NIGERIA-BIAFRA WAR MEMORIAL LECTURE
New strategies for a new war
Chief AUstin Egwuonwu
Former President, Igbo USA, New Jersey/Former Chairman, World Igbo Congress
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Umunne na umunna m, ekenee m unu; nke a na-etu onye, ya zaa.
Today, we once again gather to remember and to pay respect to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save Ndi Igbo and their neighboring nations. While we pray for their eternal rest, we the living should reflect and evaluate our actions and deeds as they relate to the main cause that propelled our fallen heroes to war. For these actions to make sense, they must be honest evaluations – whether we act individually or collectively.
As a teenager living in the northern part of Nigeria, I witnessed the massacres of Easterners, especially the Igbo, and the lootings of their properties. Some of us who escaped death in the core northern cities were picked up at the railway station in Makurdi by the Nigerian soldiers. Ironically, most of the Nigerian soldiers who participated in the mass arrest and killings of the Easterners, and who subsequently executed the war against Biafra, were from the Benue-Plateau region. As young I was then, I was arrested because they thought that I was a military cadet. My eventual escape from that ordeal was by divine intervention.
The atrocities we saw compelled my generation to join the Biafran Army. We were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to avoid a repeat of the evils against our people that many of us witnessed. During the early stages of the war, there was no scarcity of willing recruits to the Biafran Army. Our thoughts and commitment to defend Biafra were reflected in our Biafran war songs such as:
My father, don’t you worry
My mother, don’t you worry
If I happen to die in the battlefield
Never mind, we shall see again.
You may recall that we did not have enough military personnel carriers and weapons. What we had in abundance was willpower, desire for justice, and commitment to the survival of our people. This calls to mind another song that requested: “Biafrans, take my bullet when I die.”
I made the above brief historical remark in order to bring you to my main point in this speech, in which I call on our people to change our strategies in dealing with other nationalities and situations in Nigeria. In my opinion, the war has not fully ended. While the format and battlefields have changed, the target is still us: Ndi Igbo. If we keep meeting these challenges with the same level of prewar and postwar (un)preparedness, we will keep getting the same unpleasant results.
Ndiibe anyi, anya saa nu!
Onye ndiiro gbara gburugburu na-eche ndu ya nche mgbe niile.
Just like what happened before the outbreak of the Nigeria-Biafra War, Ndiigbo are ill-equipped to fight the new war of survival. In a conventional battle, we have military units like platoons, companies, battalions, brigades, divisions, etc. and the intelligence and signal units complete with secret codes and undercover agents. Now, in this new political war, there are political task forces all over the country: Kaduna Mafia, Afenifere, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Arewa People’s Congress (APC), Muslim Youths, Ijaw Youths, Egbesu Boys, Northern radicals, Area Boys, etc. These groups are used by their respective people to pursue their agenda. They fight from the flanks to support their center-ranks, which are made up of political heavyweights and background operatives.
In our backyard, people who should know better are behaving like political neophytes. While our governors and political leaders condemn MASSOB (the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra), their Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani counterparts support OPC and the APC respectively. During the day, these non-Igbo governors and political heavyweights call their task forces “radicals” or “bad boys”; but, once the sun settles for the night and they are inside their shrines and mosques, the same supposedly “bad eggs” are regarded as the people’s foot soldiers and even heroes.
The formation and deployment of these foot soldiers are the new strategies. No one in his right senses and under normal circumstances would advocate for the existence of such militant groups in Igboland. Ndiigbo are straight shooters, republicans who believe in popularly elected representatives because power belongs to the people: oha bu ike! However, as our ancestors would say: “Uzu amaghi akpu ogene, lee egbe anya n’odu.” When the drummer changes his tune, the dancer must change steps. Yes, it is not useful to learn the use of left-hand at an advanced age but, if the hawk learns to fly without perching, hunters must learn to shoot without missing.
The fact of Nigeria’s political scene today is that these forces exist. They are well-protected and supported by highly placed officials and top officers of law enforcement agencies. Of course, these officials are of the same ethnic extractions as the forces they protect. If, for example, the Hausa/Fulani political and religious leaders want to stop the killings of Christians, especially the Igbo, and destruction of their properties by Muslim youths – as were the case recently in Plateau and Kano States – they can do so. Their culture, especially religion, molds their conducts and behaviors such that independent acts of civil disobedience and uncoordinated mob action are usually rare in the North.
Unlike in the Southeast, leaders in the North are revered and adored by the majority of their people. An average leader in the North has numerous citizens who come to his house for everyday needs. These citizens take advice from the leader and pray for him to be more prosperous, so they could continue to benefit from his benevolence. These citizens form the core of the “foot soldiers.” The leaders are therefore seen as demigods. Hence, with such enormous power and control in the North and some other parts of Nigeria, there is no way the Hausa/Fulani leaders could fail to stop or control the unending civil unrests that are usually directed against Christians, especially the Igbo.
My question now is: Where are our own “radicals” or “bad boys”? Our people say that “ogbumma na-egbu makana o nweghi onyeozo ji mma.” Until we agree to decide the fate of Nigeria, probably at the proposed Sovereign National Conference – as in Aburi, Ghana, 1967 – we have to find suitable strategies for dealing with the current shocking situations in Nigeria, which at every level leave Ndiigbo shortchanged. Even when other nationalities have a conflict that has nothing to do with the Igbo or people who look like them, Ndiigbo still suffer. It has become so annoying that something must be done to stem the tide of evil “makana o buru na-agbaghiri uzo owele mgba, o naghi echi”!
