Fani Kayode, Why 6 Months After Biafra?

Odumagu of Southern Nigeria Femi Fani Kayode took to Twitter to say he would establish Odua Republic 6 months after Biafra. This kind of thing has happened before. Just before Ojukwu declared Biafra in 1967, Awolowo is widely recorded to have declared that if Ojukwu declares Biafran independence, he would declare Odua Republic.

Ojukwu declared Biafra, but Awolowo did not declare Odua Republic. Instead, Awolowo took appointment as number two man in the Nigerian government that fought Biafra. A policy of starving Biafrans was started which Awolowo championed and 3 million Biafrans died. After the war, every Igbo was given just £20 of any money they had in the bank.

Imagine having £1 million and someone takes it and gives you just £20.

A wise man once said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Some IPOB youths have been thanking Fani Kayode, (whom we admire as a courageous Southern Nigerian leader but not as a secessionist leader) for his ‘6 months promise’, but they should rather listen to Odumegwu Ojukwu, who in his later years advocated for Biafra within Nigeria (call it restructuring, Igbo presidency, Igbo/Lower Niger governors development initiatives, whatever).

If you think they will let you take Southern Igbo ports like Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha), Bonny (Ubani), you are on a long thing because all those anti-Igboists that have been telling Igbos to leave have made it clear that by Igbos they mean only South East Igbos. And you know South East doesn’t have a seaport.

So, Dike, don’t jump to do anything you might regret, because Fani Kayode told you he will follow you 6 Months Later. The 6 month thingy is a political strategy the late Bola Ige used to use. He called it the ‘siddon look’ strategy. A strategy whereby the political actor doesn’t take sides immediately, but adopts a wait and see policy to find out which side has the stronger hand so he can join that side. It is what the Americans call ‘sitting on the fence’. It is different from commitment.

The Igbos have a proverb that says, “Jiri Ile gi guo eze gi onu” (use your tongue to count your teeth). In other words, check yourself before you make a big mistake at a point of no return.