There is an Igbo adage that goes – ‘ If you find a small child doing an egedege dance beside the village tracks look very well near the bushes. There you will find a talented being producing the beats that he is gyrating to’. Orji Uzo Kanu is warming up to make Aso Rock his domicile come 2007. So Orji is doing the egedege and surely there are malevolent goblins drumming for him.

Gunning for the plum job is not my palaver. Making your intentions known as he has does not worry me. What worries me is that I expected more caution on verbal expose from the young Governor. While he is scheming for his apparent shot at the first citizenship of the entity called Nigeria, does Orji’s sprites tell him that he has to take a mud sling on the Igbo Nation before he can be accepted as ‘Nigerian’ enough to govern the sick entity? Orji’s call for Nigerians to forgive Ndigbo for the Civil war was as unreasonable as it is irresponsible. It is common notion that if you are Igbo, before you would be accepted as a partner in the Nigerian experiment, you must agree that all the problems facing Nigeria was of the making of the Igboman. It was the Igbo that coerced Lord Fredrick Lugard to amalgamate different nations in a British Imperial experiment; it was the Igbo that destabilized what the other Nigerian tribes worked hard to build. The Igbo had been the cog in the wheel. All the problems from Ogoni/Minority rights to Bakassisi was caused by the Igbo, The pogrom that preceded the civil war, the numerous coups that have been the bane of Nigerian development, all the dirt and grime that Nigeria has become should be traced to the Igbos and their ‘Mistake’ of going to war.

Dear Mr. Orji, It is true that in Nigeria you can talk your way to where you want to get (like Prof. Omoruyi) but this sudden start of eccentricity, this ridiculous take on Ndigbo by a Nwafo Igbo should be condemned, and I like a banshee has started the cry, recant and repent lest this utterance takes form and tend to manifest as truth. Do not ride on our misfortune as a people to stardom, when you must have helped the detractors of the Igbo people make their point, they will dim your brilliance and you will be like the rest that has served.

The good side of Orji’s ludicrous debacle is that he has been offered an admission by the Abia State University Uturu to pursue a graduate degree in the area of International Politics and Diplomacy. With all due respect I think that Mr. Governor should rather major in the study of the Nigerian Polity and Politics with emphasis on why the constituents tribes of the entity called Nigeria has never gelled and why the Igbo is still being persecuted in Nigeria. Orji let me use this medium to announce myself as your harbinger of bad news. And tell you that you will not win in 2007 not that I personally do not want you to, but the system is designed to keep you at bay. Rather than venturing into an exercise in futility I advice you should put your energy into bettering the lives of your people channel your strength into advocating and ensuring that the status of the Nigerian political structure is changed to benefit the entire constituent Nationalities. I am not your admirer or cheerleader but I have in my numerous opinion samplings, found out that some people especially from your constituency of Abia state hold you and your achievements in high esteem. Why do you want to destroy your image by piping to the tune of your payers?

Furthermore, I want to enlighten the Young Governor and some efuluefus like Mr. H.Osita that even though I wasn’t born during the strife that took place from 1967 to 1970 I know that the war was necessary, as a popular country musician Kenny Rogers said ‘sometimes you have to fight to be a man’. The circumstance that led to the war made it inevitable for our then able Leader Dim Dikedioramma Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu (General) Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to fight and save Ndigbo from genocide. The fact was that Nigeria was poised to exterminate all Igbomen (Obasanjo in his words then, said that he will make sure that he dealt with every Igboman until none will ever raise a finger at a Nigerian). That every effort that we as Biafrans made to avert War was thwarted by Nigeria. We were at crossroads not knowing where to go both ways were difficult and treacherous, but the Igbo/ Biafran Nation chose to walk the better terrain. It was the devils alternative and we made a choice, we made the best choice. So all those calling our courageous struggle against the punitive punishment of a very ruthless enemy a common ‘Mistake’ I call you to recant and repent!

To digress a little, Gov. Orji Uzo Kalu I do not need anybody’s forgiveness, we are the people wronged and if any people need an apology it is Ndigbo! . Nigeria owes Igbo people a big apology for the genocide and crimes against humanity committed against them. We were the ones who were killed and hounded home from all corners of Nigeria, We were the ones who were neither allowed in or out, we were the ones whose properties were seized and distributed to other tribes and Nations, we were the ones who were blockaded and bombed by an alliance of British Imperialists and Islamic Jihadists, The ones who were unconventionally punished with hunger to the satisfaction of Nigeria. So when you make such useless pleas for forgiveness, ask it in your name and that of your family’s. Ndigbo asking other Nigerian Nationalities for forgiveness is like a rape victim asking his/her rapist to forgive him/her it is unheard of.

Finally, I do not give a hoot who becomes Nigerian President come 2007. My people, other nationalities and I demand a society built on justice and equality with an unattractive center, we demand strong regions to pursue interest that we deem beneficial to our people. Or better still we demand the same Biafra that Nigeria loathes it is a better alternative.

Chukwuemeka Sunny-Unachukwu belongs to the breed of Young Igbos that will continue to resist the Unity of Nigeria on the Igboman’s or any other nationality’s expense until there is Justice through a Sovereign National Conference of all Nigerian Ethnic Nationalities

September 2003