just it.

Karlovych:
Don't forget the fact that algae soup and skull mining will be prohibited in the Biafra

ggood:
you can't claim they cuz they are settler

selemempe:
lol you basically agreed with everything I said.

But it funny that you say number 5 is not important. it's actually the most important point I made. Sovereignty gives you legitimacy and a platform to build relationships with very powerful friends.
Again I will leave you with this picture. You should understand what it means vis-a-vis Niger Delta.
As igboid said, we must never be afraid to start small.

P.s Igbos are not 30 million and Nigeria is not 200 million and neither is Lagos over 20 million people. They are all just naija oluwole statistics

FreeIgbos:
So you didn't learn anything about Nigeria's loss of Bakasi peninsula? You want to use Palestine that isn't recognized as a state, and contends with a militarily advanced nation like Israel to compare with Biafra and its neighbors? You're not being realistic at all, once the boundaries are drawn, forget it, it remains like that and any attempts to encroach will be seen as an act of war! Any nation will go to war over that. Again, referendum is not what is conducted every time, it is often once in a lifetime. If Igbos go with 5 states, then forget it, it remains like that.

You all should stop fantasizing so ridiculously.

Igboid:
That's the point.
An independent Biafra of just SE would be able to negotiate with Government of stronger nations to buy weapons for such wars.
We can woo allies and all.

We would be called aggressors, Maybe, but our people down there in SS would call Nigerians aggressors too, so the narratives would be balanced.

Point is that head or tail, we would need war to retrieve all Igbo lands in one country and we stand a better chance doing it as an independent SE country than we are currently.

selemempe:
In this piece, I'm going to let you see why getting Biafra with only 5 SE states may not be a bad idea.
I will list my points below.

1. Other enclaved countries. Biafra would not be the only enclaved country in the world.
Lesotho is entirely enclaved inside South Africa. They have a population of almost 3 million and still have a higher GDP per capita than Nigeria. As far as we can have an internationally brokered deal with Nigeria to freely allow us use Nigerian airspace for civilian planes, we would be just fine.

2. Oil and gas money The south east has more oil and gas reserves than the Federal allocation it gets.
With oil in Abia and imo States and gas in Anambra state, we have enough of that resource to gradually build a more sustainable economy if we plan well. Don't forget that Nairobi Kenya was built with money from tea and coffee. Nairobi is more beautiful than Lagos built with oil money.

3. Military Today Igbos have no military and have no right to form a military. If we are allowed to go with our 5 states, we would have the right to build a military, To buy as much deadly weapons and defence technology as we can afford to buy. We can get Israel to even help us with a low budget iron Dome technology for aerial self defense. We can be able to take the war to any future enemies without being sitting ducks.

3 Customs, immigration today Igbos have no right or sovereignty to defend our land. Any abokì can walk from futa jallon and come and settle in the hills of Enugu. All we can do is rant as far as fulani government refuses to act, we can't do anything. Any trailer filled with whatever can drive into SE today without us being able to check what is inside. With biafra we can legally mount checks on our borders to check what is going in and out according to international law. Do you know that oil is being smuggled out of Anambra on a daily basis? In biafra, we can have checks for things like that legally

4. Passport if they allow us take our 5 states, we would also be obliged to drop the overabused Nigerian passport that can't even get you into Cape Verde. We would create our own passport and build its reputation on a virgin ground and with hindsight on how reputation can ruin a passport

5. Foreign diplomacy today Igbos are not known in international politics. With our 5 states, we would have the right to join the United Nations. We would have the right to build relationships with other countries on equal basis. We can even become a closer friend and protege to Israel, Our president can stand Infront of the UN general assembly every year to speak for us. We would automatically become a sovereign people. Very very important

6. Federal tax if we get our 5 states as biafra, all the billions of naira that goes from our region to Abuja in taxes will stop. That is money that we can use to build our nation

7. Federal fees instead of paying Nigeria government for things like passport, driving license, vehicle papers, radio and TV licences etc, you pay it to the Biafran government. That money can help us achieve a lot.

8. Policing in our 5 states, we will no longer have abokì people mounting road blocks on our roads and killing our hustling youths in the name of policing all because of deep-seated hatred. Biafra police would be 100% Igbo

9. Airport and travel with biafra of 5 states, we would now fly and land in Enugu (for instance) instead of Lagos or Abuja. Our government can even partner Air Peace to create an airline carrier that can later rival Ethiopian airlines. Where there is a will there is a way. Remember that

10. Sea port it gets tricky here but we have options that may be better than going to Lagos to clear our goods. We can import with more air cargo than with ships. Or We can spend money and dredge the river Niger and dock at Onitsha river port. All we need to do as a country is to buy barges and keep them at onne port or Duala port, once a ship docks there, all cargoes going into Biafra would be transferred to the badges and sailed up the river Niger to Onitsha. Or We can also negotiate with Nigeria to use the Enugu-port Harcourt rail to transport containers and pay Nigerian customs. Either way, we would be fine.

11. Capital flight to Lagos and Abuja Igbos who are quick to build their mansions and businesses in Lagos, Abuja, port Harcourt etc would be forced to come home as they automatically lose the right to live freely in Nigeria. Those returning igbos and their money would help us start building or country from day one


12. I will come with more points but however, I'm not saying it would be a walk in the park. I'm just saying it is still better than Nigeria 1000%. But Building an enclaved biafra that makes sense would take a higher sense of responsibility and imagination than our current leaders are exhibiting, but it can be done

Modified
This thread is about those who are quick to blackmail Igbos and Biafra with the term '5 enclaved states'. It is not in any way meant to say that Igboland doesn't extend beyond 5 south east states.
However it is meant to show that we have more to gain in an enclaved biafra than in Nigeria.
I want people who are opposed to this idea to tell me how it is better for Igbos to remain in Nigeria than to leave with our 5 core states (at least for now)