By Yushau A. Shuaib

It has taken me more than six months to finally write this article on Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the oncoming 2023 general elections, for some personal reasons.

I have written the profiles of virtually all the major presidential candidates and strangely I was surprised that despite having had a few memorable encounters with Peter Obi, Ihad only merely mentioned his name in passing as a bridge-builder across the Niger in an article I once wrote in June 2017, which is titled:Between Nigerian Igbos and Biafran Agitators A Northerners Perspective.

I recall writingBetween Obasanjo, Atiku and the Media[Office1]in August 2003 on the current presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on how the press had fuelled his altercation with his then principal President Olusegun Obasanjo.

On the presidential candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso, I wroteBetween Jonathan and Kwankwasoin November 2013, in which I disclosed the hallmarks of his administration as the governor of Kano as the provision of scholarships, entrepreneurship skills and massive housing to the people, while equally embarking on ambitious road building projects throughout the state.

On the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, my article,“Sowore of Sahara Reporters for President?”written in April 2018,highlighted how he not only supported but equally protected me during a very difficult period in my life. I further emphasised in the piece how Sowore was in the habit of utilising his media platform,SaharaReportersto promote human rights and fight against corruption, coupled with the dictatorial tendencies of people in power.

And just last year, precisely in January 2022, before the primary election, I wrote a tribute to Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who subsequently became the presidential candidate of the APC,2023: Bola Tinubu and his Loyal Boys in Government,in which I underlined his dogged and fighting spirit, alongside his strong reputation for building people by affording them unusual opportunities to succeed in the public space, which in turn informs their unwavering loyalty to him.

It was two months after that article on Tinubu, in March 2022, that I had encounters with two respected spymasters at different times and in different locations: one of them is currently serving as an intelligence chief, and the other, a retired security czar, with both of them surprisingly from Northern Nigeria. Our discussions were on potential presidential candidates from the South-East. In addition, we discussed the activities of the self-acclaimed leader of the proscribed secessionist movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who had then suddenly emerged as the most adored and prominent figure in Igboland.

Kanu is so revered in Igboland that when he issued orders, his followers and the generality of the people in the South-East obediently obeyed this. Apart from ordering sit-at-home actions on what should be working days, Kanu, who called Nigeria a “zoo” in his online broadcasts and regularly insulted other ethnic groups in the country, championed a secessionist campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra, by inciting violence and promoting vile anti-Nigeria sentiments.

When he was first arrested on the 14^thof October, 2015, on a charge bordering on terrorism, he was later granted bail on health grounds on the 25^thof April 2017. However, he breached the bail conditions and fled abroad. While in self-exile, Nnamdi Kanu intensified his subversive campaigns against Nigeria, using the online Radio Biafra to instigate violence and incite members of IPOB to commit violent attacks on civil and democratic institutions and personnel in Nigeria, particularly officials of security agencies, in addition to those of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and civilians. The Eastern Security Network (ESN), an armed wing of IPOB, continues to carry out subversive activities against the Nigerian State till date, under the moniker of unknown gunmen.

During the EndSARS protests in October 2020, apart from inciting his followers to assault security personnel and facilities, he threatened some Yoruba leaders, after which mobs desecrated and looted the Palace of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, who had to be rescued and evacuated from the palace by security agents.

To the joy of many Nigerians who believe in peaceful coexistence, were deeply disturbed by his violent rhetoric and instigation of insurrection against Nigeria, Nnamdi was successfully intercepted on Sunday, 27 June, 2021, through the collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services and brought back to Nigeria to continue his trial in court.

During my aforementioned encounters with the security chiefs, we discussed the likely aspirants who could emerge as presidential candidates from the then anticipated primary elections of the political parties. Meanwhile, two platforms that I run, PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, have weekly and monthly security and intelligence reports that we submit to clients which include security services.

The analysis of one of these platforms reveals that politically, Peter Obi and Professor Pat Utomi appear as highly acceptable faces to Igbo youths and a host of other Nigerians at the moment. The significant rise of Peter Obi to national political reckoning, with the possibility of a real shot at the presidency, certainly has the capacity to assuage the feeling of many Igbos pertaining to their deeply perceived marginalisation in the country, while also promoting political inclusiveness.

