by Atupulazi Jude
That Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra,
IPOB, has been ungrateful to the Igbo elders and elite who clamoured for and
negotiated his release from detention is no longer in doubt. What is however
the issue now is that Kanu is biting off more than he can chew. By his daily
utterances and actions, Kanu is steadily pushing the Igbo Nation to the edge of
anarchy and at the same time threatening to let his army of unreasonable and
violence prone rabble rousers loose on innocent people.
Of late, Kanu has been traversing parts of Igbo Land
drumming it into the ears of people that there should be no election in Anambra
State. Kanu's stand on the November 18 election in Anambra State is nothing
short of loudly inciting his unruly group against the rest of us ''sane''
people, the consequences of which will be nothing short of disastrous.
One may wonder why I've described his group as unreasonable
and unruly. Well, only those who are unruly and unreasonable will lay siege to
a governor of a state in a church, shouting that they do not want an important
election which the governor is powerless to stop.
Before then, they had also done a similar thing to a
governorship aspirant, Godwin Ezeemo, also in a church. One would have thought
that the simplest thing for them to do is to choose not to be part of that
election, rather than forcing others to shun it.
But before I go further, it will be good for us to refresh
our minds with that incident at a church in Ekwulobia, Anambra State, last
Sunday, according to a news report in the Punch Newspaper.
Excerpts
'IPOB Attempted to Attack Governor'
Scores of youths and women, suspected to be members of the
Indigenous People of Biafra, on Sunday, attacked the Anambra State Governor,
Chief Willie Obiano, at St. Joseph's Church Catholic, Ekwulobia, Aguata Local
Government Area of the State.
Our correspondent gathered that the governor attended a
church in the area but had hardly settled down when some youths and women, who
adorned Biafra insignias, and chanting Biafra songs, besieged the gate of the
church shouting , “No election in Anambra State''; ''We want referendum''; “No
referendum, no election”.
Advancing in droves towards the gate of the church, the
governor's security men rushed and locked up the entrance. A source stated, 'As
their (IPOB) confrontation with the police continued, the IPOB numbers
continued to enlarge. I think they were reinforcing from Onitsha. As their
number continued to increase, the governor's security operatives had to smuggle
him out of the church.'
But a member of the governor' s press crew, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said the governor left after addressing the church at
the end of the Mass.
The source stated, 'The governor was not smuggled out of the
church. The issue was that the security men had to stop the agitators at the
gate of the church when they started shouting, ''No election'', ''No
election''.
'The governor even addressed the issue while speaking to the
congregation and assured them that there would be election in the state.
The source recalled that the governor said that nobody could
stop the election in Anambra State and pointed out that most of the anti -
election protesters were not from Anambra State.'
When contacted on the telephone, the Anambra Police
Commissioner, Mr. Garba Umar, confirmed the incident, warning that the police would
no longer tolerate what he saw as impunity.
Garba said the intention of the protesters was to attack the
governor and wondered why it should be in a church.
About two weeks ago, a group of youths, suspected to be
members of IPOB, allegedly disrupted a church function attended by the
governorship candidate of the Progressives People's Alliance, PPA, Mr. Godwin
Ezeemo, at Odoekpe, Ogbaru LGA of the state.
Now, one can see that the Biafra agitation, long touted to
be non-violent, is on the verge of losing that tag.
For one, just as the police chief noted, why must such an
''intended'' attack be in a church? Again, why are these rabble rousers intent
on forcing others to boycott an election? And, chief of all questions, why is
it always Anambra?
Even Kanu who has been instigating the felons masquerading
as Biafra agitators, is not from Anambra State. But he wastes no time dashing
down to Anambra to spew forth what I would call rubbish in the name of Biafra.
In the reign of Ralph Uwazurike, former leader of the
Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, they
also opposed a major exercise and that was the census. They not only opposed
that, they forced people exercising their civic duties to shun the exercise and
in the process, some lives were lost and property destroyed.
