WHO ARE NNAMDI KANU'S PEOPLE? THE NEED TO DO A POSTMORTEM ON THE ACCEPTATION OF IPOB

IPOB

I was taken aback when a friend asked someone that had clearly been active in relation to the struggle for the emancipation of Biafra from the oppressive and destructive captor called Nigeria whether he was IPOB. That question posed got me jiggered because I wondered what the difference between Biafra activism and IPOB was. Well, having noticed that this shocking deed is not peculiar to this poser, I have decided to wade into this matter for the purpose of making some vague aspects of this struggle as clear as crystal. First, I think we should take off with the constituents of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's people.

Every time the missing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu talked about his people who exactly was he referring to? One of the reasons I left my Niger Delta group driven by the foremost and ace activist Annkio Briggs was because of her deliberate or inadvertent reference to the Igbo as Kanu's people whilst leaving out those of us in the coastal part of Biafra. I noticed in this pattern an occult attempt to divide us and stood against it. For the ace activist and reputable Amazon of Niger Delta, the Ijaw and their contiguous people from the political region referred to as Niger Delta constitute a different people from the Igbo. I found this divisive disposition cum assertion most unsettling and decided to ditch that group. There is no difference between the Ijaw and the Igbo other than dialect disparity, which exists even amongst the various tribes in Igbo. Interestingly, even amongst the Ijaw there are various dialects. Thus, to segregate on the basis of language is wrong. What matters is that we understand ourselves, worship the Almighty God (not Allah), dress the same way, and enjoy our delicacies. I just salivated over memory of Ofe Nsala, Mbada, and Nchi. I think I am more Igbo than my Igbo brothers and sisters, for they are the ones that help me in my time of need. If I always run to them, then it means I feel totally connected to them. We and the Igbo are one in every sense, the reason we dwell together in peace and harmony. An Igbo-less Niger Delta is inconceivable, dear brothers and sisters. We have oil and our Igbo counterparts do.

It was that vivacious conviction hinged on glaring observation that made me retrace my true ancestral lineage. I noticed to my satisfaction that I, a full Ijaw man, am a Jew, meaning I am ancestrally linked to my Igbo brothers and sisters. Every time I realise I am both Ijaw and Igbo, since I am a Biafran, I just smile and find the urge to continue to live. The spark of Igbo-ness in my consciousness makes me a better Ijaw man. It was for that reason that I disagreed with Annkio Briggs that the Ijaw are not Nnamdi Kanu's people. Nnamdi Kanu's people consists of every sentient and contemplative being that has the Biafra consciousness. What Mazi Nnamdi Kanu stands for is that which affects millions of occupants of the politically balkanised South-South and South-East regions - old Eastern Region. Mazi Kanu's sermons were salvific and liberative; therefore, anyone that tends to interpret them parochially becomes an enemy. It was that notion that made me desert the gathering convened by our mama. She always saw the sermons of the prophet of our time as liberating to the Igbo. Bearing in mind that she is both Ijaw and British, I knew she would never easily conceive and accede to a united South-East and South-South. It dawned on me that this was a golden happenstance to work with this young man that had picked up the gauntlet to face the demons called Fulani. I noticed that what matters was the people, not these buyable elites. So, I decided to start the unity project in my own way. Today, the story has changed. There are new elites in the South-South, and you must know that they are young, apolitical, highly learned, and fully conscious of their oneness with the Igbo. God has transformed the destructive disorientation of our people.

But we cannot stop until more than 90% of the constituents of the South-South understand that we are all the people Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was referring to. Our effort geared towards reorienting our collective people in both regions will not be on the wane until we all understand that all that happened to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu were caused by our obstinacy and coma in relation to our social alienation and political exclusion. We must understand that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu did what our so-called politicians could not and would never have been able to to. Or was it not clear to us all that these political vultures watched and did nothing while the beasts clad in military attire shot at our unarmed boys and girls in Isiama Afaraukwu in Umuahia, Abia State? Did the vulture called Governor of Abia not abdicate his Oath of Office/Allegiance when he wined and dined with his dysfunctional cabinet while the Boko Haramists in military attire ravaged the women in Abia and maltreated the unarmed youths in Isi Alangwa? If Nnamdi Kanu wielded political power, would he sit and watch that happen?

