MY TAKE ON THE RENEWED AGITATION FOR BIAFRA AND SUGGESTED SOLUTION

MY TAKE ON THE RENEWED AGITATION FOR BIAFRA AND SUGGESTED SOLUTION

“What does a yoruba boy know about biafra?” - (Edward A. Imasuen referring to my first article on the same topic titled - "45 Years After the Civil War: There Was Never a Country"(http://shegzsablezs.blogspot.com.ng/2017/09/45-years-after-civil-war-there-was.html)) (January 2015)

COURT BANS IPOB - THE VANGUARD NEWSPAPER'S FRONTPAGE - YESTERDAY, 21st SEPTEMBER 2017.

Efforts of the Federal Government to declare the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a terrorist organization and proscribe its activities, yesterday, bore fruits. A Federal High Court in Abuja granted an order declaring the activities of IPOB as "acts of terrorism and illegality." The order, which followed an ex-prate motion filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, in suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/871?2017, also proscribed the existence of IPOB throughout Nigeria, with attention paid to the South-East and South-South regions. The motion was filed yesterday and the order granted same day by the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Kafarati.

Vanguard had reported exclusively two day ago that the Federal Government had initiated a legal process to proscribe the group. The four grounds were: "An order of the court to declare that the activities of the respondent (IPOB) in any part of Nigeria, especially in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria amount to acts of terrorism and illegality. An order of the court proscribing the existence of IPOB in any part of Nigeria, particularly, in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, either in groups or as individuals by whatever names they are called and publishing same in the official gazette and two national newspapers. An order restraining any person or group of persons from participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise of IPOB under any other name of platform however called or described. And for any such further or other orders as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of this case."

The Justice Minister backed his application with sworn affidavit deposed to by Corporal Kolawole Mathew of the Nigerian Army and a written address in compliance with Section 84 of the Evidence Act of 2011. (Culled from The Vanguard Newspaper, Yesterday, 21st September 2017 - Frontpage and Page 5)

Recently, The Nigerian society has been heated up with the renewed agitation of a selected faction of the Igbos, a major ethnic group from the South-Eastern part of the country. These events have degenerated into pockets of violence and bloody clashes in Aba and other parts of the Igboland in recent times between the officers of the Nigerian Army and the sympathizers and followers of the agitation for the sovereign state of Biafra which the IPOB and its Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and other secessionist groups are front-runners in what was tagged the "Operation Python Dance 11". Truth be told, these protests and civil unrest increased geometrically in the present administration due to some recklessness and irresponsible actions and statements of the President Muhammadu Buhari. In subsequent paragraphs, I would examine the likely causes of the heightened tensions and offer workable solutions.

One of the Majorities of an ethnic group in Nigeria has been treated as a minority group for more than 45 years. The South East of Ndigbo is the only geopolitical zone in the county with five states, where the rest of the country geopolitical zones have six states or more. The South East receive the smallest revenues compare to other states even, so the South-Eastern states are among oil producing states. Additionally, The South remembers the actions of Buhari in his first coming of the president in 1984. Therefore, electing Buhari as a new president for the country brought out the old grudges of the South. The presidency of Buhari relates to the Petroleum Trust Fund. The PTF, created only 4,440 kilometers of roads for the South-Eastern part of the country, where the 13,870 kilometers of roads were built in the North. It means that the South got only 24% of new roads, where the North got 76%. Another discrimination was showed with The National Health and Rehabilitation Program, where the North got 100% of all funds and the South got zero. The Vocational Program provided by the PTF showed the South only 3% Funds, where North gets 97%.

Regrettably, the disturbing news came to the Igbos when President Buhari added another insult to these people. On his visit to the United States on his White House conference, He stated that the states of his country who had given him 97% of votes for his victory in the elections are expected to be treated better the part of the country that had given to him only the 5%. He also insisted that people who voted for him should expect the appreciation for the votes, while the other part of the country should expect other treatment. Therefore, President Buhari openly ignored the voters of the South.

Lastly, the cabinet of Buhari's administration provided two more struggles for the South. The first struggle is his decision to move Boko-Haram prisoners from the North to South. Igbo people protested this decision as it clearly makes the South-East states the targets for the suicide bombers. The second struggle, which led to the Biafra protest, is placing Biafra's Nnamdi Kanu under arrest for creating the terrorist group.  They claim that the South-East has been neglected by the government for too long with years of no jobs, seaports, hospitals and roads to mention a few. (Read more: https://www.naij.com/1088153-biafra-protest-top-reasons-struggle.html)

Suggested Solution by Senator Ike Ekweremadu 

"The other option left for us is a restructured federation. Ndigbo need to develop and market what it believes to be the right template for restructuring. The Eastern Region was rated the fastest growing economy in Africa in the First Republic because the regions were relatively autonomous; resources were largely developed and controlled by the regions. I believe Ndigbo will thrive, probably more than other regions, under a federal structure that guarantees substantial autonomy, justice, equity, security, and prosperity for Ndigbo wherever they live." (Senator Ike Ekweremadu on the Biafra Agitation - https://intervention.ng/9270/)

Conclusively, "the honest truth is that this country has a long way to go, unity and togetherness are two things that have always been short in supply and we really need to start seeing Nigeria has our collective inheritance. Fellow Nigerians, we have to do all that is within our capacity to ensure that the country is one big happy family." (45 Years After the Civil War: There Was Never a Country - Oluwole Olusanya, January, 2015)

God Bless Nigeria

Olusanya, Oluwole Sheriff