By Onwuasoanya FCC Jones
When the highly revered Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu (Eze Igbo Gburugburu) used his family’s wealth, spent his youth and lost his blossoming career in the Army while fighting to protect the Igbos from unprovoked genocidal assaults from some roguish military and civilian murderers who were mostly from the Northern part of Nigeria, he didn’t imagine that his legacies would be converted to a multi-billion dollar spinning criminal venture, manured with the blood of innocent, genuinely patriotic and able-bodied Igbos.
When our scientists and technologists were turning scraps to explosives and turning raw crude to petrol, and sacrificing their rare talents to the protection of their distant kith and kin, as long as they were Igbo, hardly did they know that some hooligans will rise up tomorrow to taunt their memories by hijacking this idea of freedoms for personal profits.
When our uncles and fathers left their children behind and took up cudgels and cutlasses to confront the well-armed Nigerian Army, just to stave off their assault and preserve whatever could remain of our beautiful stock, they didn’t imagine that some criminals will ride to undeserved influence and affluence by desecrating the unknown graves of millions of our brothers who fell to the bullets and missiles, of our little sisters who starved to death and of our mothers who were raped and murdered. Exploiting these tragedies of history to fester their animalistic ego and build mansions from blood money is the style of the MNKs and Uwazurikes.
First came Ralph, the son Uwazurike. Better educated, more articulate with brighter plans and a known manifesto. Yet, he knew that what he promised was falsehood, but he kept at it, because the dollars and pounds were flowing into his accounts. At least, Uwazurike stayed back here, took the bullets and spent the nights in solitary confinement, but he was indeed, making so much money from telling the many gullible followers that the UN had agreed to grant the BIAFRAN nation independence. Uwazurike is a lawyer, and he must have taken some courses in international law, hence, he knew that UN didn’t have the authority to separate one people from their nation. But, the man was interested in the money he was making and he made a lit of it. He misled thousands of our youths to their untimely deaths, destroyed the lives of many other thousands by promising them fake breakthroughs in a Biafra he knew wasn’t going to come. Today, Uwazurike is enjoying his retirement, sitting atop multimillion Naira estate and fleet of black cars. But, that is blood money.
Yes, Biafra is a big franchise. The name Biafra is enticing to any true Igbo son or daughter. This is a name that was birthed with blood of Igbos and has more than three million innocent Igbos buried because of that name. Every family in Igbo land has a personal story of loss, death, pains and heartbreak to tell about Biafra. So, it is one history that will never die. It is one idea that will always live, but in a different way. So, some manipulative felons see in this sacred identity, an opportunity for personal wealth and influence. They exploit our love for Biafra into a business opportunity and send our youths to their deaths, with promises of power and influence. They promise free people freedom, then, put them in chains.
From Uwazurike came Nnamdi, a psychotic drug addicted, half-educated criminal. Uwazurike had a manifesto that made it easy for anyone with some good head to think of him as some kind of freedom fighter. But, his protégé, Nnamdi is an empty lout, a loose canon, who comes to the internet to spew rubbish without any idea of what a war looks like. He has set up a big business outfit in the name of Biafra. As if the millions of Dollars and billions of Naira he and his cohorts have stolen is not enough, he painting the entire Ala Igbo with blood, he is turning our investments to empty stalls and destroying dreams of thousands of our youths. He has to do this to keep his business afloat, to keep receiving donations from thousands of genuinely passionate Igbos, whose only problem is that they lack the mental energy for critical thinking. Nnamdi sees through their innocence, through their genuine desire for a better Ala Igbo and he taps into that to better his lot and those of his family members.
Ndi Igbo, Nnamdi Kanu is doing his business, a small clique of manipulators are exploiting our love for Biafra to enrich themselves. Do not allow them to deceive you. Ikemba Ojukwu made it clear before his death that the Biafra that will live is that Biafra of the mind. Some time, I will tell what that Biafra of the mind is. But, I can assure you that those who promise you freedom are taking the little freedom we are enjoying away. They know that a sovereign State of Biafra is not going to come by some idiots spewing hate and mongering fear from their comfort abroad.
Nnamdi Kanu doesn’t have the slightest idea of how to fight for independence, even if it were necessary. It is only a foolish child who goes back to a project his father had experimented with and determined to be explored in a different way. The true Biafran veterans and drivers of that beautiful vision have devised a new way to fight for the Igbo survival. Ojukwu ran for election to the Nigerian Senate, he ran for election for Nigerian presidency, many Biafran warlords reintegrated into the Nigerian political environment and sought to align themselves well in order to get for the Igbos what is due for them. Anyone doing otherwise is a dangerous fraudster seeking to reap from the pains, deaths and losses of our Igbo brothers and sisters.
NDI IGBO FU NU UZO!