FESTIVAL OF MOURNING

By: Mike H.

The caption of this write-up is inspired by the erudite piece of Prof Wole Soyinka in his essay, ‘Village Mourners Association’. In that piece, the grey-haired Professor, took us to 1976 when one Military Dictator was assassinated, and in a bid to honour his death, his second in-command declared two weeks of mourning in the whole country.

As a result, a very sharp group quickly formed something that was called the ‘National Mourners Association’ (NMA). While Nigerians were mourning the fallen Dictator, NMA was busy touring the world, sponsored by the government, to take the gospel of anguish to every corner of the world that boasted a Nigerian diplomatic mission. That was at the death of Murtala Mohammed.

Those who are current would recall that Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), recently went to Igweocha (Port-Harcourt) in one of his Campaigns for the restoration of Biafra.  Igweocha, on 20th January 2017 witnessed one of the world’s most brutal repressions when Nigerian law enforcement agents massacred hundreds of armless Biafrans from Rivers State and other places in Biafraland, during IPOB Trump solidarity Rally.

The sad development of 20th January to every discerning mind is sufficient, if not compellable, to warrant Kanu’s visit to Port-Harcourt. However, I personally think it was a wise decision on his part that he visited Rivers State, where many of our youths were killed on his behalf while he was in prison. He did the same at Nkpor, Anambra State, where hundreds of armless Biafrans were ambushed and slaughtered by the happy-trigger cobra and zebra uniform men.

Kanu’s visit was received by millions of Biafrans from all around Rivers State, in what could best be described as a tsunami of a crowd. Major roads in Port-Harcourt were under serious grid lock, and different eye-witness gave an estimation of about two or three million people who were live at the event in solidarity with Kanu. The crowd culminated at Port-Harcourt High Way when Kanu stood in the open-hoof to bid farewell to the people. Kanu’s street credibility was acknowledged by the people.

This popular support of the people has attracted (and is still attracting) a lot of reactions from observers. And many have expressed their views that Kanu indeed has the support of the people; those who debated us on this subject before have come to agree that Kanu is on a special mission to restore justice on the conscience of mankind. However, there are those who said the period of the debate has not closed. This group of people said that Kanu should be poisoned; others said he should return to Kuje prison walls. They are the ones to whom this piece is targeted.

Since Kanu’s successful tours across all the states in Eastern Region began, I thought that the several calls to get him back to Kuje were made by some faceless non-existing entities, whose life is primordial to the wretched brown-envelop, mischievous and misinforming journalism along Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, only to realize recently that those drowning voices were coming from the ever cowardly-lazy and parasitic Yoruba youths, who have made Kanu’s tsunamic popularity their own book of lamentation and festival of mourning.
It is amazing that the first person to express his anger over Kanu’s successful visit to Igweocha was Adeyanju Deji, a Yoruba man, who claims to believe in democratic fundamentals but abhors liberty and right to freedom of speech. He took his unconcealed animosity to his Twitter handle and wrote thus: ‘’If I’m a governor & Nnamdi Kanu steps his foot in my state to preach his no election campaign, he will be arrested & prosecuted in the State’’.

Few days after Adeyanju Deji published his spiteful heart on Tweeter, some confused and mentally deranged relevance-seeking Yoruba youths under the auspices of Yoruba Youth Congress (YYC) and the Coalition of South-West Group, called on Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo to order the immediate arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for trying to ‘provoke the Nigerian youths’ (whatever such rubbish means). This recent call for the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu is what I considered sufficient to be ‘Festival of Mourning’ for these Yoruba groups.
On this note, I would like to ask these busybody Yoruba youths why they have accepted to be the mouthpiece of the Fulani? Why have you Yoruba always thought that by conspiring against the Biafran people, you would be relevant in the Nigerian political equation?  Why do you always side with the Fulani to demonize the Biafran people, but you know whom the demons are, or don’t you?

If Buhari can kill our youths at Nkpor, Aba and Igweocha and get away with it; if 850 Christians in Southern Kaduna can be killed without no one been arrested; if Madam Bridget can be beheaded in Kano by the Fulani religious extremists; if the Fulani herdsmen can kill more than 2,000 people in Agatu and Nimbo without no single arrest; upon what moral ground do you stand to call on Osinbajo to order Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest?

Since you have accepted to remain at the corner where the Fulani has kept you, we the Biafran people have refused to tour the way of the coward. We reject slavery. We reject Ahmadu Bello’s overt Declaration to Islamise and conquer the South. We have long rejected Nigeria for your information, and there is nothing you can do or say that can make us quit Biafra restoration. We have gone a long way to turn back.

The distance between Biafra, Arewa and Oduduwa is sufficient to make you appreciate the fact that it is not the will of God to make us one people. We will continue to fight our way out of Nigeria, which is a product of British Colonialism. And when we are gone, the Fulani will not call you their ally; you will become the perfect slave, which of course you have long wanted to be.

You can continue to mourn because we are foisting your psychological games on our people. You can continue to mourn because we are ten-times ahead of your diversionary tactics. You can continue to mourn because we are more united now than ever. You can continue to mourn because you can no longer penetrate our impenetrable defence and Intelligence with your poisonous media. You can continue to mourn because your treachery has been exposed to the international community, and now you are losing your allies.

Rather than tell Osinbajo to declare one month of National Mourning for the lonely Londoner, who left Nigeria to London Hospital since19 January 2017, you are busy trying to misinform the world that Nnamdi Kanu is trying to ‘provoke Nigerian youths’. The same Nigerian youths, whose future has been ruined by the Fulani oppressive state.  You can mourn and mourn until you become National Mourners Association. Nnamdi Kanu’s popularity will continue to hurt you until you perish in your festival of mourning.

The Festival of Ashura in the Islamic world is mapped out for the commemoration and mourning of the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed. This festival is marked by 10 days of mourning, in which many devotees whip and cut themselves with chains and knives, and some drive knives into their scalps and is seen as a way of washing away their sins. These Yoruba sadists can join the next Ashura Festival of Mourning and wash away their wicked souls in their own blood.