In fact, intelligence shows that Peter Obi did his homework in traversing critical Nigerian states, where he consulted with the right people before announcing his presidential aspiration. Apart from retired military security officers, he also engaged with traditional institutions and other political stakeholders, after which it was not surprising that he picked his running mate, Yusuf Datti, from a very reputable scholarly and political family in Northern Nigeria

Along the way, before his campaign had garnered formidable traction, there were suggestions to him about alliances and mergers as he set out on the LP ticket, besides those who strongly believed that he ought to have stayed in PDP as running mate to Atiku Abubakar, after which he could have then aspired for the presidency in 2027. Possibly the need to avoid an attritive slugfest with the overbearing Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in the PDP made him jettison that advice, which has all turned out better for him, as he embarked on his own electoral trajectory not necessarily for the February election, but definitely in future.

And, for those who have had the good fortune of encountering him, Peter Obi is not only stupendously wealthy and more so highly philanthropic towards good social causes, but he is also yet extremely simple and humble, unlike the typical rich Igbo folks and celebrities.

PRNigeria has had reason to run some fact-checks that cleared a number of weighty allegations levelled against him. Equally, I can personally testify to the fact that Peter Obi has many enviable qualities. In 2008, as Governor of Anambra State, he had physically attended the launch of the Emergency Volunteer Group in Awka, which was hosted by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), where I was then the spokesperson. The director of NEMA, AVM Mohammed Audu-Bida (Rtd) was amazed by his punctuality at the occasion, and the very unusual act of going around with a very light entourage, unlike most Nigerian governors.

I noticed the same punctuality when he arrived earlier than the organisers of the first annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) in Lagos in August 2017. As the guest speaker at the event, he had cautioned that the borrowing spree of the Buhari administration, coming with the figurative dangerous banana peels, could drag the country further down into financial turmoil, alongside its attendant stress on the naira and the national economy at large.

Even after emerging as the presidential candidate of LP, Peter Obi has neither been pompous nor arrogant. While going about the country in his energetic campaign, he can be described as a class act, who doesnt insult or use foul language against any of his political opponents, unlike his fanatical fans.

Even when his motives were either misread or misconstrued, and he became a subject of disparaging commentary by those in opposition to him for some reasons, for instance by his brother and then his friend, Governors Charles Soludo of Anambra and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Peter Obi is more measured and circumspect in his response. Like one incapable of saying ill things about anyone, he spoke kind words back to those attacking him. That could not be said of some ill-mannered supporters.

Obi is neither lousy nor garrulous, like some of the so-called Biafran freedom fighters and intellectuals, who engage in primitive, vicious, and violent crusades in an effort to draw attention to their need to secede the Southeast region from Nigeria, to form the Republic of Biafra. In fact the IPOB militants have threatened Peter Obi and vowed to disrupt the forthcoming 2023 elections in the South-East.

While the Biafran agitators, especially the followers of Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB/ESN, glorify and adopt violence as the only form of achieving their dream of an independent nation, they continue on the less-than-noble path of insurrection, characterised by the lack of finesse and civility in utterance and actions of the unknown gunmen that insist there wouldnt be elections in South-East,

Similarly, there is equally an insular strain of fanatical Obidients, who see in Peter Obi nothing beyond an Igbo project for seeking redress to the considered marginalisation of Igbo from the Nigerian presidency, with their dispositions being brash, uncouth and entitled.

Despite these, Peter Obi and his Nigerian supporters believe in dialogue and engagement with the democratic process towards the building of a better country, whose fault lines can be healed. They are the patriotic Nigerian Obidients whoare mature, responsible, and see the need for a country in which the whole will always be definitely greater than any of its individual parts, hence the democratic process is a tool towards achieving greatness for all.

As we brace up for the reality of exercising our franchise to elect a president in the next couple of days, I am solidly persuaded that fake prophesies, social media attacks, unscientific opinion polls, religious sentiments, and ethnic bigotry would not determine the outcome of the election but the formidable appeal and groundwork of the candidate who the people are already sold on to, and whose networks will be able to rally across our different divides in Nigeria.

