COWARDICE: WHEN LIONS BOW TO BABOONS
By Dr Okoro Stephen
Listening to Radio Biafra one can feel the pain of the Director Nnamdi Kanu as he reels out one disheartening news after another concerning the contraption called Nigeria. The news items are not only predictable but are also a constant reminder of the resolve by the Hausa-Fulani Mohammedan emirates of the North to consolidate their grip on the country and spread Islam throughout Nigeria by means of Jihad, both violent and subtle. There is ample evidence that they have been pursuing this goal unrelentlessly right from the onset and that their dream war booty is Biafra land. And for this reason they have wasted and continue to waste the precious lives of millions of Biafran Christians. The following quotes may help to convince the diehard doubting Thomases of the Islamic agenda directed against the Biafrans:
“Holding this country together is not possible except by means of the religion of the Prophet. If they want political unity let them follow our religion.” 1-- 1942, the conference of Northern Chiefs in response to a letter from the UK-based West African Students’ Union (WASU) to the Northern Emirs asking them to support the constitutional evolution of Nigeria into a full independent nation.{ 1 Quoted from Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom, London: Faber and Faber, 1947, p. 51. }
“Those Southerners who desire a United Nigeria should first embrace Islam as their religion.” 2-- 1944, the Sultan of Sokoto responding to a delegation from WASU that paid him a visit to plead for his support for the memorandum on constitutional reform.
{ 2 James Coleman, Nigeria : Background to Nationalism, Los Angeles and London: University of California, Berkeley, 1971, p. 361. }
In the August 14th, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspaper, Mallam Sanni Umaru boasted as the spokesman of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, “We have started a Jihad in Nigeria, which no force on earth can stop. The aim is to Islamise Nigeria and ensure the rule of the majority Moslems in the country. We will teach Nigeria a lesson, a very bitter one…The bombings will not stop until Sharia is established and western civilization wiped off Nigeria. What is news however is that despite the evidence on ground as mentioned above, millions of supposed Biafran Christians who are the main target of the jihad are too docile to fight against it. Six years later (in 2015) following Mallam Sanni’s threat, tens of thousands of non-Muslim “One Nigerianists” especially the Biafrans have been counting their losses and the central government firmly in the hands of Boko Haram apologists.
What is even more surprising is the absence of any dissenting voice, except that of Director Nnamdi Kanu (leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra) who cries like a lonely voice in the Nigerian wilderness calling on Biafrans to free themselves from oppression. And for this reason Nnamdi Kanu is accused, even by the Biafrans of stoking the embers of war. Many of them are sympathizers of Dr Junaid Mohammed who warned that the Biafran war was settled in 1967-70, which the Biafrans lost. And so the Biafrans prefer to continue suing for peace, even as they are being killed on a regular basis in Muslim backed uprisings and treated as slaves who would go cap-in-hand to beg for crumbs from their Hausa-Fulani masters’ tables. Many supposed Biafrans foolishly believe that they are building a nation together with the rest of Nigerians, even in the face of naked aggression against them by their supposed compatriots in the contraption. In other words the lions have chosen to bow to the baboons in perpetual subjugation, rather than roar their way out of bondage. But why? It is my opinion that the only plausible reason for this sorry state is found in the nine-letter word: cowardice.
According to Wikipedia cowardice is a trait in which fear and excess self-concern override doing or saying what is right, good and of help to others or oneself in a time of need—it is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. When people fail to say or do the right thing in the face of challenge the institution involved suffers underdevelopment. This is the situation in the Nigerian state where the rest of the over two hundred and fifty ethnic groups that make up the contraption seem to have unwittingly bowed to the carefully-crafted strategy of terror being employed by the Hausa-Fulanis to achieve their aims. Out of cowardice every other group seem to have also conceded the monopoly of violence to the Hausa-Fulanis, while the country continues on a steady slide to anarchy.
