Sponsors Of Biafra Protests Live In Mansions - Philip Obin
Editor’s note: A pro-Biafra protests by thousands of youths of the Igbo extraction disrupted activities in some parts different states as the protesters marched through main streets in the city to protest against the arrest of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
Philip Obin, business consultant and new media strategist, shares his views on who are Biafra sponsors and proposes the ways to find the solution to the situation.
New dimension of pro-Biafra protest
The agitation for the actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra has taken a new dimension since the new leader of the struggle Nnamdi Kanu declared readiness to fight all the way. Kanu subsequently launched a radio station, Radio Biafra where he served as the Managing-Editor till he was reportedly arrested by Nigeria secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS).
While I recognize the constitutional rights of any Nigerian or group of Nigerians to freedom of expression, association or agitation for their rights, I am also aware of the fact that most of the Biafran sympathizers are merely ignorant of the true motives of those behind the renewed agitation for the state of Biafra.
The sponsors of the protests are mostly corrupt and criminally minded elites
Those who send our young ones to the streets in the name of Biafra are mostly corrupt and criminally minded elites chilling in their air-conditioned mansions and riding in super cars, with their children and family members studying or living abroad, and yet, they take advantage of our sad economic situation and poverty of which their greed and corrupt practices contributed immensely to, to send our young ones into the streets to cause troubles and disrupt economic activities.
READ ALSO: Obasanjo Insults Pro-Biafra Agitators
The poor young Nigerians who are mostly jobless or traders struggling to feed twice a day are the ones who get killed by stray bullets when they clash with security forces or in other situations whenever their protests go violent. Their sponsors and leaders who mostly support them secretly go about their businesses freely and still guarded by ‘Nigerian’ security operatives.
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Our complicated challenges are not about dividing the country
If peradventure anything goes wrong and their agitation turns to any form of war, their sponsors all have int’l passports with multiple visa, plus adequate bank account balances enough to fly them out Nigeria with their families, leaving same innocent young Nigerians to suffer it alone in the long run. Again, I call on every young Nigerian who didn’t witness the civil war to kindly find time to sit their parents down and ask them what their experiences were during the war or Google out ‘effect of the Nigerian civil war’ to learn more about the cost of choosing war over dialogue.
So wise up fellow young Nigerians, as our complicated challenges are not about dividing the country and actualizing Biafra. Let’s remember what we went through during the last civil war. Let’s remember we lost over a million brothers and sisters. Among those who died were great young men and women – pilots, engineers, teachers, politicians, economists, religious and traditional leaders, who could have taken us further than where we are today, as a country!
READ ALSO: 'Government Knows Boko Haram Sponsors' - Lawmaker
Ask yourself: How have we loved and managed ourselves and resources in the states we want to separate out of Nigeria into Biafra? What have we done or achieved with all our internal resources, human and material, and allocations received from the federal government over the decades?
What President Buhari should do to resolve the situation
There’s also this obviously exciting need to simply key into the new government of President Buhari and VP Osinbajo, to support and encourage them on their various promising programmes, which are mostly targeted at making life better for the common Nigerian. For once, Nigeria has produced a president and vice president who are both not multi millionaires and billions with Godfathers dictating for them. For the first time, we have a government that’s truly the desire of majority of Nigerians, and all we now need to do is support same people we found worthy and voted in, and patiently wait to see if they deliver or not. But as a person, I am strongly convinced that Nigeria is moving to greater heights soonest, irrespective of the temporary challenges facing us.
Most urgently, President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria must rise up to the occasion, call on the governors of affected state, mandate them to work and comply with relevant federal authorities in their respective states, to restore peace and order, so Nigerians in those states can freely go about their normal lives.
READ ALSO: Don’t Carry Out Protests In South Eastern States, Police Tells Biafra Protesters
At a time when there are violent conflicts and global economic challenges across the war, Nigeria cannot afford a fresh civil war. We must collectively do everything to remain as one strong nation, fight our common and biggest enemy – the Boko Haram insurgents and support the new and promising government to lead us to the promised land.
Read the rest on Facebook account of Philip Obin
Philip Obin holds a diploma in Information Technology from the Lagos State Polytechnic and presently advancing his career at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), where he's studying Communication Technology.
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