It is undeniable that ethnoreligious campaigns have fouled the air and unfortunately become a major determining factor in the forthcoming presidential election. While an Igbo from the South-East, a Yoruba Muslim from the South-West and a Northerner from the North-East have never held the office of Nigerian president, Peter Obi, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and Atiku Abubakar are the main gladiators in the next presidential election.

As other prominent stakeholders in the Nigeria project have declared, I enjoin our political parties and their supporters to adhere to electoral rules and be willing to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship, whenever the outcome of the election is announced. Then the Nigerian people would have truly spoken.

Yushau A. Shuaib, a founder of PRNigeria is the author of“An Encounter with the Spymaster”

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The title of this article was the exact question posed by a senior security official at an informal breakfast in August. It was at a time when speculations were rife that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode would defect to the All-Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

I have always referred to Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) as a “Fire-for-Fire” advocate, since February 2004 when I wrote a rejoinder to his unacceptable public outburst while he was Special Adviser on Public Affairs to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. My rejoinder exposed the loophole in a statement Fani-Kayode had issued against Colonel Dangiwa Umar, a former military administrator of Kaduna State, and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), over an issue they had with Obasanjo.

In the article, which was widely published and titled, PR Analysis of Fani-Kayodes Rejoinder on Dangiwa Umar, ( Read https://yashuaib.com/2004/02/pr-analysis-of-fani-kayodes-rejoinder-on-dangiwa-umar/), I had criticised him for using high-sounding, derogatory expressions, such as pathological liar, treachery, ingratitude, destructive fake, suffer a form of delusion of grandeur and misguided sense of self-importance, among others, against the subjects of his diatribe.

While appealing to ethics and utilising the tools of PR to counter his approach, I offered crucial advice to Fani-Kayode. I insisted that a successful publicist is not judged by the power of his/her oratory, expensive regalia and appearance with bodyguards, but by the ability to analyse issues critically, and not in a manner thats so vitriolic and disagreeable even when pushing an issue he or she is so passionate about. I added that amiability, humility and openness to criticisms, are not weaknesses but attributes of a good communicator who equally has a clear mission.

With his combative postures and bombastic public engagements, Fani-Kayode has continued to remain relevant, meeting the right people at the right time, and making the right connections for the right appointments.

Born on October 16, 1960, and named David Oluwafemi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode, he had most of his schooling in Britain. After serving as Chief Press Secretary to the first national chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Chief Tom Ikimi in 1990, he was appointed Special Assistant to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, a former head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO).

Thereafter, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as his Special Assistant on Public Affairs in 2003, before he was elevated to the post of Minister of Culture and Tourism, and later as the Minister of Aviation in 2006.

FFK was a member of the PDP until 2013 when he defected to the APC as a founding member. In that initial role, he constituted a continuous thorn in the side of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. However, he returned to the PDP in June 2014 to become the spokesperson for Jonathans re-election campaign till 2015.

When his party lost in the presidential election and was hounded by the newer administration, FFK refused to be intimidated. He constantly pushed back and railed against President Buhari, top APC members and the government, taking them to the cleaners for their various perceived unethical acts. His choice of words in tackling those in power was as mercilessly as it was venomous.

Meanwhile, in responding to the enquiry by the senior security source earlier mentioned, I pointed out that FFK had cordial relationships with the detained leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and of the Yoruba Nation, Sunday Igboho. I equally emphasised that although the two men are the prominent faces of the secessionist agitation in Nigeria today, they yet have stronger sympathisers and supporters within and outside government.

In some of FFKs engagements with the agitators, he seemed to affirm and encourage their divisive and inciting rhetoric, particularly in terms of the purported Fulanisation, Arewanization and Islamisation agenda of Northerners in Nigeria.

Therefore, I expressed doubt about the possibility of the acceptance of Fani-Kayode into APC by President Buhari and the party stalwarts. I nevertheless mentioned my strong belief that if FFK genuinely renounces his essentialist, if not bigoted, ethnic and religious outlook, he has the potential to add value to political and social stability, in a manner that enhances national security.

