A Love Letter From Biafra To Okwesilieze Nwodo By Churchill Okonkwo

 

Okwy, no matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look; it will not make anyone wish for death. So, stop threatening to fight for me you mortal, Okwy. Rather, elevate my “never say die” Biafran spirit into a pragmatic politics.

Dear Okwesilieze (Okwy) Nwodo, when you threatened that the Igbo political elites like yourself, will team up with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and fight for me, Biafra, Satan’s hammers and the war drums of hell started reverberating over and over in my abode. Okwy, I was wondering how could have easily forgotten what happened the last time you fought for me, Biafra?

Okwy, remember that a doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his house from destruction. Why are you thinking of invoking the storm on your people again? Okwy, don’t your stomach feel queasy when you remember the starvation, deaths, agony, and misery faced by millions of Igbos in my enclave, Biafra, during the last civil war?

Okwy, note that any attempt to fight for me, Biafra, or the amorphous quest to “realize”, me, Biafra, is like taking a walk before your godly guardian. Just in case you do not know or may have forgotten, I am like the concept of infinity — one of the enigmas in mathematics. I am, thus, elusive, yet, enigmatic, and eternal.

Okwy, you disappointed me in that interview you granted to Vanguard Newspaper when you said that “In the spirit of fairness and equity, Nigeria should give the presidency to the south-east in 2023, otherwise, we will join him [Nnamdi Kanu] and fight for Biafra. If by this unfortunate statement, you, Okwy, was threatening Nigerians to “dash” Igbos the Nigerian Presidency or else you will join Nnamdi Kanu to fight for, me Biafra, then, you are stunningly incompetent.

You are incompetent Okwy, because you have forgotten about the Kenyan proverb that warned us not to follow a person who is running away. Nnamdi Kanu is like that headless ram that initiated a head-fight only to run away when the bulls entered the fighting arena.

If on the other hand, you, Okwy was begging Nigerians to “dash” Igbos the Nigerian Presidency, then, you are also stunningly incompetent because water that is begged for does not quench thirst. That is a story for another day, Okwy. Today, I am writing this love letter to beg you in the name of Amadioha and Ogwugwu not to fight for me. Be assured that if there is a need for a fight, I can take care of myself.

By the way, Okwy, who were you refereeing to as the “elites from the south-east” that are being “treated as second class citizens in Nigeria”? You? The governors from the southeast? Ike Ekweremadu? Theodore Orji? Pius Anyim? Chris Ngige? Arthur Eze? Rochas? Who? Are you talking of the greedy and selfish political class from the southeast that is only interested in their friends, families, and bottomless pockets?

Give me a break, Okwy!

Okwy, how could you be talking of a “fight”, in my name, for the same Igbo political elites that have done nothing about the state of infrastructure in southeastern Nigeria? It is very unfortunate whenever I hear some respected Igbo political elites and even clergymen who want to be seen to be in tandem with the street voice use my name as a Ping-Pong ball. It was thus, laughable to hear someone like you, Okwy, mention Nnamdi Kanu and my name, in the same sentence. What a cheap way to use my name in vain.

Okwy, it is disheartening that after qualifying yourself as one of the Igbo political elites, you descended to the lowest level of the abyss by characterizing IPOB and their leader as a serious Igbo group let alone one worth joining in “fighting” for me, Biafra. What an insult.

Here are some facts, Okwy: I am, Biafra, a Chi in Igbo Cosmology and I will remain unique, enigmatic, and mysteriously eternal, with or without your “fight”.

So, do not fight for me, Okwy. Rather, I will urge you to use your political clout, if you have any, to demand concrete deliverables of democracy from Igbo political elites like yourself. Please, stop using “marginalization” as a means for elites like yourself to whip up sentiments and gain the support of the umu Igbo, only to go and live big in Abuja. In Abuja, you and the so-called Igbo elites in APC and the PDP will metamorphose to mini gods, then, come back and “terrorize” your brothers and sisters with your ill-gotten wealth.

Here is a question, Okwy: if we put a hammer in every person’s hand, could they all become blacksmiths? No. But, unfortunately, Igbo leaders like you and the acclaimed Supreme Leader of Biafra are like those bricklayers, holding the hammers in different political, socio-cultural, and religious groups and parading yourselves as accomplished blacksmiths. Meanwhile, the hammers in your hands only serve as instruments of anguish.

Okwy, if an old woman ate two pieces of yam, and then said [by way of excuse] that she had no teeth, is it not proper to ask her how many did those who have teeth eat? If every ethnic nationality that lost out in an election takes up an arm, what will be left of Nigeria? If the towns and local governments that lost an election to the Nwodo’s, Ekweremadu, and co in Enugu state had opted to take up arms, what would have been the situation in your state?

Okwy, who do you and the mere mortals called elites think you are? Please, do not hold my Spirit, the Biafran Spirit hostage, by claiming that you will fight for me if you lose the 2023 Presidential election.

Finally, Okwy, dust yourselves up, you and your fellow political elites, and stop shedding tears with Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. Stop hallucinating over me, Biafra. There is no thrill in almost doing anything in the game of life. The thrill comes from accomplishment, and many times the difference between accomplishment and failure is having the right mental attitude. Threatening to join Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB is the opposite of the right mental attitude.

Okwy, no matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look; it will not make anyone wish for death.  So, stop threatening to fight for me you mortal, Okwy. Rather, elevate my “never say die” Biafran spirit into a pragmatic politics.

From Biafra, with Love

Churchill Okonkwo, Ph.D.