Those who failed to learn from history are deemed to repeat it....
I was not born then during the Nigerian-Biafran civil war of 1967-1970. Infact, I am sure the meeting of my parents hasn't been arranged during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, neither did I witness the beginning nor the end of the cold war. However, I heard from history and read from books that the then Nigerian civil war took over 1.3million military and civilian casualties with many families displaced, homes shattered, building destroyed and cities ravaged. The bitter truth is that some of those cities displaced by the then civil war that ended in January 1970 are still basking in the euphoria of the aftermath of the war. The solutions to the problems of our nation has not been identified yet, but what I know is that war is never an option unless we want to see pool of blood drenching like rainfall.
During my primary school days, I had two close friends, Ejike Mba and Dauda Usman both of Eastern and Northern origins respectively. We did many things in common and I remembered one of our teachers telling us that with the three of us, Nigeria is complete. The sad end of this short story was that I lost my two friends to war of distance on a good note. We parted for good reasons and I still nurse the hope that we will come across each other once again.
In my political science classes, I was taught that war should be the last resort to settle differences. The most controversial quote which I have never subscribed to is that "If you want peace, prepare for war". Of what importance is peace gotten through violence means? The Igbos want Biafran, but has a referendum been conducted among them to prove the generality and validity of this claim? Has the court been visited? Has the constitution been consulted?
The amalgamation of 1914 even though had political undertones, also has many pre determined beneficial plantations. Our founding fathers laid the foundation of a prosperous nation but we have turned the prosperity to adversity with our differences. The best of friends I have always made are always the Igbos but this polarity is drawing a line of segregation amongst us.
The unity of Nigeria is what I crave for, our unity should not be negotiable and if need be, should be through the right means. War and secession has never yielded any positive result even in world history. The Nigerian-Biafran war of 1967-1970 led to the death of over a million people, so many died during the Indo-Pakistan war, even the ideological cold war mutilated many minds and murdered many hearts, what of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the Liberian civil war, and a host of others?
The way out has never been on the battlefield nor through gun or sword, why do we always come back to our senses after wasting innocent lives and resources. The sword can kill faster but the pen saves better. The battlefield no matter how large can never be comfortable as the round table of negotiations.
My Igbo brothers are clamouring for Biafran republic under the guise of forming an independent secular state, but how general is this assertion? A man who hails from Anambra, but was born and bred in Lagos, trades in the popular Lagos market, invests in Lagos, marries on the street of Lagos, and owns landed properties in the metropolitan city of Lagos is unarguably from Anambra but made in Lagos. How palatable would it be for a former CEO in Lagos to start from the scratch when war forces him to relocate to the East. Will the common man not suffer when war breaks out??
Buhari will not be on the battlefield to fight the war, neither will any of his children. Nnamdi KANU will be in his comfort zone dishing out orders for the war, the Governors and politicians will be in the comfort of their local homes or abroad while lives are being wasted. At the end, the casualties will be the Northern Soldier who may not even be decorated a Martyr and the Igbo boy who joined IPOB who would have saved this nation from future economic recession, or the Hausa man in the East who would be riddled with bullets alive and the Yoruba trader in Aba who would be burnt alive inside his stall. At the end, Buhari, Buratai, Nnamdi KANU, Nigerian Governors and politicians will come to a roundtable, drop their guns, pick up their slate and ink and settle all differences. Then they will say "NO VICTOR NO VANQUISH". What will happen to the families of the Dead, who will take care of the misplaced? It may only take 7 days of war to destroy a country but it might take another 7 years to bring it back to normalcy.
I am a concerned Nigerian
I stand for a United Nigeria
I say no to another Civil War
We want peace not War.
LETS SETTLE FOR PEACE AND NOT WAR FOR DESTRUCTION.
By ADENIRAN MUTOLYB ADEKOLA,
A CONCERNED NIGERIAN.
