The Northern Elders Forum and the influential Kano Elders have all echoed the same thing. The curious thing is that all the thousands of Igbo organizations and emergency spokespersons have not lent any support to the views of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Northern Elders Forum or Kano Elders. This smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order.
A northern group, Coalition of Northern Groups CNG had consisitently issued a sort of quit notice to Ndigbo, and asked the Emir of Kano, the President of Nigeria and the National Assembly to grant Igbos the leave to secede from Nigeria to avoid another round of bloodshed which resulted to a civil war… The Northern Elders Forum had also re-echoed the same views and recently the Kano Elders recently joined in seeking a referendum for Ndigbo, and I support their views.
These groups cited the massive support the activities of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, is getting, and the conspiratorial silence of Ohanaeze and Igbo elites as proof that Igbos want to secede from Nigeria. The groups threw their weight behind the Biafra agitations; provide it will avert bloodshed in Nigeria.
Excerpts of the letter to the Emir of Kano by the CNG include;
“Since 2017, on almost a daily basis, IPOB/ESN have coordinated violent attacks, indiscriminate killings and destruction of properties of northerners that continued unceasingly in almost all South Eastern states and some South South communities.
”Evidence also abound of how IPOB’S incitement to mass atrocity and possible genocide against the North, and outright rebellion to the Nigerian state, manifested in the ugly incidents of the#EndSARS protests resulting in attacks and killings of security personnel, non-Igbo residents in the East and arson across Western States like Lagos.
“The attacks went on literally unchecked climaxing with the cold-blooded massacre of 19 innocent members of a pastoral family in Anambra and more recently, the gruesome assassination of Dr Ahmed Gulak in Imo”
The group resolved partly as follows:
. “1. Act to get the Nigerian state and other critical stakeholders and international players to accept the reality that the only remaining option to avert a civil war and bloodshed is for the Igbo to be allowed to have the Biafra they have used intermittently for decades to destabilize the nation and deny peace to other components of the country.
“2. To take urgent steps to check the mass movement of people from the proposed Biafra land into the vast interior of the North as well as the permanent nature of that migration.
3. To set up machinery for the final evacuation of all Biafra indegines from the North to their new country and for the safe relocation of all northerners from the South East.”
CNG had gone further by writing the National Assembly twice, urging them to stop all constitutional amendments and seek a referendum for Biafra.
The Northern Elders Forum and the influential Kano Elders have all echoed the same thing.
The curious thing is that all the thousands of Igbo organizations and emergency spokespersons have not lent any support to the views of the Coalition of Northern Groups, Northern Elders Forum or Kano Elders. This smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order.
The reactions of many Igbo groups to the call to secede is a recitation of the alleged historical misdeeds of Uthman Danfodio, Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Gumi, Isa Pantami, Sehu Sani and all the northern elites perceived to be anti-Igbo, carefully and hypocritically avoiding the calls for referendum from these peace loving northern groups.
Secessionist Igbos should embrace the olive branch from the CNG, NEF and Kano Elders, and prepare to go home and form Biafra and stop polluting the minds of young people with unnecessary hate speeches capable of turning the South East into Afghanistan. All these historical tirades are trash, and no more necessary.
The South East Governors should set up a committee to help Igbos relocate to the South East. Those who may wish to stay back in Nigeria should be prepared to abide by the rules of nation they exited.
I have cautioned numerous times, in different fora , private, public, churches, social functions, that attacking Northerners in Igboland and destroying their businesses in retaliation of herdsmen attacks, is a time bomb waiting to explode.
Recently in Igbo land, innocent traders, living and doing business with people for years are attacked, and killed, and their wares destroyed because rampaging herdsmen killed some persons. These traders include Hausa, Berom, Gwari, Jukun, Kanuri, Tiv, Idoma, Zuru and other northern tribes living in the South East. When these Unknown Gunmen attacks northerners, there is no sparing of any tribe.
Killer Herdsmen and Bandits are terrorizing the entire Nigeria. They have killed persons in the north one thousand times more than they killed in the South East, but these emergency Igbo spokespersons are trying hard to turn banditry into an Igbo-Fulani Affair, with lots of concocted propagandist thrash capable of igniting another civil war..
Killer herdsmen, rampaging and raping, should not be profiled with foreigners of northern extraction doing legitimate businesses in Igboland. These businessmen include Palm Oil buyers, Onion Sellers, Tomato sellers, goat sellers, Suya Roasters, Shoe Shiners , Petty traders etc. The propagandists should remember that Igbos are doing businesses in the north without molestations, and they are repatriating the financial profits home to their parents and wards in the villages and towns scattered around the South East.
Few months ago, Onion sellers and Palm Oil Buyers have gotten their tucks and wares confiscated and burnt in many places, and told to leave Biafraland. The attack on Hausa Traders in Obigbo during Endsars is the root cause of the infamous Obigbo Masssacre.
Buhari has failed in his efforts to rein in Fulani bandits who are rampaging the nation, however, the banditry phenomenon is a Nigerian thing, it is ravaging the entire nation. Turning it into a Biafran thing is very callous.
The rampaging bandits and herdsmen have also attacked the Hausa, Zuru, Magazawa, Gwari, Nupe, Jukun, Kanuri, Tiv settlements in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Traba, Plateau, Benue States with very high casualties, and many of these tribes doing business in the south east also suffer double jeopardy when they are also attacked in the South East.
Igbos should not make the mistake of 1966, when they dabbled into a feud between Action Group and Northern People’s Congress, and staged a coup led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, to enthrone Obafemi Awolowo as Prime Minister. By the time the coup is over, 3milion Igbo souls paid for the emotional overzealousness.
An Igbo Group, Igbo Mandate Congress IMC had warned in March in a press release titled ‘ESN Attacks on Northerners and Planned Massacre of Ndigbo in the North ‘that the ESN attacks on northern investments can lead to massacre of Ndigbo in the north The group called upon Igbo Youth to tread with caution, and called upon Buhari to take urgent actions to secure the nation. The group also reached out to the ubiquitous groups bent on fermenting trouble in the north and settled the issue
Therefore, the call by CNG for a peaceful secession of Ndigbo is in line with IMC position, which seeks a peaceful federation devoid of bloodshed. Igbo groups should thank the CNG, NEF and Kano Elders for electing for peaceful realization of Biafra. IMC believes in equitable federation where all regions are respected, but instead of IPOB and bandits to cause war in Nigeria, leading to unnecessary shedding of blood, let the advice of the CNG, NEF and Kano Elders be considered..
Calling the CNG, NEF and Kano Elders all manner of insulting names is not necessary, if Igbos don’t want Nigeria, let them take the offer and go home. I support the quit notice on Ndigbo, if the elites will not speak up over the uncontrolled spewing of hate speeches by agents of secession.
IPOB, ESN , Unknown Gunmen, Ohanaeze Youths and mob and the killer Military, Police joint patrol. , let them prepare to go home, and avoid another round of bloodshed.
Myself, and other well meaning clerics and activists interested in peace will continue our wide consultations to ensure that the position the CNG , NEF and Kano Elders do not become the popular opinion in the north
However, if these efforts fail, then Igbos should go home and live in their dream Biafra. I will continue on the path of peace until the warmongers take over, and God will not hold me responsible or the impending holocaust spiritually hovering over Nigeria.
Rev Obinna Akukwe, cleric, columnist is the Director General of Igbo Mandate Congress IMC, igbomandate@yahoo.com
