Biafra phenomenon isn’t what we can sweep under the carpet anymore, with the coming of Nnamdi Kanu, his imprisonment, release and soaring popularity has endeared him to many Nigerians either for his intellectual sagacity, his courage or his stand. The Igbo nation has rallied around him and they have seen him as a “Messiah” of a sort and reasons are not far-fetched. Today, a lot of proponents of referendum or Biafra have called on the need to have a national dialogue or what I can call a “Chit Chat”. Some people have said that, for Biafra to be realistic, Igbos must leave their places of sojourn for Igbo land. With accusation and counter accusation, a lot have been said with the Northern Youths leading the herd by declaring October 1st as sacrosanct and imperative. How this plays out, time will tell.

As objective as I want to sound, though a lot of sensibilities would be hurt, as it is a popular cliché, Truth Hurts and I know that some of my readers would not find this comfortable.



Referendum: Nnamdi Kanu and his Biafra followers are calling for a referendum, and from my engagements with some Nigerians over this issue, a lot of Nigeria seems not to understand the meaning of referendum, they get agitated and the shout of war or is it repetition and revisiting 1967 fiasco comes to their mind. Maybe, it has to do with the way the process is sounding or the big name “Referendum”. It will be nice for us to understand this concept and know that this concept isn’t a stranger in Nigeria. Though it is claimed the the Nigerian constitution does not recognize it but also not mentioning it in the constitution doesn’t mean that the constitution is against it. It basically means that the constitution is silent on the salient term “Referendum” and we must get this clear. Maybe, I will engage my lawyer friends and in-law more of this. In a simple term, a referendum is basically a civil process and a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct and simple decision. As you can see, it is not a war room term or military term, but a civil and democratic term, and Nigeria being a democracy, must adhere to the rules of democracy. That is what civilized people do and Nigeria as the giant of Africa must demonstrated that, we must learn how to solve and settle issues nicely and in a civilized way, just like the European Union settled with Britain on the Brexit. Nobody threatened the UK with missiles and nuclear annihilation. They had a simple vote and so be it. Unity of any entity is always talked about and agreed upon and not imposed. This is what African leaders must understand, Nigeria inclusive. Remember that we had referendum in Nigeria during the Northern Cameroon referendum where some parts of Cameroon decided to be part of Nigeria in 1959 -1961. Also the Midwest creation was as a result of referendum around 1963.



Some other “intelligent” Nigerians would parrot is that all Igbo must go home, we have seen that in the narratives of the Northern Youth elements, the Igbo are still Nigerians at least for now and they deserve the right to stay anywhere in the country , provided that they are doing the right thing, until the creation of Biafra. This is when they can be tagged immigrants. Nigerians didn’t leave United Kingdom when they gained independence from her, nor did the United Kingdom and British citizens leave EU when they voted out. This is one thing we must understand and stop these animosities and bickering. Let us assume that Biafra comes to fruition or reality, if Biafra is in ECOWAS region, it also means that Igbo have the right to be in Nigeria and any other country in ECOWAS region. This is what these “intelligent “analysts must understand and come to terms with.



Africans don’t learn, especially from history. Nigerians have a lot of these unlearning folks. A lot of countries are attracting high capacity building and quality immigrants to their countries and states, while Africans are busy swimming in the waters of xenophobic tendencies as demonstrated by the Northern Youths and their lousy declaration. A quick one, Uganda, a country in the eastern flank of Africa was once ruled by Idi Amin, one of Africa’s finest dictator, he addressed himself as the conqueror of British Empire, at a point, he thought to himself or advised that the Asians are milking the Ugandan economy, he made a decree that all the Asian community in that country should leave. 1972, a whole lot of Asian of Chinese heritage around 80,000 left Uganda to countries of Canada, United States, Kenya and India .



One thing that is common, these countries accepted these Asians, they came with their expertise and the host countries are better off. Today, all these countries are better in terms of development with Uganda surpassed by Kenya. The same thing played out in Zimbabwe where the foreign farmers were chased out, by the primus interperes dictator ever known to the mankind, Zimbabwe’s strong man, Robert Mugabe. The farmers left, the economy left with them, as of this time of report, Zimbabwe is in a sorry state. A country that once considered printing one trillion dollar note. This is to demonstrate how the country has fallen from a thriving country known as Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, a charity seeking nation to say the least, competing with the poorest of the poor like Haiti et al. Now, as of 80s, I learnt that Nigerians chased Ghanaians away, in their Ghana must go mentality by Lagos mob. Oh, yes, it might be a sore part of our history but we must say it, we felt or the Lagos mob felt that Ghana was taking over the jobs, precisely 1985, I was six years old then, this madness of chasing away of our brother which started in 1983 and reached a climax of 1985 saw Ghanaians leaving Nigeria especially Lagos. They ate the humble pie and went back to build their economy. Today, Ghana is better than Nigeria in many aspects like electricity, stability and higher international ratings.



