FEATURE ARTICLE


David Asonye Ihenacho, Ph.D  (EMAIL)
New York, USA
Tuesday, December 18, 2001


Ratcheting up the Rhetoric of Rebellion


ho knows if it all exists in my imaginations? But whatever may be the case, the last couple of weeks in Nigeria have been appearing eerily ominous to me. In addition to the malignant buffoonery of the MASSOB boys and the peacock-posturing of their strategy-challenged leader, Ralph Uwazurike, whose dream of resurrecting the dead republic of Biafra and rebuilding its dilapidated walls urges him to hallucinate on with the erection of contradictory symbols across the world, there was one Mrs. Dupe Adelaja, officially described as a minister of state in the Nigerian Ministry of Defense, upbraiding the so-called pardoned former Biafran army officers as "traitors" and "rebels" who do not deserve any pensions because they fought against the corporate existence of Nigeria. At the other end of the awkward spectrum was the "ex- Biafran-rebel-in-chief" himself, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, threatening another secession if the desires of the Igbo were not met in any future sovereign national conference. According to him, if the Igbo were treated like a goat, they would not only act like a goat but a he-goat. And talking of a he-goat, President Obasanjo jumped into the fray like a ramming he-goat charging that those who were advocating secession from Nigeria after thirty-one years since the end of the civil war "should have their heads examined".

Let us call a spade a spade. Obasanjo wants us to examine the head of Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the ex-Biafran warlord. He honestly believes that right from the time of the civil war in Nigeria till today Ojukwu has been out of his mind. For him Ojukwu is literally mad through and through. Obasanjo is therefore pleading with us to individually examine Ojukwu's head with the view to certifying with him that he should perhaps check into a psychiatric hospital and receive some medication. And that is the caring and altruistic Obasanjo for you. He truly believes that Ojukwu should be collectively helped to get some cure for his peculiar kind of madness that made him in the first place to lead the botched secession of Biafra from Nigeria and continues even today to prompt him every now and then into dreaming that his wish of becoming the president of an independent nation of Biafra would sooner than later see the light of the day.

Honestly speaking some of us endowed with some modicum of daring had embarked on doing just that long before Obasanjo remembered to call for it. Ever since coming of age some of us have seen Ojukwu as a phenomenon needing some kind of analytical deconstruction. And after a labor spanning two decades since he returned from exile in Ivory Coast what have we found? The Ikemba Nnewi and the Eze-Igbo by popular acclamation is obviously not crazy. He is absolutely sane, perfectly normal and in fact honorable and talented. But he is different. Unquestionably, "Ojukwu, the people's general" is a good rhetorician, a reverential figure in Igbo land, an awe-inspiring personality in Nigeria and somebody many of us grew up idolizing, that is, until we came into contacts with libraries in America and Europe showcasing the qualities of great generals in history. Once we became acquainted with the other peoples' heroes in crisis situations Ojukwu's stocks plunged disastrously in our scales of values. We have since realized that the awe-inspiring Biafran war hero was just a very fallible historical accident who was thrust into a dire situation that demanded the type of courage and sagacity he was not endowed with. That resulted in the Igbo people being led to a cliff and abandoned to their fate by the one they thought was their Moses. Because Ojukwu proved not to be the true Moses for the Igbo, we are today stranded in the desert that is Nigeria with neither the grace of manna nor the promise of quail.

However, despite his tragic adventure during the civil war, which makes him almost loathsome to many Nigerians on both sides of the divide, Ojukwu remains somebody whose views on contemporary Nigeria continue to elicit great interest and reaction in Nigeria and beyond. He has been running as the undeclared man of the year in the Nigerian press for many years now. But this is not undeserved by any measure whatsoever. Ojukwu articulates his views and those of his people superbly, and unlike Obasanjo, has the right persona, great communication skills, chooses the right words and makes the right impact. He appears naturally as a leader and has the luck of people always cringingly gravitating towards him. He hypnotizes everybody and the Nigerian press remains his permanent victim. He has clout and class and can win the love of the most tender and the most beautiful lady in Nigeria even in his ripe old age. He is a charmer, a "grandiloquist" and an idealist but hardly ever gifted with the wisdom of realism. He could bamboozle and conjure but hardly can actuate. Like Nnamdi Azikiwe before him, he is better a philosopher than a politician. He would make a great abstract artist than say, a painter.

