Of course, Muhammadu Buhari, the reigning President of ONE Nigeria, or any of those who fought or witnessed the civil war of between 1967 and 1970 to KEEP NIGERIA ONE (emphasis mine), would be the last to be part of any talk about balkanization of Nigeria, much more on the same old issue of Biafran Republic which gave rise to the war itself.
The civil war of 1967-70, according to record, was engineered simply by the ambition and grievances of one man: late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojunwu, the Ikemba of Nnewi, even though he was able to make his personal grievances as that of the Igbo as a people. When the war broke out, he fled the country, abandoned the same people he declared war to gain a country for, to their fate. And the rest is now history.
Indeed, the same history appears to be repeating itself, where the grievances of a few Igbo people, mainly the young ones who are not even in Nigeria; who are not residing and mingling with the mainstream Igbo in the South East and or South South, are being floated as the grievances of the entire ethnic group, upon which the same Biafran Republic is being agitated for.
Idea has been canvassed by those estranged Igbo youths who are enjoying themselves outside Nigeria, that the rest of Nigeria needs Igbo more than Igbo need Nigeria. And with what had just happened in Britain where majority of its citizens voted to exit the European Union, a few of those loud-mouthed Igbo youths have renewed and intensified their agitation for the Republic of Biafra.
Yes, if I were the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as vibrant as I am, I would start the process of allowing the Igbos to determine their fate by themselves, either wrongly or rightly.
This is what I would do:
first, I would constitute a committee, made up of respected Igbo leaders, including, of course, some members of the restless Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), the Ohaneze, the Niger Delta group and other like them to draw the map of the would-be Republic of Biafra. The work of the committee would be closely monitored by International bodies like the United Nations, the ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union and similar others.
Secondly, the committee would go round, especially, the six states in the South South to collate the number of people that want each of the states to go with the five states in the South East to form the Federal Republic of Biafra.
Thirdly, the first committee would be dissolved, though with the international observers/monitors still retained, while another committee is constituted to take a census of the people residing in the states that want the new Republic. This process will then be followed immediately with conducting votes to determine the number of those who want the new Republic created.
With such process, the map of the Biafran Republic would be known, based on the states that want such republic; the true picture of the desire of the majority of the people in the South East and or South South would be known scientifically. Even if eventually the majority of the people choose to go for the new Republic, conditions would be set out clearly by my government, on the terms of separation.
First, all the Igbo people operating businesses in the now new Nigeria (the North which they so hate, the South West and perhaps part of the South South) would forfeit such businesses to Nigeria. Record has it that Igbo people have made it big in the North and the South West, so much that they control over 65 percent of the top businesses in these regions. It is even said that Igbo people virtually own Abuja, the Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and that they are in charge in Lagos and as in far North as Kano and Sokoto.
The Igbo will also be made to forfeit their big mansions that dominate almost all parts of the new Nigeria; from North to South West.
As a matter of fact, all the Igbos in the new Nigeria will be made to go to their new country, the Federal Republic of Biafra, and can only come to Nigeria after obtaining visa, which will be made tough to obtain.
After the separation, I will then concentrate on how to rapidly develop Nigeria. I will attract people with various enticing offers, to go into agriculture, like President Buhari is already doing. I will make sure that industries that process farm products into various packages are established. I will rehabilitate Ajaokuta Steel project as well as Itape Iron Ore, and other Iron and Steel projects in the North and the South West. I will revive textile industry all over the country.
With the Igbo out of the way, I would have done away with the most difficult, cunning and noisy part of the country, and then find the joy of the peace of mind to concentrate on tidying up the country.
I, as President of Nigeria, would save the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, from the accusation by the agitators for the Republic of Biara that he, Cameron, denied them (Biafrans), the right to choose their own nation and that he shows that they (Biafrans) are inferior because of the colour of their skin.
And as one of the agitators quoted wrongly for a right purpose, it would be to Igbo people: “like a depressed wife that bluffed her way out of her husband’s house (divorce) and does not know how to get back into the house again” when she discovered her follies!
Far from it that David Cameron is directly telling Biafrans that because they come from an inferior race, they do not deserve to exist as a nation of their own choice.
To me, far from it! [myad]
