SOUTHERN SUDAN: A NOBLE PRECEDENCE

by Osita Ebiem

n the 9th of July, 2011 a new nation will be created on the African continent. It will be called the nation of Southern Sudan. Its emergence will be an important landmark on the continent in more than one way. It will be about the first Black African nation of an African creation. It will mark the coming of age of the Blackman in his own home continent after centuries of disarray; the time when he began to think for himself and to have enough confidence in himself to choose what he wants for himself. On the 9th of July 2011 the world will salute a people who knew what they wanted, demanded for it and fought for it.

The peoples of Southern Sudan fought for more than twenty years within which more than two million of their population was killed. No, they fought for over five decades starting from 1955. They fought resolutely. They fought astutely. They fought assiduously. They fought resiliently. They fought stoutly as men and now they must have what they wanted. From the outset they saw clearly what is good for them and would not settle for anything less.

All along they knew that the greatest and most precious of all possessions by any people is their culture and way of life. They knew that to loose such invaluable inheritance is to loose life itself. Indeed, life is worth nothing when the people have been dispossessed of their ancestral culture and ways. It is in such occasions that wars become justified, (this might sound controversial to some but nothing can be truer and I am not ready to tender any apology). The two million people killed are just the price the Southern Sudanese had to pay to take back what had been taken away from them; their sovereignty.

From the beginning the Southern Sudanese saw out of the experience of centuries that the Arab world; because they had embraced an oppressive, intolerant and retrogressive way of life, that it would be insane to share the same political space with them and expect anything from them that is better than bigotry, slavery, exploitation, bad governance and backwardness. Southern Sudanese have proved that they are no fools and are capable of making their own choice rather than let some colonial outsiders sit down somewhere in Berlin in 1885 and choose for them who they should associate with.

Finally Southern Sudan has shown the rest of Black Africa the way to go. The rest of the black peoples of the continent must take back their lost sovereignty and re-divide the continent, if need be, by force of arm as in the example of South Sudan. You are free and independent only when you can choose out of your own freewill who you would associate with and not when someone else had yoked you together with whom you have nothing in common.

Right now as we write the Igbo people of Old Biafra Republic have just rented four tour buses to convey the 67 dead bodies of their brothers and sisters back to their homeland in Biafra. The people were murdered in the ongoing Islamic Jihad in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria.

On the 30th of May 1967, the peoples of Southeast of Nigeria declared independence as the Republic of Biafra based on two reasons; they wanted to exist in a political space where they would be free to live their lives in their own way and on their own terms without molestation and they wanted to preserve their race from extermination. Earlier in 1966, Nigeria and Nigerians had embarked on a project of ethnic cleansing to rid their society of every person of Biafran extraction.

The Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Tiv, Idoma, etc peoples of Nigeria killed, never maimed, every Biafran in their midst unremittingly for a period of one year before the inevitable declaration of Biafra´s secession in 1967. After Biafra´s declaration, Nigeria intensified the killing and by 1970 when the great Biafran General Philip Effiong announced Biafra´s decision to stop the war, the field was covered with the dead bodies of 3.1 million Biafran children, women and men who were murdered because they wanted to choose what they considered good for themselves; their sovereignty.

To the peoples of Old Biafra of 1967 the choice was an eternal choice, so said a Pro-Biafra activist in a conversation with this writer last week. He maintained that with South Sudan´s independence on 9 July later this year that the last vestige of doubt in the mind of all Biafrans everywhere as to the rightness of their 1967 choice has been removed.

In all fairness, with South Sudan´s precedence staring the world in the face, it becomes logical that Biafra´s case must be revisited now. The people have already paid enough price to purchase their freedom and independence. The oppressive Islamic culture of the peoples of Nigeria is not about to reform any time soon. From all indications the jihadist killings of none Muslims in Nigeria will go on till Biafra separates from Nigeria.

Already, to the majority of the people across the world, Nigeria as it is constituted today has outlived its usefulness, just like most other countries of Black Africa Nigeria must be split up along its cultural divides. Let the cultures that find themselves compatible fuse together and form cohesive and functional societies and put a permanent stop to the current wanton waste of lives of children and the sacrifice of progress and prosperity at the alter of an artificial and obscene "unity".

The rest of Black Africa, starting from Nigeria to Ivory Coast, to Senegal, to Cameroun, to South Africa, etc. must sit down somewhere, just as in 1885 in Berlin Germany, and redraw the political map of Africa, today. Black Africans must look the oppressive forces of this Arabian culture that subjugated the peoples of Southern Sudan for years without remorse in the face and choose to live their lives on their own terms. In all honesty, the Western colonial powers of 1885 could not have made a better choice than you can do for yourselves today, 2011.

