OPEN LETTER TO JUSUN

Nigeria is already at war! A war of words is raging across the nation. The Generals have taken their positions and the "armies" are being radicalized on all fronts. 17 Southern governors just met in Asaba and fired warning shots. Interesting! 17 Southern governors? Where have they been all this while? I had begun to think that there was something in the constitution that allowed only the Northern governors to meet?

Many-many of Nigeria's prayer warriors are also presently in the battlefield, fighting the devil like mad. They are fasting, praying and supplicating, using every skill the Almighty has given to them to beg the good Lord to spare Nigeria the tragedy of Rwanda, Sudan, Syria and other places where things fell apart, the center could no longer hold and anarchy became the rule. But how do you continue to pray with faith when a major pastor, a general in the Lord's army, has already warned every sensible Nigerian to develop a "Plan B"?

Any student of history will tell you what you don't want to hear - the war may already have begun. The big guns may not yet be booming, the small arms fire may not yet be rattling uncontrollably, and the massive movement of very frightened people may not yet have begun but we may crazily have driven ourselves to the point of no return.

I have heard many reasons why some people believe that Nigerians will not go to war: We are too large. God loves our nation. We have too many material and personal investments across regions. We have intermarried… The reasons are all rational. War is irrational. Anything that will lead to the careless spilling of the blood of innocent men, women and children cannot be rational. When war begins, your best friend suddenly becomes an enemy simply because he belongs to the wrong tribe or the wrong religion. Killing him then becomes justifiable.

By the way, who told you that God does not love the nations that have driven themselves to fratricidal war? Why should God be worried about you when with your eyes wide open, you walk into those situations that lead to pain and destruction?

The other big mistake we make is to think that there has to be a formal declaration of war for the war to begin. So, all the "leaders" go ahead meeting, posturing and taking photographs pretending to be in control. With so many war lords all over the place? With so many private armies primed to go…? There is dried wood everywhere. Petrol is being poured on it daily. All you need is a little spark and the explosion begins.    

How do wars begin? First is the war of words which incubates the hate and mistrust and fires up the young, unemployed and restless. Just turn on the WhatsApp platform on your phone and try to follow the endless conspiracy theories and 'discoveries' of the plans of the other tribe and religion to annihilate your tribe and religion. How do you know what is true?  How many of your young and restless have the maturity to pause and ask questions?

Then there is the frustration that comes with the feeling that there is no way that you can obtain justice. When the prevailing conclusion is that the levers of justice have been hijacked and that you have become a mere spectator in a game in which you should be a major player, and the referee is a member of the opposing team and whatever you are given you must take without complaint and if you are not given anything at all, so be it.

That was the situation I was caught up in when three years ago, I began a one-man demonstration for several days in front of the Federal High Court in Lagos. I raised alarm because I saw the rule of law crumbling in Nigeria and the courts being shackled.

For someone who verily believes that the difference between a civilized nation and a banana republic is the respect for the rule of law, I could not understand why a judge after hearing a case, would not be allowed to deliver judgment as he deemed fit. Three years ago, mine was a voice in the wilderness. Today, I see JUSUN with the support of the lawyers go on strike for judicial autonomy and the courts locked up for weeks and weeks on end.

For the avoidance of doubt, I whole heartedly support JUSUN and everybody who supports the freedom of the judiciary. The type of democracy we are supposed to practice is a tripod made up of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. With the leadership vacuum that the Executive arm of our government has been wallowing in, the Judiciary went on strike! What started as a mere threat by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has got out of hand. For weeks, all courts in Nigeria have been shut. Police cells everywhere are said to be over-flowing with awaiting trial inmates in a coronavirus environment. Many urgent issues that need quick resolution by the judges have become festering sores. This is after the Corona virus shut down that dislocated the courts for months. Those of us who depend on the courts as our last hope in a nation where the instruments of state are constantly used to intimidate citizens, are bewildered.

What ought to have been resolved in two days has gone on for weeks. Why is it that the powers that be do not seem to be anxious to get the third arm of government standing? Are we playing into their hands? Maybe, they like the situation as it is because without the courts, absolute power prevails everywhere. With anarchy looming and the growing frustration that you cannot obtain justice in Nigeria?

That is why I beg the patriots in JUSUN to give deep thought to the continuation of the strike at this time. Nigeria is already in a precarious situation. In the absence of the courts, it is difficult to restrain people from resorting to the cutlass.

See you next week.

BOY, I HAVE SEEN BIAFRA AND IT IS NOT FUNNY

No one can be more Biafran than this writer. I have seen Biafra. I have lived Biafra and been bathed in Biafra. Let me tell you something: It is not funny.