The Real Purpose of Jihad
Many Islamic scholars would have us believe that jihad refers to the inner spiritual struggle against sin, which is similar to the Christian’s spiritual exercise to achieve sanctification. But what they hide from us is the physical jihad or struggle that is directed against the perceived enemies of Islam. E. W. Lane, the influential 19th century lexicographer (and author of An Arabic Englisn Lexicon), confirms that “Jihad came to be used by the Muslims to signify waging war, against unbelievers (people of other faith)”. But why would a Muslim physically attack an innocent person just because he or she is of another faith? The simple answer is that violence is used to create terror or a state of fear. The real purpose of violent jihad is to terrorize the people of other faith as a prelude to their conquest by Muslims. It aims at weakening the resolve of the victims to fight back or defend themselves. And hence they will be left with no other option but to capitulate or accede to the jihadist’s (mujahedeen’s) demands. This central principle of jihad terrorism is rooted in the Koran (verses 8:12, 8:60, and 33:26):
[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, "I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip." Quran 8:12 (emphasis mine).
And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged. Quran 8:60 (emphasis mine)
And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts [so that] a party you killed, and you took captive a party. Quran 33:26 (emphasis mine)
A contemporary validation of this principle of using terror as a form of Jihad to subdue the enemy has been provided by Brigadier S.K. Malik (a senior Pakistani military officer), in his book The Quranic Concept of War, which is a mainstream Pakistani text, originally published in Lahore, in 1979. This text—widely studied in Islamic countries, and available in English, Urdu, and Arabic translations—has been recovered from the bodies of slain jihadists in Kashmir. Brigadier Malik emphasizes how instilling terror is essential to waging successful jihad campaigns:
“Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved. It is the point where the means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy (sic); it is the decision we wish to impose upon him…” A victim of the Jihad-inspired terror is allowed to make only three choices: convert to Islam and live; or refuse Islam and die by beheading; or refuse Islam and become a Dhimmy (second-class citizen), who will be required to pay the tax of humiliation (Jizya tax).
In view of the foregoing we can begin to understand the important role that violent jihad is playing in the agenda to Islamize Nigeria. Clear examples include the frequent massacres of Biafrans in the numerous Muslim-backed uprisings in Nigeria for which neither arrest nor conviction of culprits has been made till date, since 1945. Fulani herdsmen will enter territories of peace-loving Nigerians, but instead of doing business in a friendly manner with their host communities, will prefer to go on a killing spree, just for them to be “begged” and settled with grazing reserves by their host communities. And the Hausa-Fulani-controlled federal government which is empowered by Section 14, sub section 2b of the 1999 constitution, to ensure the security of lives and property of Nigerians, would not condemn their activities but would rather be seeking legislation to compel the victims of the murderous Fulani herdsmen, to reward their attackers with mini-emirates known as grazing reserves.
The regime of terror also explains why Boko Haram will take up arms against the Nigerian state, killing and maiming Biafrans and all they get is a half-hearted condemnation by the government, a plea for dialogue and a promise of amnesty. But every pro-Biafran move is visited with state-sponsored arrests and killing of unarmed Biafrans with the aid of security personnel, all in a bid to strike fear into the hearts of Biafrans, to discourage them from agitating for their freedom from oppression. Of special mention is the fact that the so-called Nigerian civil war was a state-sponsored jihad, against innocent ill-prepared Biafrans, during which an estimated 3.5 million people were massacred in a genocidal fashion.
The jihad is specifically targeted at the Biafrans because the Hausa-Fulanis regard Biafrans as the Jews of Africa. Their leader late Sir Ahmadu Bello confirmed this truth in the BBC interview he granted in the 1950s (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadu_Bello). Thus for them it is a religious duty to exterminate the Biafrans in line with Quranic injunctions, just as the Arabs love to kill the Jews: -“Fight against Christians and Jews”until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.” Qur’an 9:29; “O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” Qur’an (5:51), Christians and Jews must believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad or Allah will disfigure their faces or turn them into apes, as he did the Sabbath-breakers. Qur’an (2:65-66)
Biafrans who undoubtedly are the children of light imbued with skills, innovativeness and wisdom from on high, are treated as Dhimmys in their supposed country and caged with all sorts of policies aimed at preventing them from excelling. That is why a student from Biafra land can only be admitted into a Nigerian unity school when he or she scores a cut-off mark of 139, while his counterpart from a Northern state only needs to score 4 in the same exam, to pass.