South Sudan has shown that it can and must be done and Biafra must follow in this very noble example. Biafra has got oil too as does Southern Sudan and should use their oil to bargain for their freedom and sovereignty with whoever that would be enticed thereby. They have no reason whatsoever to remain any longer in any kind of unworkable and unprofitable association with Nigeria.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/212023

South Sudan has shown that it can and must be done and Biafra must follow in this very noble example. Biafra has got oil too as does Southern Sudan and should use their oil to bargain for their freedom and sovereignty with whoever that would be enticed thereby. They have no reason whatsoever to remain any longer in any kind of unworkable and unprofitable association with Nigeria.

Yeap. . . . . . . . .It can be done. Every unworkable union must give way.

Biafra shall rise again. I know it will happen. God has ordained our nation.

, 67 dead bodies?. Where is this fictitious figures coming from?.
Reports reaching me as at 11pm last night from Ndigbo in just suggest retaliatory attacks from Ndigbo has claimed the enemies lives x2.
Thanks to Ndigbo in Jos for this brave act.

Andre Uweh:

, 67 dead bodies?. Where is this fictitious figures coming from?.
Reports reaching me as at 11pm last night from Ndigbo in just suggest retaliatory attacks from Ndigbo has claimed the enemies lives x2.
Thanks to Ndigbo in Jos for this brave act.

Tell me about these brave Igbo warriors taking the fight to the enemy. I wish to hear detailed information.

They are young and militant, most were born in the city. But mind you, nairaland is not the ideal place for this, just get in touch. It is a different Igbo world now.

Andre Uweh:

They are young and militant, most were born in the city. But mind you, nairaland is not the ideal place for this, just get in touch. It is a different Igbo world now.

Well I hope to hear more from my Igbo brethren up north. Let a new Igbo man be born though this conflict.

[size=20pt]I don't mean to burst your bubble but , [/size]

The Southern Sudan scenario is not the same as the Biafra scenario.

The country will not be split along ethnic lines as the attempt to form Biafra was.
In Southern Sudan there are all of these ethnic groups(Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Lotuko, Kuku, Zande, Mundari,
Kakwa, Pojulu, Shilluk, Moru, Acholi, Madi, Lulubo, Lokoya, Toposa, Lango, Didinga, Murle, Anuak, Makaraka,
Mundu, Jur, Kaliko, and others.) of which the Dinka have the largest population (approx. 3 million strong).

If the Dinka, the largest minority group (approx. 3 million strong) decided to declare an ethnically based
Nation State, with the inclusion of a few minority groups then the UN would not have sanctioned a referendum.

What exists in Southern Sudan today is a broad "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE".

[size=14pt]Once again, tribalism is for primitive minds, there are no major differences in our DNA.[/size]

ShangoThor,

Your post were at first amusing, but now they are starting to pisss me off. Sorry to burst your bubble, but a Southern Nigeria federation will never work, because of the mistrust of the Yoruba by Eastern groups. Biafra is more feasible, with the exception of the Ijaw. The Ogoni, Ibibio/Efik/Annang and Cross River community are perfectly fine in joining the Igbo with a nation. That is why Biafra can be likened to Southern Sudan.

Plus, Southeastern Nigeria is majority Christian. The same cannot cannot be said of the South-West. That is why we cannnot say it is a "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE."

I would have thought you would have known that already.

ShangoThor:

[size=20pt]I don't mean to burst your bubble but , [/size]

The Southern Sudan scenario is not the same as the Biafra scenario.

The country will not be split along ethnic lines as the attempt to form Biafra was.
In Southern Sudan there are all of these ethnic groups(Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Lotuko, Kuku, Zande, Mundari,
Kakwa, Pojulu, Shilluk, Moru, Acholi, Madi, Lulubo, Lokoya, Toposa, Lango, Didinga, Murle, Anuak, Makaraka,
Mundu, Jur, Kaliko, and others.) of which the Dinka have the largest population (approx. 3 million strong).

If the Dinka, the largest minority group (approx. 3 million strong) decided to declare an ethnically based
Nation State, with the inclusion of a few minority groups then the UN would not have sanctioned a referendum.

What exists in Southern Sudan today is a broad "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE".

[size=14pt]Once again, tribalism is for primitive minds, there are no major differences in our DNA.[/size]

Biafra is not just Igbo please.

udezue:

Biafra is not just Igbo please.

Thank you very much. That is why I laughed at his post.

EzeUche_:

ShangoThor,

Your post were at first amusing, but now they are starting to pisss me off. Sorry to burst your bubble, but a Southern Nigeria federation will never work, because of the mistrust of the Yoruba by Eastern groups. Biafra is more feasible, with the exception of the Ijaw. The Ogoni, Ibibio/Efik/Annang and Cross River community are perfectly fine in joining the Igbo with a nation. That is why Biafra can be likened to Southern Sudan.

Plus, Southeastern Nigeria is majority Christian. The same cannot cannot be said of the South-West. That is why we cannnot say it is a "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE."

I would have thought you would have known that already.