I was about nine years old in May 1967 when Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu pronounced what is today known as the South East together with a good chunk of the present South-South of Nigeria as an independent Republic of Biafra. Those were heady days. While Nigerians considered Ojukwu just a Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian army, to us, he was the General of the People's Army, a deity of some sort who did no wrong. Ojukwu was all knowing. After all, he had been to Oxford, one of the best universities in the world. His father was the great Louis Phillip Odumegwu Ojukwu, the richest Igbo man in the world with massive property across Nigeria. Added to that, he was one of the most senior Igbo military officers. Who argues with a man with such education, money and military might?

Despite all the grammar spoken in different cities across Africa to stop a dangerously fast-moving train, less than two months later, the civil war began and the big guns began to boom everywhere and the riffles began to rattle. I was struggling with Primary school then but it all ended very fast. There was no longer any school to go to. Indeed, the primary school in Ogada Atta, my village was converted to the headquarters of RAP (Research & Production) which manufactured the locally made bomb known as Ogbunigwe (Killer of multitudes) and the Biafran 'Sure Battery'.

My brothers and sisters in Nollywood have shot some movies trying to recreate the dire situation in Biafra. I can tell you that none of them has in any way truly captured the incredible suffering, deprivation and anguish that I witnessed under the relentless bombardment, air raid and economic blockade.

Please try eating without any salt for one month and tell me what it tastes like. In Biafra, there was no salt, no sugar, no bread, no soft drink, no beer, no drugs and no food for much of the thirty months that the war lasted. The only thing that looked like food to more than eighty percent of the population was the three spoons of cornmeal that looked like 'poo-poo' put in your plastic plate twice a week at a 'feeding center' after you had stayed on the line in the sun for hours. Of course, some people collapsed and died on the line while waiting for the 'food' that no sane person will recommend for his dog. The dead were simply taken off the line and buried in shallow and unmarked graves and the struggle with death continued. If death did not come by way of starvation or disease, it came through the bullets of a Russian made Mig fighter-jet endlessly flying above and terrorizing innocent people who had no hand in any coup or insurrection.

If you fell ill in Biafra, you died, pure and simple. There were no drugs to deal with anything. Unfortunately, there were many reasons to fall sick. As the war went on and Biafra lost a lot of territory, many people fled their residence and were found in strange places with strange people living under very unsanitary conditions with no food and no drugs and no work. Strange leaves were attacked for food. Rats, rabbits, lizards and snakes were chased after with frenzy in search of badly needed protein. The picture of the average Biafran child was that of a big head, big tommy, tiny neck, very tiny limbs, sunken eyes and pale colour, the picture of kwashiorkor.  In the midst of that, there were Biafrans who made a 'killing' hijacking and selling relief materials sent by charity organizations like Red Cross and Caritas to soften the blow.

Of course, the must-have companion in Biafra was a short-wave radio to listen to Radio Biafra and BBC. There was no electricity and no new batteries. All kinds of imaginative ways had to be developed to make batteries last forever in Biafra. Radio Biafra (the original one, not the IPOB one) must have been the first real 'mobile' in history. It kept telling you that it was broadcasting from Enugu despite the fact that everyone knew that the station was constantly on the move since Enugu had long been lost to the Nigerians. The propaganda was infectious and there was no one better at it than the great Okoko Ndem. On Radio Biafra, everything Biafra was good and everything Nigeria was evil and the 'gallant' Biafran soldiers with their bare hands were slaughtering the 'vandals' despite the sophisticated equipment supplied to the 'vandals' by the 'neo colonialist' Britain.

At ten years old, I had memorized and imbibed the Biafran National Anthem, "Land of the rising sun, we love and cherish; Beloved home, land of our brave heroes; We must defend our lives or we shall perish; We shall protect our hearts from all our foes; But if the price is death for all we hold dear, Then let us die without a shred of fear". There was no doubt in my mind that our cause was right and our method unquestionable. I did not see how we could lose the war. I sought to join the Biafran Boys Company, the youth arm of the military that undertook surveillance work behind enemy lines. I was devastated when I was rejected. I was told I was too young.

And then came January of 1970 and my village was overrun and one week later, the war was over. The General of the Peoples' Army had flown out 'in search of peace'. Incredibly, we lost. It did not make sense to me.

When the Ikemba returned to Nigeria under the NPN inspired amnesty, ran for a senatorial election in Anambra and lost, things became a little clearer to me. Eventually, I met my hero, the General of the Peoples' Army in his Queens Drive home in Lagos and we established a relationship that I treasured. He was my guest at a number of events. Any time that I had the opportunity, we discussed this and that. While we agreed on a lot, we also disagreed on a lot. It became clear to me that as incredibly charismatic as Eze Ndigbo, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was, he was not divinity but a man subject to the emotions and mistakes of a man. I have asked myself since then whether the Biafran adventure could have been undertaken in a different way.  

