The Time is Ripe for Negotiations (1) May 26, 2021 | EASTERN PILOT By Umeh Chiemelia A. About three hundred (300) years ago, the first wave ...
The Time is Ripe for Negotiations (1)
May 26, 2021 | EASTERN PILOT
By Umeh Chiemelia A.
About three hundred (300) years ago, the first wave of attack against the indigenous people of Biafra was repelled by what could only be discribed as "divine intervention" - the invasion by tsetse fly against the jihadists. The latter were stopped at the hills of Idoma, Middle Belt of Nigeria. Benue State governor Samuel Ortom had reiterated this historical fact when he proudly proclaimed, "our ancestors stopped them. We are not afraid of them".
The Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967 till 1970 provided the Fulani oligarchs (together with foreign collaborators), an opportunity to embark the expedition (jihad) of overrunning the entire South and "dipping the Quran into the Atlantic Ocean".
By the end of the war over five (5) million Biafrans were annihilated. To cover up the war crimes committed against Biafrans, academic subjects pertaining history were deliberately stopped in Nigerian schools.
As it is said, "the worst thing you can do to a people, is to hide their story from them". Progressive nations embrace their past. With the right leadership, the ship of the state is steered towards avoiding the repetition of that ugly past by reminding the citizens in the classrooms, and annual commemoration, the need to avoid dangers of the earlier historical actions.
Citing an example; the government and people of Germany, on January 27, every year, commemorate the atrocities of the Nazi against the Jews during the Holocaust. That is, highlighting the irreducible fact that a people's story is part of their essence.
The vital lessons of history helps one avoid repeating the mistake of the past. At every stage of a people's historical transition it is always demonstrated.
When the agitation for self-rule began, in the colonial American, the English king sent his troops to crush the collective will of the people. Millions of Americans were slain, resultantly; but Americans got their most cherished freedom and liberty - demonstrating that all men were created equal before God and man and reserve the inalienable right to pursue their own happiness.
In the case of America, the unwanton waist of human live and material resources could have been avoided if the British Crown had been wise enough to avoid armed conflict. With the tool of diplomacy and 'fact of history,' they would have negotiated their national objectives by granting a quasi-autonomy; alas! Great Britain decided to go by the way of conquest. They where roundly defeated by the continental forces duly commandeered by the legendary George Washington.
Great Britain learnt the hard way. When agitation for autonomy began in other colonies like Canada, south Africa, Australia etc,they quickly granted a semi autonomy - a dominion with full right and privilege as the mother nation (Great Britain). That is the genesis of the common wealth of nations. The network was expanded when the former colonies negotiated their way to political independence so long as the economic interest of the British is sustained.
This is the reason the British government is holding the indigenous peoples in Nigeria, down, till this very day. In other words, the binding link between the misery, subjugation and the suffering of the indigenous population is the Fulani hegemony.
The British economic interest and the Fulani national interest of securing a permanent homeland, met a waterloo, in Nigeria. The only radical challenger to that unholy alliance is a very stubborn, highly decentralized and courageous people Biafra. Great Britain, leaning on the experience of empire building (manipulation and maneuvering of peoples and events), encouraged the Fulani oligarchy to divide the people of the East from within so much so that someone who scored 4th in an election automatically becomes no 1 and the winner for the very first time in modern political history.
In Ethiopia, the Eritreans fought for thirty (30) years to secure their independence. By 1999, after the loss of lives and resources worth millions of dollars, the Ethiopians came to the realization that it was an action in futility to stop the collective will of a determined people. It had to let the people of Eritrea go.
(To be continued in chapter 2)
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