Until recently, the leader of the controversial Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, was relatively unknown.

The new Biafra project had begun as a rumour when it was claimed that a group of "Biafran" youths had sought the United Nations’ declaration of an independent state of Biafra. According to the stories told with relish, the demand for such a declaration was consistent with a phantom international law which confers legitimacy to suppressed or "defeated" struggles for "sovereignty", after 30 years of the end of such struggle.

Since the Biafran struggle ended in 1970, after a 30-month gruesome genocidal war unleashed on the then Eastern Region, with emphasis on the Igbo nation, it was pointed out by the rumour-mongers that the year 2000 was Biafra-compliant, being the 30th year of the end of the civil war.

The persistence of these rumours gradually began to give credence to the MASSOB project, with men and women of the society who could not easily be described as gullible and uninformed, retelling the story with a palpable degree of conviction. In their view, the Biafra project was a realisable task, even though there was no concrete substance behind it in terms of planning and structure.

The conducive atmosphere created by the gullibility of the Nigerian public, including the callous marginalisation of Ndigbo by the Olusegun Obasanjo regime which rode to power on the crest provided largely by the South-East and the North, to the exclusion of his legitimate constituency where he was made a political orphan, gave the desired impetus for the birth of MASSOB. The popularity of its leader accordingly soared with every passing day.

Consequently, the Indian-trained lawyer, Ralph Uwazuruike, was emboldened to launch his pet project. Soon, MASSOB, became the primus inter pares among the clan of ethnic/tribal groupings agitating for all forms of redress, in the advent of democracy. The media blitz which the Movement enjoyed became unprecedented, even though MASSOB adopted a peaceful and non-violent tactics in its crusade unlike most others.

With a large number of supporters which cut across sex and age, MASSOB leadership decided to declare the independent state of Biafra on May 27, year 2000 – the exact 30 years of the end of the Biafran struggle. Once this date was declared, the Federal Government began to suspect that Uwazuruike may just be a surrogate for a grand Igbo agenda for the re-launch of Biafra. So scared was president Obasanjo that he let loose his security apparati on the leader of MASSOB who became a regular guest of the Police and State Security Service even when the same Police could not find Ganiyu Adams, leader of the notorious Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), after placing a prize of N.1 million on his head. But Uwazuruike and his followers remained unshaken as they pursued their project with determination and vigour.

As part of its panic measure, the Federal Government invited the original leader of the Biafran nation, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, for a chat with Obasanjo who after being assured by the Ikemba of the commitment of Ndigbo to the unity of Nigeria, pleaded with him to assist the government in ensuring that Ndigbo did not support MASSOB.

Indeed, Government’s fear over the Biafran movement was accentuated by the demand for Confederation by the five South-East Governors as Ndigbos’ collective response to the Sharia crisis in Kaduna state during which many Igbos lost their lives among other citizens. Because Confederation in Nigeria’s context is synonymous with Biafra, the powers that be believed that the Governors’ action was a tacit endorsement of MASSOB. This fear was heightened by the simultaneous endorsement of Confederation by Ohaneze Ndigbo and the Igbo Youth Movement (IYM) which constitute the bulk of sympathisers of the Biafran struggle.

Thus, the Federal Government adopted all forms of tactics, including sheer blackmail, to get the Biafran hierarchy to denounce MASSOB and to disowon its leadership. The competition over this exercise became so ridiculous that even spurious associations which go by several funny names tried to outdo
themselves just to catch the attention of the Federal Government. What a calamity!

Unfortunately, even the governors whom some of us had reposed confidence in as capable of confronting headlong the problems visited on the Igbo nation by successive Nigerian governments, suddenly chickened out. They did not only denounce Biafra and MASSOB, but also the confederation which they had demanded with our collective approval.

But, in spite of the Federal Government’s concerted effort to squelch MASSOB and prevent its planned declaration of Biafra, the event, like the "Epetedo declaration" of blessed memory, eventually took place without dictation by government’s security apparati. As widely reported by the media, Uwazuruike was able to beat the security network. He declared the revival of Biafra earlier than May 27 by hoisting the Biafran flag after playing the Biafran Anthem and making a four minutes broadcast – all on top of an uncompleted building in Aba! Thereafter, he escaped on a motor bike while the security men "stood guard" for him like morons.

