MINORITY CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE OATH TAKEN IN ORDER TO BECOME A MEMBER OF IPOB - TWO ISSUES THAT MAKE THE UNITY OF SOUTH-EAST AND SOUTH-SOUTH A HERCULEAN TASK

Today's piece either makes or mars our unity. I am not happy with what my brothers who wanted to register with the IPOB are telling me. I am worried because I am one person that has influenced a lot of our brothers and sisters down South. This is how the disturbing narratives go.
John Offiong wishes to be an IPOB member, since he loves the struggle. He is tired of Nigeria and thinks aligning with a people he has always lived with is much better. However, John is shocked that in order to be a member of a struggle that he thinks is global, multicultural, multilingual, and interregional, he has to SWEAR TO AN OATH OF ALLEGIANCE that ends with "May Chukwuokikeabiama strike me dead". John, realizing membership to the IPOB is like joining a secret cult, takes to his heels.
I met John Offiong, the Akwa Ibomite that was tired of the contraption called Nigeria, and this was the conversation we had.
John: "Sir, good to see you"
Me: "Thanks and welcome"
John: "Sir, I have read your entire works on the proposed unity of SS and SE. I am a graduate of Physics, resident in Port Harcourt.
"Sir, are you just a writer for IPOB or a member?"
Me: "I am just a writer for the unity of SS and SE. I am not a member of IPOB, but I love the Igbo. I am a member of Niger Delta Self-Determinism Movement (NDSDM) who wants the SS to consider working with the SE for the birth of a great nation. IPOB is the goal of my numerous works. I am sanguine that our people will work together, after having deliberated, to form IPOB"
John: "Sir, no wonder. Do you know it was your works that raised my hope? I had to look for the nearest IPOB gathering."
Me: "That is great, Offiong. Hope you have joined"
John: "Sir, no ooooh! I had to run away when they told me to swear to an Oath ooooh! They even asked me to swear in the name of Nnamdi Kanu"
Me: "You are not serious! They asked you to swear to an individual's name in order to become member of a struggle that ought to be global, made up of nations, made up of different languages, and made up of different cultures?
"Offiong, are you sure of what you are saying?"
John: "Sir, I am very, very sure of what I am saying. They ended the Oath with MAY CHUKWUOKIKEABIAMA STRIKE ME DEAD, Sir. I am from Akwa Ibom. I will never be a party to any association that makes use of a strange language."
Me: "Thanks for telling me this. I can see why Mama Annkio Briggs kept asking me to be careful lest we jump out of the frying pan and find ourselves in the fire. Leaders from the various Niger Delta states shall meet soon. Your complaint shall be looked into. My regional brother, go home. It is well."
That was a real conversation I had with a fellow Niger Deltan two days ago. Do you all know that I did not believe this? Yes, I did not believe what he said until I had my own experience. I was to join the journalism group of Biafra at the instance of a brother. The said brother kept haranguing me to join the writers group and after what looked like disturbance, I caved in. He asked me what my BIAFRA NAME was. Biafra name? Hmmm! I told him he must be kidding, since I have always borne my real name. It was then he made it clear that his colleagues were doubtful of my IDENTITY. See me wahala oh! Here is the man that was pleading with me to join their group doubting my identity. I just wonder who it was he wanted to join them in the first place. He wanted me and then doubted me? Do he and his colleagues know what they are doing at all? But I realized they were up to something. I had to give my phone to a sister from the East who became furious and made it clear to our friend that she had known me for years, and that they should be happy that I was acceding to their request.
Well, it didn't end there. Our friend became apologetic and promised to ensure that I was absorbed and not long afterward, I was chatting with another one. He told me my referral came from the previous one and asked me whether I HAD SWORN THE OATH TO BECOME AN IPOB MEMBER. Haba! I asked him what Oath he was talking about. He said an Oath to Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. I told him I was a Niger Deltan working for our unity, and that I found his question most insulting. I demanded an apology from him. The man named Mazi Collins told me again, as if I did hear him the first time, that I MUST SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO MAZI KANU AND IPOB. It was then that I told him that Nnamdi Kanu is not Biafra. I do not owe him allegiance in any way. I like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, but the struggle is not about him in any way. Yes, he pioneered the propaganda that reawakened the consciousness, but just as it was not about OJukwu in the 60s, it is not about our young Kanu today.
