Be Careful, What You Hear (Still On RECESSION - Part 2)

The Holy Bible warns; “Be careful what you hear.” But Aristotle’s wise reasoning that nothing gets to the intellect except through the senses” nails home the message to me. What we hear, read or taste often can frame our minds so much so that we would be ready to die and die again without bothering a rethink.

Beyond expressed grief, the grimace on the faces of protesters in a typical pro-Biafra-agitation crowd tells immense story-deep rage and intense ready-to-die agitation. Just a picture of the parade would capture the height of angst. They encapsulate fury, furore and a rare sense of kinship as they move on and sing with an outstanding farvour, call it enbitterness with Nigeria.

Beholding the surging crowd alone would force a passer bye to beat instant retreat, behind doors and draw the shutter. Their street parades turn a day bad for business and lull the pace of work in offices. Hence, any day set out for protest by such pro-Biafra groups as Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra(MASSOB), the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) and their ilks is held in awe. Upon learning that tomorrow, Friday, September 23,2016, has been set aside as a flagged date by IPOB, I was worried.

My worry was not based on the necessity or veracity of the date because every group has a right to express her belief or discontent with any issue once they work within the ambits of the law. It was premised on the fact that keeping sanity within the lines of such intensely emotional street parades is an uphill task, if not a miracle.

For clearer communication of my thrust, may I state my understanding of the fact that launched the youngsters (and not-so-young-ones) on the street regularly in agitation for soverign state. Even the name of the state being the defunct Biafra of which thrived 1967 through 1970 rouses some feelings of sticking to aged or aging tags, the favour on the roads are understandable to me. The animated crowd of chest-baring begoggled, black-clad protesters can borrow from the perennial denial of due to people of the old East and assert that Nigeria is punishing them unfairly for a war that was fought in clear conscience and forgotten (or should have been forgotten ) when it ended in January , 1970. Just as their movement surge ahead as if blinded by one mission and consciously oblivious of the naked loaded guns of law dotting the streets, the protesters would remind those who saw, read or heard of the erstwhile republic of the bare bravely dubbed Biafra struggle.

But a voice of reason within would ask: “must we set ourselves to die to get a better living? Then who would live to enjoy the life?” This may be deemed cowardice for those who hear what most of the youngsters on the protest horde have been used to hearing. It may be termed heresy by those who anchor on the now drummed call to actualisation of a separate homeland for the Igbo people who appear not wanted by the rest of (or those who usually rule) Nigeria.

But that is what my inner mind tells me. I don’t know how right though. However , as one who have studied how the great Ben Gurion and other Jewish folks, secured a homeland for Jews in current Israel , I have more heed to pay to my third sense. It is high time we approached the negotiation table from a vantage point; a point of weakness. Ndi Igbo need to engage their foisted challenges with their natural gifts of creativity, innovativeness and economic astuteness. We need to tackle our problems ourselves, not waiting for others (who may not really love or care any bit about our travails) to empathize with us and grant us leave or reprieve.

Daily, at newspaper vendors’ booths, one observes a rally of Igbo persons, mostly the not-so- intellectual young men (Okada and keke operators on break, inclusive) rally around sensational newspapers and tabloids discussing the Biafra from point of near fantasy. Reacting to the pulsation of sensations in the publications they exhilarate and vent in pitiable frenzy.

One day, Ayoola, my vendor in ARROMA Flyover, Awka, pointed at a man and said: “Oga, look at this man”; he pointed at a middle aged man, who had disembarked from his motorcycle. “I no know who de brain wash this man,” he said. “That person must be dangerous. Every day, this man would come here and say that he has heard that the United Nations has approved Biafra Republic that the next month, the flag will be mounted. He will say so-so person has been appointed Prime Minister; the other is president; the capital is here; the person is that, the other is that… I don’t know who is telling him all that. And if you tell him it is not true, he will tell you how wrong you are. Another day, he would come with a similar story.”

Interestingly, the man in question happened to be known to me. He is a carpenter and worker in my church in Awka . Months later, I attended church and one of our priests ,while preaching a sermon on the theme, ‘Be careful what you say’ said, he once had a worker that regaled him with tales of how Biafra Republic had been declared and state officials appointed. Though, he tried hard to persuade the man to be circumspect when he listens to or reads some stories, he failed-even as his priest

There are many like the man, and their clan is expanding by the hour. One of the biggest spurs of the new wave is the growing clan of converts but quite as crave a new Igbo resurgence, whether as a Biafra or whatever form it, could pay to ponder another approach, which is more towards the use of strategic communication, constructive social engagement with the realities of today and stratified short term, mid term and long term planning. This is more like the Ben Gurion Council approach.A body like the World Group favours the use of regular summits,where Igbo issues are tabled and rearticulated with goals and ‘to do’ lists clearly states and monitored.

There could be more utilisation of caucuses. They largely stem their discourses (summits) from the resolutions from Igbo Council the resolutions of the Igbo caucus in the 2014 National Conference held in Abuja. There could be economic sector oriented caucuses, where Igbo aspirations in the given area of the economy could be articulated and pursued like other nationalities in Nigeria currently do. There could be cluster investment or operation in vital or virgin sectors.

But more importantly, Igbo should realise that it would neither achieve anything in Nigeria nor advance anywhere in infrastructural development beyond the current unless her sons and daughters seriously ‘think home’, bring significant chunks of their investment in diaspora home. Only this way would there be industries, offices and general employment for the teeming unemployed in the Igbo land. It is only such force that would give the people a good stand point to negotiate or call Nigeria bluff if that is the mission.

In the view of Malcolm X, only the uninformed take the penny from his commnuity and spends or invests elsewhere because he only ends up making his homeland poorer and the neighbour richer. The activism and social campaign handbook , ‘Rules for the Radical’ equally, expouses on this socio economic and political wisdom, which is what Ben Gurion and his movement practiced to sow the seeds of the current strong and rich nation, Israel, Jews all over the world still uphold the maxim.

Therefore, all concerned Igbo sons and daughters, who are concerned that our youths put themselves in harm’s way regularly by opening up themselves without arms to enemies bullets every time they protest across Nigeria should come home with investments and do the best to engage them productively. Ndi Igbo are not known for laziness. But one point I must state here is to those, who seek to protest across country tomorrow. Do it quietly. Do not disturb others from their businesses and note that whatever property or infrastructure found here in Igbo land is a product of extreme toil, sweat and rare grace of God. Let no hand of destruction go near because that would be dangerously unwise.

We have come this far by extreme stress, let no foolhardiness compound our woes. Let’s be careful.