OKPALAEZENRI EMEKA ONYESOH REACTION TO OHANAEZE SPEECH AT CHATHAM HOUSE, LONDON  

Beautiful speech! No boats rocked. Very diplomatic and polite!          

But one thing worries me. The issue driving the ordinary Igbo man on the street and which he is mad about, and which alienates him from Nigeria is not marginalization. It is indeed enslavement and exclusion.

Consequently, can someone explain to me how the VERY MODERATE RESTRUCTURING OF NIGERIA AS PROPOSED BY OHANAEZE SOLVE FOLLOWING PERSEVERING AND GNAWING ISSUES FOR NDIGBO IN NIGERIA:

Enslavement of the Igbo by the Nigerian oligarchy - killing anyhow; raping and defiling Igbo women anywhere, anyhow; cattle Fulani herdsmen Islamic militants even in our ancestral homes; indiscriminate deployment of troops and Police to Igbo homeland and harassment/killings by these Security agents; indiscriminate massacre of the Igbo all over the North and even in Abuja - the Federal Capital; abduction, rape, forced conversion to Islam, marriage, pregnancy of under-aged girls without parental consent and in violation of constitutional provisions (adult women sometimes included). What about holding no one to account for all these atrocities? It is common knowledge that one act of impunity unaccounted for, yields many. We have all witnessed how "Quit Notice,"(apparently inspired by the oligarchy and the Federal Government) condoned by Igbo leadership, which preferred to nurse "hate speech" protection, whilst sitting on crime against humanity -"Threat to commit Genocide" on 11.5million Igbo in the North, metamorphosed into open declaration by State authorities of all Igbo who might ordinarily mouth rejection of present Enslavement and Exclusion of the Igbo by Nigeria, as "Terrorist act" in its IPOB Prohibition as Terrorist Order.

How does restructuring, restructure the mindset that has restructured Nigeria by over 60% into an Islamic Republic? What about the 12 Islamic Republics in the North fully under Sharia Law? Sharia is widely known to be antithetical to fundamental human rights, National Constitutions and Common Law. How do Igbos in the North live there as free citizens, except as slaves; whereas Northerners live in our homelands as over-lords? What about the activities of Hisbah Police in the North? What about two levels of citizenship rights all over Nigeria? Can any of the 600 resolutions of President Jonathan's 2014 Conference MEANINGFULLY address any of the above troubling Igbo issues? I have my grave reservations from an in- depth study of all the resolutions. (The Review is in print).

The cure for any Health condition begins with correct diagnosis. Igbo ailments have not been correctly diagnosed by Igbo leadership.

James Madison, Jr.1751 – 1836) political theorist, American statesman, who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–17), otherwise hailed as the "Father of the U.S. Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting it; and the U.S. Bill of Rights, knew the weaknesses in mankind when he enthused:

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." 

Mahatma Gandhi knew what freedom meant for colonial peoples when he advised his people during the Indian independence struggle, as follows:

“The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states.”

The Igbo nation must stop pretending that Ndigbo are free people in Nigeria. The moment Igbo accept that they are indeed slaves in Nigeria, they will begin to talk and reason like slaves who value liberty and wish to be free. They will begin to boldly demand it; politely, persistently and peacefully too. 

I am by all standards an elder and therefore bound to unreservedly speak the truth as I see it.

 Another 25 to 50 years, it will require a Crusade to save the Igbo from total annihilation.

OkpalaEzeNri Chukwuemeka I. Onyesoh

Enugu

28^th September, 2017.