NIGER DELTA - THE RICHEST POOR PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE WORLD

The tribes and people living in the southern-most part of the Nigeria from a fraction of Ondo state to the eastern-most south (Calabar) of Nigeria who are called the people of the Niger Delta but are originally southern Biafra region are among the poorest people in today’s world though they sit on the richest lands in the world.

This place, southern Biafra otherwise called Niger Delta is the wealth of the country called Nigeria. It contains or houses in its crust the sea of crude oil which sustains the whole of the contraption called Nigeria. It is the home of many natural resources apart from crude oil: resources such as salt, gas, timber, palm oil etc. it also has many tourist and potential tourist centers which if developed can be a great source of income for the locals. It also contains more than 10 seaports from which a region can become massively rich.

Looking at the potential wealth of the region, one will expect that such a region will scarcely have poor people as the least should be average people of world standard but the reverse is the case.

The tribes and people living on the deltas of the Niger river are so poor that one will begin to wonder whether they are cursed because it is almost impossible to have such wealth and be poor.

The truth is, they are cursed. They cursed themselves when they took a curse upon themselves. The people of the North of Nigeria otherwise called Hausa Fulani are a curse. Lord Lugard who colonized Nigeria described in his hand over note as a menace to any society they find themselves. They were the curse our fathers embraced. They are the reason our people are poor today.

Our fathers fought for a voice. The evil Britain never wanted us to have a voice in the polity of Nigeria because they feared that we could educate other tribes about the treachery of Britain and if the whole of Nigeria got wise through us (as our fathers were the first to relate with the Europeans and fought them to a standstill on many occasions), the country could could break free from British bondage. So, they used other tribes to suppress us in the deception of “minority and majority”. Little wonder, we were the first to call for a secession. We called for a secession when others were still wallowing in the darkness of British oppressive creation called Nigeria.

Our secession attempt was truncated and the leader of our secession (Isaac Boro) arrested and sentenced to death. Before the execution of our leader, the eyes of those whom we shared same region with were opened so they called for secession as well. Our elite class became divided; some like Frank Opigo stood for secession with our Igbo brothers while others were afraid the Igbos would swallow them and their voices will be lost so they decided to truncate the secession by aligning with the enemies. All they wanted was a voice in the polity of their nation as distinct but special tribes with their own identity not because they have so much love for the Gambaris. Little did they know that the alliance with the Gambaris is the doom of their region.

The Gambaris have no respect for alliance neither do they understand the need for it. They are selfish and corrupt people who are trained to enslave even their own people. They killed all our leaders who fought for them and silenced the others who had little influence and left the region visionless and without direction raising leaders of their own making from amongst us to oppress us and impoverish us further. They oppressed all those who had the potentials of true leadership and encouraged criminals like themselves to rule us who only cared about their bellies and not about the people.

This they continued to do till today. But now there is a way of escape. After fifty years, there is another opportunity to decide for our region. The man called Nnamdi Kanu has risen with a new hope for the Igbos and all nationalities in Biafra; calling for the unity of both the coastal nationalities of Biafra (Niger Delta) and the people of the Biafra hinterland (the Igbo). He has come up with a better ideology. An ideology greater than that of Ojukwu. He has come with the ideology of a Biafra where every voice will be heard, every nation maintains her identity and controls her own resources for the betterment of her people. There couldn’t have been a better ideology. Our fathers wouldn’t have invited the curse into our land if they had the opportunity we have today in Nnamdi Kanu.

Someone may ask, “if this is true, why do the people of southern Biafra otherwise called Niger Delta seem to reject it?”. They reject it because they don’t believe Nnamdi Kanu is sincere. They have been so oppressed in Nigeria that they don’t believe that anyone could be so selfless as to want to give us 100% of all we have been fighting for in Nigeria which they have not been able to get even a single percent of it. If only our people could realise the sincerity of the new Biafran project championed by IPOB then every single Niger Deltan will be more passionate than those in the hinterland.

I am this passionate because I have seen Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s sincerity beyond his words, so I take it as a duty to make others see what I have seen. This freedom can be so cheap if only we all can embrace the reality of it. Biafra is the freedom Niger Delta seek and Nnamdi Kanu is the leader we have all been waiting for. 

Nigeria I reject thee

Biafra lives in me

Tari Nemi