FIGHT FOR BAKASSI, NOW!

The fight to save Bakassi from the clutches of Southern Nigeria enemies is a fight which all patriotic southerners must as of necessity, fight now and collectively too! But the festering animosities and divisions foist on the people of southern Nigeria by the northerners appear to be inhibiting this effort. The irony of Bakassi is that the rest of Southern Nigeria is treating it as a no brainier, as if it is a public-charge, a res nulus, as non of their business, as if it is Bakassi problem alone or that of Cross River State as opposed to something big that collectively belongs to the entire south. The more political astute and savvy Northern Nigeria has succeeded in isolating and balkanizing the south into various powerless ethnic minorities and communities which itinerant(ly) fight themselves instead of collectively facing off their common foe - the North! Why does Icheoku say so? Because it was in Rivers State that the first abandoned property under the current Senate President, David Mark's commission was enforced against the returning Igbos of Nigeria shortly after the civil war; thereby driving a big wedge between the Igbos of core Igboland and the Igbos of Rivers State. The same goes with old Calabar province, inclusive Bakassi, which hitherto was part of Eastern Nigeria and by extension nearly Igbo-like; with closer affinities to Igbo people.

But like the world re-known poet and author, Professor Chinua Achebe rightly stated in "Things Fall Apart", things have dramatically fallen asunder and the falcons can no longer hear the falconers in Southern Nigeria. What could bring back the southerners of Nigeria into one powerful bloc? Where is the southern version of the northern governors' association? Can the joint defense of Bakassi provide the needed glue which will once again galvanize southern Nigeria? The southern disunity has made it possible for the vampires from the North to be sucking the blood of southerners dry and doing so as it pleases them without any let or hindrance whatsoever. It is about time, the South unites and together fight their common enemy for their total emancipation; instead of the current pettiness of imaginary enemies amongst themselves; which "enmity" was a product of the master-craftiness of the Hausa/Fulani Oligarchs from the Sahara desert designed to keep the south bogged down.

Col Gideon Orkar, may God bless his soul, excised some states from Nigeria and gave them away to where they rightfully and historically belong - to Chad and Niger Republics. But the North would not take it and instead, mobilized as one bloc and fought their way collectively back into Nigeria again. They did not just say no, it was just Sokoto, Kano, Maiduguri, Katsina and Kebbi States that were removed from Nigeria by Orkar. No, they saw it as an affront to the north; seeing themselves as one north, the same northerners and rallied to fight. They succeeded and today the same otherwise excised part of Nigeria of Katsina State has produced the incumbent "president", Umaru Yar'Adua of Northern Nigeria. So why can't the South fight as one to secure a territory which rightfully and historically belong to them until 1967 when the North made a pact with the devious Cameroon to trade Bakassi in exchange for their blockading Biafra? The crushing effect of the blockade sped the final suspension of hostilities by Biafra against the inept Nigerian government of Yakubu Gowon.

In 1967 through 1970, the collective North fought Biafra using their minions in present Benue State, as canon fodders, arrow heads and foot soldiers to wage their unholy war against Biafra. These disposables were immediately relegated to the kitchens as servants once their services at the war fronts to secure the southeastern oil were no longer needed, Biafra having ceased fire. What is Icheoku saying? - that southern Nigeria should grow street-smart and read the handwriting on the world; they should see the bigger picture that a territory belonging to their geographical location is at a peril in the hands of the North and rally round as one to secure it or fight to get it back. These northerners have nothing to lose by the ceding Bakassi to Cameroon; after-all it is not in their geographical belt and it is several hundreds of miles away in some "god-forsaken" territory. AREWA does not have any interest in protecting what rightfully belongs to the south so it behoves on the South to protect what is theirs. The seventeen states of the south should fully mobilize for a showdown over Bakassi with these feudalistic north. Now is the time to fight for your rights or forever retreat into your cocoons as the cowards of the country and remain in perpetual servitude of the Northerners. The southern mantra should at the present time be "give us liberty or give us death". The age long abuses in Nigeria and the present face-off or stare-down in the Niger Delta should be the perfect storm needed to forever right all the wrongs in Nigeria, especially the dominance of power and institutions in Nigeria by just one very lazy group of people (AREWA admitted as much).

Enough of these gworro-chewing SOBs dictating to a much more civilized and hardworking Nigerians of Southern Nigeria what to do. How long shall the south continue to just take it through the rear? The time is now for the south to prove that they are not as inconsequential as the north perceives them and try to depict them, whenever any such opportunity calls. The south should unite and make Bakassi a test case of all that is wrong with Nigeria; that some human beings should just sell off fellow Nigerians into slavery in Cameroons just lwith a stroke of pen aka "Green Tea Agreement" without the consent of the party-victim is unfathomable? Are these Nigerians of Bakassi origin mere chattels that can be pawned or auctioned off at the whim of an imperial president as Olusegun Obasanjo grew into, in corroboration with his other conspirators? Call the Northern bluff now, Southern Nigeria and let Nigerians resolve this northern albatross once and for all. The time for action is now! Stand up for Bakassi as one united south and let the tree fall wherever and however it sees fit; after-all the north said they can survive as an independent nation and this might as well be their farewell ode!