By Vitalis Unachukwu
It’s sheer political ignorance borne out of ethnic wickedness that, successive governments since the end of the civil war, thought that they would succeed in shutting the Igbos out of Nigeria, when the people of the South East, constituted one of the 3 major aborigines of Nigeria from inception, and more so , stands as the oldest democracy in the world, even Europe was in the dark ages.
Those with keen sense of history knew that the Igbos did not trigger the Biafra-Nigeria Civil War , which resulted in Gowon’s Nigeria’s commission and perpetration of genocide , pogrom and crimes against humanity against the people of the South East , generally known as the Igbos, who fought on the basis of ethnic principles , when the lives of the people of Biafra were wholly threatened, after Gowon reneged on the Aburi Accord with Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu .
The acts of genocide unleashed and inflicted on the Igbos , who fought the war for 30 months, barely with nothing, except with products of their ingenuity , qualify as war crimes, which the disadvantaged people of the South East , can still bring against the Nigerian Government, years , after the war ended , without a policy of integration of the people, still discriminated against and denied their ethnic rights and privileges, after initially been forced to start economic life with only €20 by the Nigerian Government, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was Finance Minister under Gowon’s Military Junta .
As frank as the Igbos had been with the rest of Nigeria , as it concerns successive Governments, it’s notably sad , tragic, unfortunate , shameful and unacceptable, that several regimes on the political saddle of governance, took it upon themselves to continue with oppressive, repressive and authoritarian policies against the Igbos , thinking that they could break the people’s firm spirit and undiluted resolve, to take Nigeria and the world by storm.
Admittedly, the civil war (1967 – 1970) , brought respectability to Ndigbo , such that the tide of the war could have turned in favor of the Igbos , if massive sabotage , ruthless policies of the British Government, that backed up the Nigerian Side , to commit genocide and the support of other foreign powers that supported Gowon and his government, to withstand Biafra in the war for two and half years.
If the circumstances then are the same today in the context of contemporary global politics, the outcome of the war could have been different, as seen in the case of Russia-Ukraine War, raging as an unpredictable conflict.
If the rest of Nigeria’s attitude towards the Igbos does not change sooner , and if the Federal Question is not addressed through equitable restructuring of the Federation, the struggle and pursuit of the Biafra Political Freedom, would assume a new and invigorated dimension .
Buhari’s woeful presidency was a disaster as his 8 years on the presidential throne, witnessed no single impact in the South East Geopolitical Zone, because of his innate hatred against the Igbos , and for that reason, history and posterity would hold him guilty of political wickedness , accountable and responsible for the continued travails and travesty of justice against the Igbos of the South East, which President Tinubu , failed to forewarn himself by the wisdom of a sage , in order to avoid anything that could upset the unity of Nigeria at this point .
It’s not surprising that Elder Statesman, Clark , chided Tinubu and accused him point blank for continuing Buhari’s war and unprofitable policies against Ndigbo , which definitely are destined to boomerang against the wicked political rulers of our land .
Nobody takes delight in joining issues with the rest of the country, when it comes to fair competition in the fields of education, economics, business, agriculture and development, from where the Igbos had excelled ahead of Nigeria.
The traditional spirit of courtesy , with the Igbos developed the rest of Nigeria and geographical environments of their hosts around the world, where they proved themselves as a nation not to be mistreated or regarded as inconsequential, should teach the likes of Buhari and Tinubu , that the Igbos are unstoppable, insuperable and capable of surviving their scorch earth policies and tactics in governance, which are antithetical to democracy in our land .
That despite their political denial of the freedom, rights and privileges due to Ndigbo, and the marginalized population of the Igbos in the South East, are still airborne and afloat, should be able to teach our political oppressors and detractors, impeccable wisdom that they are not the God of Ndigbo , known and called, CHUKWU OKIKE ABIAMA, Wjo has the sole authority and power , to determine the destiny of Ndigbo and no one else .
Under our Constitutional and Presidential Democracy , adequate political representation of the people in all branches of government, should be the norm, the rule and not the exception .
