BIAFRA? SAI! AKPEYAAYAK!! (IN CASE OF LAST TIME)
The Breaking News is that Nigeria, our own dear
native land, is breaking. We keep segmenting or fragmenting as the “Atomistic
Society” which Professor Ayandele said is “always at war with itself”. Is the
cause that of leadership or citizenship? Whatever it is, the salvation of our
nation is the common business of us all. In the famous, succinct, but
paraphrased words of Thomas Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot (in Nigeria) will, in this crisis,
shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves
the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily
conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap (our fatherland), we
esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven
knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be so strange
indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM (plus genealogy, land, language,
culture, which are nature’s gifts) should not be highly rated…. I,
Aniefiokuduakabasiibom, call not upon a few, but upon all: not on Ibibio,
Annang , Oron, or Calabar, but on every part of Akwa Ibom and Cross River
States: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel, better have too much
force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the
future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue
could survive, that the united brothers of our land, alarmed at one common
danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.........
Turn out your tens of
thousands. Throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “show your
faith by your works”, that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or
what rank of life you hold, the evil or blessing will reach you all. The far
and the near, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. THE HEART THAT FEELS NOT NOW, IS DEAD: the
blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when
a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that
can smile in trouble; that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by
reflection. It is the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is
firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles
unto death”.
It is no more news that a Northern Youth Organization
issued a three-month EVICTION NOTICE or an ultimatum to Igbos resident in the
North to quit the Northern States of Nigeria. Individuals and groups have
written about that, more are still writing…this is my turn to make an input. It
is also a non-news that a coalition of Niger-Delta Militants is demanding from
Nigeria’s Federal Government the return of all oil blocks controlled by
Northerners to the people of the oil-producing region. The later’s demand is in
retaliation for the order issued by the former. I watched on NTA, June 14,
2017, how representatives of the Igalas of Nigeria reacted to the Igbo/Arewa
face-off and how they publicly disassociated themselves from the purported
inclusion of the area in Biafra…..So, an Igbo man is the man without a native
land; and a man who hasn’t learnt his lessons? If so, it serves the
domineering, insulting, boastful and shameless Biafrans right, doesn’t it? Sik-sang,
Sik-sang, Ubo Itie usurpers. That may give them a RETHINK.
The treaty is over. There’s nothing wrong in the
Igbos agitating for Sovereign State of Biafra or whatever they call it, there’s
equally nothing wrong in any group of people at all clamoring for whatever they
need. Minority Rights Activism is allowed, but must others be co-opted into
their separatist agitation without a national referendum and the other people’s
consent or agreement?
The National Boundary Commission knows the
demarcation, the marked out, determined, fixed or established boundaries
between the Igbo and Ibibio nationalities. For the Igbos to intend to trespass
into Ibibio territory (again) because of greed, and take Ibibio citizens along
as spoils of war or slaves, is a capital insult on the sensibilities of
well-meaning sons and scions of Ibibio land. It’s high time they advised
themselves, as that is a very tall dream or a mirage in the desert.
Kai! God forbids, my people, the Ibibio race, to be
continuously tagged “an ineffective majority”! Although its ultimate result
emanates from teamwork, it is my belief that the fate of a football group, even
the fate of an army, sometimes depends on the deed of one brave soul. In our
State, citizens who want to live forever are so docile that they cannot call a
spade or garden fork by their respective names. There are very few of them with
iron will who can say black is black or white is white. We don’t have
stout-hearted heroes. If timidity or cowardice doesn’t permit lily-livered and
caged Akwa Ibom persons to say the truth, greed does…….because they are nte-adia-ke-oboro-ono.
These are fickle men with dead souls who can sell their mothers or even
kill them for peanuts. They are afraid to tell their past and present
Governors, their parliamentarians, their President or any leader what must be
told, even if it offends them. Even in this whistle-blowing season, those who
have something to hoot about are scared stiff and shrinking; they only gossip in
undertones. They are waiting for Global
Concord or any truth-telling medium to “see something, say something”. They
are waiting for Aniefiok Essah, the Ama-mkpa,
to write or cough and be hanged. Why shouldn’t I do that if there be in me
a true force of character toward the general good? Why shouldn’t I say or write
it as it is if it is about a common goal that liberates and pleases my
oppressed, suppressed, depressed and distressed people….. If I perish, I perish.
