Messing with the Bull: This thing called Biafra

At the Ikwuano-Umuahia meeting the other day, Chief Nwagbara quipped: Onye gara ebe
ana akwa ozu, ma otupughi onu, o di ka otinyere aka n'ihe gburu onye nwuru anwu (i). It
is for this reason that I speak. I may not have the wisdom of my elders, but I wash my hands
and have been invited more than once to eat at their table. Our people say: Ijiji na-enweghi
onye ndumodu na-eso ozu ala n'ili (ii). So, while you may reject the messenger, please
consider his message carefully.

Chi
Iromuanya enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City

On a recent visit to Broadway in Manhattan, New York, it occurred to me that people are
fascinated by the idea of a raging bull, regardless of what comes out of its ass! Anyone whos
really spent time with one knows theres nothing graceful about a bull. Weve seen images or
heard stories about bull runs in Spain, and how people are sometimes gored to death by these
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brutes. Is it indeed human nature to fantasize or romanticize or mess with what ordinarily
would be detrimental to ones health? As the saying goes, its all fun and games until
someone losses a nut.

The Igbo people I know are generally smarter than to mess with a bull. The problem is that
they tend to keep quiet and do nothing when others choose to do so. So let me ask you as my
people do: Agadi huru ka umu aka na-egwu ala ili n'azu ulo ya, ma gbachie nkiti, o chere
na obu onye ka aga eli ebe ahu (iii)? In essence, apathy is likely to turn around and bite our
collective ass if we sit around and do nothing.
So whats my beef? Well, it is this entity called IPOB (The indigenous people of Biafra). Off
the block this entity by designation is intended to be divisive. The name begs the question: If
there are indigenous people, who then are the non indigenous people of Biafra? Are those
people from the region formerly known as Biafra, but are now living abroad? Are you one of
the non indigenous people? I ask because they certainly couldnt be the Yorubas who tend to
live in the west of Nigeria, nor could they be the Hausa Fulanis who are quite content with
staying in the North. Certainly no one can be referring to the numerous nationalities including
the Bini, Ijaws, Ibibios, Itshekiris, Urhobos to name a few that are native in their various midwestern, eastern and southern locations as non indigenous. The only ones who tend to be non
indigenous populations in Nigeria are Igbos who typically are next in line of the majority after
the local population at practically everywhere in Nigeria.

For those who want to go to war with Nigeria let me tell you what my people say: that one
develops a healthy respect for earthworms once bitten by a snake. Our elders know this. A
majority of the current fledgling militancy is among post-Biafra youth who has been
indoctrinated by their aggrieved elders. Lest I be accused of not knowing whats going on, I
wish to lay down some facts:
-

I was born before the 1967 onset of the Nigerian Civil War

I came out of the region formerly known as Biafra a 4-year old orphan with a 2year old brother and a 20-year old widowed mother after losing my father at the
very end of the war in 1970.
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Barely a year after that war, I lost my grandfather and my fathers brother, Uncle
David due to problems originating from the war.

You may ask, if I encountered the above difficulties, how come I am not sympathetic with the
current Biafra demonstrations?

Let me state categorically that Biafra is a paradigm of equity and I believe it represents an
irrefutable icon for the pursuit of justice. Biafra must remain a Nigerian state of mind, one
that unites us all around the principles of equity. The agitation for a fairer Nigeria must never
stop, but it must be pursued with intelligence and candor. The last thing an aggrieved Igbo
person needs is an opportunistic hijacking of the Biafran icon and the consequent
condemnation of our lot to more generations of cataclysmic loss and regret.
Lest I be accused of being a pacifist or a coward or both, let me emphatically state that I am a
shameless pacifist, but one who only believes in peace in a state of justice. Ill leave the
cowardice judgment to you except to say the following:
-

I have seen war, and rarely does it do any good. I have seen short wars, long wars,
and in-between.

I survived the Maitesine attack in 1991 in Wunti, Bauchi State while representing
that state in the finals of a boxing match at the 1991 Nigerian National Sports
Festival. I witnessed dozens of southerners like myself butchered for no crime at
all, and in turn, hundreds of the Maitesine followers butchered by then military
Governor. Col Abu Alis army.

