DO SOMETHING!
https://www.facebook.com/37837....8918890631/videos/14

IS BIAFRA ON THE MARKS OF DEMOCRACY?

Its been about 50 years since millions of nationals were destroyed, killed and maimed by bullets from civil war soldiers, the likes of Chief Obasanjo, Gowon, etc.

The post-civil war era launched a new season of deliberate deception and oppression of Nigerians by fellow countrymen.

The post-war era launched a period of benign neglect, ostracism, conspiracy, white murder and all sorts of terror being unleashed on Nigerians who committed no offense known to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, order than calling for good governance, and an egalitarian society.

The new wave of Biafra agitation coupled with months-long protests, cries and killings have, instead of been doused by the flames from barrels, rather gained greater momentum on the lever of youths who have sworn to the mother earth with the maxim; “Biafra of Death”.

This new wave of resurgence over Biafra agitation has once again come to prove a point; that power belongs to the people. That democratic power is not a subject of elite-determinism but a plight which can be principally and practically pursued by the people, the masses.

The general hatred, resentment and conspiracy of silence over Biafra agitation is not new to Nigeria.

Benign neglect is an attribute of Nigerian political culture. The powers that be, the power brokers, the elites, the government and its officials have had that culture of ignoring whatever agenda that has a popular support. They always seek for popular support when election calls. Soon as election results are signed and announced, they fold back to do the biddings of a secluded and caucused group setting aside the majority who voted them into power.

It is common in Nigeria for people to always have their way when they team up in a mop action; but sorry, the political elites don’t fancy that. They would look for a way to lobby out some very few members of the masses, probably the arrow-heads. When that fails, they look for a way to annihilate the entire masses. When that fails, the masses will eventually have their way.

Democracy shall always be achieved by popular voices and popular votes. Not only should the principle and practice of democracy be limited to ballots and polling units. It should be used to achieve dire demands of the people about pressing issues in the society, and in the state.

With a coherent democratic action, the benign neglect and conspiracy of silence over Biafra agitation is beginning to be noised off.

The youths who have sworn to mother earth, ‘Biafra or death’, have taken up no other obligation than to flow with the new spirit and ideology wherein the new motivation lies.

The grandpas and gerunds in whose hands the Ojukwu’s type of nationalism was defeated are calling for peace; as if there is a war.

They spell and define our times as if it were in the 80s.

The value systems, the ideologies, the political and social structures of the 80s significantly vary from nowadays.

Where do we start from? There are richer boys now on the streets. There are more education boys and girls now on the street. We have got a handful of technocrats and well-informed folks than in the 80s.

This generation has been made elegant by the vast knowledge of science and technology. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was calling for peace, entreating the statesmen to plead with Biafra agitators. He understood by facts of history that there is difference between their days and nowadays. He knows that the spirit and motivation which drives this current agitation, the wide broadcast of conviction and willingness in this generation was never there in the days of Ojukwu and Gowon.

In the 80s, there was no Tweeter, no Facebook; there was no MP4 or MP3; there was no Wifi, no hotspots; there was no life-streaming mechanism and a plethora of digital structures which has ostensibly miniaturized the human society, making life as flexible as the clicking of the finger on the screens of smartphones.

This generation no more believes in white lies. We source for information; we dig and research about stuffs ourselves. Our leaders tell a lot of lies. They deceived our fathers. Our fathers played slow games, during the 80s such that they lost out on the tables and on the fields.

Behold, Biafra is no more a fairy tale. It is no more an issue to be swept under the bed and snubbed off.

If you pretend not to see, you would be told. If you pretend not to hear, you will be shown. If you snub it all off, it comes right under your nose like a stubborn fly.

Biafra is a democratic action. It is an action championed by the majority, by the masses and by the strength and will of the conscience. What else does democracy have without the people? Nothing.

If anyone doubts the democratic coloration of the Biafran struggle, let them conduct a referendum, as that is the only tool that can be used to query the subject of true democracy.

Emmanuel Shebbs

Biafra

What's going on? #Hashtag.. @Mention..

The Igbos are under siege in their country

By Mike Ozekhome

I am shocked that the Igbos are not speaking up at the apparent siege laid on their land by uniformed person of different categories. They range from Army, Navy, Police, Civil Defence, Customs, FRSC, etc. My journey had taken me by road from Isele-Mkpitime, where I had gone to pay tribute to a Nigerian icon, Chief (Dr) P.K.C. Isagba, the Odogwu of Isele-Mkpitime. He was one of the first Nigerians to believe in my ability as a young fledgling lawyer. I had been handling his cases whilst at Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers. When I left as Deputy Head to set up my practice in January 1986, Chief Isagba personally went to Chief Gani Fawehinmi, to allow him move his files to me, to continue handling his cases; a request the amiable and selfless Gani granted immediately. So, Chief Isagba became my first major client as a tottering practising lawyer, trying to find my groggy feet. He became my bossom friend and elder brother.

