SIR: In the end when the mountain of hate must have melt into an oasis of regret and shame, and the war songs turn into wails of worry and agony, when hunger and starvation take the centre stage, glued to our aprons like a shadow and the logs fall off our burning optics, then we shall ask: where and how did we go wrong? For some, the Biafran idea is a ‘must be’ affair, they don’t mind the number of souls that will waste for the freedom that they so much desire and seek.

These ones are aware of the blood soaked history of Biafra, these ones saw the pogrom, carnage and the destruction that trailed the civil war of 1967-1970. They saw it, felt it, still feel it… some are yet to recover fully from their loss of that war and may never recover. These ones like every other Biafran are aware that to have peace one must prepare for war – the end of such wars we already know.

No Jeremiah or Amos need tell us that we will lose children, businesses, fathers, mothers, friends, uncles and perceived enemies. However, in the end when all is said and done and the dust settles in years to come we shall look back and ask again: where and how did we go wrong? I wouldn’t liken Biafra to the African American struggles in America but there are lessons to be learnt in approach. Martin Luther King Jnr employed civil approach to drive home his move for emancipation.

For example the movement was characterised by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of non-violent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations and productive dialogues between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans. Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included boycotts such as the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) in Alabama; “sit-ins” such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina; marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama; and a wide range of other nonviolent activities.

In that, Kanu failed. “History is a friend too close to ignore”, Ojukwu tried and lost, that is enough lesson for Kanu. On July 24, 2015 he spit fire and brimstone when he took to Radio Biafra to vituperate that ”If They Fail To Give Us Biafra, Somalia Will Look Like A Paradise We will kill Everything in That Zoo Called Nigeria.”

Desperate measures they say call for desperate actions and Nigeria won’t fold her hands and watch Kanu rain threat on her citizenry. However, caution must be taken. In the mean time for the Biafrans that can discern between reason and sentiment, peace and war, love and hate, civility and incivility, I pray thee, drive home your point with the least of violence.

You have earned the right to demonstrate and call for a breakout from Nigeria but as you do that, know that life is precious and Nigeria too must know that. God bless us all.
Martins Adukwu,
Lagos