The North-South dichotomy fuss, I believe, has
something to do with religion. I was of the opinion that all the Christian
leaders in this country who go in private jets and build private Universities
which even the members who contribute to their wealth cannot pay tuitions,
would team up and say: “Enough is enough. If the Northerners want to Islamize
Nigeria, let us also Christianize Nigeria”. But none of them wants to die and
leave their affluence, as if they came with anything into this world; each of
them wants to gain the whole world but lose not his soul. While
an Imam or Muslim is ready to die by suicide through bomb blast, our
Christian leaders go with strings of Aids-de-camp in case any weapon fashioned
against them may prosper, meaning they don’t have faith in the God they profess
serving. Who is fooling who? “Where are the Prophets?”, if I may ask like my
late brother, Peterside Otong.
If the self-acclaimed men of God have gone into
hiding or our “christianness” is taking long to bring results, let’s apply
radicality. Yes, where are all those killer-Christians in our midst - those Ifot, Uben, Nkurikut, Owot-owo,
Akpa-oduok-ikwa etc who boast of
their prowess in killing their fellow brothers?
Where are the Ekpe-ikpaukot or
man-leopard, the Ekpo-ndemisong etc? Where is the Unity of Ibibio Royal Fathers and
what are their advisory roles? Where is the unity of our exuberant youths?
Where are our wise men, our sound minds, our brothers’ keepers? Where is our
same-mindedness? Where are the Gideon’s 300 men in Ibibio?
Where are our Nehemiahs? Where are the United Tribes of Ibibioland?
A French writer noted that “more men are guilty of treachery
through weakness than through any studied design to betray”. Why can’t Akwa
Ibom/Cross River men strengthen themselves against temptation and demonstrate
that self-discipline is one proof against the old adage that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Show me,
today, an Ibibio man who is a famous example of a life lived according to
steadfast Ibibio virtue.
The
Mboho Mkparawa man and anybody else whose brains came up with that treasonable
idea that Ibibio, the 4th largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria,
should be annexed to Ijaw, if not Biafra, are simply, men that hail from
nowhere. Ah! Why not Ibibio as the capital instead of Port Harcourt? Why not
our currency (Okpoho or Okuk) instead of “Lanti”? These guys are not from Ibibio neither do they even know
the customs, traditions or history of any tribe. Ibibio, the trailblazer,
nationally? For making such a no-wit submission
and causing our forebears to turn in their graves, they deserve nothing but
excommunication from our beautiful land. To me, they are traitors and should be
treated as the most 
despised persons
in Ibibio. Yes, because honour should go to only those whose utterances or
deeds help us in our daily needs and, by their overflow, raise us from what is
low. Those treacherous folks should be disgraced beyond ethnic and national
boundaries and whenever they kiss the vile dust from whence they sprang, no eye
should shed a tear over them. They must be unwept, unhonoured and unsung.
Who will bell the
cat? He is no other man than the bridge-builder whom the whole Ibibio race
stood agog and endorsed as their leader at Asan Ibibio. That’s the man I
trekked over two kilometers to witness his enthronement because there was
vehicular traffic jam for hours, even under rain (showers of blessing). That’s the man in whose honor I composed and
waxed a welcome song for - “Daddy, Oyo-yo” - which the mammoth crowd of youths ecstatically
sang (and still sing whenever Ette is
around). That’s the man I describe as Our Father Who Art in Akwa Ibom –
Architect (Obong) Victor Bassey Udo Adiaha Attah, the Akwa Eduek Ekpe of Asutan
Ekpe and Ada-Idaha ke Efik Eburutu. In
other climes, leaders less in nobility than this man are respected and
prostrated for. Ibibio, yak nnyin idumakka idem nnyin ndien-e! Let’s join hands
and hearken to this man who keeps calling “Come, let’s build together”. Larger
is better than smaller, isn’t it?
If my clarion call
to the remnants of Israel (the Ibibios) is not adhered to, I have an
alternative: As “O.Y.O” is an acronym for “On Your Own”, so is “O.M.O” for “On
My OWN”. I have consulted every Akwa Ibom/Cross River person at home and in the
Diaspora. In absence of Ibibio warriors, I am offering myself as a
one-man-squad and a sacrificial lamb. You may say “a tree cannot make a
forest”. Whether a tree makes a forest or not, on the issue of Biafra, count me
out. Since you are wicked and fearful to
follow what good men begin, why bother? Through this open letter, personally or
ON MY OWN, as a concerned, extraordinary aborigine of Ibibio land, I opine and
state as follows:
1.
That I
am still a neighbor to Igbo people. I may marry from them or they from me. We
can partner in business, and we can be friends. But, geographically, I cannot
share in common any land or water with them (offshore/onshore). As our father
said, we must control our resources. Changing my place of birth to live with
irredeemably belligerent aliens is akin to living like a fish out of water.