This Biafran episode may look like an Alawada drama, given the circumstances of its initiation and execution. But the symbolism must be taken with the seriousness it deserves. This is so because it would be foolhardy for those in power to believe that the agitation for the restructuring of the polity in ways that guarantee fairness, equity and justice, by whatever name called, will automatically fizzle out in the face of continued marginalisation of any segment of the country.

Consequently, although the Uwazuruike’s Biafra episode has the trappings of a comedy, the real gist is that Ndigbos’ restiveness with the Nigerian nation is fast reaching an explosive dimension. Make no mistake about it, the situation has gone beyond Ojukwu and even Ohaneze. The truth is that the new generation of Ndigbo believe that the older generation has failed us as a tribe. Indeed, there is the consensus among the emergent Igbo leadership that the present leadership of Ohaneze should be quickly eased out so that we can take our destiny in our own hands.

It would, therefore, amount to a grave miscalculation for the Federal Government to keep inviting the Igbo old brigade for dialogue and assurance whenever there is rumbling in Igboland or elsewhere by a group of Igbo youths.

In my judgement, rather than dissipate energy and time trying to contain civil unrests across the nation, Government should, as a matter of urgency, take immediate actions to redress the injustices unleashed on various sections of the country, especially the marginalisation of Ndigbo.

Coincidentally, as I was writing this piece, president Obasanjo in his nationwide broadcast May 29, "pledged" that his government will henceforth "not knowingly marginalize any section of the country". This apparent response to the loud cries of marginalization is clearly non-committal. It is hardly the expectation of those who are experiencing the grave injustice perpetrated against them as a deliberate policy of government. This is so because there is no way the president can honestly say that his unfair treatment of Ndigbo so far was inadvertently done.

Pray, how come Obasanjo did not know that a major tribe like the Igbo nation does not have any Service Chief? How come Obasanjo did not know that there is no single Igbo Commissioner of Police out of the 36 Police Commissioners appointed by his administration? Even when some states have more than one, none of the five Igbo states has any! Can this really be an act committed unknowingly?

The usual argument which government functionaries advance against the demand for balance in the Defence/Security arm is that there is no Igbo officer within the rank of those being promoted to the various positions of influence. But this is a mischievous defence. Was it not during Obasanjo’s first time as head of state and commander-in-chief that the late Shehu Musa Yar’adua was promoted by two ranks to the rank of Major-General in order to qualify him to hold the office of Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, just to achieve the religious balance of Christianity and Islam? If that was done to achieve a balance, what stops the same Obasanjo from applying that policy in order to give Ndigbo a sense of belonging?

As if the exclusion of Ndigbo from these sensitive positions was not enough, the same government excluded the South-East from the Zonal Police Command arrangement. Today, the South-East is grouped under Makurdi and Calabar from which the police commissioners in the five Igbo states take directives. If this is not a deliberate attempt to humiliate the Igbo nation, one probably would not know what else is.

Yet, the president also "unknowingly" marginalized Ndigbo in his appointment of Ministers and Ambassadors, even as he deliberately refused to include the portfolios of his appointees in the list which he sent to the National Assembly for approval. Haba, Mr. President!

In case Obasanjo thinks he is being smart, he should better watch his actions this time around. With the core North and the South-East all crying against marginalization now, it is doubtful if he can escape any further manipulations of appointments into public office. Afterall, Section 14(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has enjoined that "the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty; thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies".

Whereas the fear of Biafra may well be the beginning of wisdom, real wisdom rests on. The demarginalization of Ndigbo and all others who have been treated unfairly over the years. This would signal the real beginning of the end of the MASSOB project. But if the Federal Government is deceived by the cowardly condemnation of Uwazuruike by the fading leadership of Ohaneze into believing that it is business as usual with the Nigerian polity, she may have to discover, albeit belatedly, that Biafra is not dead yet. Afterall, the situation on the ground today has given no Biafran any cause to denounce his Biafranness.

At the end of the day, Ohaneze and those governors who condemned Uwazuruike will discover that they have been caught on the wrong side of history. Thumps down for Ohaneze and the Governors!

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