Commentary@ITRealms:
I am particularly astonished by my fellow countrymen who are
agitating for an independent Biafran Republic. In my own opinion, I believe
they already have it. There are no less than 5 autonomous states that are being
ruled and governed by Igbo people. If you want to count just the Igbo nation, I
don’t remember any time since the 1999 democracy, that a Hausa person or a
representative of any other tribe has become the leader, governor or mayor of
an Igbo state or city.
The Igbo people have their land to themselves. These lands
have not been taken over by Yoruba, Hausa or any other nationality in Nigeria.
Igbo still have their territory where they are predominantly populated. They
have the right, freedom and the opportunity to build heaven on earth in their
area, anytime if they so wish. If the Igbo man wants to make his own state or
region better than any other state there is nothing stopping him from doing it.
The only thing that will change, if they get an independent Biafra Republic, is
just the name.
They will still need to govern themselves, only this time
without any allocation from the Federal Government of Nigeria. So can you
imagine those Igbo states governing themselves but without any government
allocation from the Federal Republic of Nigeria? To say the least, things will
be much more difficult for those states.
As I am writing this, I can almost hear the objection coming
from my Biafran brothers, I think some are thinking that “No, we are going to
go with the oil states”, which means in their own understanding, the
South-South states of Nigeria also belong to Biafra. I am not too good in the
history of Biafra itself so I will not take it upon myself to say if this is
true or not, but one thing I am sure of is that the South-South states will
need to declare their willingness to join the Biafran state.
So far, as far as
I know, none of the South-South states are willing to join Biafra. Even if they
will not remain in Nigeria, they would rather stand alone. As things are however,
these states are more than willing to remain in the Nigerian Union. In fact I
just watched a few days ago, the video address of one of the South-South
governors, banning the Biafra demonstrations in his state.
Another major challenge that the Biafran agitations and its
actualization will create for the new Biafran Republic is that, as of today,
the Igbos are hugely scattered all over Nigeria. It would not be an
exaggeration to say that millions of Igbos are living outside of their enclave.
Let’s take just the South-South states for example; if all the South-South
states choose to remain in Nigeria, that will cause a huge economic and
humanitarian catastrophe for the Igbo people.
Can you imagine a situation where
all Igbo people are been evicted from the South-South states? I can only
imagine what a catastrophe that would be if all the Igbo people were to leave
Port Harcourt today. If all these people were to leave their businesses,
connections and in some cases their family members only to go and create the
Biafran nation, there is just no way the economy of the Biafran nation would be
able to absorb these people. For some of the people themselves it would be too
late to start all over again, some of them would simply not survive it. My dear
Biafrans, a second thought must be given to the idea of separation from the
Nigerian nation.
I have only mentioned the South-South region that only
consists of 6 states. What will happen if we begin to talk about the economic
and humanitarian consequences of evicting Igbo people from our two capitals,
Lagos and Abuja? Igbo people control Nigeria, at least economically and
socially, there is no official deprivation whatsoever in Nigeria for any tribe.
Yes, I know of the killings in the northern part of Nigeria, but that is not a
policy of deprivation if we are to talk about it. If there was such a policy,
how come the Igbo people wield such a huge influence over the economy of the
nation?
I know the objection of my Biafran friends, most of the agitators
claim that they will be better off without Nigeria. If they could produce so
much in Nigeria, the argument is that away from Nigeria they will produce much
more; well I personally doubt it. Let’s look at the facts. If Igbo people could
produce more, what stops them from producing more in their own states where
they have the right and authority to build the nation of their dream? Why can’t
they produce more where they govern themselves with little influence from the
Hausa, Yoruba and Fulani people?
I know there are a lot of thoughtful and analytical people
in the Igbo nation. Let’s assume the Igbo people managed to get their Biafra
Republic; that will limit their sphere of activities to the square kilometers
that the Igbo nations control primarily. What that means in economic terms is
that, for example, the Nigerian land mass is a thousand square kilometers; in
that the Igbo nation will only be at most three square kilometers. The economic
activities you can have in a thousand square kilometers far exceeds what you
can do in 3 square kilometers. In Nigeria the Igbo people have access to much
more land mass and territories for their businesses, social and political
activities. In the case of a separation, that will limit the potential of the
Igbo people.
Today, statistically, the Igbo people as I have said above,
are the most enterprising people in Nigeria. As a result of their high level
business activities the Igbo nation are responsible for between 60-70 percent
of all imports into the Nigerian nation. Obviously, all these imports are being
supplied to the Nigerian market. Nigeria provides for the Igbo people the
market and the consumption of their goods and products imported. Their business
acumen are being realized and better realized in a united nation than in a less
and constrained geographical territory.
