The reason behind the sit-at-home protest lunched few weeks ago by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has generated a lot of controversies and misinterpretation that there is an urgent need for clarifications.
The fact is that unlike IPOB’s previous sit at homes it protests, especially the ones announced and supervised when Nnamdi Kanu was in control at Radio Biafra, there were no proper sensitizations concerning the present sit-at-home. In fact, not just that some people are beginning to ask, why are we sitting at home, there are others who have gone as far as caricaturing the whole process as self-destructive.
However, before making this intervention, I need to state here in clear terms that I’m not the IPOB’s Publicity Secretary. Emma Powerful, the brilliant chap who occupies that position is doing a fantastic job and I believe IPOB is proud of him and is not in any way thinking of replacing him. I am not even a registered member of IPOB but as Biafrans, we all have the civic responsibility to ensure that our people are properly informed on the struggle for freedom especially when they are called upon to make sacrifices such as the sit at home that affect their means of livelihood. Now then, what is the main purpose for the sit at home? We commence by addressing the most popular misinformation, particularly those flying around on the social media.
Misinformation about the Sit-at-Home
1.To secure Kanu’s Release from Incarceration
Apparently, the first and most popular misinformation being circulated about the sit-at home is that it is lunched to secure the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the incarcerated supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. Obviously, it will be crazy to state that Kanu’s ordeal in the dungeon of the Nigeria state is not part of the reasons the sit-at-home was lunched but it will also be irresponsible to think that about 10million people are sitting at home just to have Kanu released.
Kanu is not a criminal, he is arrested for a purpose and when his supporters and sympathizers protest, they are not protesting for Kanu as a person but the purpose for which he is arrested. There are thousands of Igbos either killed or incarcerated all over Nigeria but no one has sat at home on their behalf. The point therefore is that people are not just sitting at home because of Kanu’s arrest, they are sitting at home because of a goal, a picture bigger than Kanu’s release and if Kanu’s release from incarceration comes into that picture at all, it is because the people believe that his release will further their quest towards the bigger picture.
2.To send a message to President Mohammadu Buhari
Another false reason bandied around in recent days about the sit at home is that it is lunched to send a message to President Mohammadu Buhari. The logic which makes the first reason wrong nullifies this second reason as well. 10million people cannot be sitting at home to send a message to Buhari as a person. That will be the craziest thing to do and Ndi Igbo are not known for doing crazy things. Their brilliant achievements all over the world speak for them. Consequently, if Buhari comes into the picture at all, he is there because he stands between Ndi Igbo and the bigger goal they are pursing through the sit at home.
In this context, Buhari is as important in the sit-at-home exercise as much as Nnamdi Kanu is. The two of them are not the cause of the sit-at-home. They are in the picture because they serve as conduits through which the Igbo are passionately and single-mindedly pursuing what they want in Nigeria.
The inability to make the distinction I have just drawn here is the reason behind the misinformation flying all over the places. People feel that because Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of IPOB, when he is incarcerated and IPOB issues a sit-at-home protest and 10million people obey, they are doing it simple because they want Kanu released. This is not true. Kanu of course, knows this that is why he kept saying: whether I am alive or dead, in the end Biafra will come.” He knows the bigger picture (the aspiration of Ndi Igbo for good leadership) is both bigger and older than him.
Also, people feel that because Buhari is the president of Nigeria, when a sit at home order is obeyed by the Igbo, it is aimed at Buhari. That is also not true. One day, Buhari will no long be the Nigerian President; one day, Nnamdi Kanu will no longer be in prison but the Igbo will continue to sit at home to protest the tragedy that Igbo land and Nigeria have come to be. This brings us to the main reason for the current sit at home.
The Main reasons for the Sit-at-Home
As vote of no confidence on Igbo/Southeast leaders
The sit-at-home is first and foremost a vote of no confidence on the leadership in Igbo land, ranging from Ohaneaze to the governors. People are tired of the lack of leadership exhibited by Igbo elites over the years. Today, the Southeast is a waste land of underdevelopment, the roads are impassable, there is no water, no industry, the youths are massively unemployed and there are those who claim to be the representatives of the people.
Now, governance is about control; about who is in charge and you cannot govern those you don’t you have no control over. By obeying the sit-at-home order, the residence of the Southeast are effectively saying to their elites, we have lost every confidence we have in your leadership and we are transferring this confidence to IPOB.
With the almost 100% compliance to the sit at home order, in spite of all the threats from Southeast governors and pleas from Ohanaeze, the Biafran agitators have effectively taken over the Southeast.
This development has a lot of political implication. Imagine a situation where IPOB orders a sit at home on the day of Anambra governorship election and everyone complies. Yes, they may install anyone they want but that person will be without legitimacy and that will mark the beginning of the end of one Nigeria in Igbo land.
Southeast politicians know this which is why they are running around, holding meetings, making threats and asking religious leaders to intervene on their behalf at the same time. They know their political careers are online if the sit-at-home is allowed to continue.
Forget the talk about the economy. How many industries have they built in the Southeast to show they care about the economy; what about the roads? Economic activities are not run in the type of muds that the Southeast roads have become. The so called presidency is also aware of the terrible consequences the sit-at-home has for their creed on one Nigeria. Any day all the people of the Southeast get up to say they want Biafra in unison not even the combined forces of all the security agencies in Nigeria can stop them. This is why the Presidency is not only putting pressure on the Southeast governors but is also using its DSS attack dogs to do whatever they can to scuttle the sit-at-home.
As it stands now, the defacto ruler of Igbo land is IPOB and this is the greatest political capital any pressure group can ask for. The implication is that power is gradually but surely returning to the people. Every polity is dynamic. Elections which supposedly should be the means of holding politicians to account have failed in Igbo land. The people don’t matter because with or without our elections they still rig themselves into power. What elections failed to achieve is what the sit at home is on the verge of achieving for Ndi Igbo. That is why the process must not be scuttled. It is working and no sane person disbands the winning team.
