I want to throw away the assumptions and wishes about the imaginary Biafra, and tell you what the country of Biafra will look like in reality. But first, let us understand that the people of South South will not agree to be part of Biafra. They will renegotiate their relationship with Nigeria, which will allow them to remain part of Nigeria, but with greater control over their natural resources. The North will not hesitate to give them such control for two reasons: First, they need to concede that to them in order to encourage them not to join Biafra. Second, the North’s dependence on the Niger Delta for oil and gas is much reduced with the increasing discovery of oil and gas in the Chad Basin. Indeed, it is possible that the reserves in the Chad Basin may outstrip the reserves in the Delta.
(1) In the first few months to the first one year of actualizing Biafra, the Biafran flag with the picture of a rising sun will be freely flown and the streets and cities will be adorned with them. There will be many beautiful and captivating Biafran songs and music.
(2) But those Biafrans that have been involved in armed robbery and kidnapping will not just change job. They will continue at least for a while.
(3) Then Biafra will get to the business of development and governing. The first challenge is to deal with power distribution, power sharing and competition for power. On the one hand, you will realize that the Wawa man from Enugu has a problem with his Agbaenu man from Anambra. Then you will realize that the Adada man of Nsukka has trust issues with his Udi people. Then you will hear that some Igbos were original Igbos and some Igbos came either from the Benin Kingdom or from Benue. Then you will hear that some Igbos have been saboteurs all along and either supporting their Benue neighbors or their Delta neighbors. The contest for political power will intensify and create crisis. You don’t need to believe me here. Just look at the Anambra elections. In a public debate yesterday the governorship candidates were accusing one another of engaging in kidnapping.
(4) In any event, Biafran leadership will be made up of the current Governors of the Igbo States and their friends and allies. You must know that much of the problems the average Igbo person faces in Igboland today is caused by the Igbo leaders of Igboland. Those leaders will continue to lead Biafra. A poor man will not suddenly become the leader.
(5) Economically, the Igbo man who owns a successful store in Ladipo market Lagos will not close it down and return to Awka to try to open a new store. He may open a branch in Awka, but his center of gravity remains in Lagos. People will stay where they have succeeded. But there is a difference. He is now based in a foreign country. He may pay more taxes. There might be some indirect restrictions that would reduce the amount of money he used to send to Awka each year.
(6) One of the naïve arguments some people make when you tell them that Lagos and Abuja would be in a foreign country is that they will tell you that Igbos have been doing business in foreign countries. But this is a very naïve reasoning. Yes, Igbos have been doing business in foreign countries. But if you ask each of them, he will tell you that he would have been.
l myself was duped of my early youth savings by Aba boys (Sailor Sailor fraud). I refused to get up from the couch for weeks, lost my job and my mom thought that l became an imbecile… I demanded return of my money, instead l got to see all their gang in operation and knew them by name. Their heads were in the sky. They are well dressed and were the untouchables. Ibo bests, so they feel. If you can’t beat us, join us is what they say. I also new their methods in using affluent and quiet residential locations for deceptive operations. Policemen on a raid, parked their vehicles, and were sitting in the living room, polishing off many bottles of beer and counting money giving to each of them. How could l report what l saw. How could I get my money back by becoming one of these heartless Ibo/ Ngwa brothers? I was thorn and confused. I was an Onitsha man hailed from Enugu. They somehow gave me the green light to be a part of the team. All l wanted was my money back. So l buried the hatched. I can’t do such evil. Don’t have the guts. Neither was l heartless to make another person feel such wanton loss and have their youthfulness and innocence stolen from them. Talkless of struggling people saddled with family responsibilities stripped of their livelihood. Person go run mad sharp sharp. I retreated to a useless job searching and painful new life.
“Ibo” states leaderships reminds me of such distasteful Ibos all the time. Bad roads, terrible erosion during raining season, due to poor drainage channels. Minimal infrastructure and bastardized general hospitals.
Question: Are like of those heartless Ibo brothers repositioning themselves as political titans in present Nigeria and or in the said coming Biafra. It is quite worrisome. Anyways I did a research in the internet space to drum up support for Biafra. Individuals from other ethnicities frown at the idea. They don’t see it as a good idea. They don’t even want to talk about it. DOA Topic l concluded. Biafra is not attainable without support nor international sympathy. It lacks both.
God help the lgboland!