But in essence Ojukwu remains a tragic military hero even after thirty-one years since the end of the civil war. He is a great army general that never was. He has chronic poor political skills and miserable political judgments. He is ever rushing into party politics prematurely and making all the wrong turns in party affiliations. His political associations are horrendous and his ability to lead is absolutely questionable. But over and above all these, Ojukwu has a chunky share in the events that led to the demise of the once promising and resourceful Biafra that was set to redeem the present miserable image of Africa with some sense of technological creativity and resourcefulness. When we "examined Ojukwu's head", that was all that we had found, a concatenation of contradictions, a delightful leadership persona that is undercut by misjudgments and missed opportunities, a very eloquent speaker that refuses to talk substance, a bearded wise man that could not learn from history. The present Ojukwu reminiscing secession is a retro. He appears to be wrestling with the harsh judgment of history that must look on him as a failed general of his people's army, a Moses that could not lead his people to the promise land.

But the jury is out on the issue of the examination of Obasanjo's head. It is very ironic that immediately he called for the examination of Ojukwu's head, people seized on the opportunity to address what they described as the problem associated with his own head. Reading Rudolf Okonkwo, Reuben Abati [a guy I love to lampoon for his habitual mangling of Nigerian historical facts, his currently running work on this issue on the Guardian not an exception] and the many other writers of the Nigeriaworld.com it became clear to me that there was a great clamor for the examination of the head of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Many people seem to attribute the chaotic situation of the present Nigeria to some kind of chaos in the president's heads. That may well be the case for a nation is as good as its leader. Every nation deserves its leader. The Nigeria of today deserves their president and Obasanjo deserves them. It is obviously a case of a bad drum and a bad drummer. The way Obasanjo has led Nigeria in the past couple of years appears to give credence to the accusation that the chaos in his head might be contributing to the chaos in the Nigerian polity.

However the language being used by both Obasanjo and those calling for the examination of his head has revealed that we all need some kind of head examination in Nigeria. Considering the way things are working in Nigeria, there is no doubt that all Nigerians need some kind of a head examination. Obasanjo might become a great leader in Nigeria by simply recognizing that it is not Ojukwu and himself alone that must have their heads examined in order for the secession calls to cease but every Nigerian. If we could find a way to have everybody's head examined, we might be able to live together ever after and permanently quell the clamor for secession. If Obasanjo would wish to be reckoned by history as a wise and pragmatic leader in Nigeria he must immediately summon a national conference so that we all could have our heads examined. That is the appropriate place to have a mutual examination of our heads. The fact is that Nigeria's problems can never be solved unless we embark on massive examinations of the heads of the different personalities in Nigeria. All Nigerians are potential psychiatric patients. To be able to survive in the current jungle of Nigeria entails some kind of maladjustment, which is clearly a case for psychiatry. So let us go for it Mr. President. Get all Nigerians lined up for a psychiatric evaluation. That will cure the urge to secede.

But of great concern in this essay is, why is it that the call for secession from Nigeria has persisted among the Igbo even after thirty-one years of relative peace without tranquility in Nigeria? Why have the Igbo refused to integrate themselves into Nigeria after their decisive defeat in the civil war? Why do they insist on being on their own and where do they think they are going? Why does the Nigerian polity continue to breed people like Uwazurike, Ojukwu and the many others who never get tired of threatening secession from Nigeria? Considering the current geo-political realities of the present Nigeria, are these threats realistic or mere blackmail?