In view of the foregoing no sane mind would expect Biafrans to be comfortable with the Nigerian contraption. But instead of rising up and demonstrating their disapproval of the injustice, they have cowered into ignominious silence with occasional wimps of a frightened dog. No thanks to the activities of strange elders who continue to short-change the collective aspirations of Biafrans on the altar of self preservation.
How else can the rational mind digest the fact that Biafrans are killed in their dozens and hundreds in what looks like state-sponsored terrorism, but their supposed elders will jump into the next praise-singing train to go pledging allegiance and shaking hands with those in authority who ought to have been rendering apologies and sweating to give them credible explanations for the odious acts. My bible (Proverbs 30:29) tells me that a lion is known for its stately march, is mighty among beasts and does not retreat before any; but the Biafran lion not only retreats but is bowing before baboons in response to tyranny.
Observing the activities of these supposed Biafran leaders one wonders whether they are the offsprings of the bunch of lionesses that stood up to the British colonial masters, even sacrificing their lives in the famous Aba Women’s Riot of 1929, when they forced a reversal of the policy to impose warrant chiefs on a people who are genetically republican in nature (Biafrans). I wonder if they are the sons of the men that gave their lives fighting for improvement of the working conditions of workers in a white-dominated paid employment, in the famous Enugu Coal Miners Massacre of 1947. It is on record that the coal-miners’ protest became a lunch pad, not only for the take-off of the Nigerian labour congress but also for the Zikist movement that spearheaded the nationalist struggle for Nigeria’s independence.
But thanks be to God who has given us a Moses in the name of Director Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and his able lieutenants. These are people who not only understand the archaeology, anatomy and physiology of the Hausa-Fulani-inspired violence against Biafrans, but have pledged their comfort and their lives to confront the pharaohs and lead Biafrans out of bondage into the land of freedom. But suprisingly many Biafrans who have been benefitting from Pharaoh’s crumbs in Nigeria are feeling irritated by the emergence of these credible leaders. They want the world to believe that Nnamdi Kanu is a warmonger, while a self-confessed quintessential emperor of terror is regarded as a Messiah who has come to save Biafrans (apologies to Father Mbaka). Their reason for the accusation isn’t because Nnamdi told us to march with bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and AK 47s but because he tells us to boldly confront the enemy with the weapon of truth. He has not called Biafrans to start a war but rather to rise up and fight the war of attrition that the enemy has been waging relentlessly against them.
This brings me to the well-worn argument that Biafrans must avoid war at all costs and pursue peace through dialogue with the Nigerian government. My question remains “How do you dialogue with an enemy who is obviously taking undue advantage of your peaceful disposition? Since after the war in 1970 Biafran leaders have been pursuing this option, bowing to the Nigerian establishment, begging, and caressing them to reintegrate Biafrans into the Nigerian system fairly. Yet several decades of such shuttle diplomacy have brought nothing but deprivation, decimation and disillusionment to the Biafrans in the Nigerian contraption, even as their resources are daily been pillaged by the Hausa-Fulani conquistadors. Biafra land continues to suffer the worst infrastructural neglect, and leaders imposed on them as the “One Nigerian” song continues to harass the tympanic membranes of the oppressed Biafrans.
History bears witness to the fact that such method never works. It is sheer foolishness for the victim of a violent jihad to think that he can achieve freedom by appealing to the moral conscience of his oppressor. Pharaoh never listened to the plea from God “Let my people go” until violence was used against him including the killing of Pharaoh, his first born and his army. A victim of violence can only gain the respect of his or her attacker, when it is seen that he or she is prepared to retaliate. As the Latin expression by Vegetius goes “if you want peace then prepare for war”.
The fact of life is that every civilization of importance in human history was birthed and maintained through a history of successful war campaigns. Israel which is generally regarded as the people of God are a people that are synonymous with battle with even the highest number of battle-related deaths (including the genocide that cost them more than six million lives) more than any other race of people on earth. The United States of America, which is the largest, the longest running and most successful civilization on earth, has gone to war about 80 times since their war of independence from Britain in 1776 till date. The list is endless. Biafrans must therefore conquer their fears, especially the fear of war, to successfully overcome the oppression being meted to them by the Hausa-Fulani controlled Nigerian state.