I hereby disagree with Annkio Briggs and the few of her ilk who think Ijaw are not Nnamdi Kanu's people. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the modern superman and man-god of our time, was interested in liberating the heterogeneous constituents of Biafra from the choking and infectious grips of Nigeria. How can we in Ijaw exclude ourselves from this emancipatory exercise when all our resources are being plundered by the uncircumcised Philistines? Or is it not shameful that our kings and traditional rulers preside over land masses blessed with oil but that are administered to and owned by foreigners? Is it not shameful? Mazi Kanu came with a refined Biafra struggle where resource control and state police under confederate system would be the operating system of government. Is that not what Nigeria has denied Biafrans for donkey years, preferring instead to execute anyone from our region that clamours for same? So, in what sense are we not Nnamdi Kanu's people? Tell me, I pray thee. As soon as you agree that Nigeria is not working and critically examine the impossibility of having Nigeria thoroughly restructured, you become Nnamdi Kanu's person.

BETWEEN BIAFRA AND IPOB

Let me end today's piece by clearly saying that there is no difference between Biafra and IPOB. Until we understand the meaning of the acronym, IPOB, we will not know why it is impossible to label us terrorist. IPOB means the indigenous people of Biafra, people that are indigenous to the geographical space in the black world called Biafra. When this acronym was birthed, it was done to make us feel a sense of nativity with respect to Biafra. It is based on this explication that I wish to state that everyone that does anything against IPOB is not a Biafran. You cannot believe in Biafra and fight against IPOB, for every believer is an IPOB.

I heard there are BIM and MASSOB, but I think it is high time we knew that these other bodies are supposed to be under the IPOB. Everything that is done by indigenes of Biafra is part of IPOB. IPOB is not an organization or an association. It refers to the people that consciously enjoy filial ties one to another about Biafra. I heard that Dr. Clifford Iroanya and Ralph Uwazuruike are in cahoots over the need to fight IPOB by birthing a new group with destructive proclivity. Well, no group is IPOB because the latter is not a group. IPOB is not a group: it is a people. Whenever you are asked to register to become IPOB, the idea is not as an association but as someone under Oath of Allegiance. Do you see the clear picture of nationality in the call for registration now? Do you also know that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was administered the Oath of Allegiance? We are nationals, and nationality is about national allegiance. Do you see why those vultures that call themselves governors in the East need transformative education? They still see the IPOB as an organization. Nigeria has refused to see Biafra as an emerging nation, but we take solace in the fact that we enjoy such recognition internationally.

My inbox and whatsapp are full of expressed fears over the status of the struggle and the mother body, IPOB, but I take ample time to allay such fears. Some think we need the politicians, but I also tell them that Nigeria is too corrupt for that. Politicians here do not represent the people, hence their imperviousness to the need of the majority. Elsewhere where you have true politicians and true representation, the governors in the East would have resigned to work with those they represent. Do you even know that the politicians are in the minority with respect to the agitation? Do you also know that true power belongs to the people? The people constitute the State, the metaphysical entity that employs government. Whenever the State is against the government, the latter ought to resign. The people in Biafra (the State) are against their employees (government), yet the latter sit tight. They are not our representatives. We shall do whatever is needed to retire them all and have our own nation. Biafra is a force too strong to be stopped. We do not need the politicians anymore. We just have to increase the tempo in our international cases against the duo of Buhari and Buratai. We can get Biafra without the compliance of Nigeria. It happened in Sudan. It was the ICC that also dealt with Saddam Hussein. We can handle Buhari the same way and get our freedom. Genocide against Biafra since 1945 is good enough to prove that we have to go.

Finally, there is no distinction between IPOB and Biafra. Biafra is the container while IPOB is the content. Registration simply makes you a Biafran under Oath of Allegiance. Any person or group that is against the IPOB is not a Biafran. You cannot attack the content and claim the container, for what is a container without content? Be wise! Clifford Iroanya and others whose activities are against IPOB are not Biafrans in any way. Even our militants in the South-South are not against the IPOB. The support for this agitation has skyrocketed. There is no other acronym other than IPOB. Every other concept is buyable and, ipso facto, fake. I love you all. I want us to be the wisest humans on earth.

Please read and publish for wider readership. Reach out to the South-East/South-South Coalition for Biafra headed my me and join hands to get our lands prepared for referendum.

Russell Idatoru Sunju Bluejack is a thinker, revolutionary writer, university tutor, and socio-economic and political analyst that writes from the creeks in the coastal part of Biafra.