Igbo must not fight against Ijaw

Nigerian Army: wants to us Igbo to fight Ijaw

By Tim Tochukwu

For Biafra Choice Writers

"Biafrans are wiser today, and must stand together" 

That recent incident which took place at the 82^nd Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu, Enugu State, should be enough an eye-opener to every Biafran; on the kind of war games Nigeria is playing with Biafran peoples.

Nigeria is already experiencing great difficulties in its combat with freedom fighters in the riverine areas of Biafra – the creeks (the place Nigeria calls Niger Delta). Their offence is that they demand to be free from the suffocating presence of Nigerian occupation forces in their land. They are freedom fighters, but Nigeria labels them militants.

As a result of the difficulties Nigeria is experiencing, battling them in that area of Biafraland, Nigeria realized that it needed more daring soldiers to be drafted to the area. So, it beckoned on its General Officer Commanding (GOC) its 82^nd Division in Enugu, Enugu State, General Ibrahim Attahiru (a Muslim Northerner) to provide such soldiers.

The GOC’s solution was to appoint two Commanders on the bases of where they came from. He chose one from the North (a core Nigerian location); and the other from the South-west (another core Nigerian location). None came from Biafraland.

But on the choice of the foot-soldiers, they chose all, 54 in number, to be from Biafraland. Not only that they were from Biafraland, they were all from the Igbo-speaking area of Biafra. The intention, most obviously, was that the Nigerians wanted to use it in deepening its divide-and-rule, a strategy they have always used against Biafrans. They hoped to use it to deepen the hatred amongst Biafran peoples. They believed that Biafrans fighting against Nigerian forces in the creeks were only Ijaw people, and so they needed to pitch the Igbo against them. Put in a different way, they were playing at setting Igbo-speaking Biafrans to fight against Ijaw-speaking Biafrans.

This was what triggered off the reported shooting in Enugu among Nigerian Army personnel. One of the 54, saddened by the development had sought to know the criteria used in throwing-up only Igbo-speaking Biafrans for the assignment. One of the commanders picked offense and demanded to know where he got the cheek from to ask such a question when given a military order. In rising anger, he pulled out his gun and shot the young soldier on the forehead, killing him on the spot. Another soldier who is among the enlisted soldiers could not contain himself; he pulled his own gun out and took down the commander, killing him on the spot too. Then directed the gun on the second commander before the GOC saved the day.

The message to all Biafrans today is that they must do everything humanly possible to resist attempts by Nigeria to pitch them against themselves. Both in the military – in the barrack and at the war front- Biafrans must conduct themselves in full understanding of the evil that is Nigeria.

If Nigeria must fight any Biafran group, either in a media war or in a shooting war, Biafrans must be wise enough not to allow themselves to be used. If Nigeria wants a shooting war in its attempt to resolve a problem, which could easily be resolved through peaceful means, they should do so without involving Biafrans.

Biafrans are wiser today, and must stand together.