Road not worthy to take

By Nwafor Sunday
Permit me fellow compatriots to say my mind.
Permit me also to tell you the bitter truth that
will save us all. The road which we seek to take
is not worthy to be taken. Going by the words of
the former president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan “Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood
of any Nigerian,” “I promised the country free
and fair elections. I have kept my word.” On the
social media, I deduced via comments of Biafran
youths that if the federal government insist of
not splitting Nigeria; War will erupt.
However, borrowing Jonathans succulent words
I beg for a pause in our actions and recommend
a sit at home rethink for all Biafrans. I did mine
and came out with an undiluted and unequivocal
premise that reads thus, ‘Nigeria’s divide
tantamount to war’.
I guess you don’t expect me to tell you
everything. But you should know that ‘Igbo
enwe eze’ and Igbo Afuro onwefa n’ anya’. In
transcription it means that ‘Igbo do not have a
king and perhaps do not love themselves.
Remember this antithesis ‘ United we stand,
divided we fall’. If Biafra eventually exists which
state among the south east will produce the first
president? That undoubtedly will bring another
higgledy-piggledy amongst us. Igbo are known
to be intelligent, hardworking, sensible and
makers of right decisions. What is holding us
back in making a wise decision in this one? This
is what I don’t understand.
The northern and southern amalgamation in
1914 stated clearly our firm decision to stay as
one. Why do you want us to divide Nigeria,
despite Ojukwu’s failed struggle to achieve
biafran nation in 1967? In our dialect we say
‘Abusi gba otule, omulu ako’ which literally
means that buttock gets wisdom when ant
stings it.
Have you not watched our civil war
documentary? The massacre, killings, sufferings,
famine, blood flow, displacement of children and
deaths, these are passengers of war. Which
nation do you think will sponsor and support us
if we undress war? History tells me that Ojukwu
lost because he had no supporter, no sponsor
and no food. But at that the aftermath reads no
victor, no vanquish.
I don’t know my grandfather because of war. He
was killed in the battle field alongside my two
uncles. I don’t wish same to these new born
babies. We should stop beating the war drum!
War has never been in our favor and I doubt if it
will ever be.
Moreover, the senator representing Bayelsa East
constituency, Sen Ben Murray Bruce, while
trailing down the causes of Biafran war spit the
adverse effect of the war on people. According
to him “Yes a young generation of people who
have never seen bloodshed, people being killed,
amputated and families being divided. “ Surely
they will welcome war but what have we done
as a nation to educate them about the
destruction of war ‘absolutely nothing”, he said.
Though we cry and weep for marginalization, but
God has kept us going. The threat we received
from the Northern Youths Coalition Forum,
(NCY), has been doused by the acting president.
My candid advice to ‘umunnem’ is that we
should trade with caution. Abiding on the true
constitutional processes will make us achieve a
great nation. Federal government on their part
should look inward to the plights of Biafrans and
grant their legitimate request so that together
we will make Nigeria proud.
Please let Biafra not be like Robert Frost in his
poem bellow:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost