By Jude Opara

In past few days, the biggest story that has been coming out of Nigeria is the arrest of the leader of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by Nigerian security agencies. In fact it was almost like a funfair watching the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami addressing the media to reveal the arrest.

Shortly after that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed did not want to miss out of the euphoria as he also addressed the media.

Elsewhere all manner of conjectures from the absurd to the ridiculous were made as to where and how he was arrested.

The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) expectedly jumped into the matter by issuing a statement in celebration of the arrest. Understandably, this was after the same group and other numerous Northern groups jointly placed a N100 million Naira bounty on the head of Kanu.

However, beyond the feeling or reaction of some individuals or groups concerning the arrest of Kanu, the most important question to ask is after the re-arrest of Kanu, what next? Is it now Eldorado for Nigeria? Will the arrest of Kanu bring an end to the numerous challenges facing the country?

It must be stated here that while it is true that most of the people of the South-East are not in support with the style of Kanu and his IPOB, there are some salient realities that must not be ignored.

Number one is that Kanu has managed to attract a large followership of people especially the youths to himself. Today he has a cult figure among the adherents to his message and style.

Secondly, we must separate the fiction from the reality that beyond the propaganda and blackmail aimed at tarnishing the image of Kanu, we must accept the fact that his claim of marginalization of the people of the South East is staring us in the face every day.

Now what has given a fellow like Nnamdi Kanu who was barely known about seven years ago such an international image he has today was the apparent mishandling of the IPOB agitation by the federal government who decided to use the force of arms instead of the more profitable use of dialogue.

Whether we as a people accept it or not, there is an overwhelming belief in the South-East that successive governments have treated them with little or no regard. Over the years the area has been complaining of being marginalized.

The people will without blinking an eye reel out series of reasons why they believe they are being marginalized by the government. For instance, they will tell you that of the six regions in Nigeria, the South-East is the only one with only five states while others have six and North-West has seven. They will readily tell you that the zone has only 95 local government areas while one state elsewhere has 44 local government areas. They will easily point out to the fact their children are the ones that must score higher marks before they could get admission into colleges and universities.

For instance, currently at the University of Abuja there is a silent war going on with the systematic weeding of students from some part of the country. This writer knows the case of a boy from Imo State who wants to study International Studies/Political Science, he scored 276 in the UTME but so far he has not been offered admission while there are some with as low as 180 from other parts of the country who have been offered admission. In the school, it is widely said that the Vice Chancellor says he wants to ensure that more students from a particular religion and parts of the country were admitted. If this fails to get admission not because he did not do well but on the basis of his tribe and religion, does anybody need to tell him that he is not wanted in Nigeria?

In fact, most analysts have blamed the IPOB issue and its apparent mishandling on the same wave of marginalization because before IPOB, we have the killer herdsmen freely attacking and sacking communities across Nigerian and till date the Nigerian government has refused to classify them as terrorists, despite the fact that in the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), the Fulani herdsmen are the fourth most deadly terrorist organization in the world.

But the same government in their thinking thought that rushing to brand IPOB a terrorist organization was the best way to tackle the issue of the agitation for the restoration of the State of Biafra.

How far has successive Nigerian governments gone to really unite the country since after the civil war? Till date the average Igbo man rightly or wrongly believes that while the physical war of bullets and bombs may have ended, the cold war is still very much raging.

The arrest of Nnamdi Kanu will achieve little or nothing unless the government begins an earnest move to truly integrate the people of South-East into the Nigerian system. The usual talks of the zone also having cabinet ministers are hollow statements that only attempt without success to confuse the question.

Biafra is an ideology and the world over; ideologies are never defeated with the force of arms, only superior arguments can defeat ideologies. It is rather regrettable that instead of using dialogue and the suggestion of superior arguments to those who believe they should exit Nigeria, the federal government only knows how to threaten and attack.

The poser here is if after more than 50 years since the civil war ended and today millions of youths from the South-East are again clamouring for the restoration of Biafra, it means that certain things may not have been seen to have been done correctly. Therefore, the only reasonable thing the federal government ought o have done is to call those claiming to be marginalized was to have invited them to a dialogue and hear them out.

The truth is, even if the government eliminates or incarcerates Kanu forever but fails to address the issues that threw him up; it is only a matter of time before another person will emerge to continue with the agitation. The Nigerian government should rather show leadership by engaging the Igbo people to find out how they are truly marginalized. Waving them aside with the hope of clamping down on them cannot and will never solve the problem.

Those who are in charge of the affairs of the country today should know that power is transient; they should also know that they cannot continue to hold people down and expect them to remain quiet forever. The irrational impression that some Nigerians are more important than others just on the basis of their religion and ethnicity can never suffice because generations to come will surely ask questions that may not be palatable.

Since the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, it has been observed how most of those making some comments to suggest that Kanu must be punished like a ‘terrorist’ are from Northern part of the country. Despite the fact the region is the hotbed of banditry and kidnapping, especially of little school children, most of these elements have not exhibited such interest in the arrest of Kanu in calling on the federal government to also arrest those terrorizing their region. In fact, some Northern governments have confessed to going to pay money to the bandits to stop harassing their people but till date everybody pretends not o know who after the bandits and where they could be located.

While it must be stated that Kanu while on his self-imposed exile made some incendiary comments that were capable of leading to the breakdown of law and order, it is not for people and even government officials from a particular section of the country to more or less take it personal. That will also suggest that he may not be accorded him fundamental human right which presumes him innocent until proven otherwise by a competent Court. In fact most of them have inadvertently condemned him and it is only imaginable what to expect from the Court.

The way out of this dangerous situation is for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to sincerely begin the process of restructuring Nigeria so that most of the agitations would be taken care of. Refusing and insisting on the apparent lopsided structure will not do anybody any good.

So whatever happens, the problem will not just disappear because Nnamdi Kanu has been arrested. We must begin and out in place structures that will help the real growth of the country.