The Shackles And The Spirit Of Biafra In Us, By Uche Onyemobi

The 1967 hapless war ended in 1970 with high hopes for the reignition of the brotherhood that we once shared within our loosely cobbled union. Unbeknownst to the average Nigerian, a new band of colonialists lurked.
They redesigned the power and fiscal landscapes of Nigeria to assume a unitary dimension to serve their selfish ends. The spirit of justice, equity, fairness and freedom have been subjugated in their quest to impishly reap maximally from our commonwealth. Alas, we have been shackled and recolonized by our own, at best our spirits have been rendered infantile and we can hardly fight back!!

Over the next forty years, these internal neo-colonialists bred their kind in every ethnic group. Political powers revolved around them, their friends and new conscripts who had to be willing to do their bidding of strengthening the shackles on ordinary citizens within their spheres of influence.

Ruthlessness, wickedness and selfishness were some of the qualifying attributes for membership of this band of power mongers. Generously, they employ the vehicles of tribalism, nepotism and religion as instruments of coercion, compliance and control. They are least bothered about the general well being of the masses. Pertinently, they are immune to the political and economic designs of every dispensation as they are usually the architects of such designs. They simply share power in turns.

Against this background, the spirit of Biafra which over time has come to symbolize justice, equity, fairness and freedom would lurk for opportunities to counter the machinations of these internal neo-colonialists, albeit with focus on the South Eastern portion of Nigeria. Although birthed in the Bight of Biafra long before the Nigerian civil war, one would have expected this spirit to die over the years of arrested development, but do spirits really die?

This spirit functions most eloquently in the subconscious of the masses, always finding ingenious avenues to keep hope alive in the minds of carriers. To the evil internal neo-colonialists, this spirit is anathema to their interests and must be exorcised. Unfortunately for them, this spirit has refused to take flight and they resorted to quieting the spirit with hopes of appeasement. Interestingly, the more they try to quiet this spirit, the more people it possesses. Of course, the internal kings of impunity would have none of such recalcitrance.

The Igbos of South East of Nigeria, being the primary carriers of such spirit have borne the brunt of the venom as secreted by this band of evil men. Igbos have either been maligned, threatened, beaten, detained or killed in the quest to exorcise this stubborn spirit. Yet the spirit seems determined to loom large and possess more.

Carriers hitherto unwilling or scared to publicly own up to such spirits are beginning to adorn diverse paraphernalia swearing allegiance to this indefatigable spirit. No thanks to the relentlessness of groups in the ilk of MASSOB, BIM, IPOB, among others. Although, the leadership of these groups have been questioned per intentions, what counts is that they have been able to keep the spirit of Biafra alive in the minds of followership – the Igbo masses at the receiving end of the hopelessness of the Nigerian project do not really care. One thing that cannot  be denied such leaderships is that they have exemplified uncommon courage and made sacrifices in deference to the cause. The success of IPOB induced sit-at-home order of May 30, 2017 is instructive in appraising allegiance to this spirit as well as the effectiveness of such leaderships.

One would think that the seeming seating of the leadership of the Nigerian slave masters in the Northern part of Nigeria would ordinarily have turned the North to a land flowing with milk and honey. Unfortunately, this region is known to harbour the highest level of injustice, illiteracy and poverty compared to other regions within the entire Nigerian project. Little wonder Boko Haram festered as a seeming route out of the shackles as tightly fastened by this band of men lacking in human feelings.

The masses in this region seem to have capitulated to a state of hopelessness and have not been able to offer sufficient substrate for the spirit to thrive. Although voices in the breed of Colonel Umar and Balarabe Musa continue to echo in the Northern wilderness, that spirit has not been buoyed enough to possess their masses. Most recently, the same spirit, albeit not identified in their local parlance as Biafra, seem to be humming disquietly, even in unusual quarters. The recent outbursts by the Emir of Kano, who has over the years enjoyed privileges flowing from activities of the internal neo-colonialists seem to throw up a flicker of hope that the spirit would soon become active. But the cabal is fighting back. His Royal Highness, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II is still recovering from a near loss of his throne.

The story is not different as one traverses the length and breadth of Nigeria. The purported letter by Late General Adebayo addressed to ex Governor Tinubu is instructive in deconstructing the menace of the representatives of the same ruling elite in the South Western enclave of Nigeria. Instructively, the spirit was so vocal a few years ago over the June 12, 1993 debacle, but seemed appeased by the internal neo-colonialists vide political manoeuvrings.

No way! Afenifere, OPC and other groups are reawakening that spirit. Someone just told me that the nomenclature of this spirit in the South Western region is known as Oduduwa.

No region is immune to the activities of these men, sometimes collectively and/or crudely referred to as mafia, cabal and ruling elite. These men, lacking in human conscience are represented in every tribe, state, region and religion. Of course, they usually label themselves leaders of such groupings and societies, but their activities have left their masses a conquered people.

In effect, the six geopolitical zones are well represented and their shackles are similar. The masses have tried employing the Nigerian spirit but that spirit seems unwilling to possess sufficiently to generate the right change. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the Nigerian spirit has been corrupted irretrievably by this ‘mafiaso’ ruling cabal.

It is heart-warming that the Biafran spirit has belled the cat at this time. My advice to other ethnic nationalities is that they should refrain from maligning those pressing for Biafra as they have been possessed. They are possessed by the spirit of  freedom, equity, fairness and justice. They are possessed by the spirit that seeks to restore the dignity of man through genuine self love, industry, excellence and human kindness.

This same spirit is in every Nigerian, just that we may have to name it variously to suit our tongues and aspirations. If only we can look inwards, we may discover the presence of the ‘Biafran’ spirit in all of us as we all wish to be free from shackles demonically fastened around our destinies.

I hear the sound of rain, the whining sound is beginning to translate to thunder. Peradventure unappeased, lightening of unparalleled proportions loom. The spirit is moving. It is either we collectively redesign this ‘cabalized’ structure NOW or Nigeria stands the risk of disintegration!!!
The spirit has spoken.

Uche Onyemobi
June 03, 2017