They did not know that stopping the census from being held
was tantamount to stabbing ourselves, being that the politics of census in
Nigeria has always made our people lose out. But that time, our people became
the ones hurting themselves.
I pointed out in my earlier write up that Kanu is pursuing a
pipe dream for as long as he believes he can get Biafra alone. I pointed out
that Kanu had served a purpose after which he was no longer needed. For that, I
said he should be commended and then asked to take a back seat and allow those
with the right mental faculty to carry on where he stopped, seeing that even in
the highly unlikely event that Biafra was achieved, it won't be the current
canvassers of Biafra that would be the leaders. I said they won't be the
leaders, or even be anywhere near the power corridors simply because they are
uneducated.
I also made it clear that allowing Kanu to go the way he is
headed would only lead us to anarchy.
Well, immediately the publication came out, some people who
had obviously been brainwashed on the Biafra thing, descended on me with
hostile comments via SMS. Their action only portrayed their level of
understanding, for is not the uneducated that does not tolerate contrary views?
Now everyone can see that I have already been vindicated
early in the day by the actions of Kanu and his gullible followers. The way
things are shaping up now, if Kanu isn't caged soon enough, a time will come
when his foot soldiers will be uncontrollable. Already they are beginning to
look like a strike force which can be easily mobilized to attack people and
cause mayhem. But what they do not know is that they can also be mobilised to
their early graves.
If the Biafra agitators complained about being shot and
killed by the country's police and army during the time they claimed to be
non-violent, is it now they are steadily toeing the path of violence that they
won't die?
Imagine a scenario where they had succeeded in barging into
that church and attacking the governor. Do you think the governor's security
would have folded their hands and watched them attack their boss?
Imagine also a scenario where people come out to vote in the
election and scores of IPOB's supporters attempt to drive them back. What would
happen? In the ensuing violent confrontation, wouldn't it be an open invitation
to the police and army to mow them down?
It is possible that Kanu himself won't be part of the people
in the streets. He will possibly be in the comfort of his home urging them on
to their possible deaths.
Kanu may have been released from prison but I am beginning
to believe it was one huge mistake by the Igbo leaders to have aided his
release.
Already, Kanu has broken many of his bail conditions. He has
been talking to the media and he has not only been in the company of more than
ten people; he has been in the company of hundreds of people at a time. It is
as if he is begging them to come and re-arrest him, the same way it appeared as
if he purposely came down to Nigeria to be arrested after all he said against
the federal government on Biafra Radio.
Today, Kanu is opposed to the stands of the Igbo leaders. He
already probably sees himself as the authentic leader of Ndigbo. Just to watch
the way his supporters eulogize him is enough to make you think he is the
second Odumegwu Ojukwu. But he sadly lacks the better qualities of Ojukwu. If
anything, his thinking and actions border on something being slightly wrong
somewhere in his upstair department.
For even for one fleeting second thinking himself a leader
of the Igbo Nation is enough to send him to psychiatrists. He lacks what it
takes to be one. He is just a child of circumstance, or at best, an accidental
hero.
He should however be tackled and reined in now before he
sends some rash thinking people to their deaths. These days one is getting used
to the idea of seeing hordes of people driving wildly in tricycles, buses or
motorcycles, waving Biafra flags. They are the people who have no visible means
of livelihood and have all the time in the world to look for trouble and
happily doing so.
If nothing is done to hold this young man in check now, only
God knows what the days ahead will portend. It was a mistake to let him out,
but let that kind of mistake not happen again. It will however repeat itself if
those concerned fold their hands and watch. They have nearly succeeded in
attacking the governor and if they could contemplate that, who wouldn't they
attack next?
It just vindicates the title of my earlier piece here which
was: ''Kanu, Danger in Incubation?'' It seems as though the incubatory stage is
nearly over.
Ndigbo, correct this mistake!
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