SINCE the arrest of the Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, by the Department of State Security (DSS) on October 14 in his hotel room in Lagos, and later moved to Abuja, hundreds of pro- Biafra activists in the South East and some parts of the South –South, particularly Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital and Asaba, Delta State, have engaged in protests.
Those embarking on the protests are mostly youths born after the civil war (Nigeria – Biafra war) which ended in 1970 and claimed the lives of over one million people.
While demanding the release of Kanu, the youths also brought the issue of their dream Biafra Republic to the front burner. However, the question agitating the minds of many people in the South-East is whether the activities of the youths could lead to the breaking away of their envisioned republic from Nigeria.
Despite the massive participation of youths in the protests, it is difficult to find any prominent Igbo supporting the cause. Rather, what the youths have is condemnation by Igbo elders. Most prominent Igbo people are also not prepared to discuss the issue of Biafra.
However, what baffles people is the expertise adopted in the mobilization of the group for any protests as,. often times, they take security operatives unawares.
There are at least three major pro-Biafra group. They are the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, led by Chief Ralph Uwazurike, the Biafra Zionist Movement, BZM, led by Mr. Onwuka and the newest, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, which has Nnamdi Kanu as its leader.
Uwazurike had hoisted the Biafra flag and declared the republic at the Ariaria area of Aba, Abia State in the early 90s after which he went underground. Hundreds of his followers were to be arrested by security operatives and some of them allegedly died in detention.
Some members of the movement later accused Uwazurike of compromising the Biafra dream. This led to the emergence of factions in MASSOB. Besides, many of the activists felt that the death of Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the leader of the defunct Biafra, was the end of the republic and so, they quit the agitation.
Onwuka of BZM seized the opportunity of the crisis in MASSOB to bring his group to prominence. However, the way he was alleged to have gone about it led to his arrest and detention by security operatives. For instance, he was accused of leading a group of his followers to invade the Enugu State Government House when he and some members of his group were apprehended and taken to Abuja. Their case is still in court.
Then came the IPOB, led by the Abia State-born Kanu, whose Radio Biafra took the Nigerian airwaves by storm. With the radio, Kanu was able to win the hearts of many Igbo people, especially the youths. It was common to hear many people say their radios were permanently tuned to Radio Biafra which was giving the people the hope that Biafra was just a matter of time.
A public relations practitioner, Chief Jude Emecheta, however, believes those championing the cause of Biafra actually do not know what they want. He said: “These youths say they are looking for freedom and I don’t know how they intend to achieve that. I think the whole issue of Biafra Republic is because many people are not happy with the way things are going on in the country and they seize the opportunity of their dislike of what is happening in the polity to express their anger.
“Nobody even knows who the leaders of Biafra are and how they intend to present their case for consideration.”
Dr. Ephraim Odinaka, 68, who claimed he fought during the Biafra war, said it is difficult for anybody who witnessed the war to be part of what he described as the “ongoing madness” by Igbo youths.
According to him, if the republic is handed over to them as they wish, they will not know what to do with it. He said: “It is not enough for any group to say that it wants to make trouble because the Niger Delta militants were settled when they made trouble, or to assume that they will be called to a round table if they continue to carry Biafra flags on the streets. “
Odinaka, however suggested that the best way to keep the Igbo youths off the streets was for government to apply equitability in the distribution of appointments and social amenities to all parts of the country, adding that a situation where Igbos were not considered fit for sensitive positions in the country makes the people to shout that their people were being marginalized.
‘Nobody can stop us’
Meanwhile, signalling it would defy the Army, IPOB has vowed to continue the protests calling for the release of its detained leader and host of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, as well as the actualization of an independent state of Biafra.
The Rules of Engagement
The Nigerian Army had,on Monday, warned MASSOB and IPOB members agitating for secession to desist from such threat to national security as the Army was ready to flush out every element that threatens peace in the country.
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