FROM TERRORISM TO HEROISM: THE NELSON MANDELA EXAMPLE

By Russell Bluejack

Even more popular than the President of the United States is the deceased Nelson Mandela, the same bulwark against apartheid that was called a terrorist some years ago. The story segues from the inky days when South Africans under Mandela's auspices were brutally exterminated a la (in the manner of) Ama Afaraukwu genocide to unjust imprisonment and ends in heroism. 

Now, one will be tempted to ask: does every freedom fighter, especially the non-violent kind, have to wade through the thorny bushes of derogatory names in order to get what pertains to him as a right? Put succinctly, if unarmed agitation for freedom is a right, why then do the practitioners come under gruesome attack? Why does a rights activist get punished? Or has it become a crime for one to be conscious of his right(s)?

The Mandela's inhuman treatment is an attempt by oppressors to dowse the fire of enlightened agitation, but it stokes it. The drive for agitations the world over continues to thrive against all odds - a sign that there is a Spirit belying every agitation. That metaphysical side underneath the quest for freedom from oppression lives in me and in everyone working assiduously for the restoration of Biafra. For some, it starts as RESTRUCTURING and possesses the agitator and chauffers him or her through the REFERENDUM path. 

I know there were a lot of saboteurs when Nelson Mandela started, but I also know that they eventually became conscious of the maltreatment meted out to them on the basis of their colour and retraced their steps. Biafra and apartheid share that in common: the influx of faithfuls upon conviction. My deep chat with Junaid Mohammed opened up news vistas as per the disposition of some northerners vis-a-vis this self-determinist movement. I know now that not every northerner is my enemy, and that not every southerner is my friend. Lucky Dube had a track that bore that message. Do you see why I said musicians are lyrical protesters?

Mandela was sequestered within the high walls of the penitentiary, but did that stop the agitation? What oppressors the world over must learn is this: agitations are never about the arrowheads. Fear the people more, and since it is never possible to clamp down on the entire people, why try in vain? Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not Biafra: he is just the prophet of the time. The Spirit in the agitation chose Ojukwu sometime ago. What the oppressor(s) should fear are the votives, believers in the struggle. There will always be a preponderance of believers waiting for a new prophet. Biafra has proven to be unquenchable. We all know how many millions of the combination of men, women, and children that died mostly out of starvation while the Civil War lasted. 

When this reinvigorated agitation started, some people vowed never to be involved. Today, however, most of those that evinced apathy have been repossessed once again and have become diehards. How many more Biafrans is Nigeria ready to kill? Maybe Nigeria should begin to sale Biafran blood in barrels. If you know you cannot kill ALL, then don't kill SOME, for every killed some leave behind those seeking revenge. Biafrans are everywhere you can find a plant on earth. Nigeria will not be able to kill 20% of Biafrans before retaliation sets in. We do not want war; we just think this forced marriage has lost whatever value it had. Just as imprisonment did not stop black South Africans from saying no to Britain, killing of unarmed and non-violent BSS with its concomitant assassination attempt on the life of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will not stop Biafra.

Someone said that, in a revelation God showed to him, I was arrested. I thanked him and made it clear to him that if it is God's Will, then so be it. I, Russell Idatoru Bluejack, am not better in any way than those that have laid down their lives for the Salvation of Biafrans. If my arrest will aid the course, then so be it! However, you need a serious charge to arrest anybody. I am not the kind of person anyone wants to put in a witness box. I have been teaching university students symbolic and traditional logic for years. One million lawyers would not want to have me in Court. My own dad is a very senior lawyer, but he knows his limits when issues concerning me are brought to his table. 

We are teachers' teacher; thinkers' thinker; and intellectuals' intellectual. God refined us for what we do. I have been firing from the most dangerous part of Biafraland, the coastal region. Our inspiration comes from the Almighty God. We respect men, but fear God. I am most thankful to all of you for your prayers. Some of you do more than that. I will remain steadfast. I have asked our beloved pastor to cancel that revelation. God reveals some of these things so we can ask Him to cancel them. All hail Biafra!

I want to draw the curtains by saying that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is toeing the Mandela's path. The project Biafra restoration has gathered more weight now. Every attempt to shut the majority leads to a supersonic noise. The bloodletting Fulani soldiers that invaded our lands have made the comatose international community come alive. I saw an NBC news bit on Buhari's corrupt anti-corruption and laughed. The crevices in Buhari's misgoverning government are as a result of his hamartia (tragic flaw). His hatred for the Igbo is his weakness, and that character faultline is what will give us Biafra. There is an age-old irony about the industrious Igbo nation: they always prove their haters wrong. 

The irony is this: HATE them and they will EXCEL. Progress of the Igbo nationality is not external; it is in their hard will. That is why perception does nothing to them. Buhari should learn this hard lesson about the doggedness of the Igbo nation. Biafraland sprawls from the South-East to a major part of the South-South, and these lands are peopled by tough and very intelligent humans. Kaiama Declaration, Ogoni Bill of Right, and Civil War unite these people. They have seen it all. This time around, they have decided to adopt a non-violent approach. I pray their tactics is not mistaken for weakness. Biafra is our collective right. One Buhari is too small to snatch it. Violent opposition to the struggle only stokes it.

The martyrs give us more reason to push it to the next level. Oppressors do not succeed until the oppressed yield. Now that this struggle is about our quest to end oppression, subjugation of our people, and political exclusion, what makes the North think they can stop us? There are many Russells and Mazi Nnamdi Kanus in the struggle. How many can you kill? Biafra is bursting at the seams with prolific Biafra agitators. These enlightened young men and women are all over the globe. How many can you kill? Blood of innocents will begin to stand in your eyes and become the aqueous content very soon. Some of the Fulani soldiers complained of nightmares and some apparitions. Gloomier days await killers of innocents. No man has the right to take a life he did not give. If the North had a good religion, they would not be this heinous. Their love for violence is one of the reasons we cannot continue to share the same geographical space with them. 

The Atikus, Dangotes, and Danjumahs of this world cannot stop this agitation. We know they have all plundered our treasures in Biafraland, but their days are ticking like the hand of the clock. We also know that they were the ones that sponsored the military invasion and attempt to kill Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, for political and corporate reasons. Well, the good news is they will not succeed. He the Lord chooses for a course He fortifies. Biafra is heaven's solution to our intractable throes. Biafra is an asset to the black race. Like Mandela like Nnamdi Kanu. Like black South Africans like Biafrans. May God Almighty bless every inhabitant of the land of the Rising Sun. Iseee! Iseee! Iseee!

Russell Idatoru Bluejack is a thinker, revolutionary writer, university tutor, and socio-economic and political analyst that strikes from the coastal part of Biafraland.