{"id":75524,"date":"2020-08-27T19:05:45","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T18:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=75524"},"modified":"2020-08-27T19:05:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T18:05:45","slug":"what-is-ipob-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/what-is-ipob-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"What is IPOB strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
By Tochukwu Ezukanma<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The word “strategy”, has a military origin. For simplicity, it can be
\ndefined as a planned or mapped out technique or approach for achieving a
\ngiven objective or goal. In its struggle against Israeli continued
\noccupation of Palestine, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
\nhas a strategy. In its resistance against Apartheid South Africa, the
\nAfrican National Council (ANC) had a strategy. The Indigenous People of
\nBiafra (IPOB)’s neo-Biafranism is a colorful, melodramatic and
\nmedia-savvy, but purposeless, movement. Not surprisingly, it has no
\narticulated objectives, and consequently, no strategy.<\/p>\n

Earlier, in its fight against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and
\nGaza Strip, in defiance of United Nations Resolution 242, the PLO
\nadopted a strategy of unrestrained guerrilla warfare against Israel,
\nincluding indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets. The strategy
\nproved ineffective because, although it unsettled Israel, it could not
\ndefeat Israel, even if it is sustained and intensified for decades.
\nEssentially, it backfired because it portrayed the PLO as a terrorist
\norganization.<\/p>\n

So, despite its inability to defeat Israel, it also lost its
\ninternational credibility; it was ostracized as a “terrorist”
\norganization by the governments of the most important countries of the
\nworld. Consequently, the PLO changed its strategy. It backpedaled on its
\nguerrilla warfare. It embraced diplomacy, and burnished its
\ninternational image; it became diplomatically relevance. This was the
\nprecursor to the botched President Bill Clinton brokered a peace
\nagreement between the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Prime,
\nMinister Yitzhak Rabin in the year, 2000.<\/p>\n

In its fight against Apartheid South Africa, the ANC had a strategy.
\nHaving learned from the mistakes of the PLO, it focused on building a
\nglobal diplomatic and economic alliance against Apartheid South Africa.
\nAlthough it periodically launched guerrilla attacks within South Africa
\nto impress the restive masses of Black South Africans, its fixation
\nremained on shocking the conscience of the world with the evils of
\nApartheid. After nearly two decades of painstaking labor, the ANC
\nanti-Apartheid campaign had successfully troubled the conscience of the
\nworld with the horrors of Apartheid.<\/p>\n

Appalled by the atrociousness of Apartheid, the global community rallied
\nagainst Apartheid South Africa. Anti-Apartheid movements sprouted across
\nthe world amongst student unions, labor unions, corporations, human
\nrights organizations, governments, etc. Many countries broke diplomatic
\nties with South Africa, and corporations, universities, governments,
\netc. disinvested from South Africa. Finally, the Apartheid government
\nbuckled under the weight of this encircling international economic and
\ndiplomatic pressure; it consigned Apartheid to the heaps of history.<\/p>\n

Unlike the PLO and ANC, the IPOB has no legitimate grievance.
\nConsequently, it cannot genuinely rouse the world’s conscience against
\nthe Nigerian government. Therefore, it found psychological refuge in
\nfalsehood and cheap propaganda. Its trumped-up allegations against the
\nNigerian government, like the enslavement of the Igbo and ongoing
\nextermination of the Igbo in Nigeria, are resounding nonsense; they ring
\nhollow in international circles. The global community realizes that,
\nlike most Third World countries, Nigeria is muddling its way through the
\n21st Century; and by Third World standards and within the limits of
\nhuman frailties; Nigeria works for every Nigerian. There are tribalism
\nand ethnic injustices in Nigeria, and no particular ethnic group is
\ntotally innocent of these vices.<\/p>\n

As such, the IPOB agitation for an independent Biafra is strictly a
\nNigerian internal affair; it does not elicit the concern and attention
\nof the international community. Ostensibly, IPOB’s goal is the creation
\nof an independent Biafra through a referendum. It is the prerogative of
\nthe Nigerian government to hold such a referendum. Similar referendums
\nwere held by the governments of Canada and Britain for separatist
\nregions of Quebec and Scotland respectively.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian constitution has no provision for such a referendum.
\nTherefore, the first step towards a referendum on Biafran independence
\nis making a constitutional provision for a referendum. Ordinarily, IPOB
\nshould have focused on making the federal government amenable to holding
\na referendum on Biafran independence, and nudging the National Assembly
\ntowards a constitutional amendment that will allow for a referendum.
\nParadoxically, IPOB is working against these two objectives. It incites
\nviolence, breaks the laws, and antagonizes the Nigerian government. As
\nsuch, IPOB has been proscribed as a terrorist organization by the
\nNigerian government. How then can the referendum hold?<\/p>\n

The earlier attempt to create Biafra between 1967 and 1970 was made
\nimpossible by a number of factors: the reluctance of the ethnic
\nminorities of Eastern Region to be part of an Igbo dominated country;
\nthe commitment of the federal government and the generality of Nigerians
\nto Nigerian unity; the opposition of African countries, as represented
\nby the Organization of Africa (OAU), to secession in general, and
\nBiafra, in particular; and the opposition of the British and American
\ngovernments to the dismemberment of Nigeria. The political and
\ngeopolitical dynamics that made the earlier attempt at Biafra impossible
\nhave not only remained in place but have been reinforced over the
\ndecades. Therefore, Biafranism remains a senseless and fruitless
\nenterprise that can only bring the Igbo death, pains, and sorrow.<\/p>\n

Nnamdi Kanu and his senior lieutenants know there cannot be a country,
\nBiafra. However, Biafran activism makes them relevant and makes them
\nvery rich. So, the object of Kanu’s continued agitation for Biafra is
\nnot to achieve Biafran independence but to retain his mesmeric sway on
\nhis followers, which, in turn, builds his financial empire. Not
\nsurprisingly, his speeches are not strategic. They are tendentious
\nrubbish – gossips and trivialities – that resonate with his credulous
\nand deluded followers. He gossips about Babangida and his late wife,
\nMiriam, and Jubril from Sudan; and prattles about other trifling issues
\nabout Aso Rock. His speeches are a truculent blend of falsehood,
\nincitements, and insults. They nauseate discerning minds but enthrall
\nhis ignorant and confused followers.<\/p>\n

To his followers, he postures as a statesman promoting the Biafra cause
\namong European and American presidents and prime ministers and
\ninternational bureaucrats at the United Nations and European Union. One
\nsalient element of the diplomatic protocol is reciprocity. Governments
\nnegotiate with governments, presidents meet with presidents, foreign
\nministers, foreign ministers, etc. There is neither a country, Biafra,
\nnor a government, government of Biafra, anywhere in the world. The UN is
\nan association of sovereign nations. Kanu represents no sovereign
\nnation. He is a fugitive, running away from the law of his country. In
\naddition, his speeches are vulgar, virulent, and provocative.
\nInvariably, they outrage the civilized and genteel sensibilities that
\npopulate the United Nations, the European Union, and the corridors of
\npower in Western countries. So, on his “diplomatic” trips, who do you
\nthink this Nigerian fugitive meets with?<\/p>\n

Although his propagandists attempt to cast him as hobnobbing with the
\npowers that be on his “diplomatic trips”, he cannot meet with any worthy
\nmember of any government or international organization. The central
\nquestion remains how does IPOB’s posturing, lies, and propagandistic
\ndistortions advance the prospects of a referendum on Biafran
\nindependence?<\/p>\n

Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n

maciln18@yahoo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

0803 529 2908<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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