When a fellow Igbo presents a thoughtful and balanced discourse pertaining to a subject that has become strategic to the short and medium-term fate of Ndiigbo, as a people, then all men and women of conscience must put on their thinking caps and read attentively. Azuka Onwuka writes about a burning issue that preoccupies the mind of the average Igbo alive today. Igbo homeland, including its heartland, is on fire – a phenomenon that did not happen even during the dark years of the Civil War. The fact is that the totality of Alaigbo is occupied, as we speak, by a force that is perceived to be acting in abject negation of the strategic interests of Ndiigbo. There is a living history behind this unfolding gory show within Alaigbo. This is the time for stakeholders to step forward and bare their thoughts so that the required critical mass can be better informed.
The brutal murder of Dr. Chike Akunyili has brought the reality of the level of insecurity at ground zero to every household. The elitist debate about who has the right or wrong approach to extricating our folks from the internal slavery foisted on all by Unitary Nigeria must now be seen as a luxury while the average Igbo’s right to life is hanging on the balance. Let’s, therefore, take a moment to read this article by Azuka Onwuka. I have excerpted a punchy segment below for your careful perusal:
“Today in the South-East, the hailers of the violence perpetrated by the so-called unknown gunmen are in the second phase: denial. The reason is that Igbo civilians are being murdered. The hailers are busy crafting conspiracy theories of how those behind the attacks in the South-East are members of the Department of State Security (the intelligence agency), the ruling All Progressives Congress, Buhari’s agents, Fulani herdsmen, politicians, etc. The sweet thing about denial is that it exonerates us and blames someone else. But denial does not take the problem away.
People have been arguing back and forth whether the violence in the South-East is being perpetrated by IPOB, but many people don’t get the point that such an argument is useless now. It does not matter anymore who are behind the killings. What matters is that the South-East is burning and there is no sign that it will stop soon. Both the hailers and non-hailers are not safe anymore.
The seed of today’s violence was sown when the Nigerian security operatives responded to anything concerning IPOB with lethal force, leaving sorrow, tears, and blood behind. That seed was then watered with IPOB leadership’s adoption of threats, orders, and acerbic language as the normal form of communication. Any person with a different view was tagged a saboteur, an efulefu (a worthless human being), an illegitimate scion of the Fulani, or an otellectual (an intellectual who reasons from the anus) and demonized as an enemy of the “freedom of Biafra.” Nobody needs to even directly order a physical attack on those who have been so demonized. Overzealous members or sympathizers can take it upon themselves to do so and feel justified for carrying out such a noble duty for the sake of freedom! If you doubt this, please watch the film The Wave.”
To read the rest of the article, go to the LNC USA website homepage and scroll toward the bottom. Share widely with your social media contacts as usual.
Okenwa.
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