Now, they are saying that Igbo will leave Lagos, though in a hush – hush tones, what they have refused to understand is that if Igbo leave Lagos, Lagos will be in the same league of desolate cities like Ibadan, once regional capital that Lagos robbed its aura. A country and city is made thick not by the structures alone but the humans and quality of economic activities therein. A critical analyst will understand that non Yorubas make up to 55.5% of Lagos population. The Igbo, Hausa, Efik and other Minorities like Urhobo , Esan etc make up Lagos. Now, Igbo makes up about 70% of this non Yoruba group, contributing to the economic wellbeing of the state, which contributes to what makes the city thick. Now, let us assume that about 4 million Igbo residing in Lagos leaves, like the way some leave during Christmas seasons, taking with them a minimum of N10, 000 Multiplied 4 million by 10,000 is equals to N40 billion. This is the minimum amount of money that would leave the city, excluding the expertise, investment and other ripple effects that will be affected by this exodus as we see during Christmas. If such a money and expertise leaves any city in Africa, the money follows the expertise and this would be the downfall of Lagos, embassies will leave for the new countries, oil majors will relocate, business will relocate, capitals will be repatriated and expertise will be relocated. A vacuum will be created just like it was in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti and other countries governed by the black man. Other forward thinking countries will attract the people, so our loss will be their gain. This will affect the property prices in Lagos and business rating.



We totally understand the way an average Northern youth reasons, we totally understand their psychology and theocracy. They have demonstrated that over the years, but for Lagosians to thinker with the idea is akin to shooting themselves in the foot. The Ghana must go saga is a sore point, let us learn how to attract the best hands and build our cities. Dubai is being built and made thick today by foreigners, Lagos is made thick today by foreigners and failure to appreciate these simple concepts will put Lagos economy on the path of perdition. That is a prediction. Besides that, not all Igbo are in support of Biafra , so how do you sieve the wheat from the chaff? We must find a lasting solution to this and peacefully


https://etimes.com.ng/biafra-comes-igbos-leave-lagos-parts-nigeria-theory/

Biafra

Will the goats and cows understand.

They refused to learn from Brexit and European Union.

Food For Thought.

Great

Nicely written. I wish to also see a counter assertion by those that think they will be better off if Igbo's leave lagos.

This is a good piece but they won't listen because foolishness has beclouded their sense of reasoning. That is why they use referendum and war interchangeably and always shouting "leave" without minding the consequences.

Igbos are going nowhere until biafra is restored.if the zoo want war then it will start in lagos,abuja,kaduna and kano.never will our land be a battle field.

Nice piece

God bless you my brother, I pray they read this and change their mentality

Trut:
Nice piece

You won't see them here because of their fish brains

Warship:



You won't see them here because of their fish brains

That was a nice piece.....well analysed and dissected ..full if logicality

Etogist:
This is a good piece but they won't listen because foolishness has beclouded their sense of reasoning. That is why they use referendum and war interchangeably and always shouting "leave" without minding the consequences.

Nice submission I must say

Very insightful piece indeed.

Quite a beautiful piece. Only the wise will read and understand.

Right here in kano(Sabongari), Igbo's dominates the markets. They brought westernization to that town. An average Muslim folk will see that place as a forbidden place cus of their religion.

clubs, brothels, bars, hotels etc are all located in town were the Igbo's dominate. Now imagine the IGR these people generate for the state.


If Igbo's leave Kano, kano will only be a religious state were there's no social life and would have to solely depend on fg to pay her civil servants because of lack of IGR.

Yorubas do not 've the authority to tell any group to leave Lagos

Lagos is Benin kingdom territory
We from the kingdom of Benin want the yorubas to leave lagos

This is really insightful, Op God bless you, I have always said that the Igbos are very unique people that will succeed anywhere they find themselves, if they can be at the forefront of almost all economic activities in Nigeria despite their huge loss during the civil war, and despite not been enjoying the same privileges enjoyed by other tribes, yet they have broken grounds, these set of people are really unique, besides all around the globe, the Igbo nation is recording tremendous success (legitimately and illegitimately), so their success is not limited to Nigeria, I wish this country will be restructured and the injustices meted against the Igbo nation will be corrected, but it's quite unfortunate that the Northerners are not helping issues one bit, the recent drama in the National Assembly towards restructuring points that only disintegration will settle this situation.

according to ipob yoot,igbos own 90% of Nigeria,90%of China,80% of UK nd 70% of d world . Lagos as always being being better than ur ur landlocked state combines even before independent nd before ur forefathers came to Lagos to enjoy the Yoruba success.u guys are the cause of most of the vices in lagos like deugs,fake products,kidnapping nd dad rest yet u guys are very ungrateful always insulting the same Yoruba that u write meaningless articles Just to live in there land.well even if u guys are allowed to stay in lagos (igbo man London),we would burn yll ass with tax nd we would treat u guys like foreigners in fact worst than foreigners


I don't care about anybody dat attack me though

Afonjas should migrate back to Togo,
Because Lagos is Benin empire

Irrespective of Aunty Kemi's madness, she did fail to understand that fact.

