Given the unfolding events in our country I believe that this is the time for deep introspection and sobre reflection.
I am not a member of IPOB, I have never attended any IPOB meeting and neither am I Igbo. I am however deeply concerned about what is going on in our country, what the Igbos are being subjected to and what I consider to be the greatest assault on the human rights and civil liberties of the Nigerian people since the military left power in 1999.
A violation of the constitutional right of freedom of association and freedom of speech affects not just those that have been targetted but each and every one of us.
An act of injustice against one is an act of injustice against all. What affects the part also affects the whole. If you beat my neighbours child it is as good as beating mine and consequently I have a duty to defend that child.
That is the essence of humanity and chivalry: to speak up for those that are being persecuted, to defend the defenceless, to fight for those that are too weak to fight for themselves and to be the voice of the voiceless.
We must cultivate the discipline and courage to defend the right of others to be different and to think differently from us and to express contrary views.
We may not all agree with the style, language and objectives of IPOB but we surely have a duty before God and the law to defend, uphold and affirm their right to express themselves in any way that they deem fit providing they do not threaten or hurt others whilst doing so.
This is the very essence, foundation and indeed cornerstone of freedom and democracy and if we allow the government to take that away from us and to get away with what they are doing without a stiff challenge we are finished as a people.
It is IPOB today but tomorrow it could be OPC, Ijaw Youth Council, Ohaneze, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Arewa Youths, Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum or indeed anyone else.
I have never heard of a “terrorist” organisation that has not killed or threatened to kill anyone and that has totally rejected the idea of violence and an armed struggle.
I have never heard of a “terrorist” organisation whose only aspiration is to have a referendum to determine whether or not their people should or should not remain in Nigeria.
I have never heard of a “terrorist” organisation whose only objective is the peaceful and lawful exercise of the right of self-determination.
I have never heard of a “terrorist” organisation whose only crime is to take objection to the stripping away of their historical and cultural identity and to speak out against the willful marginalisation and mass murder of their people.
I have never heard of a “terrorist” organisation who believe in passive and non-violent resistance and who consistently emphasise the importance of peaceful opposition.
Saying that IPOB is a terrorist organisation is like saying that Mother Theresa is the Marquis De Sade. It is like saying that an angel from heaven is a demon from hell. It is like saying that Little Red Riding Hood is the hungry and ravenous wolf.
It is like saying that Snowhite is Jack the Ripper. It is like saying that Florence Nightingale is Aleister Crowley. It is like saying that the Apostle Paul is Anton La Vey.
It is like saying that John the Baptist is Atilla the Hun. It is like saying that Desmond Tutu is Ghengis Khan. It is like saying that John Knox is Adolf Hitler.
It is like saying that Martin Luther King is Osama Bin Ladin. It is like saying that Nelson Mandela is Ali Al Baghdadi. It is like saying that Mahatma Ghandi is Abubakar Shekau.
It is like saying that Amnesty International are the Fulani Herdsmen. It is like saying that Medecine Sans Frontier is Boko Haram. It is like saying that Human Rights Watch is ISIS.
It is like saying that the white dove of love and peace is the savage, cruel, blood-crazed and cadavar-eating vulture from the seventh circle of hell.
It is like saying that ice is fire. It is like saying that a believer is an infidel. It is like saying that a peaceful preacher is a violent blasphemer.
Such a designation and categorisation is unhelpful, inappropiate and unfair. It is a damning and specious lie that has been put out by a Federal Government that is paranoid, weak, bereft of ideas and scared of it’s own shadow.
It is a desperate attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is childish nonsense and it does not make sense.
Finally came the most absurd allegation of all: that IPOB is being funded by “treasury looters”, “disgruntled” and “destabilising” elements “in the opposition” and by France.
Some assertions are so insane and asinine that they ought not to be dignified with a response and this is one of them.
I urge IPOB to go to court and have the order that has designated them as a terrorist organisation set aside.
I also urge President Muhammadu Buhari and his Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to remember that when they exercised their right of freedom of speech three years ago and openly defended Boko Haram by saying respectively that “an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north” and that it was “unconstitutional” and “unlawful” to ban them no-one threatened them with arrest because the government of that day had the prescence of mind to recognise the fact that the right to express one’s opinion, no matter how reprehensible that opinion may be, is enshrined in the constitution.
The Federal Government should take a queue from that and stop trying to manufacture a crisis where there is none or kill a fly with a sledgehammer.
They should also consider declaring the Fulani militants and herdsmen, who have been described by the International Terror Index as the “fourth most deadly terrorist organisation in the world” and who have killed more innocent Nigerians than any other terrorist organisation in the last two years, as the malevolent, vicious, murderous and bona fide cowards and terrorists that they are.
Sir, you are absolutely right the president of this country should know that, this is not a military reigime. I ThankGod for people like you, who stand for the truth and what is right. Surely your type will make heaven.
i respect you so much sir and thats why i am going to respond to your article. i must say i stopped reading at the second paragraph where u refered to the what the igbos are being subjected to as though they are the only one with grieveous issues. you are a politicians aso i am going to give it straight to you!!!! stop dividing us along tribal lines. No igbo man has suffered as much as i have from the middle belt.
this quarel isnt between me and the poor igbo man. its between me and you political class. you few previlaged ones who have stolen our national wealth and have denied us the previlages you have usurped and now you are trying to justif your actions by forcing me to blame someone else.
one day our eyes would be opened. just a little time. Femi, you are my problem!!!!!
