Independent Biafra? Give me Autonomous Biafra!

I am a proud Igbo man! I love my people. I love speaking my language. I enjoy my traditional songs. My traditional foods are the best in world! Nothing feels better than being born an Igbo man!

I was born and brought up in the northeastern part of Nigeria in Taraba state. My parents raised me with the Igbo language. Going to school in my early days as a kid I could only speak Igbo (and a little Hausa)… I had to learn English in school. I intend to raise my children with the Igbo language too! They can also learn English in school.

I didn’t live through the Biafran war, but my parents did… and the stories were horrifying. Trust me, no one wants to live in that kind of situation. A situation where you don’t know if you will survive to see the next day. Where you don’t have any food to eat and you eat anything you see, even poisonous and toxic things. I remember I was in a bus in Abuja and a woman was talking about how her dad escaped for his life during the war leaving behind his family. Can you imagine the kind of things they went through during that period? I hate it when I hear people saying they are willing to go war again and fight for Biafra. It’s OK to fight and die for a cause, but that’s only if you have a chance to win. Dying a useless death is not worth it.

But don’t be fooled, I think the amalgamation called Nigeria has always treated the Igbo people unfairly, before and after the war. We don’t receive the amenities and the resources that are due to us. We are discriminated against in different parts of the country, (which I’ve personally being a victim to, both in the north and in the west). We are probably the most hated ethnic group in Nigeria. So if my people say they want to separate I think it’s only fair to listen to our appeal. But will I accept a Biafra nation today? NO!

A lot of people don’t seem to understand what it means to be an independent nation. When Gen. Odumegwu Ojukwu led Biafra to independence, he did that knowing it will be easy to govern the nation and to succeed. We had a system of government that had him overseeing the affairs of the south. We had a widely recognized leader who was undisputed and who could rally everyone. He could garner international support. We were making progress and developing our Igbo nation, making our own money. We could have an independent economy. Corruption amongst our people was not widespread. We were very united.
What do we have today? No united body to lead us. The Igbo nation does not have any particular product that can maintain her economy (we claim we have oil, well good luck getting that from Nigeria! Besides south-south said they are not Biafra). Our current leaders only care about themselves…. No development. We don’t even care about our fellow Igbos. Our governors don’t build infrastructures and roads in our lands. There is no job opportunity for the Igbo youths. Our representatives in the senate and house don’t do much to help our plight. Our elected leaders embezzle the little resources we have. How can people in Imo state be suffering, lacking Education and the governor of Imo will go to Adamawa to build schools for them? These are the types of things that we are faced with.

I am not in support of the independent Biafra state now, but in the future? Maybe! The reasons are simple:

1. We don’t have leaders who can lead us! Nnamdi Kanu is not qualified (he is only a maniac who will bring about our destruction if he had his way. He is like the Igbo version of Sen. John McCain of the USA). If we get independence now, it will only result in power struggles and the same corrupt people we have in power now will be the same people that will be fighting for control of the nation plunging us into war between our selves.

2. We don’t have an economic structure that we can use to keep our selves afloat. We don’t have any particular export product. Most of our businesses are in the western and northern part of the nation. We don’t have a national source of income for the Igbo nation. We don’t have any particular thing we produce. How will we survive if we gain independence today?

3. We don’t have a system of government we can call our own. Look at Catalonia in Spain. They have a stable GDP of theirs. They have a regional established government system. They have leaders who truly represent them and are united in fighting for them. If they split today, there won’t be any unnecessary fight for power. The Biafran nation on the other hand will probably end up worse than South-Sudan.

4. We are not truly united. The average Anambra Igbo man won’t want to have an Imo person rule over him. It happens in a lot of Igbo associations even inside Nigeria. We have to solve this problem.

As much as I feel like we are not ready yet, I still think the Igbo nation, someday will be capable of reaching the level of becoming a great nation. But before that we have to be more united. We have to fight the corruption crippling us. We need recognized leaders. We need an established economic structure and many more things.

I believe that instead of fighting for independence we should fight for Regional Autonomy, this will prepare us for the future. That way we can start solving the problems we have, because the current states system of Nigeria is detrimental to us. It was easier when Ojukwu had a regional government, leadership was better and easier for him. With an Autonomous Republic of Biafra, we can plan a system of government for ourselves, build our own independent economy, unify ourselves and then have the right to fight for self-governance.

By: Okonkwo Onyekachukwu Ezekiel