IGBOZURUOKE FORUM

From every indication, Barrister Nnadi, appears to be a resolute fighter whose convictions are unshakable once they are adopted. As the coordinator of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self Determination NINAS, he might have felt the activities of the Biafra Agitators were interfering and may in fact jeopardize the course his group is taking to achieve its dream of uniting the Lower Niger part of Nigeria into a prosperous and equitable entity. It must be in this light that the fiery barrister unleashed his vituperation on IPOB and other Biafra agitators. Recently, the Southernexaminer, a media outlet from the South-South zone, published the following, as Tony Nnadi’s description of IPOB and other Biafra Agitators:

We have told our people enough about staying away from anything labeled ‘Biafra’ at this point as such has absolutely nothing to do with the liberation campaign we wage. 
“We will not waste any further energy persuading anyone who wishes to hang in with the criminals as such persons obviously prefer to learn the hard way like those before them who refused to listen all these while.
“Even by the admission of the buffoon speaking in the video, the so-called ‘e-referendum’ does not translate to independence. It therefore amounts to nothing more than an opinion poll just like the scam in which some ‘Yoruba Nation’ elements hoodwinked their people into a five million signature-drive to attain independence. 
“Why tag it ‘referendum’ if not for the purpose of deceit? The basic questions rose by the Lower Niger Congress (LNC) 8-Point Strategy against the ‘Biafra Restoration’ Shenanigans remain unanswered and the attempt to yank off of just one item (ie-referendum) from the 8 by the criminal proprietors of the rogue Biafra franchise does not change anything. 

It may not serve any useful purpose to prioritize the dissection of this vituperation nor the rationale behind it, however, one thing is certain, Barrister Nnadi, has assumed the position of an arbiter on an agitation he does not appreciate nor have  control of. Incidentally, Nnadi, as the coordinator of the LNC/NINAS, seemed to have forgotten that he is also an agitator, fighting to carve an area out of Nigeria. One may understand the frustration of Nnadi, giving the disjointed and seemingly fraudulent claims from the Biafra agitators, but in LNC/NINAS, Nnadi, is equally overseeing a bedeviled structure, as his endeavors so far has not shown any promise nor would it ever be. So Nnadi’s unbridle attacks on the latter smacks of the activity of a self-styled moralist who should do better to face his own task of seeing the success of his ambitious LNC/NINAS. It is of no use for kettle to start calling pot black.

As one who assisted the 52 Battalion, Biafra army as a teenager at Okpala Sector, and alarmed on how Ndi Igbo are disgracing themselves, I view the activities of most Igbo elites as treacherous and the recourse to unwholesome engagements by most Biafra agitators under the guise of Biafra agitation as disheartening. However, one must make allowance for the agglomeration of these agitators to realize why things are turning out the way they are in the struggle. Yet, that is not enough to generalize or pour such invectives on fellow Igbo who are agitating weather honourably or not.   

In 2012, when I attended one of Barrister Nnadi’s meetings for the realization of the Lower Niger Conference, at Victoria Island, Lagos, he sounded very sure and was elated that from what was in place, the entity would be materializing within the shortest possible time.  When I raised the issue of him realizing such a delicate monumental project, with a diverse groups, especially, with Igbo haters, like Chief Edwin Clark, the godfather of Izon nepotism, he complacently waved my observation aside. Well, twelve years on, the emergence of LCN, still remains a mirage.  

Consequently, Nnadi’s vituperation can be viewed in his failure to imbibe the popular inmates’ song of Onye gbube achara, onye gbube, onye apkọla ibeya onye ikoni (let every inmate occupies himself with crass cutting, no one possess the right to call his colleague a convict.) It would have been better if Tony Nnadi, continued to preach to the agitators while alerting the Igbo about the fraudelent parts he noticed in their activities, waving a blanket condemnation on all Biafra agitators and their activites is ridiculous.

In volume two of this article, the shady and deceitful process some Biafra agitators are engage in that has been jeopadising the agitation and how best to purseue the course towards the realization of Biafra will be discussed.

Boniface Alanwoko,

Journalist, publisher and Igbo activist