As I see the anger and frustration of the moment and listen to the arguments back and forth, I ask myself whether we are prepared to make the same huge mistake twice in a generation. Just look at Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, ISIS, Boko Haram and all the movements that the world is battling with and you see how easy it is these days to start an unquenchable fire with a 'Radio Biafra' or "WhatsApp" platform with thousands of unemployed, hungry and desperate young people with little hope. This is the real challenge of our times.

Please, if I am not seen carrying a placard and flexing my muscles everywhere for a Sovereign State of Biafra, I beg that you understand me. I am not a coward. I remain a very proud Igbo man committed to a great future for the Igbos of the world but I have already seen Biafra, lived Biafra and been bathed in Biafra and it is not funny.

See you next week.

HAS NIGERIA BURST ITS TUBE & BURST ITS TYRE?

Pa Jacob, the lanky willy old man in my village, once took a look around him, could not comprehend what was going on with the world and in a moment of utter astonishment and disillusionment exploded with the statement, "the world has burst its tube and burst its tyre!", a statement that has remained famous in my village and areas close to it till today.

When Pa Jacob of blessed memory made his profound statement, a sizeable loaf of bread was sold for one shilling and you could cook a good pot of soup for three shillings. Today, let me just give my young daughter, Booboo, who is in charge of the kitchen in the absence of her mum, less than five thousand naira to make one pot of soup. The way she will look at me will tell you all you need to know: "This man does not understand what is going on".

If Pa Jacob were alive today, how would he have described the crazy situation where the "Executive" Governor of my dear state of Imo, the most protected man in the state, who drives around in a convoy of armored cars with heavily armed policemen and sundry security paraphernalia protecting his house, would have his house set on fire by 'unknown' gunmen? If Mr. Governor with all the security around him cannot protect himself, how does he protect the millions of citizens who have no AK 47s, no police, no catapults and 'no nothing'?   

Tell me, how would Pa Jacob have summed up the situation where armed soldiers and policemen at check points are being murdered by "unknown" gunmen who terrorize and kidnap politicians, the clergy and innocent students practically at will, everywhere in the country?

Did you hear that Boko Haram has raised its flag in a good chunk of the landmass of Niger State which boarders the nation's capital, Abuja? As things go rapidly from bad to worse, will we be surprised to hear that Boko Haram has raised its flag at Aso Rock Villa, Nigeria's seat of government or that Nigeria is now being governed by the terrorist group? And Nigeria has as its President and Commander-in-Chief an infantry general?!

The type of democracy we are supposed to practice is a tripod made up of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.  In the midst of the leadership vacuum that the Executive arm of our government has been wallowing in, the Judiciary went on strike! What started as a mere threat by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has got out of hand. For weeks, all courts in Nigeria have been shut. Police cells everywhere are over-flowing with awaiting trial inmates in a coronavirus environment. Many urgent issues that need quick resolution by the judges have become festering sores. This is after the Corona virus shut down that dislocated the courts for months. Those of us who depend on the courts as our last hope in a nation where the instruments of state are constantly used to intimidate citizens, are bewildered. What ought to have been resolved in two days has gone on for weeks, again because of lack of leadership. Our democracy's tripod is standing on only one very weak leg. If this is not anarchy, please tell me what is.

During the week, several of my friends called asking for how to get visa appointments. You do not need to be told that their belief in the future of Nigeria has evaporated. Time was when people who doubted the ability of Mohammed Buhari to steer the ship of Nigeria were called wailers. Suddenly, practically every Nigerian has become a wailer. What would have been described as treason not long ago is being openly discussed as disillusioned Nigerians from across the nation ask Buhari to resign and leave them alone. Many are even calling for the break-up of the nation.  

The immortal Zik of Africa was once quoted as saying, "a broken bottle has no mmekwatarism". You may ask, what is "mmekwatarism?" Mmekwatarism is coined from the word, mmekwata, which in Igbo means 'to repair'. In other words, what the great Nnamdi Azikiwe seems to have said is that a broken bottle is not repairable. Has Nigeria become a broken bottle? My nephew, 'Mr. Cash', insists that the Nigerian bottle is not just broken, it is shattered.

When we used to drive with tyres that had tubes inside, if your tyre went down, you patched the tube. You would see some tubes with so many patches on them that there is no question that the car is spending more time with the vulcanizer than with the owner. But there comes a time when even the vulcanizer cannot help you – when both the tube and the tyre explode in one moment of madness.

I am the eternal optimist, characteristically the last to give up on anything so I wish Pa Jacob was still alive. I so badly need to ask him whether Nigeria has finally got to the state of no return, in those words of W.B. Yeats when the falcon can no longer hear the falconer, things fall apart, the centre can no longer hold and mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, because I am disheartened, traumatized, disillusioned, astonished, astounded, devastated … by what I see around me.

Please tell me from wherever you are, Pa Jacob, has Nigeria finally burst its tube and burst its tyre?

See you next week.