A few weeks after the breakfast talk, FFK did not only decamp to APC but was received through a red carpet reception at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when the APC caretaker chairman, Governor Mala Buni of Yobe State, alongside Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State presented him to President Buhari.

The reception was also greeted with wild attacks across Nigerias political spectrum. Surprisingly, the majority of those condemning Fani-Kayode for decamping to APC now were the same ones commending him then when he was attacking the North, its leaders and the Buhari administration. Some of his attackers have been politicians, public commentators, and secessionist campaigners of the outlawed IPOB and Yoruba Nation groups.

The politics of decamping and defection in Nigeria is nothing new. Even though some observers pointed out that Fani-Kayode had abused, insulted, and disparaged everyone indiscriminately, this could be likewise said of other noteworthy politicians like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and Mallam Nasir El-rufai at different occasions in the past, who had vented their rage against General Buhari in disturbingly unprintable language, before they also swallowed their vomit and set up a political company with him in the same party.

Yet, unlike others, the central question being considered by many is actually what value Fani-Kayode could add to the Buhari administration at this point, which made the red carpet to be rolled out to him as he jumped ship into the APC.

Speaking with journalists after his meeting with President Buhari, FFK said it was time for him to cross over to join hands with the Head of State in moving Nigeria forward. He added that Nigerians must remain united to salvage the country from the stranglehold of those bent on destroying its progress. He also advised Nigerians not to allow any person or group to divide them or enable the disintegration of the country.

As Fani-Kayode put it: The point is that I felt it was time to do the right thing, to put Nigeria first. When the time is right, we change direction to join forces and join hands to move the country forward. Doing this doesnt mean we are enemies to anybody. Even if we are in another party, the PDP or any other party or group, we can still work together across party, regional, ethnic or religious lines.

Sounding quite reflective, he continued: We must remain one as a nation, and build bridges, work together to move the country forward. The most important thing is for us to understand the fact that Nigeria must not disintegrate and those that want us to end up fighting one another in a war will be put to shame.

My take on Fani-Kayode’s defection from the PDP to APC is not so much about the morality or otherwise of his carpet crossing, but the genuineness of his proclaimed political rebirth from being a highly divisive actor, who had championed an incendiary brand of politics anchored around ethnic and religious identification, to one promoting national unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

To his credit, before his eventual defection to APC, he was noted to have worked closely with some key players in the APC, including Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, in resolving some ethnoreligious conflicts in some states of the country.

I can only sincerely hope his better angels take charge this time around, to enable the role of a real bridge-builder rallying together many aggrieved stakeholders of the Nigeria project to work towards the socio-economic and political stability of our nation, which he is eminently qualified to play if he is so sincerely inspired.

By the way, I learn that beyond being Yoruba and Pentecostal Christian, FFK has Muslim and Fulani roots, and hence major traces of the Nigerian diversity, which he ought to be deeply concerned about promoting our national unity in ensuring national security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of ‘A Dozen Tips for Media Relations’
www.YAShuaib.com, yashuaib@yahoo.com

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Recently when I joined up with Jaafar Jaafar and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz as Northern writers in the campaign for the appointment of an Igbo military officer to the position of the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, it was a deliberate and sincere effort towards the socio-political stability of the country, which appears deeply riven, at this point, on the issue of the affirmation of its diversity. It was also an attempt to draw attention to the need to insulate a critical institution like the Nigerian Armed Forces from pernicious disaffection by all the different stakeholders of the Nigerian nation.

As a beneficiary of the hospitality, good-naturedness and warmth of others in Nigeria, and particularly the Igbo in Asaba, Delta State, which I consider another home away from home during my NYSC, I have always used every forum to appreciate the Nigerian diversity, while pointing out the difference between the regular fellow citizen – whose fate and circumstances are similar to those of mine – and those who have very limited tolerance for difference, and are inclined towards violent discriminatory – if not separatist – acts.

