The rupturing of peace and harmony as witnessed in Abia State last week got to its crescendo, not without throwing up these words of lore: a masquerade, no matter how fecund in native charms and chants, should move with trepidation, once he is deserted by its motivating crowd. Nnamdi Kanu, who has suddenly been transformed to a folk hero, having been arrested, arraigned and detained for almost a year for his involvement in Biafra’s secession agitations, should pause and think over this legendary etch.
It should be placed on record that until he was apprehended at the airport, upon arriving in Nigeria, Kanu was virtually unknown to many Nigerians, who also included his Igbo kin; save probably for members of his immediate and extended family and some natural friends.
In the clandestine Biafra Radio, where he was a director, he was possibly on a payroll as the project would have been funded by certain moneybags sympathetic with the Biafran cause.
Besides, living heroes of the Nigerian civil war should have been sought out for counselling by gangling Kanu. He would have heard of how over two million Igbo people, mostly women and children, were massacred during the war, as can be found in the account of world-renowned author, the late Chinua Achebe, in his book, ‘Biafra: There was a country.’
How come therefore, that all of a sudden, his image became posted as one who had been in the trenches for years, battling to help his people reclaim a lost Biafra kingdom? Certainly, apart from gaining popularity based on his ordeal in the solitary confinement of prison, he equally made strident efforts to seize the moment and achieve heroism through the time-worn fiat of dancing to the gallery.
No doubt, Kanu, who now presides over a splinter pro-Biafra group called Indigenous People of Biafra, has achieved the hero status he apparently desired but only fell short of being guided by history, reality, and the counselling of prominent Igbo elders. While it is true that the South-East ethnic nationality, as with the others, has some tiff to resolve not just with the Nigerian nation but with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the best it has so far demanded as atonement is for the country to be restructured.
Under the restructuring agenda, there have been a plethora of views as to what shape a new Nigeria should take. What is needed is probably a confab’s report or a referendum to harmonise such views.
Yes, there had been agitations too for a relapse to the defunct Biafran state as formerly spearheaded by the Ralph Uwazuruike-led Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, but we all know, even from the days of yore, that MASSOB was at best a band of rabid radicals needing regular ‘propitiation’ from the state, for peace to reign.
But in the case of Kanu, he has simply stirred the hornet’s nest. He wants a state of Biafra and no more; meaning that all the territories classified as belonging to the Biafran country during the 1967/70 civil war would now secede from Nigeria. That quest, he should have known, is a call for war.
For the village masquerade earlier cited, the crowd is its strength and motivation. The masquerade in doing its mesmerising dancing and pyrotechnics, is underneath, goaded into success by the flutes, drums, gongs and other musical instruments of the masqueraders. Still, the masquerade derives the fecundity of its art from the discreet effects of charms, amulets and libation pour, atop requisite gnomes. So, once all these are lost, the village masquerade is empty and open to attacks from belligerent charmers and unhappy herbalists.
So for Kanu too, his crowd of supporters would have been eminent Igbo leaders, either at home or outside the region. His agitation for a Biafran state would have received open acclaim by these personalities who ordinarily are respected figures and who the Federal Government would dare not touch for expressing their views. They would have been heard and called to consultations and negotiations, which will eventually calibrate in reform measures. But no, Kanu and his IPOB members, along with co-travellers of largely barely educated folks, have been gamboling around, not necessarily marshalling cogent points but merely going about with the mantra, ‘We Want Biafra!
That aside, the truth of the matter is that, Kanu and his IPOB should finger a particular ethnic stock in Nigeria that does not have one complaint or the other against the system: complaints from the South such as inequitable distribution of oil wealth, a quota system that lionises mediocrity, and poor representation in core and sensitive government organs. In the North too, the minority is pitched against the majority over issues such as Fulani herdsmen violence, religious fanaticism and socio-political suppression.
As such, if all such groups had called for the secession of their respective ethnic nationalities, where would a Nigeria be? All over the world, big countries dominate the tone of the global economy and the balance of power. Take the United States of America and China as veritable examples. This is why the Economic Community of West African States is still guided by its founding dream of having a united sub-region, under a common governance.
Besides, living heroes of the Nigerian civil war should have been sought out for counselling by gangling Kanu. He would have heard of how over two million Igbo people, mostly women and children, were massacred during the war, as can be found in the account of world-renowned author, the late Chinua Achebe, in his book, ‘Biafra: There was a country.’
Should a Biafran war be renewed and valuable lives lost for the Igbo’s needs to be met? What would become of large investment belonging to Igbo indigenes outside the territory, who under a war situation, will no doubt be herded home or made to face unpleasant
consequences?
Kanu, as the prosaic masquerade, should turn back and see if his crowd is still gung-ho, much less available to cheer him on. The highly revered Igbo mainstream socio-political group, the Ohanaeze N’digbo, has predictably distanced itself from the war agenda as espoused and imposed on them by Kanu. Same with prominent voices from across River Niger. Though they admit lopsidedness in the Nigerian nation, they say they will continue with resonant agitations, until their demands are met. Indeed, some of these aggrieved Nigerians have taken the extra step of enlisting the intervention of the United Nations to open the door for discussion.
What took place in Afaraukwu, Abia State, which is Kanu’s hometown, last week, should have said a lot. When armoured tanks were rolled out, and when the dust settled, television flicks, sadly, beamed harried Igbo innocent citizens lambasting Kanu, asking him as to why his quest for Biafra should stream into their lives, and visit evil
on them.
When the soldiers came too, where were Kanu’s foot-soldiers, trained to fight for a Biafran state? That would have been the equivalent of the charms and amulets in the village masquerade
analogy.
Predictably, Kanu, who is now being wanted for alleged terrorism, reportedly went into hiding, to save his head.
So, Kanu, where is your crowd?