For me the call for secession in Nigeria has remained a viable pastime for the Igbo because of people like Dupe Adelaja and Olusegun Obasanja. It is such people who are hopelessly arrogant and not gifted with any political wisdom who encourage the Igbo to feel estranged and unwanted in Nigeria. Look at the so-called minister of state in the ministry of defense calling respectable Biafran army officers "traitors" and "rebels" simply because they had asked for their pensions after they had been purportedly pardoned through Obasanjo's anniversary gimmick. The so-called under minister of defense had the audacity to tell those worthy Nigerians to thank their stars because they were walking free in Nigeria and breathing its air free of charge. How much more arrogant can such a self-consumed minor minister get? And what is the meaning of Obasanjo's pardon if it does not lead to the payment of pensions to those legitimate army officers that were in service before the Biafran war? And most importantly, what gave Dupe Adelaja the courage to address a free Nigerian citizen as a traitor and a rebel thirty-one years after the end of the civil war? What made her feel more worthy of Nigeria than those Biafran military heroes if not for the fact that she and her boss considered themselves as belonging to the winning side and those ex-officers as belonging to the losing side? How can people still categorized and treated as losers three decades after the end of the war stop dreaming of owning a country where they can become winners and not losers? A country where some people are segregated as traitors and rebels can never serve as home to all. Using little known government officials like Adelaja to insult Biafran war heroes makes the prospect of a new Biafra very appealing to the Igbo.

The Nigerian nation has continued to breed people like Uwazurike and Ojukwu that perennially clamor for secession three decades after the civil war because of terrible injustice and acute marginalization. It is no news to anybody in Nigeria that the Igbo have paid a million fold for losing the war to Nigeria. In hindsight it would have been better if we never went to war than going to war and losing it only to be regarded as second-class citizens forever in a country we are supposed to regard as our own. For more than thirty years since after the civil war, the Igbo, the heart of the defunct Biafran resistance, have remained almost nationless and marginal figures in the Nigerian polity. They have continued to be treated like those who are being tolerated in a country they had not wanted. That is why many of us who are history enthusiasts are mad with the supreme commander of the war on the Biafran side. We believe that he did not draw much wisdom from history when he prosecuted the war the way he did. He wasted a lifetime opportunity and turned all of us over to Nigeria as slaves forever.

The Igbo have been made to subtly pay tributes to the triumphant parts of Nigeria ever since the war ended. Thirty years after the war the Igbo are still excluded from all vital segments of the Nigerian society. Their few infrastructures are many decades behind those of the other parts of Nigeria. Their roads are not made, their telephone does not dial and electricity is a rarity in their territory. They are not in the top echelon of the Nigerian armed forces, always passed over during promotions or retired prematurely before they could rise to responsible levels. They are completely excluded from the security structure of Nigeria. They are the only ethnic group of their size in Nigeria left pathetically at the mercy of the foxy hands of the powerful Hausa-Fulani oligarchy and the shrewd fingers of the Yoruba elite. The Igbo are second-class citizens in Nigerian politics permanently decreed out of the presidency of Nigeria. They are confined to middle-level trading and street hawking in the Nigerian economy. That is why some of the vocal ones among them continue to blow the trumpet of secession. And the cloud is gathering. Whether we like it or not, it must rain unless there is a timely attitudinal or structural change in Nigeria.

In as much as people like Obasanjo and the Northern elite have vowed to continue their post-war conspiracy of sustaining the principle of winner-take-all, there will be no end to calls for secession among the Igbo. Ojukwu, despite his leadership flaws, represents the genuine aspirations of the Igbo people. When he speaks, his voice resonates among the Igbo people. He may not have the great skills of leadership and will never rule again in Igbo land, but he has a voice that sounds like a clarion call. When the Igbo hear him call, the sense of duty and patriotism takes hold of every one. He may be a mad man to Obasanjo, he is a hero to many Igbo people. I may criticize him methodologically I do not disagree with him philosophically.

Obasanjo and his cronies sound hypocritical when they pretend not to see any reason for the people to long for secession in Igbo land. The only logic to acute injustice as the Igbo are experiencing it in the current Nigeria is separation. It should not be a surprise to any one when it ultimately happens. A people held down by injustice must find a way to liberate themselves from their tormentors. This is a principle as old as humanity itself. People who cry because of genuine injustice meted out to them are not mad. They should not be bundled to mental health clinics. Rather it is those who see injustice and are not offended by it that should be checked into a psychiatric hospital and have their heads examined. The natural reaction for anybody feeling the pain of injustice is to cry for liberation and separation.