Discrimination and a narrow point-of-view have always been a great source of concern for me, as it encapsulates some of the things that are fundamentally wrong with Nigeria. While I belong in the company of those who have been routinely called names and casted aspersions on by others, because we insist on national unity rather than separatist campaigns or agenda, it was of great shock to me to read a recent piece “Open Letter To The Most Senior Biafran In Buhari’s Government” by two Igbo intellectuals, Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah. In the first place, they addressed their missive to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Jideofor Onyeama, who was described as “the most Senior Biafran in Buhari’s Government”! I don’t even know what that means, especially as there are other ministers in the present government who are senior to the gentleman referred to both in age and experience in politics and government. One then wonders the purpose of this reference.

The opening paragraph of the widely syndicated letter quickly confirms its intent, as the writers make no pretence at concealing the intensity of the animosity they hold against the President of Nigeria. Not only did they condemn President Muhammadu Buhari in very strong terms, but they also deploy the most derogatory of language, with such examples as: “his (Buhari’s) cognitive impairment has greatly deteriorated, even though that is no justification for his murderous and genocidal rhetoric.” Imagine such a choice of words in describing the leader of a country!

While addressing the Foreign Affairs Minister, they wrote thus: “From his (Buhari’s) utterances, the gap between things his innermost mind conjures and what his mouth utters has been completely erased. We also chose to write you (Onyema) because you are the most senior Biafran in Buhari’s government. We know that in your world, Biafra is the worst tag that anyone could put on you. Unfortunately, the people you work with, in and around Aso Rock, see you as a Biafran. You can keep running away from it, but in the deepest corners of their eyes, Biafra is like a shell on you. And like a snail, you cannot cast it off.”

I only hope the two writers know the implications of the above statement to other Nigerians, whether within or outside the government, who don’t share in their Biafran agitation and quest. The import of the very offensive remarks quoted above could easily create suspicions in the relationship between the Igbos and non-Igbos in the Buhari Administration, and by extension among other Nigerians.

In another paragraph in their “Open Letter,” the writers seek to put the Minister in a tight corner, as if he is in cahoots with them, when they say that, “Over the last six years, we are aware of your (Onyema) hard work on the international stage to rescue this government’s reputation. As this government squandered both at home and abroad the enormous goodwill it received in 2015, you have worked hard to reassure the international community that the wheel of the Nigerian vessel had not come off and would not come off. Based on recent events, you do not need a soothsayer or us to tell you that the wheels came off a long time ago. What the international community was telling you in private weeks ago, they have made a tiny bit of it public following the debacle that is Buhari’s reaction to Twitter’s sanction of his genocidal tweet against the people of the South-East.”

From the above, are they claiming that they were privy to the proceedings of the meeting?

Also, while they expressed their utter disdain for the President, they yet never disclosed that the same Buhari had nominated Igbo politicians as his running mates in previous elections, which however failed because the majority of South-Easterners refused to vote for the tickets he was on.

Meanwhile, when Buhari finally choose a Yoruba man as running mate, they not only became possibly the best-known opposition candidates in Nigerian history, but they went on to win elections into the presidency on two continuous occasions.

Whereas they mention the already outlawed and proscribed group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) once in the entire lengthy article, they yet attempted to whitewash its leader by claiming that “Nnamdi Kanu is a product of Buhari’s incompetence” and that “Buhari’s paranoiac frenzy about anything Biafra turned what was Nnamdi Kanu’s agitation for justice and fairness into what it is today.” Surprisingly, they added that, “The president made Nnamdi Kanu a hero by locking him up and disobeying court orders to free him.”

Yet, it is quite easy to forget that there was hardly anything exclusive about the fate suffered by Nnamdi Kanu, as he had similar journeymen in Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) and Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky who have been punished greatly by the same act of disobedience to court orders. These are Northerners who have suffered gravely in the hands of the government, but who have not instigated rampages that habitually kill the Police and other security personnel, while destroying public property in their region, just because of the injustice meted out to them by the state.

While IPOB is mentioned only once in the article, and this was in their defence, the writers nevertheless mentioned Boko Haram several times for obvious reasons, even though terrorists and acts of terrorism need to be engaged within the same frame and treated in the same manner. They even created an interesting leeway in their description of IPOB militants as ‘Biafran activists,’ as put in the sentence that, “whatever excesses Biafran activists exhibit pale in comparison to the activities of well-armed, long-established northern-based groups, most of whom are from the president’s ethnic stock.”

