By Chief Otu Ita-Toyo
Very credible and near unanimous reports have it that the _sit at home_ “protest” in the South East region to commemorate Biafra and draw attention to the plights of _Ndigbo_ in Nigeria; as well as the restructuring debate which most of the South East support, worked almost 100% successfully.
I do not support the Biafra concept and I do not expect that most people of the South South region will give it any thought in its original context, for very historic and good reasons too. But I always admire people who identify their interests and devote effort to pursue them.
The story of Biafra in these parts suffered irreversible knock down in the COR areas after Gowon’s creation of the Rivers and South Eastern States on May 27, 1967, three days before Dim. Emeka Odumegu-Ojukwu declared that embattled republic on May 30, 1967. That singular preemptive action by the Nigerian regime sucked out the oxygen of support from those COR areas for the Biafran project.
However, it meant something else to other people involved in the experience, particularly _Ndigbo_who had borne the brunt of most of the genocidal atrocities visited on easterners by the murderous northern hoardes during the pogrom. So it is no surprise that they are creatively reordering it’s significance onto the National Debate by very strategic actions. The sit at home order being the latest in a series of actions which have seen the involvements of Ohaneze, Massob, IPoB and a few other organisations in a seemingly, even if not quite deliberately, choreographed dance for deserved relevance. Remarkably, these late exertions are redirecting the jaundiced perception of the Biafran struggle and they have, by these actions too, reintroduced their undeniable displeasures onto the national agenda. I salute their resilience after 50years.
Now, where do we as a people or even state stand on any national issue? Can we never again rise above this pedestrian cul de sac of atomistic pursuits? A raging debate goes on apace nationally and not a whimper from Akwa Ibom State on where we stand. In any case, what is our demand? Do we even have or tried to think out any? What direction do we want to go? Which forum have we energised to interrogate the issues and come out with an Akwa Ibom platform? Are we even satisfied with the status quo? These are the issues which should be exercising all the conscious minds at this time. Not who runs in 2019, when the incumbent is still working at elevating his game and pondering which of the parties he may finally berth in to pursue a second term agenda if he is interested in one and per chance his preferred platform has dissolved under his feet.
Evey political contractor is already counting money in the man’s pocket. Quite miserably unaware of the slippery slope on which their political skate hangs.
While _Rome burns, we are busy fiddling_.We spend useful energy debating the fortunes of a political organisation which is on life support and whose members elsewhere have alresdy taken a conscious stand to move their people into the available lifeboats before the big wave hits the Titanic.
Our region the South South drifts rudderless while we, the children of the COR state veterans look on cluelessly. Those knowledgeable, patriotic, courageous and fiercely proud pioneers must be turning in their graves!
Tomorrow the Supreme Court will deliver a judgement which has the potential to indelibly impacting on the fate and direction of the Nigerian polity. Other discerning players like Malam Makarfi have already taken preemptive decisions on the situation by asking his supporters to move into other political organisations. Here we still carry on as if nothing is amiss.
Tomorrow the curtain will fall on an era which was dominated by impunity, corruption, ethnicity, violence, excessive nepotism and elevation of deprivation into a potent political wespon. It will, hopefully, usher in a gradual enthronement of higher democratic habits yet we fiddle on, oblivious of the drift of the country.
Incidentally, the NATIONAL DEBATE IS NOT PARTY BASED. It is a national conversation by all the groups which make up Nigeria on the way into the future. What has happened to us? The polity is definitively rising above the _SEKEM_ level and while others are seeking with frantic assuredness for their talented compatriots to fly their flag and raise the bar of national engagement, we are busy denigrating our stars, giving filip to degenerate political and civic behavior and promoting mediocrity.
In very typical style, while we are waiting to follow the _”leaders”_ we are busy in an inert domestic debate which we all know does not change the price of _atama_ in _Urua Akpan Andem_
Not even any of our legislators in the State or National Assemblies has ventured to give any definitive opinion on the raging National conversation. They are probably waiting to be instructed. That of course is the unfortunate culture imbued on our polity by the legacy of “selection” favored by the court of the great teacher.
Of course I know that the less said about those body of people the better since, if the truth be told, they were all handpicked, more for their docility than expressed talents or capacities. All that is, except, the guy from Urue Offong Oruko state constituency who won and miraculously defended his election result. From this experience, the lesson of the proper choice of representation must not be lost on us again.
Other than on very rare moments of almost accidentally discharged communication, our teams in the assemblies appear at the most times lost and inert on their beat, despite the very lowly rated and unreliable standards of the current assembles.
Now back to that _sit at home order._ I do not know if many people see the import of this civic weapon against tyranny. I saw it deployed in Lagos by the _Afenifere_ against the might of the murderous Abacha regime during the June 12 protests. It was called the _dead city protest_ and enforced by the people and it was extremely effective.
Now that it has made a successful reentry, this form of non lethal protests may be developed by the people as another weapon in the arsenal they have begun to build up against unpopular governments, tyranny and events, nationwide. Starting with the ouster of the PDP behemoth, they are experimenting, becoming practiced and growing in confidence. Soon no political organisation will be too big for the people’s wrath or approval.
While the people of Lagos/Ibadan axis fought for the restoration of democracy in the aftermath of the June 12 elections, the east scoffed while the north pretended it had nothing to do with them while it clandestinely urged Abacha on, the west took a beating (I must add, as always) and made the point for democracy which they, more than any other region have organised and fought for in Nigeria. They have not looked back since and now the South East is on the same page with the west for the first time since the formation of UPGA for the 1964 elections. If they get the attention of the slumbering South South and the middle belt, the Nigerian political landscape will wear a new look. These regions are yearning for a fair and equitable restructuring of our pseudo federation. It can all begin to unravel after tomorrow’s judgement. Yet we keep fiddling…. waiting for _Obongowo_ I should adroitly add.
Someone once mused if some _babalawo_ did a number on us? Increasingly I find that suggestion worthy of interrogation
Chief Ita-Toyo (TotalChair), a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), writes from Uyo
