Edwin Clark, South-South Notion And The Damning Effect Of Ignorance

 Edwin Clark, South-South Notion And The Damning Effect Of Ignorance

I am compelled to respond to Chief Edwin Clark, one of the "older children" in the southern part of Nigeria (Delta State), towards his assertion that "South-South is not inclusive in Biafra".

It is quite appalling that knowledge is not aquired after spending so much in school. It becomes a mere waste of time and resources. Firstly, Chief Edwin Clark and his likes should note that the region called "South-South" should not have existed in the first place. But the ignorance of the people in the region paved the way for that.

Just like the earth is divided into four (4) equal parts by an imaginary line known as EQUATOR, so also is every nation/ country divided into four equal parts by same imaginary line, thereby creating:

1.) North Pole  N°

2.) South Pole  S°

3.) East Pole  E° and 

4.) West Pole  W°.

 

It is possible that people of same or similar language and culture can inhabit one or more poles as the case may be. Sandwiched in between two poles, like South (S°) and East (E°), we have South-East (SE°), which is the meeting point of two different poles. And the people living there are referred to as  South-Easterners. Same method is applicable to every other poles as well.

Even with common knowledge in English language, it is prohibited (a tortorlogy), for one to use two different English words with same meaning in a place, at a time. So, how come this South-South coinage?

Actually, it is a very serious disease for someone or some people to be ignorant of the truth and still refuse to learn.

In the case of Biafra, we need to first and foremost, abolish this non-existent south-south notion that was created to place division amongst us. They knew it, hence they do not have North-north placement within their region.

Before the amalgamation in 1914, what we had were protectorates namely:

* Southern Protectorate

*Eastern Protectorate

* Northern Protectorate and

* Western Protectorate.

Facts about the Igbos is not new to us as they are the most widely travelled people on earth. So, they travelled and first occupied most of the Southern States of current Nigeria, in search for greener pastures. They mostly engaged themselves in businesses like  farming and fishing.

Following this their traveling nature, they were also trooping into the North in large numbers but before then, the Hausas had already taken over.

Due to their (Igbos) massive influx into the North, fear of domination gripped the Northerners which resulted in the killing of the Igbos in 1945. The killings did not deter the Igbos from trooping to the north and that same fear of the Igbos taking over everything, made Sir Alhaji Tafawa Balewa to issue a statement in 1952, that the Igbos massively coming to the north are intruders and that they are not welcomed. As a result, the killing was intensified to scare them away which partly later, resulted in the declaration of Biafra in 1966 with resultant bloody genocide. If not for ignorance, Edwin Clark and his co-birds ought to have known this.

So one cannot talk of the shambolic south-south  without talking of the Igbos as the real indigenous land owners/inhabitants. We speak the same Igbo language but in different tongues.

Secondly, Nigeria was grouped into two during the Nigeria/Biafra war.

Biafrans are the igbos who occupied Eastern and Southern Protectorates and  were the aggrieved, while the defendants of One-Nigeria, were made up of the Yorubas and Hausas, including the Fulanis who up till today, are clearly known as not even being Nigerians. The Yorubas were included in Nigeria because their relationship with the North then, was still robust.

Colonel Joseph Achuzie, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu and others, were all from Delta State and they fought for Biafra against Nigeria. The Nigerian soldiers took the war to the South and massacred people in the present Delta and Bayelsa States  which remain undisputably, core Southern States. If these states were not part of Biafraland, why then did the Nigerian government take the war to them, committing unforgettable genocide?

Furthermore, every tribe or race on earth must have a founding father just like we know that nobody fell out  from the blues and became a human.

The Yorubas originated from Oduduwa. The Hausas are origins of Bayajidadd and are called Arewas while the Igbos are of Eri kingdom. If therefore, the so-called South-South region is not inclusive in Biafra, then who was their founding father? This submission would rather prove that the people of the South-South region of Nigeria, are not Nigerians either, if they really deny being part of Biafra.

#EndNigeriaNow!

#FreeBiafra!!

Written by Ifeanyi Chibueze James

Edited by Ogah C.S. Maduabuchi

For Family Writers Press International.