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Nigeria: A Message Of Love To My South-South Brothers Regarding Biafra

October 2, 2011

A sage once said: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The Holy Bible also said: “He that is a friend loves at all times: and a brother is proved in distress.” This piece addresses all of my brothers in the South-South of Nigeria, especially those who still find it difficult to accept this singular truth, even if it stares them on the face.

A sage once said: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The Holy Bible also said: “He that is a friend loves at all times: and a brother is proved in distress.” This piece addresses all of my brothers in the South-South of Nigeria, especially those who still find it difficult to accept this singular truth, even if it stares them on the face.

The word “Biafra” should not still stand as a puzzle hard to crack between brothers that have equally come of age, its meaning and interpretation ought not to remain elusive even in these times when wisdom perpetually shouts on top of her voice on the hilltops, near the road and at the crossroads; at the entrance to the city, beside the gates, saying to whoever loves life: take of me, and live.

This is the testimony of wisdom, reason is making herself heard:  "I appeal to all of you; I call to everyone on earth. Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense. Listen to my excellent words; all I tell you is right. What I say is the truth; lies are hateful to me.

Everything I say is true; nothing is false or misleading. To those with insight, it is all clear; to the well-informed, it is all plain. Choose my instruction instead of silver; choose knowledge rather than the finest gold. "I am Wisdom, I am better than jewels; nothing you want can compare with me.  I am Wisdom, and I have insight; I have knowledge and sound judgment. To honor the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words. I make plans and carry them out. I have understanding, and I am strong. I help kings to govern and rulers to make good laws.

Every ruler on earth governs with my help, officials and nobles alike.  I love those who love me; whoever looks for me can find me. I have riches and honor to give, prosperity and success. What you get from me is better than the finest gold, better than the purest silver. I walk the way of righteousness; I follow the paths of justice, giving wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures.

The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago; I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began. I was born before the oceans, when there were no springs of water. I was born before the mountains, before the hills were set in place, before God made the earth and its fields or even the first handful of soil.

I was there when he set the sky in place, when he stretched the horizon across the ocean, when he placed the clouds in the sky, when he opened the springs of the ocean and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said. I was there when he laid the earth's foundations. I was beside him like an architect, I was his daily source of joy, always happy in his presence - happy with the world and pleased with the human race.

"Now, young people listen to me; do as I say, and you will be happy. Listen to what you are taught. Be wise; do not neglect it.  Those who listen to me will be happy - those who stay at my door every day, waiting at the entrance to my home, those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them. Those who do not find me hurt themselves; anyone who hates me loves death."
 
Now that wisdom has spoken in the simplest of terms, it behooves us to do nothing but hearken and apply. Setting aside all malice, suspicion, mistrust, hypocrisy, jealousy and all forms of evil, let us call upon ourselves the life-refreshing breeze which wisdom dispenses at no cost to whoever makes himself available.

Let us, in remembering Biafra and in thinking of its inevitable realization, consider the fixating will of truth. Let us accept that, freedom and human rights precede slavery, compulsion and all forms of cruelty; and let us, therefore, this time, pursue these with every knowledge that wisdom hands out to whoever wills. God, who is the creator and sculptor of all, is in Himself the embodiment and perfection of wisdom. In His omniscient grace, He has given us the freedom and rights to move and use everything within the garden of His love, except that tree of dissension - selfishness and pride which formed the foundational blocks of hell. 

There is no foundation in God’s creation which was not laid in ardent love, perfection and excellence. Before God smiled at Himself, He had seen beauty and goodness in all of His creation which He has made for man. Even as crops yield their harvest, the ground continues to yield resources in a constant incalculable by man’s reasoning.

Therefore, all lands are blessed. No land is dead except of man’s selfishness and wickedness; no ground is cursed except when man despises wisdom and chooses sacrifice in the forfeiture of obedience. Cross River is blessed, and so are Anambra, Delta, Rivers, Enugu, Imo, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Abia and Akwa-Ibom states. All of earth was blessed by God. There are oil, gold, silver and bronze in Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Imo, Enugu, Rivers, Delta, and Cross River states.
 