[size=14pt]Once again, tribalism is for primitive minds, there are no major differences in our DNA.[/size]

@ EzeUche, if there was a referendum amongst the minority groups that you have discerned, and they accepted to be incorporated
into a Biafran State, I would agree whole heartedly with you, and I genuinely mean that.

My obsession with creating a broad "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE" is only because I believe it is more feasible, with a chance for
international support. If after Southern Nigeria has successfully split Ndigbo insist on forming their own state, don't you
think that this can be done amicably, or do you really believe that the Yoruba in the West would be willing to fight a War
to keep the UNION going. All I am saying is that there are many ways to skin a cat. Think strategically.

Reality is that the Southern Nigerian route is still the best way to achieve the Biafran dream.

ShangoThor:

[size=14pt]Once again, tribalism is for primitive minds, there are no major differences in our DNA.[/size]

@ EzeUche, if there was a referendum amongst the minority groups that you have discerned, and they accepted to be incorporated
into a Biafran State, I would agree whole heartedly with you, and I genuinely mean that.

My obsession with creating a broad "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE" is only because I believe it is more feasible, with a chance for
international support. If after Southern Nigeria has successfully split Ndigbo insist on forming their own state, don't you
think that this can be done amicably, or do you really believe that the Yoruba in the West would be willing to fight a War
to keep the UNION going. All I am saying is that there are many ways to skin a cat. Think strategically.

Reality is that the Southern Nigerian route is still the best way to achieve the Biafran dream.

No one discusses what is in our DNA. There is only one race and that is the human race. However, there are DIFFERENCES in our identity, which is influenced by our ethnicity & cultural beliefs. That is where our differences come from. We all look through different lens that are shaped by our cultural beliefs. Now enough with you bolded statement.

Well we all have different "obsessions." You can continue with your "Non Islamic Alliance" even though the Yoruba have a large Muslim population, but I am in full support of a united East. You can pursue your "Southern Nigerian" route and I will pursue my Eastern Nigerian route. Just do not get in the way.

ShangoThor:

[size=14pt]Once again, tribalism is for primitive minds, there are no major differences in our DNA.[/size]

@ EzeUche, if there was a referendum amongst the minority groups that you have discerned, and they accepted to be incorporated
into a Biafran State, I would agree whole heartedly with you, and I genuinely mean that.

My obsession with creating a broad "NON ISLAMIC ALLIANCE" is only because I believe it is more feasible, with a chance for
international support. If after Southern Nigeria has successfully split Ndigbo insist on forming their own state, don't you
think that this can be done amicably, or do you really believe that the Yoruba in the West would be willing to fight a War
to keep the UNION going. All I am saying is that there are many ways to skin a cat. Think strategically.

Reality is that the Southern Nigerian route is still the best way to achieve the Biafran dream.

I agree with you. The world may still view Biafra with skepticism but S. Nigeria will carry more weight if the whole peoples of the south campaign for it. The Igbo/Yoruba thing, to me, is not a big deal; at worst we'll form a confederation with the West but the best option will be true federalism.

EzeUche_:


No one discusses what is in our DNA. There is only one race and that is the human race. However, there are DIFFERENCES in our identity, which is influenced by our ethnicity & cultural beliefs. That is where our differences come from. We all look through different lens that are shaped by our cultural beliefs. Now enough with you bolded statement.

Well we all have different "obsessions." You can continue with your "Non Islamic Alliance" even though the Yoruba have a large Muslim population, but I am in full support of a united East. You can pursue your "Southern Nigerian" route and I will pursue my Eastern Nigerian route. Just do not get in the way.

@ EzeUche, why would I stand in your way. Don't try to make out that I'm your enemy, why not try to punch holes in my
arguments instead of trying to make out that I'm an obstacle or enemy?

If you read my posts I have merely tried to reason with you by discerning the various ways that certain objectives can be achieved.

I note that you did not answer my question: Do you really believe that the Yoruba in the West would be willing to fight a War
to keep peoples of the East in a UNION of Southern Nigeria?

@Shango Thor

The dissimilarities between southern Sudan and Biafra include the geographical location, culture, tradition, composition of the combatants and sheer determination to continue fighting despite defeats.

In Sudanese civil war, which stated in 1955, the entire southern Sudan united against the northern Sudan. But this scenario is not applicable to Nigerian civil war of 1967 which saw majority of southern Nigeria joined forces with northern Nigeria against eastern Nigeria. It is highly unfathomable to urge Biafrans to join a phantom project such as southern Nigeria which may include former bitter enemies. The civil war had left indelible mark of hostilities on the mentality and spirituality of everyone involved in the war.

The similarities of southern Sudan and Biafra teeter on multiple ethnic groups with cultural proximity that decided to form a country different from the nation state erected by colonial masters. Even though there were saboteurs among certain minority groups of eastern Nigeria during the war, the fence could be amended since most of the determined Biafran fighters were drawn from those groups.

I do not subscribe to the idea of southern Nigeria because it is not mentally and spiritually obtainable.