The Igbos and Ohaneze Ndigbo, should not be given the cause to agitate for non consideration in political appointments and representation in government, filling of quotas in the Federal Civil Service, Armed Forces, the Police , Judiciary , etc , as it’s been canvassed and talked about at various levels today, when people from the North and South West , easily fill their quotas and preoccupy sensitive positions in government, without boasting of the general qualifications of Ndigbo .
Nepotism in government as deeply pronounced under Buhari’s Presidency and Tinubu’s Administration lately , will inevitably hasten the destruction of the foundations of Nigeria’s Unity and Democracy .
Those on top of the government, behave in such a way, that no one doubts their ethnic origin, demonstrated in their actions and confirmed by appointments rolled from their desks .
No one or critical follower of events in Nigeria, is a fool or oblivious of the consequences of toxic politics underlying our political set backs as a nation .
Let the matter be settled and set straight, that the Igbos are NOT begging the rest of Nigeria for proper and adequate integration into the Nigerian Union , and have no apologies for the way God created and naturally endowed them .
Unless the Igbos are fully integrated and allowed to freely play their role in the political and economic emancipation of Nigeria, NOTHING will work in Nigeria, however diehard racists unleash their wicked policies on the peace loving people of the South East.
The more the Igbos are marginalized and denied their rights , freedoms and privileges in the scheme of things in Nigeria, the more they wax stronger than ever .
The Igbos are the black Jews of Nigeria. Their experiences are nothing different from the Israeli Jews from the Old Testament in Egypt and in Palestine today , where they are put on the defensive each time , without being aggressors .
Despite Hitler’s extermination agenda that led to the Holocaust, the Jews as God Almighty would have, have bounced back stronger to the point of being in firm grip and control of the world economy, and by extension determine the fate of elections in many countries with their unquestionable economic power.
From all ramifications, the attitude of successive Nigerian Governments to the plight of the Igbos since after the civil war, is analogous to Hitler’s spineless attitude and indescribable hatred towards the Israeli Jews , whom he wanted to exterminate from the face of the earth .
Where for instance, the current President, who had signaled that he would follow and sustain Buhari’s policies, in the APC continuity agenda and spirit, to the detriment of Ndigbo and Nigerians, then God and history will judge in favor of the oppressed and marginalized people of the South East, who did nothing to deserve all the indignities, humiliations , deprivations , stonewalling, malice , neglect , injustices and atrocities, perpetrated against them by holders of power in the Nigerian Government .
The Igbos have had to endure all the continued provocation and neglect by present and previous Nigerian Governments, not as an act of weakness, but as a sacrificial commitment to sustain peace and unity of Nigeria, which’s safeguarded at astronomical costs .
Following no change of attitude, the President of Ohaneze, Chief E C Iwuanyanwu , took up the matter of general Igbo neglect , isolation and deprivation, when he and members of the Ohaneze Leadership, recently when they visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and called for his unconditional release from the Federal Government/DSS custody and incarceration, for no justification, after the Courts and the UN Human Rights Council, directed for his unconditional freedom, which the Nigerian Government is toiling with as a trivial matter, not knowing that the intransigence and ethnic dissension in the South East is as a result of the attitude of the Federal Government to Nnamdi Kanu and the people of the region .
At the moment, Elder Statesman, Clark has drummed up the matter as Ohaneze Leadership had done recently .
There can no peace in Nigeria without justice and equal rights , as the state of our world and all conflicts and wars, emanate from the ambit of injustice , oppression and neglect .
You don’t beat a child and at the same tell him or her not to cry .
We all can attest to the fact , that the Igbos of Nigeria, have had enough , to the point that they can no longer keep mute and ignore open day wickedness against them in a nation all ethnic partners are equal.
One thing is certain:
The Igbos cannot be expelled from Nigeria because some privileged individuals in government are hardheaded with the agenda , after all the Igbos sacrificed to build , rebuild , sustain and keep Nigeria together .