I was in Afghanistan for 42 months and survived ten tours that took me around that
war torn country as a contractor providing construction management services to
the US Army Corps of Engineers between 2009 and 2013. Yes, Nigeria and
Afghanistan provided the studies for my doctoral dissertation on Project Success
Factors in Dynamic Project Environments. That work is available at
http://gradworks.umi.com/3553351.pdf

Yes, I have seen war firsthand and I know that seldom does any good come out of
it. I have witnessed the permanent loss of people whom days before I had
interacted with. I saw no value or meaning in their deaths.

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In my village in Umuihi Umuogba, in Ekoba Umuahia, we still have people who

were maimed during the last big war, fellow villagers who were and still are
victims of shell shock and suffering various stages of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) due to a war that ended 45 years ago. Only an ignorant fool or a
callous personality would want to engage in indiscriminate acts of war.

This is not about me; rather it is about individuals and their groups that purport to represent me
and the Igbo race. People have a right to be activists but they have no rights to block my aunt
Chijago from moving her palmoil through the Niger River Bridge, or prevent my cousin Ike from
his economic transactions through a lockdown of the Onitsha market.
Heres some context for the so called IPOB agitation and why we must recognize it for what it is a premeditated opportunistic plan for power grab. It doesnt take much imagination to recognize
those who stand to gain from it. Let us consider the antecedents and context for this current
agitation.
-

It took the concerted effort by Action for Democracy (AD) championed by

Western Nigerian activists and supported by Oduas People Congress (OPC) an
ethnocentric offshoot to win a Yoruba presidency in the person of General
Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007.

During the reign of Obasanjo, peoples of the Niger Delta (Nigerias oil and bread
basket) agitated through acts of targeted economic disruptions. Obasanjo settled
the Niger Delta by appointing a weak northerner Musa YarAdua as his successor
while planting a Niger Deltan as deputy. That Deltan Ebelechukwu Jonathan
would upon the death of the sick president become his replacement. Igbos adopted
Ebele Jonathan just as General Olusegun Obasanjo had calculated. What
Obasanjo did not anticipate was Ebeles cunning or the complete support he would
receive from Igbos.

During Ebeles reign, the religious elements from the North East intensified
their agitation and it took the genius of the original AD leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu
to settle the Northeast by selecting a Northeastern son Muhammadu Buhari and
putting him in position to win the presidency with Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his
vice.
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So goes the thinking that the Igbos must agitate otherwise Osinbajo will become the next
president thus denying Igbos their turn. The following are what this equation does not factor:
-

What Igbos want more than anything is the opportunity to compete in a society
that allows them entrepreneurial freedom.

Igbos before the unleashing of the murderous Boko Haram owned practically all
building material and vehicle spare parts stores in Northern Nigeria. Igbos more
than anything else desire the freedom of movement, and anything that puts a stop
to this freedom is detrimental to our survival as a people.

Anything that shuts down the Onitsha market for any length of time is inimical to Igbo industry
and trade. Yet, IPOB did just that without apology! Any action that segregates Nigeria along
tribal lines is injurious to the Igbo identity and way of life, yet IPOB declares that as its primary
goal. Landlocked Igbos travel west, north and south; learn the languages and cultures of the locals
and integrate quite successfully. Yet they with only few exceptions periodically make the
pilgrimage home to reconnect and recharge their Igbo souls. Igbos are no cowards but they are
not interested in opportunistic and meaningless genocidal wars. The Igbos I know appreciate the
value of others, and they are more than any people on planet earth likely to marry across tribal,
racial, or cultural lines.
Some ways forward:
-

Any agitation must adopt the true spirit of Biafra and must be for the collective
good, because our wellbeing is directly tied to the wellbeing of our neighbors. If
you doubt this, ask your Igbo trader brother in Kano Market, or the Spare Parts
trader cousin in Idumota, Lagos.

Put your money where your heart is by supporting only politicians with nation
building ideas instead of patronizing those who promise to line your pockets.

Teach your children and remind your elders what it means to be Igbo: smart,
hardworking people with integrity and pride.

Teach our young and remind our elders of the virtue of service and integrity by
recognizing and rewarding individuals who represent those attributes.

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Remind our elders of their warrior past, and encourage them to be less afraid of
change. Encourage the youth to be brave and willing to engage in acts of
constructive insubordination and challenge unconstitutional authority or those who
usurp power for nefarious purposes.