2.
That “Akpeyaayak”
is a one-worded but deep-rooted
Ibibio statement which means “Prevent it, before I forget the evil that you do
to me!”. It means lest or in-case so so and so happens.
Synonymously, it means “Do not remind me of that evil that you did to me”. The burying of people alive in trenches, the
hostility, carnage, massacre, pogrom or ethnic cleansing and insults on my
people are indelibly registered in my sub-conscious. And to worsen matters, they
are boasting that, compulsorily, Ibibio must belong to Biafra. They go further
to boast that they have used the three Is of Igbo, Ibibio and Ijaw
to form Biafra, and there will be rotational presidency started by them and
when they get tired, they hand over to Ijaw before Ibibio. They claim they have
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (an M.O.U) with some prominent Ibibio
sons, and with that, they are sure of success. That boast or threat pains me
into my marrow and bloodstream. Of course, the treacherous and so called
prominent Ibibio sons are On Their Own (O.T.O). If Biafra can relocate the
Pentagon or IDF to Akwa Ibom State to fight and take over my well-endowed land,
AN ARMY OF ONE MAN, the man who has a native land, awaits them. Let them come.
3.
That
they (Igbos) have the right to worry, stir, fight or seek whatever rights they
want from the Federal Government, but they shouldn’t merge my fatherland in
their outcry or any claim. If they are living in a desert, instead of plotting
to covet or steal someone else’s land, I advise they lower their ego and go to
God in prayers for the healing of their land.
4.
That
the so called map of Biafra which Ibibio is seceded or encroached upon is a
caricature and an attempted daylight robbery unacceptable to true aborigines of
Ibibio. “Bi afara di” or Bi afara diwuk m’ubu” is an Eket
language adulterated by the igbos. And what is “afara” in English? It is
a mast, i.e a shaft or wooden framework with a thick sheet of cloth or
tarpaulin in a boat or ship used in propelling the ship, using wind current. “Bi
afara diwuk m’ubu”, as postulated by Nabbi Faithman Umoh, therefore
means “bring a mast and install in the canoe”. That’s what the white men used
to hear from the coasts of Eket and Ibeno that made them call the region “The
bite of Biafra”. The correct pronunciation should be “The Bite of Bi
afara di”. The Igbos who did business in the Ibibio riverine areas
should tell the world the origin of the word “Biafra” or what the name means in
Igbo dialect or lexicon. If they can’t, then they should expunge the name from
their purported Biafran map.
5. That Ibibio wants/needs her sovereignty
too, as such, we do not identify with or belong to Biafra, Atlantic, Rondel or
any republic of another name. If the Igbos have no place of origin or native
land, I advise them again to live peacefully with the nomadic herdsmen rather
than use provocative invective, sarcasm or vilification like “zoo” on them. If everybody or group on earth rejects them,
will they be living underneath or in the air?
6. That, if any treacherous, greedy and
disinherited Ibibio person or group of Ibibio persons have signed and sold
their consciences alongside any part of Ibibio territory to them (the Igbos),
they should get back to such four-one-niners and get their funds refunded. On
every side and angle of Ibibio land is written “CAVEAT EMPTOR”, a no-go area.
7. That, while I personally admire the
mercantile nature of Igbo people, I can’t stand their cocky, extraneous,
outlandish and repugnant lifestyle. They are too loquacious, often conflicting,
incongruous, cantankerous and insultive. Very incompatible, always
antagonistic. As other federated units of Nigeria have reasons to disassociate
themselves from the Biafra declaration and inclusion, patriotic Ibibio citizens
in general and Yours Aniefiokly in particular, say “NO!” to Biafra.
That is my 7-point agenda for
the Biafra project. A word to a witty head is superfluous.
LOVE TO THE UDONWAS
I am
vividly aware that the 7th–year memorial mass of unforgettable madam
Philomena Udonwa is around the corner. Seven years!--- and her killers or those
who caused her death are still walking the streets as free men. Dear God, I can’t
question your patience. Indeed, you are the God of longsuffering. But,
ultimately, I know vengeance is yours, and you shall repay. On behalf of my
clan, this is joining hearts with Noble Sir Nicholas E. Udonwa (KSJ), the
melancholic husband to the slain lady, and his entire family members, on the
pending occasion. I believe all of you are consoled because you are sure Mma is
with her Creator in heaven. I wish all of you long life in good health and joy
in the celebrations. Essah, Aniefiok E.
By Aniefiok Essah – 08020945205
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