Without the very important role that IPOB is playing now on behalf of Biafrans fighting for the restoration of Biafra, the Hausa-Fulani feudalists and their co-travelers will continue to ride roughshod on the collective aspirations of the children of light, killing Biafrans as usual without qualms.
We should therefore seize the moment to press for the restoration of Biafra in line with the demands of IPOB. The least we can do for them is to give them our maximum support and obey their commands. It’s pathetic to hear Nnamdi Kanu practically begging Biafrans to do things as simple as tweeting messages online as part of the struggle. It is reminiscent of the experience of the late General Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Biafran war, when he practically emptied his rich father’s treasury to a finance a war that was supposed to benefit all Biafrans, while a lot of rich Biafrans held on to their resources and refused to sponsor the war effort. Unfortunately after the defeat of Biafra, all those selfish Biafrans were made to forfeit their huge resources to the Nigerian government in return for a heart-breaking paltry sum of £20 given to each person.
The huge carnage that the Biafrans suffered during the Biafran war (in which they lost three and half million of their compatriots, including women and children) was because they were ill-prepared for a war that that took them unawares, when they had erroneously thought that they could achieve freedom by just seceding and minding their own business without provoking anybody. We cannot afford to go through that experience again. The Jews made the same mistake prior to the Second World War when they lost six million of their countrymen, who were supposedly law-abiding citizens in Austria, Poland and Germany.
While not advocating for a culture of belligerency it is obvious that the only answer to the bellicose disposition of the Hausa-Fulani warmongers is for Biafrans to heed the call by Director Nnamdi Kanu, and pursue peace by preparing for war. We must be prepared at all times to defend ourselves and eschew the sentiment that Biafrans are Nigerians on equal basis with the Hausa-Fulani. The world will never take Biafrans serious until they rise up as one to say no to tyranny, instead of continuing to struggle and suffer in silence. Baboons will continue to pose as kings of the jungle as long as the lions continue to wallow in cowardice. A word is enough for the wise.
By Dr Okoro Stephen
Listening to Radio Biafra one can feel the pain of the Director Nnamdi Kanu as he reels out one disheartening news after another concerning the contraption called Nigeria. The news items are not only predictable but are also a constant reminder of the resolve by the Hausa-Fulani Mohammedan emirates of the North to consolidate their grip on the country and spread Islam throughout Nigeria by means of Jihad, both violent and subtle. There is ample evidence that they have been pursuing this goal unrelentlessly right from the onset and that their dream war booty is Biafra land. And for this reason they have wasted and continue to waste the precious lives of millions of Biafran Christians. The following quotes may help to convince the diehard doubting Thomases of the Islamic agenda directed against the Biafrans:“Holding this country together is not possible except by means of the religion of the Prophet. If they want political unity let them follow our religion.” 1-- 1942, the conference of Northern Chiefs in response to a letter from the UK-based West African Students’ Union (WASU) to the Northern Emirs asking them to support the constitutional evolution of Nigeria into a full independent nation.{ 1 Quoted from Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom, London: Faber and Faber, 1947, p. 51. }
“Those Southerners who desire a United Nigeria should first embrace Islam as their religion.” 2-- 1944, the Sultan of Sokoto responding to a delegation from WASU that paid him a visit to plead for his support for the memorandum on constitutional reform.
{ 2 James Coleman, Nigeria : Background to Nationalism, Los Angeles and London: University of California, Berkeley, 1971, p. 361. }
In the August 14th, 2009 edition of Vanguard newspaper, Mallam Sanni Umaru boasted as the spokesman of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, “We have started a Jihad in Nigeria, which no force on earth can stop. The aim is to Islamise Nigeria and ensure the rule of the majority Moslems in the country. We will teach Nigeria a lesson, a very bitter one…The bombings will not stop until Sharia is established and western civilization wiped off Nigeria. What is news however is that despite the evidence on ground as mentioned above, millions of supposed Biafran Christians who are the main target of the jihad are too docile to fight against it. Six years later (in 2015) following Mallam Sanni’s threat, tens of thousands of non-Muslim “One Nigerianists” especially the Biafrans have been counting their losses and the central government firmly in the hands of Boko Haram apologists.