Recommendations
1. We have to mobilize and support our youths. Let them do what Biafran youths did in 1966, when genocide was committed against the Igbo, or let the Igbo stop returning en mass whenever they are attacked in any part of Nigeria. It is a sign of weakness to run and return for more massacres. Instead, let the Igbo and those who support them fight back and defend themselves in all parts of Nigeria by any means possible. On the alternative, Ndiigbo should resolve to stay in the Southeast and watch Nigeria resolve its problems without Ndiigbo.
2. We must now support MASSOB. While some of you may disagree with its mission, the group has done a whole lot more to push the agenda of Ndiigbo than most of our politicians at home. Whatever missteps the Ralph Uwazuruike-led movement has made in the past, if any, should be corrected and redirected towards the path of progress. It should be strengthened and supported because, unlike the other groups that have preached and perpetrated persecution of peace-loving people, MASSOB has used peaceful methods to push its agenda of respect for Ndiigbo.
3. We should support and work with other groups that fight for the defense of Ndiigbo and the civil rights of all peaceful people of Africa and worldwide.
4. It is about time the Igbo revisited and adopted the “Code of Conduct” proposed the pan-Igbo think tank, Enyimba. The so-called Igbo leaders cannot continue to say one thing and do another. They cannot tell Ndiigbo to tow one path only to turn around and shoot them in the back. The last “Igbo presidency” project is a lesson no one should gloss over in a hurry. We must resolve it before fighting the same political fight with the same strategies that failed woefully. Sanctions against such internal distractions from Igbo people in position of authority should be enacted and enforced.
5. Every community in Igboland knows how enemies of the people were treated in the past. Our respect and glories were intact because charity began at home. We must therefore demand that so-called Igbo leaders first validate their leadership qualities within their communities. Any power that does not derive from the community must no longer be reckoned with in pan-Igbo assemblies.
6. At this stage, we must work together regardless of our political differences. As the theme of the upcoming worldwide Igbo convention in New Jersey has requested, “Ka anyi jikota onu!” Working together does not mean that we must all sing the same tune; no, it means that no matter the tune we sing, our song must be the same. No one carries all his or her eggs in one basket. It is all well and good to have Ndiigbo in all political fronts, north or south, and of different shades, but our interest must be to collect and harness the forces within our reach for the advancement of Ndiigbo.
7. Finally, we must pray to Chi Ukwu, the Almighty God, to give us a leader capable of uniting Ndiigbo in the foreseeable future. “Igbo enwe eze” does not mean that we cannot be led; it simply means that monarchical kingship is anathema to the republican relationship between a leader and his people. If we do not have “eze,” why is “Ohanaeze” a central term in our political philosophy? We must pray for “eze” (leader) that derives strength from the people, a leader who is able to cultivate and utilize our strengths and skills. We need a leader who would correct our weaknesses or failings and work for the betterment of our good qualities. We need a leader whose weaknesses we would strengthen, so that he could take Ndiigbo to their destiny in Africa.
CONCLUSION
Since the end of the Nigeria-Biafra War, Ndiigbo have been humiliated and intimidated in the Nigerian state. The effect of the war on our psyche is probably the most underestimated factor in the way we associate with each other abroad and at home. We have all but abandoned the principle of “nwanne mara nwanne,” and “igwe bu ike.” At the slightest perception that someone is not singing our tune, we quickly pounce on the person and climb over each other to destroy the person, even when he or she is signing the same song. In the process, we intimidate and humiliate eventual warriors who could be the very heroes we need. The public harassment and embarrassment must stop; there must be avenues for addressing matters of mutual interest. There must be a clearing house for the harnessing of ideas and harvesting of experiences. Until it is clearly obvious that someone is knowingly and deliberately working against our interest, we should not be too quick to hurl stones in public. If you don’t like the Igbo you know, how could you claim to be working for the Igbo you don’t see?
Finally, I must commend the continuation of the now worldwide memorial lecture series, instituted and implemented here in New Jersey on May 30, 1997 by our own Dr. M. O. Ené, a fellow Biafran veteran. I thank the leadership of Igbo-USA, New Jersey, for keeping the dream alive under the leadership of my successors as presidents of Igbo-USA: Oyibo Achebe, Chinyere Ohen, Onyema Ukaigwe, and Ugo Uzodike. This event has afforded us the chance to reflect at least once a year on the labors of our heroes. I therefore express sincere gratitude to the previous lecturers: Dr. M. O. Ené; Professor Michael J. C. Echeruo, Professor Uju Afulezi, and Professor Reuben Ogbudimkpa. It is no secret that under my chairmanship of the World Igbo Congress Board of Directors, we made serious efforts to cheer up our Biafran veterans at Oji River and to highlight their plights. I thank you all for contributing to the industrial project implementation. A lot more work is needed in this area, and I urge Ndiigbo not to let these veterans, my comrades and our brethren, to walk alone. Future presidents of Igbo-USA must make this event an annual, must-attend event. I urge us to remember always those who gave their lives to the survival of our nation. We must remember, for the sun must again rise.
May the souls of all those who perished rest peacefully, and may we love one another in memory of their supreme sacrifice, Iseé!
Udo diri unu niile nakwa ezinaulo unu.
Igbo kwenu! Kwenu!Kwezuo nu!
Dééme dèème nu! Ekene m unu!
Text of keynote lecture present during the 2004 Nigeria-Biafra War Memorial Lecture,
All Saints Anglican Church, 849 Stuyvesant Avenue, Irvington, New Jersey 07111, USA