Biafra, reconciliation and fierce urgency of now!

Biafra, reconciliation, and 'fierce urgency of now'

By Dr. Uchenna Ekwo On 13/12/2015 11:28:30 AM 

When the late civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the 1963 March on Washington and elsewhere, he emphasized what he phrased as “the fierce urgency of now,” the need for immediate, “vigorous and positive action” on civil rights. He reminded a divided America that the citizens needed one another, and that the country was stronger when it marched for­ward, together. “We cannot walk alone,” he said. “And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer Zelizer recently in­voked King’s words for the title of his new book: The Fierce Ur­gency of Now and suggested that President Lyndon Johnson’s aston­ishing achievements were made possible by embracing King’s clar­ion call for civil rights. In a brief three-year window, 1963-1966, President Johnson accomplished the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Medicare and Medicaid, the War on Poverty, na­tional investments in education and infrastructure, and a series of groundbreaking environmental and consumer protection laws.

President Mohammadu Buhari can also take a cue from King and Johnson and approach the renewed agitation for Biafra with “the fierce urgency of now” and take action to address the condi­tions that propel the cycle of rebel­lion from the Eastern part of the country. As many parents know, when a child cries repeatedly without cessation, the moment the parent attends to the concerns of that child, and then there is some quiet. This is the equivalence of the cries of Igbos to protest their maltreatment within the Nigerian state. Without any spin, the con­stant agitation for the sovereign state of Biafra is a way some Igbo youths express their discontent for the past, present, potentially future injustices. The renewed demand for a Biafra State may be seen as an additional challenge to the Buhari administration who is already exasperated by the Boko Haram insurgency, but instead Buhari should seize on the mo­ment to become an outstanding historic figure.

How can he turn the tide?

In a campaign style event, Bu­hari should go to Enugu or the Biafra war museum in Umuahia or some historical sight associated with the Biafra war and deliver a powerful speech that truly empha­sizes remorse, reconciliation, res­titution, and pledge to abhor un­just treatment of the Igbo nation.

Being a major actor in the civil war that decimated the Igbos, Buhari is the right candidate to apologize to the ethnic group who lost the war and who continued to pay the price for attempted seces­sion for more than 47 years – far beyond 40 years punishment met­ed to the Jews for their rebellion against God. It also took 40 years after the civil rights revolution in the United States for the country to elect the first African American president. 40 years is good enough duration to punish an ethnic group for whatever offense - real or im­agined. It is time to lead Igbos to­gether with the rest of Nigerians back to the Promised Land: “one nation bound in freedom, peace, and unity”.

General Yakubu Gowon’s post-war policy of reconciliation, re­habilitation, and reconstruction were mere platitudes as much as his declaration of “no victors and no vanquished”. It is most likely that Dr. Gowon with better edu­cation today would use different phrases to convey his thoughts at that dark chapter in Nigeria’s his­tory. The hard truth was that Igbos were defeated and offered a “take it or leave it” option in the Nigerian state. There was no genuine recon­ciliation or reconstruction. In fact, the reconstruction in the Igbo na­tion was the result of the ingenuity and self-help spirit that exists in the DNA of Ndi Igbo.

Understanding that the Igbos did not vote massively for Buhari in the presidential election, the president must understand the sentiments of the people of the re­gion who generally consider him unfriendly to their aspirations be­cause of the role he played during the civil war. In the proposed soar­ing speech, he should allay the fears of Ndigbo and emphasize that both the civil war and the elections are behind and seek their support to build a new Nigeria where “tribes and tongue may differ” but bound with a common destiny.

The proposed Buhari speech should declare an end to the pun­ishment of Ndi Igbo and an action plan to introduce a bill in the na­tional assembly that seeks to apolo­gize to Ndi Igbo for their prolonged marginalization. During the debate at the National Assembly for the national apology, lawmakers would have the opportunity to hear from affected constituents on how the civil war affected their lives. Several hearings during the debate might mirror the post apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. By having the de­bate in the national assembly, it will have the force of law in a democrat­ic society and save money for the country that might be spent in set­ting up any external reconciliation committee like The Human Rights Violations Investigation Commis­sion otherwise called The Oputa Panel that submitted its final report to President Olusegun Obasanjo in June 2002 but was never officially released to the public.

The suggested apology is the be­ginning of genuine reconciliation and forgiveness because for so long, no Nigerian leader has taken the bold move to really speak to the injustice and discrimination against the Igbos within the Ni­gerian nation state. If Buhari con­sidered making the apology, it is important to state that there are precedents in other parts of the world. As recently as 2009, the United States Congress passed a resolution apologizing for slavery in which the federal government took responsibility for 250 years of slavery. Similarly, the Federal Government of Nigeria should take responsibility for the veiled policy of undermining the people of the South East. Beyond taking responsibility for the marginali­zation of the region, the Federal Government must unequivocally end the unofficial policy that says that no Igbo man or woman should be appointed or elected in certain positions in Nigeria.

Another important step Buhari should take to gain the confidence of the South East region is to em­bark on massive infrastructure de­velopment such as expediting the construction of the Niger Bridge and establishment of Onitsha Sea Port as well as developing the Enugu airport to become a truly international airport instead of its present status of being a caricature of an international airport. Aware that Igbos are mostly engaged in commercial activities of trading, export and import of goods, such a step will enlist the support of core economic power centers of the region. It will also help to de­congest the over crowded Lagos in many ways unimaginable.

These are baby steps that will undercut the sentiments aroused by the young Kanu whose arrest will not serve any value other than to make him a hero and abuse his constitutional right of free expression. The idea of ar­resting any Nigerian who alleg­edly committed an offense is legal but becomes illegal when the said lawbreaker is not charged to court within 24 hours of arrest. That is the norm in a constitutional gov­ernment like Nigeria.

Listening to Buhari at the Unit­ed States Institute of Peace in Washington during his July visit to the country, one got the im­pression that he is indeed a born again democrat. Being in the military for a quarter of a century, Buhari’s conversion is expected to take some time but the journey to the presidency following four un­successful attempts should have really imparted sufficient demo­cratic ethos to enable him to un­derstand the difference between arbitrariness and rule of law.

Buhari’s Biafra moment is here and the way he handles the situ­ation will determine his legacy: a vindictive leader bent on paying back to a region that did not vote for him for president or forgiving statesman who understands the difference between campaigning and governing. History beckons on Buhari to do the unthinkable and embrace genuine reconcilia­tion with a region so distrustful of his intentions. The time to act is now. It is his own version of “fierce urgency of now” in which he must explain to those preach­ing or supporting secession that the country can achieve more as a whole that in parts. After all, Aristotle said that, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” In other words, when individual parts are connected together to form one entity, they are worth more than if the parts were in si­los.

•Dr. Ekwo is President of the Center for Media & Peace Initia­tives, a New York-based Media and Public Policy Think-tank.