My journey from Isele-Mkpitime, through Asaba, to Port-Harcourt, told me clearly that the entire Igbo land is locked down in a physical, psychological and mental siege, reminiscent of a civil war time.

When the Civil War ended January 15, 1970, the then military ruler, General “Jack” Yakubu Gowon, who became Head of State, at 31 and a bachelor, proclaimed the three Rs: “Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation”, which heralded his policy of “No Victor, No Vanquished”. This was after the unfortunate failure of the 4th-5th January, 1967, of the “Aburi Accord”, that would have prevented the bloody war in which over 2 million civilians and 100, 000 military combatants were killed. Or, was it an historical mistake that these people who had already manufactured “Ogbunigwe” (series of weapons, that included detonation mines, IED, and rocket propelled missiles), with which they prosecuted the Nigeria – Biafra war between 1967 and 1970, were prevented from leaving Nigeria? Perhaps, we would today have had a Japan, Singapore or South Korea lying side by side a sprawling “giant of Africa” on clay legs.

These policies were meant to quickly heal the gaping wounds of the gruesome blood-letting, forget the horrors and evils of the fratricidal war and quickly reintegrate the Igbos into the society.

But, have these hardworking, gregarious “Jews” of Nigeria been reconciled, rehabilitated and reintegrated into the mainstream of the Nigerian society? I doubt it. Simple proof: show me any Igbo man in today’s all powerful cabal kitchen cabinet of PMB’s Government. My journey from Isele-Mkpitime, Delta State, through Asaba, Onitsha, Oba, Oraifite, Okija, Ihiala, Mgbidi, Awomama, Owerri, Aba to Port-Harcourt, was a strangulating reminder that the Igbos, inspite of their unquantifiable contributions to the commerce, industry and innovations that drive the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy and give it oxygen, are nearly a conquered people. The check-points along the above stretch of road are nauseating and asphyxiating, as the security agencies, including para-military ones out-do each other to harass, torment, search, intimidate and extort money from travelers.

Earlier journeys by road (I travel a lot on professional duties), had shown me the same siege through countless roadblocks: Enugu, through the Ugwogo Nike-Opi-Nsukka Road; Amansea in Awka-Ugwuoba Oji River; Nnewi, Alor, Ekwulobia, Amesi, Ugar, Umuchu; Okigwe, Awgu and Ituku Ozalla, Umuahia and Isiala-Ngwa, on Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. On the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene highway, you have exasperating road blocks at Michael Okpara University junction; Isingwu-Nkweogwu junction of the Isuikwuato-Uzuakoli-Ajayi-Igbere road; and the 14 Brigade Army barracks junction at the Ohafia-Arochukwu highway.

As you are crossing one check point, a mere look ahead of you, of less than half a kilometer, will reveal another barricade. It is all so frustrating. There is no war, or security breach. South East is not North East where Boko Haram still calls the shots (forget about Government’s pet words of “we have degraded Boko Haram”; Boko Haram is still very potent, controlling large areas, killing and maiming people on a daily basis. Their representative said that much at the 2nd May, 2017, Re-Union meeting of the 2014 National Conference delegates at Daar Communications Centre, Abuja, where I delivered the keynote address).

Yet, in this Boko Haram-ravaged region, you would not find this armada of security, treating the entire geo-political zone made up of five states (the least in Nigeria; some others have seven states), like a conquered territory.

It is only the recent suit by my good friend, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, (six of us founded the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) – the first human rights body in Nigeria-on 15th October, 1987), over “marginalisation of the South East region”, that has perhaps brought to the front burner, these disturbing tons of injustice. That is why no one can ignore Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB, Ralph Uwazurike’s MASSOB, etc, agitating for self –determination, a right sanctioned and recognised even by the UNO.

These fully armed and trigger-happy security personnel have never taken steps to protect the Igbo race, against rampaging Fulani Herdsmen that raid their homes, to maim, kill and rape their wives (remember Nimbo in Uzo Uwani LGA in Enugu State). They have never repelled the incessant reign of terror by armed robbers, kidnappers, hired assassins and murderers. No, they are stationed there for three main reasons: (1) check the bid for self determination by the Igbos; (2) extort money from the wealthy and poor Igbo traders who ply these routes; (3) remind the Igbos that the all powerful Federal Government is on ground to silence the people and force them to toe their ruling party line. Wait a minute; is that why some prominent Igbos, including erstwhile leaders, members of the BOT and two-time Governors for eight years under PDP, have been outdoing each other to decamp to a non-performing and fundamentally flawed party like the APC? Let me end this piece by recommending to the Ndigbos, the legendary Hubert Ogunde’s immortal words, in his most famous 1964 play, “Yoruba Ronu” (“Yorubas, think”), a stinging satire that got his theatre company banned, which ban was later lifted in 1966, by the new military Governor.

Ndigbos, cheenu echiche (Igbos, think

Today, we remember the Biafran heroes and heroines who use their lives to purchase the survival of their kits and keen since 1945 until today.