May I ask: what is the composition of this ethnic stock of the president? Is it Fulani, Kanuri, Arewa, Muslim, etc., because he is all of these?

Still, Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah fail to refer to the killing of dozens of security personnel, including officers of the Police and the Armed Forces, in the East and the destruction of security formations and facilities, including Police stations and Prisons, but they would rather blame the security agencies. According to the “Open Letter”, the two writers mentioned that President Buhari would send Onyema “to crisscross the world and lie for him…. lying that there were no killings of innocent young men and women in the South-East by security agencies.” What about the security personnel killed in the various outbursts of local insurrection, could it be that they are considered as less human than the others who got murdered and hence deserved no mention or for anyone to seek justice on their behalf?

What about the killing of Northerners, especially Muslims, alongside the looting, as well as destruction of their goods in the South-East by gangs of the so-called Unknown Gunmen?

The Biafran writers refused to refer to reckless incitements of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu against the federal troops, even as he repeatedly describes Nigerians and the country as ‘animals and a Zoo.’ Neither did they mention that the IPOB that they have refigured as some sort of freedom movement has actually been proscribed by law for its various criminal, treacherous and treasonable offences.

The writers did not deem it appropriate to point out that their revered hero, Nnamdi Kanu is a fugitive who jumped bail and had his sympathisers, including lawyers and activists, lie so brazenly by sensationally claiming that he had then been abducted by security agencies, while he had really been ferried abroad by these same supporters.

As I had mentioned in one of my articles titled, “Between the Nigerian Igbos and Biafran Agitators,” (https://yashuaib.com/2017/06/nigerian-igbos-biafran-agitators/) written in June 2017, I said “the Ndigbo are spread across every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The Igbo speaks local dialects and respects the cultures of his host communities. He believes every part of Nigeria is a home away from home and adopts the same as his place of residence. Experience has shown that if you go to any community and you do not find an Igbo person there, your had better leave that town immediately. Any city without an Igbo person is not business-like. On the other hand, a Biafran agitator is not exposed to other parts of Nigeria besides Igboland, and even if he might have grown up in the diaspora, he only learnt the distorted history of Nigeria through myopic and eccentric points-of-views. The agitator hates other Nigerians and possibly believes in violent confrontations towards the actualisation of his dream of the Republic of Biafra.”

While I still stand on the fact that there are differences between peace-loving Igbos and IPOB militants and their sympathisers, as one who is permanently sold on Nigerian diversity and the strengths and possibilities it represents, I wish to urge that as Nigerians, we should all be very careful about the sort of divisive politics that we promote. And how we seek to cherry-pick events to lend a morbidly dark interpretation to our national experience at this, no doubt, challenging point in time, while working towards an end that might not be totally salutary.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Is the author of “An Encounter with the Spymaster”
www.YAShuaib.com

The post A Rejoinder to Igbo Intellectuals on the Biafran Minister in Buhari’s Government appeared first on YAShuaib.

Arewa Biafran Relocation

Between Nigerian Igbos and Biafran Agitators – A Northerner’s Perspective
By Yushau A. Shuaib

The sweet memory of my youth service year in an Igboland of Asaba, Delta State in the 90s, is what I have continued to relish whenever a discourse on tribalism, sectionalism and the likes are on the front burner in my beloved country, Nigeria. As non-indigenes, especially young Northerners, we were well-received, accommodated and accorded respect and dignity. In fact, we freely walked into the Palace of the Paramount ruler, the Asagba of Asaba, Professor Chike Edozien for supports and guidance whenever the need arose.

Since then, I have had a proper perspective and understanding of the Ndigbo whom I have as friends. In this tension-soaked period where various sectional groups issue reckless and unguarded threats, it is necessary to further distinguish between a peace-loving Nigerian Igbo from a Secessionist Biafran agitator.

