Dear Chidi,
Re - your poem "Biafra, Biafra, Biafra"
I have dream ( Dr. King)
I dreamed I saw St. Augustine.
I didn't, but our friend Bob, had such a dream....
I dreamed I saw three: Ojukwu , Nnamdi Azikiwe and Arthur Nzeribe...
I don't know what the Nigerian Rabbis say, but in the Holy Quran it is only Allah subhan t' ala that says " kun faya kun" Be! - and it is! (even Biafra if you please
Or a Palestinian State stretching from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea (with Ramallah, Bethlehem or Gaza City as its capital...
"Goodness gracious me!" is not exactly swearing, it's a Saro kind old lady Sunday school expression.
At first I thought that the headline must be fake news, since we are not aware of flag-bearer Ogbeni Nnamdi's political party entering a race for the Naija presidency and being denied the constitutional right that any suitably qualified Nigerian Igbo or non-Igbo citizen has, to run for the presidency.
(During my time in Nigeria, Dr. Sir Warrior & Sam Mbakwe's Owerri, Okukuseku ( Sami Kofi 's) Aba , and my friend Solomon's Umuahia were like my second home - and for goodness' sake, Igbo elder Alex Ekwueme (who Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been courting recently) was Shehu Shagari's vice-president and the then NPP was a strong force in the East, just as our AWO's UPN was in the West and so you see this headline took me by surprise:
I Am Not Allowed To Contest For Presidency Because I am Igbo - Nnamdi Kanu Demands For BIAFRA
You must give credit where credit is due:
Nnamdi Kanu addresses world through al jazeera
and so the cause célèbre (Biafra) is on track again thanks to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Don't underestimate the support that this cause has even outside of Nigeria. Last April after Chigozie Obioma's show at the culture House in Stockholm I was chatting with an Igbo brother (George Amadi) quite amiably until we (inevitably) got to the subject of Biafra. All I said was that " I don't want anybody to die" at which point he took GREAT offence. I had "hurt" his feelings. Like many of the Igbos I have known since 1967 , Biafran Independence is a priority that should be fulfilled within our lifetime...
I still think that a referendum should be the first legal step for a peaceful a Biafra-exit.
Thanks to Nnamdi Kanu, Biafra is in the news again. A while back it was mostly grumbling, shuffering and Shmiling and nobody was talking about Biafra. Now everybody's talking about it. I am personally looking forward to the trail - I even wish that I was in Nnamdi's shoes - assuming it's going to be a public trail, to put up a real show, some real grandstanding
The last time I checked my Facebook, this discussion was going on : Meaning and origin of this word: Biafra?
Someone in the thread says that "'Bia' means 'come', 'fra' means 'quick quick'
To which I should like to add my two kobos, that the Basmala is very important both the Torah and the Quran begin with the basmala as the first word (Bereshit and Bismillah, baptism (in Umuahia)
In the Biblical Hebrew and in the Kalabari language, BO , means come ...
Whilst Bo-laji Aluko and the people of the United States are trying to figure out the meaning of the new word that President has coined ("covfefe ") ( perhaps Frank Kperogi would like to weigh in on this?) I know that Bi (as in Bismillah , bi-lingual, bilateral etc. is an auspicious beginning
Once upon a time in the United States some Brothers were preaching separation
"Separation, y'all, separation t y'all
Separation, separation "( The Last Poets : It's a trip )
- wanted a state of their own to be named RUFUS...
Here's a Nigerian waving the flag of compromise. It's Breaking News, he says , " The Igbos need united Nigeria."
Is there anyone who does not need a United ( States of ) Nigeria ?
RSVP
Cornelius
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