How can the Igbo people claim marginalization when they are
responsible for 70 percent of the imports of the whole country? If you take
Nollywood for example, the Igbo people control that as well. Many other spheres
and economic life of Nigeria are under the control of the Igbo people. It is
therefore illogical to talk about marginalization. If the Igbo people have been
marginalized as the Southern Sudanese were marginalized in Sudan, or as the
English speaking people of Cameroon are marginalized in Cameroon, they would
not have been allowed to control 70% of all imports. As of 2008, 80 percent of
our movie industry was in the hands of the Igbo people. Many Nigerian cities and states are totally
dominated by the Igbos with no mass killing or eviction. In fact many of them
are not just welcomed, especially in the western part of Nigeria, South- South,
and the middle belt, many of them are actually celebrated.
I recently watched the world conquering Nigerian U17
football team. How beautiful it was to see that no nationality was protesting
or complaining of marginalization in the national team this time. The picture
of the national team was such that at least six of all the players were from
the east (Igbo), Five were from South-South, two were from the west and all the
rest were derived from among the over 500 tribes of Nigeria. Not a single one
from the north, yet nobody complained. In a society where there is
discrimination and deprivation, they would not have allowed the Igbo to control
the majority of the spots on the team. But thank God that today in Nigerian
sports, we are getting to a place where if you are good enough, you are allowed
to express and display your talent. Believe me, in marginalized societies it
doesn’t matter how talented you are, you are still not allowed to take the
place of the majority nation. Friends, Nigeria has gone a long way, let’s work
together to make it even better.
The Igbo community has been a blessing in every part of
Nigeria, including the north where there has been a form of massacre of the
Igbo people and the Christians in general.
Yet in spite of that, it is hard to claim injustice and marginalization
just against the Igbo people as a policy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Neither can the Igbo people claim that the other 515 tribes and nationalities
of Nigeria have conspired to discriminate against them. That cannot just be
true, otherwise they would not have their businesses virtually in every town
and village in Nigeria. As small as my village is, with only about 40 or so
houses, our commerce is being controlled by the Igbo people and we are happy
about it.
Now, let’s learn a lesson of wisdom from an adage that says
when we are loved, we often think that it is because we are good that is why we
are loved. But in the real sense it is those who love us that are good. So also
is the case when we are received and accepted by other people, we often think
that we are accepted because we are so good. Sometimes we think it is because
we are smarter than the other people, other times we think it is because we are
the only gifted people around, that is why we are accepted, but maybe not all
the credit belongs to us. Maybe we should just as well give some credit to the
people who are tolerating us. Do you think that aspect should be considered as
well?
I am afraid that my brethren that are agitating for Biafra
might just have fallen into this trap of thinking that they are better than
other Nigerians. In the real sense that could be so in some things, but they
too must admit that other Nigerian tribes, nationalities, people groups, might
just have areas where they too are better. We are all people; meaning in some
things we are better than others, and in some things we are not as good as
others. This is how God has created life and this is how He has created
diversity. God has made us to be diverse so that we can learn from each other.
Meanwhile, there is no way we will be able to learn or receive from each other
until we admit that others too are better than we are in some areas.
I am not a prophet neither am I the son of a prophet, but as
a servant of God I would like to give a word of warning to my brethren who are
agitating for Biafra. I wish to sound an alarm in your ears that we should
learn from history. I can almost guarantee you by the Spirit of God that if
Biafra eventually gains independence and breaks away from Nigeria, a civil war
might soon ensue within Biafra itself. Besides God’s Spirit, my assertion is
backed by history.
It is no news to Nigerians that our Igbo nation is probably
the most divisive nationality within itself. No wonder when Enugu state was
carved out of the old Anambra state, the division within the Igbo people came
out with sirens blaring. The desire to have all the national cake of the state
“only for our own people within our state” prompted the leadership of the then
Enugu state to evict the Igbo people of Anambra state from their civil service.
Such was the blatant demonstration of division even within the Igbo people that
the indigenes of Anambra were sent back to their state.
If this is only a matter of state, what will happen when it
is real national cake within Biafra itself? I hear all the time how my friends
from Imo state complain about Anambra people. People from Abia state who are
Igbos also attack Anambra people. The same is also true of the people from
Enugu and Ebonyi. Everybody fighting for their own piece of cake. Nowhere was
this more evident than recently when the immediate past governor of Abia State,
Theodore A. Orji, sacked workers from Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo and Enugu from the
state’s work force.
It is difficult to see how the Igbo people would manage to
find a place for all their teeming population to return from all over parts of
Nigeria if the states are already fighting over jobs and employment only for
their indigenes. What will happen when suddenly millions of people have to come
back home without jobs, housing or occupation? It is scary to imagine what
would begin to happen within the Biafra nation. Students of contemporary
history will tell us that this is the exact scenario of what happened in South
Sudan. The civil war that ensued as a result of their independence is still
going on as I am writing within the South Sudan Republic itself.
*Contributed by Pastor
Sunday Adelaja, is the founding senior pastor of the Embassy of
God based in Kiev, Ukraine.
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