The silence of the lamb , should not be taken for granted .
much as Nigerua us too large to accommodate all of us , those who are still championing the agenda of the exploitation , expulsion , marginalization , deprivation and total neglect of the Igbos in Nigeria , should rethink their steps and actions, before they be
It’s sheer political ignorance borne out of ethnic wickedness that, successive governments since the end of the civil war, thought that they would succeed in shutting the Igbos out of Nigeria, when the people of the South East, constituted one of the 3 major aborigines of Nigeria from inception, and more so , stands as the oldest democracy in the world, even Europe was in the dark ages.
Those with keen sense of history knew that the Igbos did not trigger the Biafra-Nigeria Civil War , which resulted in Gowon’s Nigeria’s commission and perpetration of genocide , pogrom and crimes against humanity against the people of the South East , generally known as the Igbos, who fought on the basis of ethnic principles , when the lives of the people of Biafra were wholly threatened, after Gowon reneged on the Aburi Accord with Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu .
The acts of genocide unleashed and inflicted on the Igbos , who fought the war for 30 months, barely with nothing, except with products of their ingenuity , qualify as war crimes, which the disadvantaged people of the South East , can still bring against the Nigerian Government, years , after the war ended , without a policy of integration of the people, still discriminated against and denied their ethnic rights and privileges, after initially been forced to start economic life with only €20 by the Nigerian Government, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was Finance Minister under Gowon’s Military Junta .
As frank as the Igbos had been with the rest of Nigeria , as it concerns successive Governments, it’s notably sad , tragic, unfortunate , shameful and unacceptable, that several regimes on the political saddle of governance, took it upon themselves to continue with oppressive, repressive and authoritarian policies against the Igbos , thinking that they could break the people’s firm spirit and undiluted resolve, to take Nigeria and the world by storm.
Admittedly, the civil war (1967 – 1970) , brought respectability to Ndigbo , such that the tide of the war could have turned in favor of the Igbos , if massive sabotage , ruthless policies of the British Government, that backed up the Nigerian Side , to commit genocide and the support of other foreign powers that supported Gowon and his government, to withstand Biafra in the war for two and half years.
If the circumstances then are the same today in the context of contemporary global politics, the outcome of the war could have been different, as seen in the case of Russia-Ukraine War, raging as an unpredictable conflict.
If the rest of Nigeria’s attitude towards the Igbos does not change sooner , and if the Federal Question is not addressed through equitable restructuring of the Federation, the struggle and pursuit of the Biafra Political Freedom, would assume a new and invigorated dimension .
Buhari’s woeful presidency was a disaster as his 8 years on the presidential throne, witnessed no single impact in the South East Geopolitical Zone, because of his innate hatred against the Igbos , and for that reason, history and posterity would hold him guilty of political wickedness , accountable and responsible for the continued travails and travesty of justice against the Igbos of the South East, which President Tinubu , failed to forewarn himself by the wisdom of a sage , in order to avoid anything that could upset the unity of Nigeria at this point .
It’s not surprising that Elder Statesman, Clark , chided Tinubu and accused him point blank for continuing Buhari’s war and unprofitable policies against Ndigbo , which definitely are destined to boomerang against the wicked political rulers of our land .
Nobody takes delight in joining issues with the rest of the country, when it comes to fair competition in the fields of education, economics, business, agriculture and development, from where the Igbos had excelled ahead of Nigeria.
The traditional spirit of courtesy , with the Igbos developed the rest of Nigeria and geographical environments of their hosts around the world, where they proved themselves as a nation not to be mistreated or regarded as inconsequential, should teach the likes of Buhari and Tinubu , that the Igbos are unstoppable, insuperable and capable of surviving their scorch earth policies and tactics in governance, which are antithetical to democracy in our land .
That despite their political denial of the freedom, rights and privileges due to Ndigbo, and the marginalized population of the Igbos in the South East, are still airborne and afloat, should be able to teach our political oppressors and detractors, impeccable wisdom that they are not the God of Ndigbo , known and called, CHUKWU OKIKE ABIAMA, Wjo has the sole authority and power , to determine the destiny of Ndigbo and no one else .
