IPOB LEADERSHIP – Put On Your Thinking Caps

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Just this morning, I read a news report where IPOB reiterated their resolve not to participate in any elections in Nigeria, and even went further to vow that they will soon call on all their members and adherents to publicly torch their INEC voters’ cards and even their Nigerian International Passports which they say will be replaced with the Biafran equivalent. This appears to be a follow-up to Nnamdi Kanu’s recent pronouncement in a video clip which has gone viral, that there will be no Nigerian elections in “Biafraland” until a referendum for the exit of Biafra was conducted.

Now, so many questions needing rational answers arise from the foregoing. Firstly, if you ask IPOB members to burn their INEC voters’cards, how will the Biafra Referendum IPOB is currently seeking be conducted? Will it not be conducted by Nigeria and it’s voting agency (INEC) which already has capacity for such tasks? Again, under what legal framework will such a referendum be conducted, if the time comes? Does anyone think the UN will superimpose international law over Nigeria’s domestic law to conduct a referendum for Biafra’s exit? That will never happen under terms of the peaceful self-actualisation pursuits which IPOB has announced to the whole world as its vehicle for the realization of Biafra.

Second, if IPOB members do not vote in, say, the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial election coming up in November 2017, does that mean no one will be elected as governor of Anambra State? The answer is a blatant No, as we all know that not all Anambrarians will heed to that IPOB directive. What that means is that the Abuja forces who are anti-Biafra and anti-IPOB will use the opportunity to install their puppet as governor of Anambra State. Such a development will obviously set the hands of the clock backwards for IPOB and its pursuits. This scenario will apply similarly to other elections in Igboland.

One would ordinarily expect IPOB to use any future electioneering campaign in Igboland to prove it has absolute control of the Igbo homeland by directing the people to elect only candidates who are compliant with its objectives and aspirations. By so doing, the politicians and indeed all the political parties will know whom or which organization to court for votes. And this will be the best time and way for IPOB to stamp its authority over mainstream politics in Igboland, and by extension, to the national sphere also.

Then again, if you ask IPOB members to publicly burn their Nigerian International e-Passports in public, when will you replace them with Biafran Passports – before the state of Biafra is actually realized or after? Since MASSOB issued Biafran Passports to its gullible members and Ralph Uwazuruike was accused of fraud because Biafran Passports cannot be put to any use presently until the state of Biafra itself is established and recognized by the international community, will such a project (of issuing Biafran Passports prematurely) not be akin to that of MASSOB and also tantamount to another fraud?

Finally, the present modus operandi of IPOB whereby it operates only through a singular channel is inimical to its ability to draw and attract wider acceptability. Is it not possible for IPOB to have, say, an intelligence arm or “think-tank” with members selected based on requisite competence or experience? Such an arm will be better placed to properly assess and process unveiling issues and the general flow of strategic information, particularly, IPOB’s official responses to trending matters. I believe it’s not very safe to leave all matters to the imaginations or belief of just one person. His fallible human capacity might rear its ugly head at certain times.

by Emeka Ibe
Clipped from Facebook