My last post on this issue.
This won't take long.
I have never pretended to be a detribalized Nigerian. I am Igbo. Some people may call me half-Igbo because I am from Delta. SoMe Igbos even see me as an outsider. To them, their Igbo is more Igbo than my Igbo.
All things considered, I am Igbo. Not just because I bear an Igbo middle name or because of where I come from, but because when I trace my family tree and history, I always end up neck deep in core Igbo places. I don't need anyone to validate my igboness for me.
That out of the way, I want to say something. IGBOS ARE NOT AGGRESSORS. They have never been.
One of my friends believes Hausas should be praised for their restraint. She believes Igbos are trying to bait Hausa people to war and the Hausas are restraining themselves.
That's laughable.
Let me remind you of how many times Fulani herdsmen have struck in the east and slaughtered communities and destroyed farmlands. Of course they are Fulani not Hausa people, but we all know that the average igbo cannot tell a Fulani from a Hausa. Muhammad can be Hausa and Usman could be Fulani but to the average Igbo(and Nigerian) they are one and the same.
So, since Fulani herdsmen started wrecking havoc in the east, how many hausas have been killed in return?
ZERO.
Oya, let two, just two igbo men go to the north and mistakenly kill 1 person and tell me if all hell will not break loose.
And if is 10 igbos who killed about 50 members of an hausa community nko? All the igbos in the north would be finished. I dare you come and dispute that.
But they want to make it look like Igbos are the aggressors.
They are NOT.
Check history. Igbos have never been hostile to the hausa community even under provocation. People think Igbos are the only ones who travel around. They don't know large communities of hausa people reside in the east.
For all his distasteful hate speeches and talk about burning Nigeria down, Nnamdi Kanu and his followers are yet to hurt a soul. They are yet to attack anyone. They are yet to even burn bush let alone a mosque.
Why? Because for all their talk, violence has never been the Igbo man's thing. Violence and physical aggression has never been his nature. Dialogue has.
You say Nnamdi Kanu is doing it wrong. MASSOB did it right and what did they get? How far did they go with dialogue and fine speech?
You can say all you want, twist news all you want, but the fact still remains, Igbos are not the aggressors. Ipob are not the aggressors(outside of social media). They went on a peaceful protest, they were gunned down. They were having a gathering, they were gunned down.
Did they react? Did they resort to violence and terrorism? Did they hold the east hostage? No. The east stayed peaceful. They continued their agitation and their marches in peace. Hausas and Fulanis whom they saw as Buhari 's people were all around them, but nobody was attacked. Nobody was hurt.
Isn't that applaudable? Isn't that the very definition of restraint?
But Buhari had to roll out Python Dance. He sent soldiers and tanks to the heart of the Biafran struggle, Nnamdi Kanu's area. The Biafrans had had enough. They refused to back down. And all hell breaks loose.
And you come on social media to blame them.
If they had fled you would have laughed. You would have called them names. You would have called them jokes.
But they stood their ground. They looked at the impressive machinery of death the soldiers were wielding, they knew they didn't have a chance with their stones and sticks, but they stood anyway. Because there's only so much a man can take when you keep pushing him before he snaps and says, Enough of this, let me face this monster or die trying.
Suddenly they are the aggressors. Suddenly they were the one who provoked the army. Suddenly Nigerians are reminding them they have brothers and sisters in the east who can be killed by the people my friend is praising for having restraint. They are told to collect their humiliation in peace, let themselves get fucked over then pull up their pants and go home tails between their legs.
FUCK. IT.
I would rather die for what I believe in than live with so much dishonour. No, I don't want war. I don't pray for war. But what the Nigerian government is doing is taking war to an area that doesn't have a history of war. And if Biafrans refuse to be intimidated anymore, if they chose death before repeated humiliation and bullying, so be it.
Nnamdi Kanu is your problem? Fine, you either find a way to dialogue with him or deal with him in a lawful way, but no, the Nigerian government will rather break the law to enforce the law. Buhari will rather kick the constitution aside to settle personal scores. The Nigerian government has never made an effort at dialogue or understanding. Right from day 1 all Buhari has tried to do is intimidate, bully and crush.
Am I a fan of Nnamdi Kanu? Nope. He is doing a lot if things wrong , but whose fault is it that Nnamdi Kanu is so relevant now? Buhari. Buhari took an irrelevant Nnamdi Kanu and made a Nelson Mandela out of him.
For those who are busy making inciting posts. May your plans to see the country burn fail woefully.
For those who coat their bigotry with fine grammar, may you get what you wish others.
For those who chose to trade in dangerous lies and falsehoods , may you be disappointed with the peace that will definitely reign.
For those who are discussing a future war in Nigeria like it is some PS4 game, may God deliver us from your hands.
