Nnamdi Kanu, Are You Afraid To Come Out Of The Shadow?

Editor’s note: Radio Biafra is a very popular among the Igbo London-based broadcasting station spreading the ideas of the region independence under the guidance of Nnamdi Kanu, its mastermind. Though the concept of an independent Republic of Biafra is very close to the south easterners, the way Kanu presents it, calling Nigeria a “Zoo”, is disputable. Arinze Esomnofu, Naij.com constant guest author, expresses doubts it is ever possible to ignite the people to struggle for independence from far away, and challenges Nnamdi Kanu to stop spreding hate messages about his motherland, leave London for Nigeria and be beside his people, if he truely believes in what he advocates.

I was born years after the Biafran war, and so was Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra and a self-proclaimed leader of the IPOB (the Indigenous People of Biafra). For both of us the Biafran war came as a number of pictured stories we heard first hand from historians and the elders witnessing the war.

The fact that one did not see the Biafran war with their own eyes can never make a true Igbo son or daughter think less of it, never! Images of the war start running through my mind whenever I give in to the thoughts of it, and, believe me, those images are not rossy. My grandfather would say that only those who never saw war talked about it as a child’s play. Till date you are sure to find the graves of“Nwafors” ( “Sons of the Soil”) that lost their lives during the Biafran war in my community. As long as these graves are recognised and respected by the new generations, we will all have a strong feeling of what our people went through, and it is a feeling no one will wish his people to go through again.

He who started it all

Nnamdi Kanu presently resides in London carrying out his callous agitations for Biafra from there. In essence, I understand the nature of Kanu’s actions to a certain extent, but the thing is that he is pushing his agitations in a very wrong way.

What makes Nnamdi Kanu totally throw caution to the winds and make really treasonable statements from the comfortable London abode? He claims that he is not Nigerian, but takes a green international passport whenever he is leaving the shores of Britain constantly referring to a country, which passport he uses to access the world, as a “Zoo”. Is that not a hypocrisy?

The South Eastern character

Not long ago I came across an article titled“Buhari – the Dullard of Daura have popularized Radio Biafra and Nnamdi Kanu” by Azuka Onwuka, and, upon going through it, asked myself what the mission of Nnamdi Kanu actually was. Earlier when the agitations for the emancipation of Biafra were mentioned, one’s mind went to the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) led by Chief Uwazurike. However, now they are closely linked to Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB. Kanu has gained popularity among the people, but is it all that he craves for? Is popularity all that Biafrans need to move to their “Promised Land”? The answer is obviously no.

The south easterners always do find ways to speak with one voice on the issues that affect the region directly. That was why when it started as rumours and was later confirmed to be true that some Boko Haram suspects were to be transferred to the region, there were massive protests. Today the decision has been reversed. The same “oneness” I expected from my people when the Radio Biafra broadcasting was jammed, but there were no protests or whatsoever.

Biafra, the last resort

I have always been saying that Biafra came as a solace, the last source of survival from the genocide fell on my people both in Lagos and in the north of Nigeria then. The moment our leaders could not agree on the Aburi Accord, the creation of an independent state was inevitable.

In every clamour for an independent and sovereign Biafra either through the MASSOB or through the IPOB, how can support and unshakable trust of the Igbo be got? A group of people must see and feel that they are not welcomed in a particular entity, and, in my opinion, it is yet to happen. We should not forget that every time someone gets appointed in the Buhari government, there are hundreds of tribes neglected in that appointment. It is not only the Igbo that have been shortchanged, unless we are saying the other tribes are less important. As a proponent of “one Nigeria”, I would not touch upon such topics.

The Constitution of Nigeria does not stipulate following the federal character in making appointments, unless they are ministerial. Thus, I would like to stress the fact that President Buhari have not acted unconstitutionally, and as he has always claimed, the appointments were made according to the principles of meritocracy.

A faraway “partizan” of an independent Biafra

Coming back to the IPOB and Kanu’s clamour for an independent Biafra, there is a question: how can such struggle be won off the Nigerian shores, or is Kanu scared of what he is up against? Does he need me to tell him how vital will addressing the Igbo traders personally in the famous Onitsha Market or Aba Market be to “his” struggle? Was Kanu told that was how Mandela fought against apartheid in South Africa, or Ojukwu led the Biafran war from Europe? However, he chooses the safest option of addressing the people, who do not even know how he looks like, from a studio in a faraway Europe. No wonder, Nigerians do not support Kanu’s struggle based upon their inactivity.

Ending this piece, I would like to state categorically that I have nothing personal against Nnamdi Kanu. I admire his courage and love for our people, but I fault his method of spreading hate messages, his usage of foul language against Nigeria and, above all, staying in London instead of being with his people here in Nigeria.

Kanu could have become an unforgotten hero in the Igbo history. His name would have been written in the sands of time, had he waited for a balance in “time and chance”, but he had not. Believe me, what we need right now is not secession, but provement that we the Igbo are relevant in Nigeria. We can achieve this only with the help of the right political calculations and the backing of Chukwu Okike Abiama.