What is even more surprising is the absence of any dissenting voice, except that of Director Nnamdi Kanu (leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra) who cries like a lonely voice in the Nigerian wilderness calling on Biafrans to free themselves from oppression. And for this reason Nnamdi Kanu is accused, even by the Biafrans of stoking the embers of war. Many of them are sympathizers of Dr Junaid Mohammed who warned that the Biafran war was settled in 1967-70, which the Biafrans lost. And so the Biafrans prefer to continue suing for peace, even as they are being killed on a regular basis in Muslim backed uprisings and treated as slaves who would go cap-in-hand to beg for crumbs from their Hausa-Fulani masters’ tables. Many supposed Biafrans foolishly believe that they are building a nation together with the rest of Nigerians, even in the face of naked aggression against them by their supposed compatriots in the contraption. In other words the lions have chosen to bow to the baboons in perpetual subjugation, rather than roar their way out of bondage. But why? It is my opinion that the only plausible reason for this sorry state is found in the nine-letter word: cowardice.
According to Wikipedia cowardice is a trait in which fear and excess self-concern override doing or saying what is right, good and of help to others or oneself in a time of need—it is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. When people fail to say or do the right thing in the face of challenge the institution involved suffers underdevelopment. This is the situation in the Nigerian state where the rest of the over two hundred and fifty ethnic groups that make up the contraption seem to have unwittingly bowed to the carefully-crafted strategy of terror being employed by the Hausa-Fulanis to achieve their aims. Out of cowardice every other group seem to have also conceded the monopoly of violence to the Hausa-Fulanis, while the country continues on a steady slide to anarchy.
The Real Purpose of Jihad
Many Islamic scholars would have us believe that jihad refers to the inner spiritual struggle against sin, which is similar to the Christian’s spiritual exercise to achieve sanctification. But what they hide from us is the physical jihad or struggle that is directed against the perceived enemies of Islam. E. W. Lane, the influential 19th century lexicographer (and author of An Arabic Englisn Lexicon), confirms that “Jihad came to be used by the Muslims to signify waging war, against unbelievers (people of other faith)”. But why would a Muslim physically attack an innocent person just because he or she is of another faith? The simple answer is that violence is used to create terror or a state of fear. The real purpose of violent jihad is to terrorize the people of other faith as a prelude to their conquest by Muslims. It aims at weakening the resolve of the victims to fight back or defend themselves. And hence they will be left with no other option but to capitulate or accede to the jihadist’s (mujahedeen’s) demands. This central principle of jihad terrorism is rooted in the Koran (verses 8:12, 8:60, and 33:26):
[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, "I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip." Quran 8:12 (emphasis mine).
And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged. Quran 8:60 (emphasis mine)
And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts [so that] a party you killed, and you took captive a party. Quran 33:26 (emphasis mine)
A contemporary validation of this principle of using terror as a form of Jihad to subdue the enemy has been provided by Brigadier S.K. Malik (a senior Pakistani military officer), in his book The Quranic Concept of War, which is a mainstream Pakistani text, originally published in Lahore, in 1979. This text—widely studied in Islamic countries, and available in English, Urdu, and Arabic translations—has been recovered from the bodies of slain jihadists in Kashmir. Brigadier Malik emphasizes how instilling terror is essential to waging successful jihad campaigns:
“Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved. It is the point where the means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy (sic); it is the decision we wish to impose upon him…” A victim of the Jihad-inspired terror is allowed to make only three choices: convert to Islam and live; or refuse Islam and die by beheading; or refuse Islam and become a Dhimmy (second-class citizen), who will be required to pay the tax of humiliation (Jizya tax).
