#ShortThoughts: Tearing Passports and the clamor for Biafra

The most revered street in Lagos and perhaps Nigeria as a whole is not the one that leads to Aso Rock, neither is it Broad Street widely regarded as Nigeria’s version of Wall Street in New York. It is also not Awolowo Way, Opebi, Adeola Odeku, Kudirat Abiola Way, Admiralty Way or any other “Way” for that matter. 

The most respected street in Nigeria on which thousands if not millions of Nigerians visit yearly is Walter Carrington Crescent Victoria Island Lagos – the operational base of the US Embassy & the British High Commission. On that street, as early as 3am, Nigerians have camped there in the hope of getting their passports stamped to enable them entry into a land previously considered “God’s Own Country” On Walter Carrington Crescent, Nigerians brought (and still bring) their hearts loaded with faith, strong spiritual conviction of a positive outcome for them and their family members for the myriad of reasons they will do anything to check out of their country to seek the proverbial greener pastures in the United States of America. Hopes are raised and hopes are dashed, yet our people will never give up trying to get a nod one day, perhaps someday they will eventually make a breakthrough, sell all they have; armed only with the Never-Say-Die/I-Can-Do-All-Things/Anywhere-but-Here survival mentality, they move abroad to an uncertain existence and even with any stroke of luck they pull through and live the American Dream, they are at best -second class citizens in a strange land.

Imagine the trauma of gaining entry and for some; securing residency in the US or any Western power, becoming gainfully employed in whatever capacity (which are mostly menial) and after disagreements with policy/cultural/ethno-religious disagreements with the newly adopted country of residence, a Nigerian ventures to publicly vandalize the American passport. It has never been done! And even if it has- not by Nigerians. We all have seen terrorists publicly burn the American Flag and draw the ire of the world, but we have never seen them tear a blue American Passport. We have heard of Americans naturalizing to smaller “Safe Haven” nations for fear of criminal prosecution, they NEVER burn/tear or deface the passport of the US. Same goes for other nations also, when you realize the power of the Passport and its significance as an international identifier for inter-intra operational use. But recently I heard that certain Nigerians of Igbo extraction have boldly and brazenly taken to tearing up the Nigerian Green passport allegedly in rebellion caused by the incarceration of the leader of controversial pirate radio RADIO BIAFRA. 

Pray tell, where are these passport-tearing Nigerians residing at the moment? Are the passports valid? Do they plan never to return to the country of their birth? Is tearing the Nigerian passport a statement of their eternal separation from Nigeria? By their action, what country do they regard themselves as originating from? Is tearing the passport the best way to agitate for the release of their compatriot? Why dispose of the means through which you transported yourself to the foreign land you currently reside in? When you die (and you will die someday) which country will you be buried? How easy was it for them to get the passport in the first place? If it took an arm and a leg, would it be easy to destroy such priceless jewel? I may not blame them at all, the Nigerian system forces its citizens to get a passport as the easiest means of identification and for that reason, all manner of folks can easily get one. Nigerians dont sleep at Immigration Centres to get passports, infact with the rebranding and repositioning of the service, with as low as 15-20,000 you could get one in a matter of hours! That's evidence of a functional public service! But even with a vibrant public service system in place, Nigerians will still abuse the chance they have. Hence the tearing of passports on the social media. What is the objective behind ripping apart the only approved tool of your National/International Identity? Are you trying to prove your die-hard stance and discipline as a no-nonsense activist who cant stand by and watch an injustice be meted out to a fellow man, so rather than stand by, you disassociate yourself completely from the whole thing? Does it mean that they easily rip out of anything they dont agree with? Perhaps if the words of Christ or Prophet Muhammed in the Bible and Quaran at anytime dont appeal to them, they rip the Holy Books apart?

The Igbos have always been very quick to abandon ship when the shit hits the wall as was evident in the Civil War and even today, leading literary Igbo icons like the late Prof Chinua Achebe & Chimmanda Adichie have made it a duty to vilify their country of origin from outside its shores. When the former died, the entire NIGERIA was thrown into mourning, the land he so vehemently despised and alienated himself from. Ralph Uwazurike, leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra had been arrested by the Federal Government and as expected, there were agitations by its followers, but did any of them tear passports? Did they deny they were Nigerians? No. Today, he is free and leading the struggle. We are seeing all over the internet, attempts by misguided and totally useless people so earnestly trying to sell us on the idea of IPOB or whatever it is called. Is it a new group or what? In the biblical sayings of the New Testament (rephrased) MASSOB we know, but who are you? Ironically, during the protest marches held abroad by people I can bet have no valid residency permit, there has been no strong solidarity move by OHANEZE NDIGBO neither has there been any economic sabotage by Igbos who control the main markets in Nigeria like Kano, Alaba, Idumota, Onitsha or Aba. 

So who is behind you?Nnamdi Kanu- the vile speaking braggart incites some small percentage of the Igbo race within Nigeria remotely from the United Kingdom and as evidence to prove he is with them in the “struggle”, he occasionally appears in the country to organize rallies and do his business – as a Nigerian (a fellow Baboon in the Zoo called Nigeria). On one such occasion, in the federal capital Abuja where he travels to, he gets arrested and all hell seems to break loose. Passports are being torn, “Biafrans” (former Nigerian Igbos) living abroad organize street marches demanding his release and yet no African government talk more of Western power flinches. This same guy runs to Biafrans abroad and demand that they supply Igbos living in the country with weapons. The lunatic doesn’t ask that they invest money in the Universities in the East for scholarships and research for development, or the use of their influence as expatriates to drive investment in trade with other world powers. The Joker doesn’t tell his people living abroad to create a Regional Development fund that will improve regional cooperation across the borders of the 5 South Eastern states and the other states that are supposedly part of the Biafra Project. 

The fool doesn’t go abroad and advise young “Biafrans” to stop advance fee fraud, drug trafficking and illicit trade which “Biafrans” are notoriously attributed globally. The Psycho doesn’t use his reach to ensure the Governments of these states ensure industrialization, rapid development, employment and harnessing their own resources to improve their IGR. He goes asking for GUNS!