What Oath are they administering to new entrants? This is wrong in its entirety. I heard they make use of Chukwuokikeabiama instead of the ALMIGHTY GOD. That, too, is wrong. Do you guys know that even in our Niger Delta Self-Determinism Movement (NDSDM), under the aegis of Mama Annkio Briggs, we do not use Ijaw, since it comprises Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, and Rivers State? No language ought to be superior to the others in a true union of diverse cultures and languages. This is what we must learn. The retention of Igbo in the administration of IPOB Oath is itself a sign that a particular group feels it is the MAJORITY. It is suppressive to CHUKWUOKIKEABIAMANIZE the collection of Bari, Tamuno (Rivers), Abasi (Akwa Ibom/Cross River), Oghene (Delta), Tamara (Bayelsa) etc all of which mean God Almighty. In order to be fair, and in tandem with the principle of equity, I think a nuetral language, one commonly understood, will suffice. I hereby urge the current and eventual handlers of the IPOB to adopt English Language. I say this because IPOB is a house of nations - Ijaw, Itsekiri/Urhobo, Ikwerre, Igala, Igbo, Tiv etc. There is, ipso facto, the need to guard against allowing any of the constituent languages take precedence over others in the proposed national document(s), for to so allow would mean MINORITY-MAJORITY consciousness exists. The use of Igbo confers some subtle supremacist colouration, which learned ones like us will always object to. I hope the present handlers of the IPOB today know that when they come to the dialogue table with the South-South all these shall be discussed. Let it be known that Niger Delta, comprising of six states, will come to the table with demands that will make the proposed Biafra nation CONFEDERAL, politically, and AUTONOMOUS, economically. Let it also be known that whatever name that exists in the Oath of Allegiance will be struck out when we sit and chart the way forward for our sister regions.
It is true that I have been championing the unity of our regions preparatory to SECESSION, but things must be done the right way. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should as a matter of progressive expediency and administrative tact order that his name be expunged from the Oath being administered. I am impelled to believe he is not aware of this, for Biafra (today, not during Ojukwu's era) is billed to operate a democratic government, not an AUTOCRATIC government. Any deliberate or accidental reference to an individual in a national document (such as Oath of Allegiance/National Pledge) carries with it AUTOCRACY, a system where "we" becomes "I". I can see why my brothers are adamant. The continued inclusion of an individual's name in the IPOB Oath paints the narcist picture. If we call it INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF BIAFRA, then nobody's name should be mentioned. Nnamdi Kanu will always be honoured as the hero of our time, no doubt, but the struggle is itself older than he [is]. Interestingly, even Odumegwu Ojukwu (the Ikemba) never wanted the struggle to be about him. I have forgiven the scoundrel that was asking a highly respected and educated person like me to SWEAR ALLEGIANCE TO AN INDIVIDUAL. Does he even know what that means? I think the current handlers of the IPOB need to be re-educated. There are those who still think Biafra should be HOMOGENOUS. For these, the struggle should be monolingual; that is, for the Igbo alone. Well, inasmuch as everyone deserves the right to make input, I think that poisons the Biafra chalice. Biafra, ab origine (originally), is HETEROGENOUS: it is about a people with bearable different cultures, religion, and worldviews, but who are not geographically distant. Some are wont to say that we have the same culture and values, but what they should say is that we have similar, not the same, culture and values. For instance, amongst our peoples are some pagans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Rosicrucians, and atheists. Should they be denied citizenship on the basis of their belief? We are "Umu Chineke", but we must guard against imposing our belief on others. Biafra, I make bold to say, is not (and will never be) HOMOGENOUS. the Igbo man, by dint of his peripatetic (migrant) nature, is a lover of heterogeneity. Where has this destructive homogenous wave come from? It has to die!
Finally, I reminisce a submission I made some days ago viz. that Biafra will be the best nation in the world, if-and-only-if she operates an economy that is devoid of language- and culture-based discrimination. The absence of the aforementioned will shut the door to MAJORITY-MINORITY distinction. I think some of my brothers and sisters in the East have failed that test. Some of our Igbo brothers scare others away with comments like "other minority groups," "we have always supported other minority groups in Biafra" etc. These are possible vestiges of another kind of Nigeria, perhaps one of an egregious kind. Dear brothers and sisters in the struggle, Biafra will not fare well, if we fail to unite our regions and other annexes. We can all walk alone, but you all know a united South-East and South-South will birth the best country in the world. Our unity will come with a lot of resources, the best commercial economy, and several seaports. But how can we be united when some of us still talk about who is MINORITY? We must be wary of leaving Nigeria for a worse enclave. Let us guard against utterances and unacceptable modus operandi. Biafra will start after referendum, but some of the things we are doing can mar the outcome of the imminent referendum (God forbid!). I pray we mend our ways. I will continue to promote our unity and progress. Our unity will come when our regions meet. There is serious work to be done. Seminars, town hall meetings, conferences, and international publications should be our focus, not the trivialities I read from some of you. Take note that some cynics, both ab extra (outside) and ab intra (within), are praying we fail. Let us work together and shame them. Can we? I am ready to work with every group. I pray I don't see discouraging conditions. May God in heaven help us all. All hail Biafra.
NOTE: Some people were about impugning the struggle on the basis of these shocking observations, but I have overtaken them. Let this work be shared. It will show that we have an instrument of control within. This work proves that we are ready. It is a proof of our imperfection and readiness to mend our ways. I write as a very concerned supporter of Biafra. I joined the clamour for secession because it dawned on me that politics, in a sordid enclave like Nigeria, cannot solve a problem which root lies in the sterile soil of our foundation. Nigeria is not OUR COUNTRY. WE NEED OUR COUNTRY. LET US WORK TOGETHER, IN LOVE, UNDERSTANDING, AND BIRTH OUR OWN COUNTRY. We do the right things in order to work together or go our separate ways, only to end up regretting our mistake. God bless you all. All hail Biafra.