Beyond the red line

It is fine to agitate for a cause one believes in. I won’t take that away from anybody — including those who have separatist inclinations. We can argue about virtually anything under the sun. But one man’s freedom stops where another man’s nose begins. Every society, no matter how permissive, has its red line. You […]

It is fine to agitate for a cause one believes in. I won’t take that away from anybody — including those who have separatist inclinations. We can argue about virtually anything under the sun. But one man’s freedom stops where another man’s nose begins. Every society, no matter how permissive, has its red line. You cross it at your peril!

The threat by Nnamdi Kanu that unless a referendum on the creation of the sovereign state of Biafra is conducted elections will not hold in Anambra State on November 18 as scheduled, is braggadocio run amok. The statement warns also that IPOB will ensure that no elections hold in the entire Southeast in 2019. 

Apparently, the young man does not intend this as a joke. 

The Vanguard newspaper reported Kanu as saying, “If the Federal Government does not agree with us on a date for referendum, there will be no elections in the Southeast, we are starting with Anambra come November this year. There will be no governorship election in Anambra State … In 2019, the whole of Biafra land will not vote for any president. There will be no Senator, there will be no House of Reps, there will be no House of Assembly and there will be no Counselorship elections in Biafra land if they (federal government) fail to call for a referendum.” 

He reportedly added: “The Nigerian government should build as many prisons as possible to jail all Biafrans because there is no going back and we are ready to go there (prisons) unless the federal government gives us Biafra. We are not like any other people … Nobody on this earth can stop Biafra.”

Anambra is one of the better states in the Southeast. It has had better luck with its governors than other states in the region and beyond. At least one can see evidence of some seriousness and progress over the years. I have never met Governor Willie Obiano but my assessment of him is that he has performed above average. Anyone not satisfied with his performance has a chance to cast him away in the November 18 elections. But IPOB says there may be no elections. 

So far, those who secured bail for Kanu at the courts have kept mum. No one is publicly telling him that this is a dagger in the heart of the Constitution. What strategic thinking informs IPOB’s position? What vision? 

I hope to God the other reported IPOB order that a Day of Rage would soon be declared when all Igbos would burn their Nigerian Passports and INEC voter’s cards, is not true. In these days of fake news and misuse of the social media, one has to be circumspect. But the directive was attributed to London-based Uche-Mefor, described as IPOB Deputy Director, who also announced that Nigerian Passports will be replaced with newly issued Biafran Passports! (Meanwhile, both he and Kanu have British passports.)

If that report is true, then IPOB will be embarking on the most lethal attack ever waged on its own people. The last time such an order was given (by MASSOB?) to Igbos to shun the last national headcount, Igbos were short-counted — and they’re still suffering the effect of that undercounting today. Must one cut one’s nose to spite one’s face?

There is so much energy being unleashed in the wrong direction that it is crucial that elder statesmen in the Southeast weigh in now before these myopic young men set the stage for a macabre theatre. There are no prizes for guessing how any attempt to disrupt the Anambra elections in November will end — especially factoring in the right of the people to choose their leaders. Brother will slay brother and the relative amity that exists among the various cleavages will vaporise. 

One of my favourite public intellectuals, Bishop Hassan Kukah, recently analysed the problem besetting us as follows: “Suddenly, the nation seems to have come unhinged. Across the country, sounds of very irresponsible and provocative utterances fill the air… And yet, the late Chinua Achebe warned his Igbo people in general and Nigeria in particular of the consequences of the men with ideas leaving the stage to the money-miss-road ragamuffins, men and women with no records of service or achievement, men and women who elsewhere should be in jail taking up the stage and doing what they know best, creating a maelstrom, ratcheting up the volume of vitriol and creating a discordant orchestra of artistic chaos.”

I plead with the security agencies not to fall for Kanu’s bait. He wants to be re-arrested so as to reignite his popularity. Please don’t do him that favour. Also, please ignore the so-called coalition of Northern youths who issued ultimatum to Igbos to vacate the North. As Femi Falana recently revealed, the leader of the Arewa group stoking embers of disunity in the North, lives in Lagos. We should not play into their hands.

But it will be a different ball game if any attempt is made to disrupt elections. That will be crossing the red line. And the situation will not admit of legalese. It is a sure route to perdition.

Nobody says Nigeria is okay as it is. Yes, the system needs tinkering. Yes, let’s consider the reports of the National Conferences we spent billions of Naira to produce. But let’s not cross the red line.