In view of the foregoing we can begin to understand the important role that violent jihad is playing in the agenda to Islamize Nigeria. Clear examples include the frequent massacres of Biafrans in the numerous Muslim-backed uprisings in Nigeria for which neither arrest nor conviction of culprits has been made till date, since 1945. Fulani herdsmen will enter territories of peace-loving Nigerians, but instead of doing business in a friendly manner with their host communities, will prefer to go on a killing spree, just for them to be “begged” and settled with grazing reserves by their host communities. And the Hausa-Fulani-controlled federal government which is empowered by Section 14, sub section 2b of the 1999 constitution, to ensure the security of lives and property of Nigerians, would not condemn their activities but would rather be seeking legislation to compel the victims of the murderous Fulani herdsmen, to reward their attackers with mini-emirates known as grazing reserves.
The regime of terror also explains why Boko Haram will take up arms against the Nigerian state, killing and maiming Biafrans and all they get is a half-hearted condemnation by the government, a plea for dialogue and a promise of amnesty. But every pro-Biafran move is visited with state-sponsored arrests and killing of unarmed Biafrans with the aid of security personnel, all in a bid to strike fear into the hearts of Biafrans, to discourage them from agitating for their freedom from oppression. Of special mention is the fact that the so-called Nigerian civil war was a state-sponsored jihad, against innocent ill-prepared Biafrans, during which an estimated 3.5 million people were massacred in a genocidal fashion.
The jihad is specifically targeted at the Biafrans because the Hausa-Fulanis regard Biafrans as the Jews of Africa. Their leader late Sir Ahmadu Bello confirmed this truth in the BBC interview he granted in the 1950s (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadu_Bello). Thus for them it is a religious duty to exterminate the Biafrans in line with Quranic injunctions, just as the Arabs love to kill the Jews: -“Fight against Christians and Jews”until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.” Qur’an 9:29; “O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” Qur’an (5:51), Christians and Jews must believe what Allah has revealed to Muhammad or Allah will disfigure their faces or turn them into apes, as he did the Sabbath-breakers. Qur’an (2:65-66)
Biafrans who undoubtedly are the children of light imbued with skills, innovativeness and wisdom from on high, are treated as Dhimmys in their supposed country and caged with all sorts of policies aimed at preventing them from excelling. That is why a student from Biafra land can only be admitted into a Nigerian unity school when he or she scores a cut-off mark of 139, while his counterpart from a Northern state only needs to score 4 in the same exam, to pass.
In view of the foregoing no sane mind would expect Biafrans to be comfortable with the Nigerian contraption. But instead of rising up and demonstrating their disapproval of the injustice, they have cowered into ignominious silence with occasional wimps of a frightened dog. No thanks to the activities of strange elders who continue to short-change the collective aspirations of Biafrans on the altar of self preservation.
How else can the rational mind digest the fact that Biafrans are killed in their dozens and hundreds in what looks like state-sponsored terrorism, but their supposed elders will jump into the next praise-singing train to go pledging allegiance and shaking hands with those in authority who ought to have been rendering apologies and sweating to give them credible explanations for the odious acts. My bible (Proverbs 30:29) tells me that a lion is known for its stately march, is mighty among beasts and does not retreat before any; but the Biafran lion not only retreats but is bowing before baboons in response to tyranny.
Observing the activities of these supposed Biafran leaders one wonders whether they are the offsprings of the bunch of lionesses that stood up to the British colonial masters, even sacrificing their lives in the famous Aba Women’s Riot of 1929, when they forced a reversal of the policy to impose warrant chiefs on a people who are genetically republican in nature (Biafrans). I wonder if they are the sons of the men that gave their lives fighting for improvement of the working conditions of workers in a white-dominated paid employment, in the famous Enugu Coal Miners Massacre of 1947. It is on record that the coal-miners’ protest became a lunch pad, not only for the take-off of the Nigerian labour congress but also for the Zikist movement that spearheaded the nationalist struggle for Nigeria’s independence.
But thanks be to God who has given us a Moses in the name of Director Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and his able lieutenants. These are people who not only understand the archaeology, anatomy and physiology of the Hausa-Fulani-inspired violence against Biafrans, but have pledged their comfort and their lives to confront the pharaohs and lead Biafrans out of bondage into the land of freedom. But suprisingly many Biafrans who have been benefitting from Pharaoh’s crumbs in Nigeria are feeling irritated by the emergence of these credible leaders. They want the world to believe that Nnamdi Kanu is a warmonger, while a self-confessed quintessential emperor of terror is regarded as a Messiah who has come to save Biafrans (apologies to Father Mbaka). Their reason for the accusation isn’t because Nnamdi told us to march with bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and AK 47s but because he tells us to boldly confront the enemy with the weapon of truth. He has not called Biafrans to start a war but rather to rise up and fight the war of attrition that the enemy has been waging relentlessly against them.