Like Aliko Dangote, lets become the best Igbo business person possible. Sure, Dangote
wasnt born an Igbo man, but because he embodies the industriousness and illustriousness
Igbos value, we might as well claim him as one. Lets like Chioma Ajunwa, the first and only
individual Nigerian Olympic gold medalist strive to be the most determined and focused
person we can be. Like Rev. Mbaka, let us be the most fearless preacher we can be and tell
the truth to power. Similar to Nuhu Ribadu, let us work with integrity regardless of the
pressures around us. Sure Ribadu wasnt born an Igbo man, but since there are few Igbo men
with professional integrity greater than Ribadus, we might as well claim him as one.

Dr. Bennet Omalu was born Igbo, still is Igbo, and resisted a most powerful organization in
the United States of America called the NFL, the National Football League. Using his private
funds, he conducted studies that proved the dangers of American football and is the subject of
the movie Concussion currently showing across the country. His singular action has started a
revolution that will have far reaching implications on how sports are played around the world.
His resolute character is played by none other than the preeminent actor Will Smith. His
resoluteness in the midst of powerful counteracting interests represents the best spirit of
Biafra.

Let us listen and understand the words of the peerless and fearless Fela as his powerful lyrics
remind us not to be follow-follow, or that if we must follow, then follow them with open eye.
Let us insist on asking those who invite us to run around naked why we must do so, or why
they are still fully clothed.

To date, the noise for separation has been replete with just that: noise with little content.
Onye si na ya ejidego agwo, ga-ekwu m'obu na isi, na etiti, k'obu na odudu, k'oji agwo ahu
(iv). Instead there are critical countervailing arguments against the call for separation. Let us
not remain silent, lest we be accused of complicity in this foolishness, for that is what it is.
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Igbos have a saying that, Onye nyuo nshi anyugi mamiri, onyere ala nri okpuo (v). Let
those who agitate also provide a constructive roadmap to the future that they propose.

Igbo people were wronged starting some 48 years ago with the pogrom in northern Nigeria
against its innocent law abiding citizens. But that wrong does not justify the current call for
separation. We are pained by the murderous rampages of those who kill in the name of
religion. The fact is that these killers kill indiscriminately regardless of the religious or tribal
persuasions of their victims. Why must we ask to live apart from our brothers and sisters
when they too are killed by the same bullies who threaten us? What a family does in time of
peril is to unite and overcome that danger; not blame one another and be defeated by fear.

If we allow our enemies to divide and thus rule us, we will be sorry. I would hate to witness
the day that I or any Igbo person would require a visa from the eastern part of Nigeria to visit
my home in Lagos or extended family in Kano. It would be a shame to see that day come
when my old school mate Aliyu Dankaro or Dapo Akintunde are required to carry passports
to visit me in Umuahia from Niger State or Lagos. This nonsense must stop now. If the call
for an African century is to come to fruition, at its heart must be integration and the oneness in
the rhythm of Nigeria.

If you disagree with me, I challenge you to a wrestling match at the Igbo Union Hall in
Georgia. If you beat me in that match youd have the unenviable task of explaining to my
wife and children why you chose to embarrass me in public. Thanks for your indulgence!

Sincerely,

Chi Iromuanya PhD, B.Arch.

Life Secretary Ohuhu Union Atlanta, Georgia USA
Life Secretary Ikwuano / Umuahia Association Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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Translations
i: Onye gara ebe ana akwa ozu, ma otupughi onu, o di ka otinyere aka n'ihe gburu onye
nwuru anwu. (If you attend a funeral and say nothing to the bereaved, you may appear
implicated in the cause of death of the deceased).
EXPLANATION: Silence often is interpreted as consent.

ii: Ijiji na-enweghi onye ndumodu na-eso ozu ala n'ili (A fly that has no adviser usually
follows the coffin to the grave).

iii: Agadi huru ka umu aka na-egwu ala ili n'azu ulo ya, ma gbachie nkiti, o chere na obu
onye ka aga eli ebe ahu? (If an old man watches in silence as kids dig a grave in his
backyard, whom does he think will be buried there?
EXPLANATION: Apathy is a sin of omission that could boomerang.

iv: Onye si na ya ejidego agwo, ga-ekwu m'obu na isi, na etiti, k'obu na odudu, k'oji agwo
ahu. (Whoever claims to have caught the snake, should state precisely what part he is
holding, the head, middle or tail.)

EXPLANATION: Control of any part of a snake other than the head is futile.
v: Onye nyuo nshi anyugi mamiri, onyere ala nri okpuo . (When you pass feces without
accompanying it with urine, you give the earth a dry incomplete meal.)

Reference:
Igbo Proverbs published by Uche Okorie

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