I am not a Biafran and neither am I Igbo. I do however believe that it is the inalienable right of any human being or ethnic nationality to aspire to be free and to be able to determine their own destiny. The right of self-determination is enshrined in international law and it is guaranteed by every moral structure known to man.
It is a right that has been exercised successfully over and over again in world history and it has led to the creation of new nations which were carved out of older ones. The denial of that right and the suppression and persecution of those who attempt to exercise it leads to nothing but defiance, dissent and resistance and, if not properly managed, it eventually spills over into war and carnage.
This has been the primary cause of most of history’s most brutal civil wars, including the American, Russian, French, English, Indian, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Nigerian, Angolan, Congolese, Zimbabwean, Yugoslavian, Ukrainian, Nicaraguan, Cuban, Irish, Syrian, Libyan, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Iraqi, Italian, Lebanese ones and countless others. I do not believe in violent change and neither do I believe in war, revolution, terror or the use of arms in the pursuance of even the most noble causes.
I do however believe in the power of ideas and the right of any man, woman or people to yearn to be free from bondage and to peacefully and freely express that yearning. It is in this context that I situate my belief in and support for those that view the Nigerian Federation as an oppressive entity which has effectively enslaved its people in an attempt to create what is essentially an artificial and unworkable state.
Those who believe in Nigeria have every right to continue to do so and to voice their resolve to keep Nigeria one. What they do not have the right to do is to refuse to offer the same degree of freedom of expression to those who do not believe in a united Nigeria and who instead believe in the peaceful dissolution of our nation to speak their minds and voice their views. What is good for the goose is surely good for the gander. You cannot grant one side of the divide freedom of expression whilst you deny it to the other.
The biggest mistake and miscalculation of his administration so far is not the ruthless implementation of its patently and monstrously unapologetic northern and Islamic agenda but rather its absurd resolve to lock up Mr. Kanu indefinitely and to effectively throw the key away simply because he dared to call for the establishment of Biafra.
This is all the more so because freedom of expression is the lifeblood of any democracy. It must be accorded in equal measure to those who believe in Nigeria and to those who do not. It is in this light that we must consider the plight of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra and the man that has been described by the Igbo World Assembly as “Buhari’s first political prisoner”.
We may not like his style, we may not like his radio station, we may not share his views or approve of his methods but one thing that we cannot take from Mr. Kanu is his right to hold such views and to express them in a peaceful and lawful manner no matter how distasteful those views may be to some. To deny him this most basic human right is not only an act of intellectual terrorism but it is also the most grave and barbaric manifestation of what is essentially an evolving police state where different or contrary views cannot be accommodated by those in power.
When Mr. Alex Salmon and his Scottish Nationalist Party began the agitation for the dissolution of the United Kingdom and for the establishment of Scottish independence many years ago they were not charged to court, locked up indefinitely or murdered by the British authorities but instead they were eventually given the opportunity to participate in a referendum and test their ideas. The same thing happened in the Catalan region of Spain where the agitation for the establishment of a new nation is compelling and very popular.
The same thing happened a number of years ago in the Quebec region of Canada. It also happened in a region called East Timor which opted to leave Indonesia and in Singapore which opted to leave Malaysia. The same process was adopted when Georgia, the Ukraine and all the other former Soviet states opted to leave Russia and when the Czech Republic opted to break off from Slovakia. The utility and importance of conducting a referendum on such matters in order to determine the true will of the people and to honour the findings of that referendum cannot be underestimated and it remains the only path for peace.
Sadly President Buhari who, like most in his generation, are still stuck in the mindset of a civil war general, has refused to learn from this. The biggest mistake and miscalculation of his administration so far is not the ruthless implementation of its patently and monstrously unapologetic northern and Islamic agenda but rather its absurd resolve to lock up Mr. Kanu indefinitely and to effectively throw the key away simply because he dared to call for the establishment of Biafra.
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