This brings me to the well-worn argument that Biafrans must avoid war at all costs and pursue peace through dialogue with the Nigerian government. My question remains “How do you dialogue with an enemy who is obviously taking undue advantage of your peaceful disposition? Since after the war in 1970 Biafran leaders have been pursuing this option, bowing to the Nigerian establishment, begging, and caressing them to reintegrate Biafrans into the Nigerian system fairly. Yet several decades of such shuttle diplomacy have brought nothing but deprivation, decimation and disillusionment to the Biafrans in the Nigerian contraption, even as their resources are daily been pillaged by the Hausa-Fulani conquistadors. Biafra land continues to suffer the worst infrastructural neglect, and leaders imposed on them as the “One Nigerian” song continues to harass the tympanic membranes of the oppressed Biafrans.
History bears witness to the fact that such method never works. It is sheer foolishness for the victim of a violent jihad to think that he can achieve freedom by appealing to the moral conscience of his oppressor. Pharaoh never listened to the plea from God “Let my people go” until violence was used against him including the killing of Pharaoh, his first born and his army. A victim of violence can only gain the respect of his or her attacker, when it is seen that he or she is prepared to retaliate. As the Latin expression by Vegetius goes “if you want peace then prepare for war”.
The fact of life is that every civilization of importance in human history was birthed and maintained through a history of successful war campaigns. Israel which is generally regarded as the people of God are a people that are synonymous with battle with even the highest number of battle-related deaths (including the genocide that cost them more than six million lives) more than any other race of people on earth. The United States of America, which is the largest, the longest running and most successful civilization on earth, has gone to war about 80 times since their war of independence from Britain in 1776 till date. The list is endless. Biafrans must therefore conquer their fears, especially the fear of war, to successfully overcome the oppression being meted to them by the Hausa-Fulani controlled Nigerian state.
Without the very important role that IPOB is playing now on behalf of Biafrans fighting for the restoration of Biafra, the Hausa-Fulani feudalists and their co-travelers will continue to ride roughshod on the collective aspirations of the children of light, killing Biafrans as usual without qualms.
We should therefore seize the moment to press for the restoration of Biafra in line with the demands of IPOB. The least we can do for them is to give them our maximum support and obey their commands. It’s pathetic to hear Nnamdi Kanu practically begging Biafrans to do things as simple as tweeting messages online as part of the struggle. It is reminiscent of the experience of the late General Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Biafran war, when he practically emptied his rich father’s treasury to a finance a war that was supposed to benefit all Biafrans, while a lot of rich Biafrans held on to their resources and refused to sponsor the war effort. Unfortunately after the defeat of Biafra, all those selfish Biafrans were made to forfeit their huge resources to the Nigerian government in return for a heart-breaking paltry sum of £20 given to each person.
The huge carnage that the Biafrans suffered during the Biafran war (in which they lost three and half million of their compatriots, including women and children) was because they were ill-prepared for a war that that took them unawares, when they had erroneously thought that they could achieve freedom by just seceding and minding their own business without provoking anybody. We cannot afford to go through that experience again. The Jews made the same mistake prior to the Second World War when they lost six million of their countrymen, who were supposedly law-abiding citizens in Austria, Poland and Germany.
While not advocating for a culture of belligerency it is obvious that the only answer to the bellicose disposition of the Hausa-Fulani warmongers is for Biafrans to heed the call by Director Nnamdi Kanu, and pursue peace by preparing for war. We must be prepared at all times to defend ourselves and eschew the sentiment that Biafrans are Nigerians on equal basis with the Hausa-Fulani. The world will never take Biafrans serious until they rise up as one to say no to tyranny, instead of continuing to struggle and suffer in silence. Baboons will continue to pose as kings of the jungle as long as the lions continue to wallow in cowardice. A word is enough for the wise.
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