Do Igbos really want to secede from Nigeria? And can they?

Following my article of last week titled; ‘’A cautionary note on America’s plans to break up Nigeria’’, I received a lot of responses mainly from Igbo-Nigerians. Although on the main, the comments were acidic and even personal, the main takeaway from the responses was that Nigeria was built on a faulty premise by the British for their self-interest and that Igbos had been forcibly co-opted into this enterprise and hence be allowed to leave this ‘’forced Lugardian contraption of falsehood’’.

Most of the comments were full of praises for American Congressman Riley Moore for pushing the cause of Christians in the American political circles against the ‘’genocide’’ perpetrated by ‘’Islamist Jihadists’’ in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s unity they said cannot be sustainable in view of the unabated killings of Christians in the central parts of the country and the continued marginalisation of Igbos in the scheme of affairs in the country. One comment stated that after all President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had once said he never believed in the unity of Nigeria, so why then should Congressman Moore be condemned for trying to assist ‘’oppressed’’ parts of Nigeria to get their wish.

These comments are not new and go to confirm what we have always known as the opinion of many in the south east region of Nigeria. But just as many from the area are known to habour such views, there are many who take a nuanced perspective. I got a comment from someone which reflect this view. He stated; ‘’All the hue and cry about Christian genocide in Nigeria were activated as a grand plan by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to get matters to the Riley (Moore) agenda. From my little corner here, I suspect that this congressman is actually working for them.’’ He went on, ‘’The Nigerian government underestimates IPOB’s strategy for the illusionary quest for Biafra. IPOB may not achieve their aim but they can become a big headache as this Moore idea presents.’’

This inevitably brings us to what I would term the abiding Igbo question in Nigeria; Do the Igbos really want to exit Nigeria and if they do, how can they wangle it? By peaceful negotiation or by violent struggle?

Let us be clear here. The last time the Igbos sought to secede from Nigeria in 1967 in what is referred to as the Nigeria Civil War of the Biafran War, the circumstances were fortuitous and to a large extent there were justifiable reasons to embark on that course of action on their part. Many have come to view the counter coup of July 1966 and the resultant mass killings and expulsion of Igbos in their millions from the northern part of the country as an over-the-top reaction to what the mainly Igbo officers did to northern and south western political and military figures in the earlier coup of January 1966.

The present line of agitation for secession from Nigeria which many Igbos are pursuing and which is anchored on the hurt borne by Igbos over the events of the past and the claim on marginalisation, true as they are, does not however justify the call for the balkanisation of the country.

The fact is in this pressure cooker of a country, there is no group that does not suffer or is immune from one hurt or another. It also true that without exception, all of who make up this construct called Nigeria were scarcely taken into account when the British decided to forcibly put us together. Indeed, after being conquered and brought together to form the country called Nigeria, all of us in one way or the other aided the British by acts of omission and commission in consolidating the British colonial enterprise in the country. In fact, if there is any ethnicity that aided the British in consolidating their hold in Nigeria more than anyone else it is the Igbos. The Igbos built and ran the colonial infrastructure from railways to telecommunications (P&T), power and transmission (ECN), the regional and federal civil service, military and security establishment, and the ports all under the supervision of the British.

At Independence when the opportunity came for any group or groups to object to being part of Nigeria, only the part that is now in Cameroon objected and their wishes were granted in a plebiscite.

The Igbos have been very much an integral part of Nigeria from colonial times till date. And like every other group in the country, they have made both positive and negative impact on Nigeria’s development.

Perhaps of all ethnic groups in the country, the Igbo have made the most indelible footprints in Nigeria’s life. It is no gainsaying that due to the tremendous impact they have made on Nigeria’s life, more often Nigeria is defined abroad by the Igbo ethos.

For a people who have stamped their imprint more than any other group in a multi ethnic setting such as Nigeria, other Nigerians find it preposterous that Igbos not only claim to be marginalised, but that a large body of Igbos want to secede from the country they have helped to build. This is given that even those among the Igbos who favour secession have not been able to articulate to other Nigerians how they want to go about it.

Granted that the first attempt at secession by the Igbos was existentially justified, the question that needs to be asked is what justification can Igbos provide to seek secession in our present circumstances? And if somehow the Igbos are able to find justification no matter how brittle to secede from Nigeria, they have certainly not gone about it in a way that can convince other Nigerians that they are really serious about it.

If the Igbos want secession by peaceful constitutional ways, Nigerians have not seen the promoters of such a movement initiate it through Igbo political representatives from the local government to the state and up to the federal levels. This will help build up the political momentum, first in Igbo land and widen it throughout Nigeria hopefully garnering the necessary constitutional support.

But can the Igbos dispense with this mode and secede by armed struggle as some are calling for?

As with the previous attempt at secession, any such move will certainly meet with two strong obstacles; the firm clampdown by the Nigerian state, and the fierce resistance by neighbouring non-Igbo South-south states. In a fit of quixotic valour, Igbos who prefer this line of thought and action will not agree and even call me names, but that is the reality.

So perhaps it is realisation of these obstacles that some diaspora IPOBIANS are trying to interest and involve American political neophytes like the self-important rookie Congressman Riley Moore who sees this as an opportunity to build up his puny political capital on an issue he knows zilch about. And to those who are piling money on the politically inexperienced Congressman Moore in the hope that he will push through a balkanisation of Nigeria in the American Congress, this will eventually turn out a wasteful and forlorn exercise.

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