I thought the meeting with the Rev. Sr and the three men from Plateau, Benue and Taraba ended three days ago. Little did I know it ended to be reconvened again in no time.Ā Ā
Arising from that meeting of Tuesday, I wrote a piece titled *Gowon: The Igbo Nation He Never Saw* .
That piece went viral. My email box inundated with requests to send them the earlier piece *Gowon: Before you say Goodbye*, which I referenced in the latter post. It was an hornet nest touch, scraping healed wounds and causing fresh blood, gushing out from the already healed wounds from the pains and agony of the war.
Later that day Sr. Called and said, *Jarlath you have opened healed wounds and people are bleeding profusely*.
Which wound Sr? was my impulsive response. Your article on “Gowon: The Igbo Nation He Never Saw” was stirring emotions. People are bleeding again from the pains of the war. In the three platforms I belong, that article has been forwarded more than five times and the reactions of people showed nothing but a reawakening of a subdued emotion of pains, especially among the Igbo and those who share in their feelings of injustice, victimisation and killings, she continued, even the other men from Plateau, Benue and Taraba called and their experiences were not different.
It seems their people are beginning to realise how they were used as dispensable claws to fight the Igbo, an action that is presently hitting them back in areas that pain them the most. They requested we meet again to chart a more deliberate course for healing and closure. This time a guy from Southern Kaduna requested to be part of it. Interesting! I chuckled 😆
Can we meet on Friday morning, same time and venue? I will look at my schedule and get back to you later in the day, I said to her. With this Sr hung on.
It took me quite a while to recover from that discussion especially from the things said by Sr. At that point of sober reflection it dawned on me how people were sulking, nursing their emotional wounds, wishing Gen. Gowon could find it appropriate to come and apologise for the three years of horror, hunger, death and dehumanization, unleashed on them.
A deep moment of emotional feelings for me to say the least, especially at that very point I went back to my inbox to read over again people’s feedbacks. It wrecked me emotionally.
*Impressive to say the least, your narrative! I personally doubt that Gowon sleeps. It looks like he will descend to his grave with this endless guilt.Nonetheless, the Igbo race will continue to make waves worldwide and at home too*
Good night Sir”.
*Today, let Gowon, save his Plateau brethren since he knows how to save Nigeria and fight for unity. Let him unite his village now or die like my grandmother who died along the road and was buried without rites. …….*.
Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! May you live LONGER in Jesus Christ name. Amen
*I have said time without number, to anyone who cared to listen that Nigeria will know no peace until it acknowledges, atones and apologies to the Igbo tribe, the loss of innocent blood it perpetrated. It is a simple law of nature that āwhat goes around always comes aroundā. Permit me to say that the Rev. Sr., perhaps inadvertently, left out representatives from the Southern Kaduna – Khatafs etc as well as those from the Niger State*.
*Should Gowon say ‘Good bye’ without apologising for the attrocities he committed against the Igbos he would die unmourned and unsung*.
The above were four out of the many reactions sent to my e-mail. Many hold this view of Gowon not having peaceful sleep. One can imagine the silent swearing and curses they daily heap on him, especially those whose loved ones were killed during the war.
At this point tears of pity for him dropped on my cheeks.
Later that day I put a call across to Sr and assured her of my availability for the meeting.
Today being Friday, around 10 am we had the meeting . It indeed provoked many thoughts on the best way to find closure and possibly dissipate any pent up animosity in the minds of the Igbos and others who may have felt used during the war.
Shockingly, the Plateau man interjected with fury in his eyes, “Gowon should apologise to the people of Plateau for being the reason they are under siege by the fulani”. The once peaceful state is now a theatre of war. I could hear the voice of those innocent Biafran children who died of hunger, the cringe of those raped young ladies, and see the gory sight of those maltreated and malnourished pregnant women who died begging for food and water, sadly looking at Gowon with tears on their eyes, asking for their pound of flesh.