When the Yoruba felt injustice, perhaps for the first time in Nigeria following the debacle of June 12, they cried for secession. They threatened fire and brimstone. They formed the Odua Peoples Congress to actualize their desire to build an Oduduwa republic. Then it was perfectly normal for people thus offended to shout the despised "S" word. But when the Igbo who are accustomed to marginalization in Nigeria cry against injustice and threaten secession if their desires are not met, it merits them a check up in a psychiatric hospital. The mere fact that when the Igbo cry against injustice they are described as crazy is the height of prejudicial disparity in treatment and enough reason to demand secession from Nigeria. It is clear evidence that the Igbo are not considered to be equal to the rest of the people of Nigeria.

But the ultimate question remains, are those threats realistic or mere blackmail considering the complexity of the present-day Nigeria? There is hardly any way to distinguish realistic societal threats from mere blackmail. Both almost have equal potentials to fracture and injure cohesion in the society. The situation of the Igbo and their threats wear an eerily different garb from that resulting from any generalist sociological categorization.

Despite the strategy-less buffoonery of MASSOB and their leader, Nigerians should never doubt the resolve of the Igbo people to fight for liberation from their present second-class status in Nigeria. The current situation of hopeless injustice will never continue in Nigeria. Obasanjo may want those who are thinking the unthinkable to check into a psychiatric hospital. Dupe Adelaja may exercise her newfound effrontery to insult the elder statesmen of the defunct Biafran extraction. But one thing must be abundantly clear to all Nigerians. The suppression of the Igbo people in Nigeria will not last forever. Obasanjo may be buoyed by the fact that he was the lucky army officer to receive the Biafran surrender some three decades ago. He has warned that history might repeat itself should there be any threat to divide Nigeria. But he needs not be all that confident. The defeat of Biafra is more than thirty years old. It must now be a distant memory to him and to all those who may think that they have mastered the art of defeating a Biafran nation. A new breed of the Igbo people who did not know the botched Biafran war has been born.

Learning about the humiliation of their forefathers in the war and their subsequent second-class citizenship in the contemporary Nigeria Igbo minds are gradually filling up with vengeful rage. Should there be any need to embark on any other war in Nigeria, God forbid that this need should ever arise again, but should that ever be the unfortunate curse of Nigeria again, Obasanjo must be assured that the outcome is not going to be assured in advance for him and his people. Rather than bad-mouth those of Igbo extraction who are frustrated by the pains of continuous injustice in Nigeria, he should do himself and his people a favor by working hard to make Nigeria livable and fair for every one. He should not be under any illusion that the Igbo of today will repeat their mistakes of thirty years ago.

Should the Igbo embark on any other war in Nigeria, they will be going there for an outright victory and nothing will stop them. If Obasanjo does not utilize this God-given opportunity to stabilize the nation, if he is hoping that should there be another war he would triumphantly receive another letter of surrender from Biafra, he might find out that at the end of the day he or his successor will be the one to give it. He has the most wonderful opportunity in the post-civil war history of Nigeria to stabilize the nation by addressing the grievances of the different segments of our nation. A simple convocation of a national conference that produces an acceptable constitution for the administration of a federated Nigeria might do it for him. But I am afraid he would prefer to continue the well-worn post-war delusion of the triumphalistic Nigerian elites who think that they will always have their way in Igbo land.

Time is running out for everybody in Nigeria and the clock is ticking. Rather than waste time insulting and talking back at people, instead of trying always to get even with his mortal enemy the "ex-rebel leader", and instead of sending the likes of Adelaja to attack and humiliate our already wounded elders and statesmen, Obasanjo should do himself and the nation a favor by finding a way to cater for the interest of the aggrieved peoples of Nigeria. But if he chooses to misread the signs of the times, if he misreads the forecasts of the gathering clouds in Nigerian geopolitics preferring instead to administer personal attacks on those he considers psychotic lone rangers, he would have cast himself as the Gorbachev of Nigeria destined to bury the Soviet-like relics of Nigeria in the tomb of non-resurrection.

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