Biafra stands for freedom. Biafra did not then and shall not now stand for oppression or an extension of the evil called Nigeria. Biafra was born out of the cries of the many who knew the difference between our world as it was and our world as it should and must be. Biafra was the first child of a selfless, fearless, and brotherly sacrifice that ever came out of Africa, the race of the blessed blacks.

 In Biafra, minority became majority and majority dissolved into the minorities. That’s the equation of freedom and equality, that is the definition of a country with a vision and a mission borne of God; that is the birth of Biafra. Biafra does not and cannot represent fear and oppression; Biafra lacks the mandate, the wills, and the supplies to enslave. Biafra is freedom and fullness.
 
Your brothers in the South-East, as elders (and as fate would have it) in the family, have taken and still continue to take both blames and punches in the wrongful accusation of wanting to take the double portion and to enslave the younger ones. In a family where wisdom is rejected while selfishness, deceit and betrayal rule, every firstborn could face this too – it is understandable. That Ndigbo are in the majority should not be mistaken for a threat. Igbos do not feel threatened in the midst of any, not because we are so full of ourselves, but simply because we carry the spirit of brotherhood everywhere we go. And even when we are constantly attacked, we constantly hope for brotherliness which cannot be defeated even when every block has been dislodged from its place. It matters not how we have been hated by those we have given everything to love, Ndigbo lives and thrives in their blood. A leopard cannot change its spots.

When coal was the resource in Nigeria, Igbos posed no threats to any, nor did they rely on it. And now that oil has been proven to cover the earth, we still shall not live our lives by it. We thrive in freedom and human rights which make us creators and producers as God would have us be, not solely on what the ground produces. That everyone works on the palms of this great mother earth attests to the fact that God has given us all recourses, equality, and the rights to enjoy his graces.

Therefore, Igbos could not possibly have dreamt of Biafra and died for her only so we could enslave those whom God and His creation have made eternally free; Ndigbo are resources made flesh, walking amongst men; entering every dark place and toiling therein until the light of the day shines forth. Igbos make, not mar; Ndigbo create, not destroy.

Majority means nothing without the spirit of brotherliness; one with God is the true majority. It does not matter how many are with or against us as long as God’s light remains upon us and we walk in His freedom and love. Goodluck Jonathan is considered by Ndigbo as a brother (and he indeed is, with no iota of doubt and), with no injunction or clause added.

All of Igboland willingly and joyfully voted for him in the last presidential election, not only because we consider all of South-South as one with us, but because the duty of an elder brother is to continue in showing love and preserving posterity in blessings-no matter the burns and the bruises.

 In spite of all the sabotage and wickedness in the yesteryears, the mistrust, accusation and betrayals of the present, Ndigbo would never have thought of a better choice than supporting our brother, Goodluck Jonathan. Whilst other major tribes in Nigeria were heaping demands and assuring themselves of leverages against Jonathan before any of their votes could count in his favor, Ndigbo simply asked him to go with all our unconditional support. Ndigbo do not thrive in nepotism; what we did for Goodluck Jonathan, we could have done for Henshaw, Akpan, Aruoriwo, or Ebieri
 
Wisdom still beckons to this very moment. Biafra shall materialize with the full promises of freedom, equality and prosperity for all in its wings. The question of the intentions for a Biafran state ought not to remain a question; the fears and accusations against Ndigbo for dominance traits should become obsolete and irrelevant in these times. If anything, its beauty should be sought for and embraced.

Freedom does not care if one lives in a landlocked area, an island, on the green field, in the valley, or on top of the highest rocky mountain; as long as the voice of wisdom prevails on a man, freedom will play with his descendants freely in his dwelling-even before his eyes. The God of the fruitful Isaac in a land of unfruitfulness and desertion will strategize in its perfect timing. Biafra is here to stay; the land of the rising sun is our hope. God is in the midst of her. Let those who love the truth and seek the freedom, blessing, and life that it brings stand up and receive the rays of God’s faithfulness. Let those who have been shown love no longer live in ignorance - wisdom speaks. The sun is indeed rising, never to set. Amen.

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Ikechukwu Enyiagu
[email protected]

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