Today is being marked as a Remembrance for the millions of Biafrans who perished in an unjust war Nigerians want to forget quickly. Hard as they try, this scar has refused to clear after the wound. Sometimes, there some levels of injustice that are immune to collective amnesia, and the Biafran war is one of them.
In a nation afraid of its own past, I was fortunate to have studied history in secondary school. The subject had already approached its endangered status in Nigerian school curriculum by the time I encountered it. So I was lucky enough to have had a teacher for that subject, but I was again unlucky to have had one who reduced the over three million deaths recorded in the war simply to a desire of one man to carve out an empire for himself. I had read a bit about the war before that class, I had read Wole Soyinka‘s prison notes on the war and I had interacted with Alexander Madiebo's account too. So I didn't let the argument end on that too simple note when I reminded her again that it's an unjustifiable genocide against the Igbos. But I guess she didn't care much about my opinion that day, and she expected me to write what she said was true for her tests.
Sadly, I have come to realize that many Nigerians are more like my history teacher. They think the war is justifiable because it didn't happen against them. They abuse your rights to honour the memory of the war, they curse your sensibilities for remembering the dead. Because they are not you, they consider all your experiences and feelings in the Nigerian space invalid, they rubbish all your complaints about marginalization. Granted, the governing class in South-east Nigeria, the cradle of the Biafran dream, is not doing much to develop the South-east, but this doesn't invalidate the cries of injustices against the Igbos, be it at the hands of the security agents who killed many Igbos during a peaceful vigil last year or the continued neglect of the Eastern region by the Federal Government. If you are going to ask me for evidences of neglect, try traveling on the federal roads in Eastern Nigeria to confirm that with your life at stake.
Again, many are of the opinion that they will not lend their support to the Igbos for the restructuring of the federation because of the hate speeches of Nnamdi Kanu. These people are only displaying their ignorance of the injustices against the Igbos. They are quick to forget that before Nnamdi Kanu, their was a cause. They are quick to forget that Nnamdi Kanu is a voice today because the Nigerian state made him a voice. I am not going to align myself with Nnamdi Kanu's methods because I believe his is a degeneration of the loftiness of a genuine struggle. However, I will like those who think a section of humanity must lick their feet before it assumes its full humanity that with their approval or not, Nigeria has come to a stage where a confrontation of our collective existence must be debated. I will also like them to take responsibility for the mess that is Nnamdi Kanu. If the government has adopted a more pragmatic way of resolving this problem, the thousands of Igbo youths aligning themselves to the dangerous rhetorics of Kanu would not have been.
I read the speech delivered by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo during the first round table discussion of the Biafran war. No doubt, the Acting President should be commended for acknowledging what past governments have struggled to deny without success. But at this point, acknowledgement of inherent flaws in the way Nigeria is currently constituted is not enough. No one wins a medal for acknowledging a disease, we must look for the cure. This will involve addressing the lopsided nature of the current alliances of tribes that is called Nigeria.
More than acknowledging the scars of the Civil War, the federal government should ask itself why this Biafran dream has refused to die. It should seek to know why Rwanda is progressing as one, indivisible nation after the genocide and Nigeria is heading for another bitter division, if not handled with tact and diplomacy. I read somewhere recently that students in Rwanda are taught their history alongside conflict resolution skills from primary school.
The Nigerian government should summon up some courage to allow more discussions about the existence of this country and stop dangling the worn-out phrase "non-negotiable" whenever the existence of this nation is being interrogated, as the makeup of Nigeria is something that should be constantly questioned and negotiated. It is only in this part of the human divide that separation from an unruly marriage is seen as a deep, personal weakness.
More than anything, the Federal Government should stop viewing every mention of Biafra as a call for secession. Sometimes, this word could mean injustices, and a call for redress.
As Acting President Yemi Osibanjo clearly and rightly said, "we are greater together", but he failed to add this, "with a dose of justice and fairness to all" . May those who fought and died for the Biafran dream never die in vain. And may the living receive enough wisdom not to go down the road of war again.
