BIAFRA AT 50: LETTING GO OR NOT?

As someone who grew up almost exclusively in the South Eastern Part of Nigeria (Biafra Land if that's what suits you), I had my own share of hate for Nigeria and this kind of hate was worse because it started from childhood.
I can beat my chest that there's hardly anybody who grew in the East that did not at one point or the other exude the hope and belief that at some point, Biafra would attain Independence and break away from this land of suffering called Nigeria.
Mine was worse: in school, boys whose Parents probably had a share in the misfortunes of the war wowed us with stories of how Biafra would attain Independence and how we'd leave Nigeria to become a brand new country devoid of all the vicissitudes with which Nigeria had become inseparable from...and back home, we has a Landlord who from his comments was a high ranking member of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB...Landlord always told us tales of how the independence of Biafra was cast on stone... In fact, my first Biafran Pounds were given to me by Landlord who assured me that in a couple of months, it'd become the legal tender and we'd no longer have to use the Naira...Landlord assured me of a new lease of life under Biafra: he assured that when Biafra comes, everything would be cheap and life would be soft!
At that stage, you wouldn't blame me for being so passionate about Biafra at an early age: the allure of a better life in a new Country was irresistible to me even as an Eight Year old.
However, all of that started to change when I told my father about how I couldn't wait to leave Nigeria so that the hardship would be over.
Naturally, I was expecting him to also speak passionately about Biafra but I was disappointed: he appeared so dismissive that I didn't wait for him to go further before I realized how far fetched and unnecessary the idea was to him.
Then, I was 8 and I could have given anything to see that Biafra would exist: now, I'm 18(I'm not though) and my views have evolved.
Today would be exactly 50 years since that defining moment when Igbo Hero, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the independence of Biafra from Nigeria for an array of reasons with particular reference to the injustice that was being meted to the Igbo People by other tribes in Nigeria and the lack of Government action in remedying the situation.
50 years on, is there Social Justice in Nigeria?
50 years on, how has Nigeria treated Igbos?
50 years on, how much progress has Nigeria made in solving the very problems that led to the secession of Biafra and subsequently, the Civil War?
50 years on, Igbo's are still endangered species in the Nigerian Political space!
So, I get it when people say that we Igbos should move on from the pains of the war.
But how do you move on from losing over 2 million of your people?
How do you move on from the recurring images of those malnourished children who were the worst victims of the civil war?
Really, how do you move on from knowing that whenever there is conflict in Kaduna, Igbo businesses will definitely be targeted?
How do you move on from the feeling of what would have been?
How do you move on knowing that the very reasons for which a significant portion of an entire race were wiped off this earth have still not made way?
Frankly, it's hard to move on, knowing that Nigeria is not offering you what a State should offer her citizens?
And so, I understand perfectly, the advocacy for the actualization of Biafra.
I understand the hope that such prospects of a brand new country offers.
However, I also know that secession is not the way out of social injustice and marginalization, especially in the Biafran and Igbo context.
As Igbos in Nigeria, we are crying that the Government of Nigeria has been most unfair to us: we cry of marginalization and a progressive stride towards political irrelevance in Nigeria.
However, the question is Will the Independence of Biafra signal an end to Marginalization?
Will it mark the end of misrule?
Will it mark the beginning of a new era of an all inclusive Government?
The answer is that we can't run away from these problems by creating a new country of our own.
Even if God comes down tomorrow and declares that Biafra is now a Country of it's own, there will still be marginalization and discrimination.
For instance, you can be sure that the Man from Cross River State will be disrespected and seen as a minority by the other "Pure Igbos"...the man from Abakaliki will be perpetually perceived as the least educated and least qualified to hold any position by the Anambras in particular.
So, it is obvious that what we need is not breaking away from Nigeria on the grounds of the deluge of problems bedevilling her because even if we achieve Biafra, these same problems will persist at a grander scale.
The civil war still hurts and we still fight it in our heads but we must move on. But we can't just let go: Nigeria must give us reasons to let go!
In the end, like Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo said last week, at the #Biafra50 symposium organized by the Shehu Yaradua Centre, WE ARE GREATER TOGETHER THAN APART and echoing the words of Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo at the same event, WE MUST CONCENTRATE ON BUILDING NIGERIA, WE MUST LEARN FROM OUR HISTORY. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR US!

By
Wilson-Okereke Clinton Elochukwu.
400 Level, Faculty of Law.
University of Benin.