Beida Philip, when you are ignorant you better keep your mouth shut and ask question to know. let me tell you if you don’t know. In this Buhari administration alone no Igbo man has been appointed a service chief, is it only the Fulani’s that are good in security chiefs? What about the kitchen cabinet is it only the Igbo’s that are too currupt to be appointed into Buhari kitchen cabinet? The recent appointment of the NNPC where two of the Igbo state are oil producing state, why did Buhari omitted the Igbo man in that list and gave it all to the north only two from south south and three from south west. Learn to call a spade a spade. Femi fani Kayode is 100% cotrect
I think you should also keep your mouth shut if you are ignorant cos I know for a fact that the south easterners have more appointments under the Buhari’s administration than any other region. Beyond that, please tell me how many Ebira’s have been appointed anything in this administration? The Ebira’s span at least four states in nigeria and yet you don’t see them crying like kids. Please grow up guys…..stop dividing us along tribal lines. The quarrel is simpler than you think; it’s us against them not tribal like you have been made to believe because you are so myopic you can’t think on your own.
How many votes you gave Buhari, politics is do me I do you
God bless you my brother
Oga fani omo ale wen you dey jona Govt as a minister did u stand and support any of dis nonsense you are saying we know more than enuf air dissterter that happen den wat did u for dis country it’s a shame we have pple like u from Yoruba land u r a traitor to Nigerian
Attacking personality will not help face the truths. A true leader at the centre of affairs must shun hate of ethnic nationality. This administration is guilty of.
Kayode, if you have nothing to say or to contribute to this write up, I advise that you please keep quiet! It isn’t compulsory that everybody who reads Fani-Kayode’s write up must reply to it either because they like him or because they hate him! Besides, your language use is languid and insufferable. Only a painstaking reader could essay to make meaning out of what rubbish you are trying to say. You have allowed your apathy for the writer to blindfold your reasoning for anything he says or scribbles on paper. What a shame!
You started by distancing your self with them. This to tell you how stupid KANU and his followers were. You have been inciting them to do all bad things like killing by burning alive people from the north attacking the military which is more dangerous, now they are called terrorist you are directing them to hell in directly. To Igbo’s FFK will only help you destroy your self and stay aside and lough of your ignorance
You’re only beclouded by ignorance and blind folded by tribal cum religious sentiments
I belueve in the unity of Nigeria. Also i believe that Restructuring is the only formula for peace and progress of my Country. The earlier we take that option the better.
I am from the northern part of Nigeria and I don’t agree with the northern elites that are afraid of restructuring. Yes, the North may loose the monthly allocation of oil money. But with the large and expansive agricultural land the North will be better off within a decade. Agriculture will empower our youth and reverse the present poverty index. If Bihari loves our people in the North, he must ensure that restructuring and fiscal federalism is achieved within the next five years. Also, restructuring will ensure that the politicians that make Abuja their haven shall return to their zones to develop their people.
On the issue of IPOB, I support the call by Obasanjo that Buhari set up a team to dialogue with them. There is discrimination against Igbo people under the current political dispensation. The race for the presidency of Nigeria will become more deadly in the future unless we decentralised through restructuring. The present situation in Nigeria only benefit the political class to the detriment of majority. Majority ( mostly the poor people) voted Buhari in 2015 because we thought he will return power to the people. With less than 20months to go the hope is rather dim.
We must preserve the Unity of Nigeria. It represents the hope of all black people. But the present presidential system is grossly unwieldy and too costly. We need to return to parliamentary democracy like we had after independence. The politicians will not give this to us, but I urge all lovers of progress, particularly the Youth to lobby and fight for this change to come sooner than later. Long live Nigeria.
I am sorry for the igbos that will listen to FFK who served in the most corrupt civilian government in Nigeria under Jonathan and refused to bury his face in shame as a Christian. Because you are evil that’s the you supporting IPOB to divide the country and kill innocent impoverished people of Nigeria. One day you will pay for the evil committed by you. God is watching.
but I have never seen any association with killing of security agencies and destroying innocent people’s properties and also religious places except IPOB. so they’ve deserve that.
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria!
I feel so ashamed to have been born from this Country. What a place where people do not judge you on the merit of whatever you say now but on antecedents. That one Philip Beida says he is from middle belt and he is marginalised and then he goes on to insult a selfless crusader.
Mr Kayode instead of heralding his brother (that is if you are actually Yoruba) for being so selfless went the fools way. What FFK is seeing in Nigeria’s political landscape is a dangerous shit that will hit the fan one day.
Kayode, have you tried to know what happened with Yemi Osinbanjo during Buhari’s second London treatment. Is it all okay as long as you are given some share of the booty. What stops you from getting equal share of the booty. Think my friend, think.
Wishing Chief Femi Fani Kayode more wisdom, courage and strength. Your inspiration will not seize. Despite theirs no perfect man, we must condemn illegality, Buhari Administration will be better as an elderly man seeing all Nigerian as his children, call whoever errs to talk. No government has all the answers. I wish Chief Fani Kayode well.