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FEBRUARY 16 REFERENDUM OF IPOB IS A JOKE OF THE CENTURY
Sometimes I wonder why the educated amongst us in the Eastern region are allowing some of us get away with lies that can further endanger the lives of our gullible brothers and sisters. I understand that some of us don’t want to be abused by these misguided and spiritually misled ones, but we can save them from the impending danger by all means necessary.
I was on a taxi en route to Trans/Amadi Layout when a fellow commuter gleefully shook another’s hand in felicitation of an expected “referendum”. I had to ask one of them what referendum they were talking about. The young man told me that Biafra had come. He said “his leader” announced that February 16, the same date for election in Nigeria, is slated for referendum. I laughed for a long time and then started teaching the entire passengers. It was very clear to me that the misconception and gullibility were products of ignorance.
I asked whether the UN was aware. I wanted to know whether the so-called referendum would be unilaterally declared and whether the declarants were ready to defend it. These questions were germane because I know that there are several nations trapped in sovereign states that have been jostling for referendum for many years to no avail. Referendum is not a Tea Party. Without the approval and compliance of the host sovereign state, referendum leads to bloodbath. Is IPOB ready to defend this so-called referendum against Nigeria, UN, and UK? I ask because the last time Nigeria came knocking at Umuahia, we all know how our dear IPOB members became collateral damage.
Referendum will never come from a group or association: it must come from the people. State actors, royal fathers, chiefs, traders, scholars, etc are all constituents of the people. The international community must see the call as the collective goal of the stakeholders and the people in the oppressed nation. There must be wide consultation and dialogue across the affected region. Youth bodies and other councils must be rigorously engaged. The sovereign state must be engaged in dialogue prior to the promulgation of the referendum.
Do we even know the method we shall adopt? Is it by clan or local government? What is the electoral body that will conduct the referendum? What role will the international community play? Has the referendum been approved by the international community? Have these international communities ever mentioned BIAFRA? Who will sponsor the referendum? Who will defend the result? Who is even deceiving us?
Please, IPOB is just a group of unhappy people under one man. It takes much more than such group for secession to be successful. There won’t be referendum until we learn to work together in our region. Revolution is not a one man show. Any noisemaker that has not been killed yet is actually an agent. Nigeria is too brutal for revolution. Anyone that walks in and out of Nigerian prison, after having challenged her unity, is actually an agent in disguise. Be wise! Someone claimed his travel documents were seized, yet he traveled from Nigeria to Israel and is now in Britain, an ally of Nigeria. Can you fight Nigeria and be safe in Britain? We have a lot of poor thinkers in our region.
Sit at home is not referendum. Referendum is an election that is used to determine the future of a people that are sick and tired of being chained or tied to the apron strings of a sovereign state. How can sit at home be equated with and to plebiscite? Some of us are overgrown babies devoid of reasoning. This is shameful. We have had sit-at-homes. This is just another in a series of fruitless sit-at-homes. We boycotted elections and allowed our government houses to be occupied by agents of our oppressors. This madness must stop! We must use our number to get what we want.
Russell Idatoru Sunju Bluejack
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