Under our Constitutional and Presidential Democracy , adequate political representation of the people in all branches of government, should be the norm, the rule and not the exception .
The Igbos and Ohaneze Ndigbo, should not be given the cause to agitate for non consideration in political appointments and representation in government, filling of quotas in the Federal Civil Service, Armed Forces, the Police , Judiciary , etc , as it’s been canvassed and talked about at various levels today, when people from the North and South West , easily fill their quotas and preoccupy sensitive positions in government, without boasting of the general qualifications of Ndigbo .
Nepotism in government as deeply pronounced under Buhari’s Presidency and Tinubu’s Administration lately , will inevitably hasten the destruction of the foundations of Nigeria’s Unity and Democracy .
Those on top of the government, behave in such a way, that no one doubts their ethnic origin, demonstrated in their actions and confirmed by appointments rolled from their desks .
No one or critical follower of events in Nigeria, is a fool or oblivious of the consequences of toxic politics underlying our political set backs as a nation .
Let the matter be settled and set straight, that the Igbos are NOT begging the rest of Nigeria for proper and adequate integration into the Nigerian Union , and have no apologies for the way God created and naturally endowed them .
Unless the Igbos are fully integrated and allowed to freely play their role in the political and economic emancipation of Nigeria, NOTHING will work in Nigeria, however diehard racists unleash their wicked policies on the peace loving people of the South East.
The more the Igbos are marginalized and denied their rights , freedoms and privileges in the scheme of things in Nigeria, the more they wax stronger than ever .
The Igbos are the black Jews of Nigeria. Their experiences are nothing different from the Israeli Jews from the Old Testament in Egypt and in Palestine today , where they are put on the defensive each time , without being aggressors .
Despite Hitler’s extermination agenda that led to the Holocaust, the Jews as God Almighty would have, have bounced back stronger to the point of being in firm grip and control of the world economy, and by extension determine the fate of elections in many countries with their unquestionable economic power.
From all ramifications, the attitude of successive Nigerian Governments to the plight of the Igbos since after the civil war, is analogous to Hitler’s spineless attitude and indescribable hatred towards the Israeli Jews , whom he wanted to exterminate from the face of the earth .
Where for instance, the current President, who had signaled that he would follow and sustain Buhari’s policies, in the APC continuity agenda and spirit, to the detriment of Ndigbo and Nigerians, then God and history will judge in favor of the oppressed and marginalized people of the South East, who did nothing to deserve all the indignities, humiliations , deprivations , stonewalling, malice , neglect , injustices and atrocities, perpetrated against them by holders of power in the Nigerian Government .
The Igbos have had to endure all the continued provocation and neglect by present and previous Nigerian Governments, not as an act of weakness, but as a sacrificial commitment to sustain peace and unity of Nigeria, which’s safeguarded at astronomical costs .
Following no change of attitude, the President of Ohaneze, Chief E C Iwuanyanwu , took up the matter of general Igbo neglect , isolation and deprivation, when he and members of the Ohaneze Leadership, recently when they visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and called for his unconditional release from the Federal Government/DSS custody and incarceration, for no justification, after the Courts and the UN Human Rights Council, directed for his unconditional freedom, which the Nigerian Government is toiling with as a trivial matter, not knowing that the intransigence and ethnic dissension in the South East is as a result of the attitude of the Federal Government to Nnamdi Kanu and the people of the region .
At the moment, Elder Statesman, Clark has drummed up the matter as Ohaneze Leadership had done recently .
There can no peace in Nigeria without justice and equal rights , as the state of our world and all conflicts and wars, emanate from the ambit of injustice , oppression and neglect .
You don’t beat a child and at the same tell him or her not to cry .
We all can attest to the fact , that the Igbos of Nigeria, have had enough , to the point that they can no longer keep mute and ignore open day wickedness against them in a nation all ethnic partners are equal.