The Ndigbo, as I know them, are spread across every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The Igbo speaks local dialects and respects the culture of the host communities. He believes every part of Nigeria is a home away from home and adopted same as the place of residence. Experience has shown that if you go to any community and you cannot find an Igbo person there, your best bet is to leave that town immediately. Any city without an Igbo person is not business-like. On the other hand, a Biafran agitator is not exposed to other parts of Nigeria besides the Igboland and might have grown in the diaspora where he only learns the distorted history of Nigeria from myopic and eccentric points of views. The agitator hates other Nigerians and possibly believes in violent confrontation towards the actualization of his dream of the Republic of Biafra.

Meanwhile, the successes of an Igbo entrepreneur is more visible outside the shores of Igboland with enormous investments in hospitality, housing estates, spare parts, automobiles and manufacturing industries among others in different regions of the country. However, the business enterprise of a Biafran agitator is restricted within his ‘Biafra-land’ without a vision for expansion outside the South-eastern region. The primary activity of an agitator is in constant pursuit of hate speeches through empty threats and arrogance posture. This is not the Ndigbo that I know so well.

An Igbo Politician is a bridge builder, who establishes and sustains friendship across the Niger. The likes of Uzor Kalus of Abia, Rochas Okorochas of Imo, Peter Obis of Anambra among others are clear examples of successful Igbo businessmen who transcend geographic boundaries of Nigeria in wise investment in the productive sector, before venturing into politics to support the Igboland.

Unfortunately, the Biafran agitator has completely lost touch with the reality of our existence. The secessionist has forgotten that the map of the South-Eastern region of the 60s has completely changed in the new millennium where the minority tribes are no longer in that realm but in mostly Niger Delta region of the South-South. The Biafran Politician fantasises on annexing other resource-endowed territories by visualising Ijaw, Urhobo, Kalabari, Ibibio, Ikwere, Efik, Igala, Idoma and Edo into the illusionary Biafran Republic. Some of these ethnic nationalities have in recent times come out to dissociate themselves from the so-called Biafra agitation.

The Nigerian Igbo believes in oneness and indivisibility of Nigeria, he speaks Nigeria, breath Nigeria and will never leave Nigeria. An obvious example is the fact that Igbos in Kano populate the vast Sabon Gari District whose population is more than most big cities in the South-East. Apart from occasional sectional skirmishes which may not necessarily be their faults, the Igbos in the North are well loved by Northern leaders even protected by Arewa youths.

The Igbos are allowed to acquire properties and establish businesses in every Northern part of the country, but the Biafran sympathisers have continuously denied outsiders from owning lands for business related activities in the South-East. This glaring discrimination currently creates the disparity of inequality of business ownerships where an average Northerner can quickly relocate without losing a dime, while the sheer volume of investment of a South-Easterner can never be easily recouped or transferred even in decades.

It is necessary to point out that the modern day’s Biafran agitators hate Nigeria and Nigerians and have described the country as a zoo. The main agitator and Supreme Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) known as Nnamdi Kanu has not only publicly threatened to wage war against Nigeria in a bloody and violent confrontation but has also described any Christian that attends “a Church with a Yoruba Pastor as an idiot, imbecile and not fit to be a human being and worse than Boko Haram.”

In series of his videos and audios, available online, Nnamdi Kanu engages in lousy intimidation and nauseating statements. It is just ridiculous, however, that rather than condemning him and bringing him to order, some respected Igbo leaders, who have themselves built bridges across the length and breadth of this country, celebrate and even stand behind him over his treasonable case in the court.

While the rantings of Biafran agitators had gone on for a while without a reply, it was the reckless declaration of the ultimatum issued by the so-called Arewa Youths as counterbalancing response to the inciting statements that reawakens the consciousness of Nigerians to the danger of hate campaigns.

While it may be justifiable to unleash a ferocious dog against a neighbour’s untamed mad dog, we should nevertheless tame the fury of Arewa youths who may have the exact mindset of Kanu’s IPOB. Some may not issue empty threat, they can just misbehave like the mad dogs.

As Nigerians, we should deploy common sense through dialogue to resolve the contentious issues of our nationhood. After all the hullabaloos and threats, I am so sure that no one is going anywhere. We should remain united and stop the dirty politics of ethnicity, widely played by sponsored and misguided youths. The ill-advised agitators from both parties must have read slanted history books since they were not witnesses to the history.

Yushau A. Shuaib
www.YAShuaib.com
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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