- Says Ibibios want to remain in Nigeria
- Restructuring is the way out
The group said, “We wish to remind the concerned Igbos that this senseless arrogance and callous disrespect for the Ibibio person, an endemic and pathological trait of their extraction has been at the core of the differences of our two nationalities.”
This much, The New Diplomat gathered from a statement by Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio which claims to be a 30-year old socio-cultural organisation of the youths of Ibibio nationality.
According to the group, “during our June 2017 central working committee meeting, we extensively reviewed developments past and present in the Nigerian geographical and political landscape.
“Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio considers it an affront, an act of extreme provocation and a stretch to the breaking point of the tolerance limits of the Ibibio people for some self-serving individuals in the cloak of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and indeed any bunch of avaricious persons howsoever called to wake up from an intoxication-induced sleep to hurriedly put out to the public a map of their dream Republic of Biafra.Their utopian republic implicitly conscripted, without any modicum of respect to consult, our own prided land of heritage of Akwa Ibom State as well as those of our blood brothers along the Atlantic Coast of Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and and Rivers States.”
“We wish to remind the concerned Igbos that this senseless arrogance and callous disrespect for the Ibibio person, an endemic and pathological trait of their extraction has been at the core of the differences of our two nationalities. And so as it was in the first republic, so it is now and so shall it be in times to come. Ibibio has nothing in common with Igbo. To wit we differ in ancestry, culture, beliefs, character traits, language, food, names, dressing and all.”
It added that, “If the central issue militating against the viability of present day Nigeria is incurable and irreconcilable anthropological heterogeneity then it would tantamount to a generational amnesia and insanity for us to contemplate re-constructing a similar monstrous edifice on quick sand in the South East and South South regions of Nigeria when a structure on such poor foundation, or no foundation at all, is sure to collapse in no time, especially given our not-too distant experience in events and circumstances of the last civil war.” It added.
The group stressed that Ibibio will remain indifferent to the secession call by the Igbos for an independent state.
“If the Igbos will be honestly desirous, sincerely determined and eventually successful in breaking away from Nigeria we the Ibibio people in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States will be totally indifferent and will only be here to bid them fare-well.
“As a distinct and independent-minded people of over seven million in population we will continue to weigh our options in the Nigerian chase board and make the right moves the way we want it, in the direction we want, at the time we want and will partner with whomever we want to, if we must partner with anyone, to serve our best interest.”
Reacting further, it said the quite notice given to the Igbos staying in the north by the Arewa youth groups has further established the fact that Nigeria needs restructuring.
“The reaction from the 16 Arewa Youth Organisations of Northern Nigeria as published on June 6, 2017 giving three months notice till October 01, 2017 to Igbos residing in the 19 States of Northern Nigeria to vacate that region and calling on Northerners residing in the South East to do likewise was unfortunate though not surprising. Unfortunate because the persistent and hitherto suppressed call for restructuring of Nigeria is heating up to the boiling point as long foretold by observers within and without Nigeria, lending credence to the famous statement by John F. Kennedy that those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. Unfortunate again because the high levels of ignorance and illiteracy amongst the populace in the country leave many Nigerians incapable of discerning who is an Igbo person and who is not, when and if the bubble bursts.”
“We therefore call on Northern Nigeria opinion leaders, elders, religious and political leaders and indeed the Federal Government to do the needful in reining in this mindless radicalism from their youth. Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio would like to remind the northern Nigerians that no one, youth or elders, in the country has monopoly of violence and that the lives and legitimately acquired property of the Ibibio person means the world to us. Therefore no harm must befall them wherever they have chosen to live in Nigeria and indeed anywhere on the surface of the earth. Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio believes and will ensure that the Ibibio people exact pound for pound, flesh for flesh and life for life if necessary.
The group however, noted that although the Ibibios are against the country breaking up, but they are totally in support of immediate restructuring of Nigeria to enthrone equity, justice and egalitarianism as necessary ingredients in every pluralistic union.
“But we quickly add that we are not averse to a break-up into smaller distinct countries where and if the above ingredients continue to prove elusive as has been endured mostly by us in present day Nigeria. Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio hereby places everyone on notice that we are at home and in league with our kin and kindred in the proposed Atlantic Republic consisting of present States of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers. Our Capital City shall be Port Harcourt, our Currency and Language shall both be Lanti.
“Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio hereby makes it clear that we share in the new World Order and the belief that our world has become a global village and human beings have become citizens of the world where people are at liberty to live and earn a legitimate livelihood in any country of their choice including Atlantic Republic, but this shall be strictly on the basis of equality of nations and diplomatic and economic reciprocity,” the group concluded.
