Does Nigeria Have the Right to Secede?
Former head of Biafra, many years ago
Biafra has the right to secede, the Northern Elders Forum in Nigeria said recently. The region known as Biafra seceded once before in 1967-70. But the secession was not successful.
The Northern Elders Forum said that the feeling of being “marginalized” by events in Nigeria seems to hold. But this move is not wise.
The leadership by Igbo people is only one symptom and not a strong one at that. Nor is it known how many others support this move.
Such feelings of marginalization are exacerbated by Nigeria’s nationwide epidemic of violence and economic malaise. The NEF (Northern Elders Forum), for its part, has responded to rising insecurity in Nigeria by calling for President Buhari to resign or to be impeached. Resignation or impeachment is a reversal of the NEF’s support of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential candidacy in 2015.
The Northern Elders Forum is widely regarded as a “general without an army.” Ango Abdullahi, the current head, is the distinguished former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the northern part of Nigeria. (The vice chancellor is the equivalent of the president in the US.) He now seems to have no followers!
Nevertheless, his statements are widely regarded across Nigeria. So his pronouncements will have an effect.
Memories of Biafra
Today’s market is full of fruits and vegetables
During the civil war in Nigeria, perhaps my biggest memory is of going to Ekwulobia to the closed-in market. We abandoned our local market at Afor Udo to travel about 5 miles to Ekwulobia.
It was among the trees and in theory could be sheltered from the bombs falling, whereas other markets were open.
We would enter through a road that was used by just a few others, though now in the market days it was crowded. It was through a forest. We would approach the meat sellers, hoping for a piece of beef that would last for a few days. Toward the middle of the war, just before I left, the meat was becoming thin. I wonder if any was left by the end of the war!
We also found the other supplies I needed: candles, palm oil, ogili (used in making soup), yam, plantain, and rice.
As we were leaving the market, we drove my car out of the woods and onto the main road back to Nanka. I was aware of planes overhead, but actually did not see any.
I usually had two or three other women with me. We took care of each other during the war and I was fortunate to have the car.
Showing the area where Ogoniland is
New Insights on Nigeria and Old Themes
I read recently “How Beautiful We Were,” a story about an African fictional village where the people are suffering. They are held by the leaders of Pexton, the oil company that controls their lives. Thula, the daughter, begins to see a parallel between her people’s suffering and the rulers of Pexton. Over time, she becomes the outspoken leader against Pexton and its rights.
This reminds me of Ogoniland in the rivers region of Nigeria. The mangoes are threatened along with lots of other trees and bushes. The leaders of Nigeria call this a “disaster.”
The area around Ogoniland is being made more livable, the government says. But the power of the state is held by the leaders of Exxon Mobil or the other companies.
They cannot come to an agreement about the spills.
Devastation caused by spills
On the beach at Ibeno, the few fishermen were glum. Far out to sea oil had spilled for weeks from the Exxon Mobil pipe. “We can’t see where to fish; oil is in the sea,” Patrick Okoni said. “We don’t have an international media to cover us, so nobody cares about it,” said Mr. Mbong, in nearby Eket. “Whatever cry we cry, is not heard outside of here.”
How much of the spillage is due to oil thieves or to sabotage linked to the militant movement active in the Niger Delta {the region where the spillage is worst}, and how much stems from poorly maintained and aging pipes, is a matter of fierce dispute among communities, environmentalists and the oil companies.
A very few people believe it is the fault of the communities who do not care for the land. But more people seem to think it comes from the oil companies themselves. another group from the oil thieves, and another percentage believe the environmental people are at fault.
Overall, no one can agree on what to do or how to do it!