Nicely written. Obsessed northern slaves will Dodge this thread.

I find it really strange that some writer would just conjure up so many unfounded statistics and everybody will just accept it as the Gospel truth.

mykel20:
I find it really strange that some writer would just conjure up so many unfounded statistics and everybody will just accept it as the Gospel truth.

Mister, nothing stops you from countering the writer's assertions, that's if you are intelligent and logical enough to even give it a trial.

mykel20:
I find it really strange that some writer would just conjure up so many unfounded statistics and everybody will just accept it as the Gospel truth.

Is the statistics the problem or the narrative and the paradigm shift

menace1:
according to ipob yoot,igbos own 90% of Nigeria,90%of China,80% of UK nd 70% of d world . Lagos as always being being better than ur ur landlocked state combines even before independent nd before ur forefathers came to Lagos to enjoy the Yoruba success.u guys are the cause of most of the vices in lagos like deugs,fake products,kidnapping nd dad rest yet u guys are very ungrateful always insulting the same Yoruba that u write meaningless articles Just to live in there land.well even if u guys are allowed to stay in lagos (igbo man London),we would burn yll ass with tax nd we would treat u guys like foreigners in fact worst than foreigners


I don't care about anybody dat attack me though

I don't think this is a ddick measuring exercise or a tribal ranting home...the writer opined some salient point....we are not doubting the ownership of Lagos....the Oba of Lagos has laid that assertion to rest with his pronouncements


What we should look at is what the writer posted vis a via the Impact of foriegners in Lagos


That's all


Can we get intellectual here

Nice write up.

First post in six months, enjoyed a long ban by one bitter mod who feels he has a right to resources that are not his-we know them......afonjazyy

Jokers!!!

The truth is here to stay.

My advise to these parasites is make hay while we allow the sun to shine on you!!!!

IkpuMmadu:


I don't think this is a ddick measuring exercise or a tribal ranting home...the writer opined some salient point....we are not doubting the ownership of Lagos....the Oba of Lagos has laid that assertion to rest with his pronouncements


What we should look at is what the writer posted vis a via the Impact of foriegners in Lagos


That's all


Can we get intellectual here

u didn't see some Igbo shouting that afonja should migrate to Togo nd making tribalistic comment.the fact is when ipob leave Nigeria,we remaining Nigeria will make Nigeria hot for the remaining igbos there.u can't eat ur cake nd still av it.i wish u guys can leave today self if possible .

menace1:
u didn't see some Igbo shouting that afonja should migrate to Togo nd making tribalistic comment.the fact is when ipob leave Nigeria,we remaining Nigeria will make Nigeria hot for the remaining igbos there.u can't eat ur cake nd still av it.i wish u guys can leave today self if possible .

Bros even when Nigeria got her independence, Britain and other countries never made it hot for Nigerian citizens reciding there.
I don't know how pain you are or emotionally disconnected with the Igbos.
But most times tamper hatred with love.

Nice piece! ..but assumption that Igbos will leave Nigeria like the case of Ghanaians ia very wrong! ...I hv lots of Igbo friends which life has well saturated in the west ...if Nnamdi Kanu or any other kanu threatens to curse Igbos who won't leave Nigeria n go with to Biafra ...these guys won't leave

Fine I admit Igbos are business oriented but yu should kno in a world of business ...not only is the seller important ..the customer is very important! ...without the customers ...businesses woud crumble! ...now tell those Igbo's shop yu see lurking round every corner ...who do you think patronises them most! ...it is the yorubas

Yorubas love fashion ... they love showing off! ...they are the best customers! ... That's wat the Igbos are exploiting! ...there cannot be an Igbo's business with a regular Yoruba customer!

Biafra can come ..but that won't change any of us relationship with the Igbos around my area! ...so yu think they will leave their shop n customers n follow Kanu to his cannan land!

... Igbos are so money oriented ...they will surely calculate the cost of leaving their shop n their customers before thinking of using google maps for relocation to Papa kanu's land!

Yu Igbos can leave oo! ...but my Chinedu n Blessing are not leaving! ...hu will keep me company when they are gone! ... A.y ke! ...these guys are funnier than A.y n Bovi combined!

limeta:
Yorubas do not 've the authority to tell any group to leave Lagos

Lagos is Benin kingdom territory
We from the kingdom of Benin want the yorubas to leave lagos

And d aworis u met in Lagos ar who?

dreamwords:

Afonjas should migrate back to Togo,
Because Lagos is Benin empire

Hehe, and d aworis they met dere nko, dey should relocate for dem too