In the midst of this tensed moment, the Benue man asked we close our eyes and imagine a Nigeria without an Igbo man.
For 5 minutes all eyes were closed. Though our experiences varied, the reality of Nigeria being in a great dire need without the Igbo was a collective assertion.
The Igbo man by the description of those four men, which of course wasn’t far from my conviction and that of Sr, is one of salt and oil in the soup called “Nigeria”. Remove these two from the soup, bland taste becomes the taste of the soup. What would Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna etc look like without the Igbo? Bland!!
What we have not realised the Taraba man continued which will continue to hunt us as Nigerians is the versatility, industry and commitment the Igbo tribe brings to the table of Nigeria. They are the most marginalised still the most nationalistic. They are the “vanquished”, yet the most victorious in raising the bar of entrepreneurial activities.
Think about Nigeria without the Igbo. At the remotest place where the locals could only be seen, there you find them, making life easy through their industry, creating path of development for a place immersed in thick darkness of obscurity.
Think about Nigeria without the Igbo, a mirage!! we all chorused like robots.
Until we realise it, the Taraba man continued, cherish it and engraved it in our consciousness, we will continue to see them as enemies who have come to undermine and pillage, rather than who they truly are, the cosmetics that turn the ashes of Nigeria into beauty.
The Igbo deserve better placement and treatment, lose them, Nigeria does that at her peril, the guy from Benue said. On the secession agitation of the Igbo, the guy from Plateau referenced “Because I am involved” by Chukwuma Odimegwu Ojukwu “The Igbo people must advance into the mainstream of Nigerian politics ā isolationism and wallowing in an orgy of self-pity or indeed carrying the banner of protest is counterproductive.ā (p. 145)
The challenge is, how can they get into the mainstream politics of Nigeria when the odds are against them? Isn’t it better they go and build their Biafra? I asked this to see their reactions. I even went further to quote Odimegwu Ojukwu on what he said about Biafra
“Biafra is a child of circumstanceā¦His existence and survival are always a marvel, sometimes bordering on a miracle. His life is a tribute to man, his courage is his endurance, his ingenuity is his humanity.
For unity to be meaningful it has to be creative, not the unity of Jonah in the whale but the unity of holy matrimony. The first can only lead to defecation, the second to procreation”.
The puzzle is, how can this union that would lead to procreation not defecation be mutually fostered?
To my fellow compatriots of Igbo extraction. We are good as a tribe. Not disadvantaged in any way. We are endowed richly. Not disadvantaged by any stretch of imagination. From scratch to finish, our industry, vision and creativity can build us a world class smart region. Scattered everywhere doing positively unimaginable exploits, so are our investments and resources used as beautifying agents on the ashes of other tribes.
Pulling them together and channelling one third of them towards developing our tribe, a vision we must consider urgently.
We are valued and our contributions indispensable, the reason they wouldn’t let us go. If we were urchins, vagabonds etc with no value, long ago our agitation to go would have been granted speedily.
Though still Nigerians, contributing to its development, which we should anyway, but our focus however, should not be dimmed on the principle of “Aku ruo ulo”. We move in one love. “Izu ka mma na nneji”( confiding is better amongst kinsmen)
Are Igbo people really marginalised? The guy from Southern Kaduna asked, immediately he answered by saying, “Wait until you hear our story” I bet you if this war were to be fought again, the Fulanis will fight it all alone he said with pains and regret showing all over him. They are really learning their lessons, the hard way, though!😭
The law of nature can’t be muted or eclipsed. What comes around, goes around! What one allows and supports, one day will become ones reality .
Asaba massacre! Has anyone of you watched it? I asked my four new friends. They all shook their heads. We may talk about it, may be watch a video clip of it during our next meeting, I assured them.
*Nigeria/Biafra War, Peace/ Reconciliation and Healing Commission,*.
A commission to think about?
Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com
07068420002
@2nd Feb 2024
