by Justin Kingland
We started from scratch with 20 pounds in 1970. Can anyone take a look at us and tell me what is the difference between us and others, who had millions when we had only 20 pounds?
We had absolutely nothing, not even drinking water, when they created an anti-Igbo law to Nigerianise all industries in Nigeria and thus, we had no buying power, which means zero ownership in almost all industries in Nigeria as at then. Can anyone look around and tell me if those who bought up all those industries in 1970 have more industries than us as at today?
We lost our properties because we lost the war. They labelled our properties in our native country ‘abandoned property’ and then used a kangaroo military law to acquire these properties ‘legally’, even when the Head of State declared a ‘No Victor, No Vanquished’. Can someone look around today, all over the country and tell me if those who seized our properties in 1970 have more properties than us anywhere in Nigeria as at today?
For three good years we had no access to education because we were under bombardment, not really by Nigeria per se, but by the whole world. Today, they refuse us access to education, claiming that we are educationally too advanced than our brothers who bombed us and who in fact were acquiring education while we were being bombed out of schools and into the bush. Can someone look around and tell me if those who deprived us of education for 3 years are as good as us educationally? If there ought to be educationally less disadvantaged people in Nigeria, it should have been those who were bombed out of school, but not those who never had a break in education since the creation of Nigeria.
The destination of this message is that whether you lose everything today because you engaged in a cause to better the lot of your people as well as your next generation yet unborn, you will surely surpass your enemies in 5 years time because they are naturally lazy and no society is civilised just because it seized other people’s properties or won a war. Societies are civilised because the people within that society are right thinking individuals who are intelligent, brilliant, skillful and above all, collectively hard working with mutual respect and love for one another. Biafrans possess all these qualities in abundance and Nigerians, especially the 97%, does not possess the most important, which is working with mutual respect and love for one another.
Justin Kingland is co-ordinator at Nigerian FM and founder/CEO of 4Real Records and Entertainment. He can be reached on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
