In one of the books I read about him – I think its “Emeka”, by that Irish journalist who reported from the front during the war – he had been quoted as saying that Biafra is a spirit and will rise again; 20 years, 30 years or more after, but surely it can never die. I remember how strong those words felt on me as I read them that day. It took 50 years, but surely he’s being proven right – Biafra is rising again!
Did you watch that video that has been making the rounds since 3 days now? The recent gathering of thousands of IPOB and Biafra enthusiasts at Nnamdi Kanu’s country home? Did you see the youths, the old men and the women in that video? I saw them and their enthusiasm for Biafra, and it shook me with nostalgia. There was something unnerving about that video.
Those thousands of people overflowing that venue were not paid a dime to show up. You’ll know such crowd when you see them. As they chanted “all we are
saying…give us Biafra”, I read the look on Nnamdi Kanu’s face. I knew he, too, was as shocked as I was. And when Mazi Kanu lifted his hands in solidarity, their voices went up in triumphant excitement.
Particularly, I saw an obviously old man –in his seventies, maybe – jump up and then down, twice, in ecstatic celebration. Just then, I knew I had meant what I had once written when Mazi Kanu was still in prison, that “although this agitation is regarded as not for the elite, but when that day comes, I’m afraid even I shall join this struggle – although I, too, am an elite”.
Biafra is scary, I know. She scares the hell out of Nigeria, as much as she scares her own people who are richly domiciled across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. The former is scared of what might become of it, if it loses its most industrious inhabitants who have consistently turned their thick bushes into townships, while the latter is concerned about what would become of their accumulated wealth in what might become foreign lands. These fears are quite valid, and no one should blame them. But even I, am afraid too. I’m afraid for those who are afraid, because the return of Biafra has now become so real, no physical force can stop it.
What shocked me even more was when I saw the diehard support of some Niger Deltans who seem ready to defend the restoration of Biafra with their lives. It’s normal to see Igbos agitate for Biafra, but when Niger Deltans like Russell Bluejack and co become firebrand agitators for Biafra, you know Nigeria has a justification for being afraid.
And now northern youths and their un-elderly elders have said Igbos should leave their own part of Nigeria. Then Yoruba socio-cultural groups declare for Oduduwa Republic, while Femi Fani-Kayode, albeit crazy at times, keeps hammering on the imminence of Biafra's return, like John The Baptist prior to Christ's arrival. And you think they're all a coincidence? Let me stop here. When I return, I might tell you why they're not a coincidence. And the change Buhari promised wasn't a mistake, either. He just didn't understand the kind he meant. But, of course, Buhari doesn't understand a lot of things. Like how to govern a nation.
David Agu
#DavidLionBaba
#Lawyerpreneur
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