I am so happy that despite my initial rapid draw instincts towards this development, I had patiently waited to hear out other commentators with a more robust public profile. I hasten to add that I distance myself from the expression of gratitude by the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo for this new announcement which proves nothing and does not provide closure for the three year civil war that APPARENTLY DID NOT END in 1970. Those in any doubt should ask Buhari. Justice delayed is justice denied.
After the deadly Operation Python Dance with the yet unacknowledged murders by the Nigerian Army, this administration launched a PR assault first with the denounced immunization of Igbo children. Curiously President Buhari has added yet another front by "approving" the payment of the pensions of Biafran police officers who were "pardoned" by the Nigerian (Military) Government for participating in the civil war.
As at January 1967, these police officers, who had evaded being killed in the ethnic cleansing that started on May 29, 1966, were required by government directive to have returned to the Eastern Region. That requirement came from the many agreements between the surviving members of General Ironsi's Supreme Military Council, as they struggled to disengage ever so gingerly in an effort to douse tensions. We all know with the benefit of hindsight that they failed woefully. Hence the war.
Igbo police officers and other Easterners were in Biafra, where they were supposed to be for crying out loud! That was the arrangement. Muhammadu Buhari was probably too junior to have been involved in the negotiations. Hence I still wonder for what crime these Biafran police officers were being "pardonned." Because of this, I would not be surprised if my agemates are rounded up in the fullness of time so that Buhari and his government can dispense pardon on us. Our crime? I was 19years old when the shooting started. I am offering no prize for guessing what my agemates did to pass the time from that first loneshot anonymous at Gakem onwards. I may even pin that "Pardon" to my coat lapel.
One other thing. I recall that the bloody war ended 48years ago. So, what's the hurry? Why not wait another five to ten years to ensure that no Igbo Biafran Police Officer is still alive to claim the socalled pension? Who is kidding who?
Which enterprising surviving Igboman and his children will wait 48years for the deified princes of the Nigerian firmament to invite them back to the table? Buhari & Co., not to mention Obasanjo and others before him, have been tantalizing Ndigbo with this "pardon" for decades. After obtaining the pardon more than ten years ago, these owners of Nigeria went to stage 2, ie tantalizing the "fools" who are still alive, who refused to die, with the probability of actually being paid.
In a culture and society that spawned the likes of Coscharis, Ekene-Dili-Chukwu, Chrome Group, Anabel, SLOT, INNOSON, CUTIX, Task Systems, Fourth Dimension Publishers, NESTOIL, RainOil, OilServe, etc, could a hundred or so Biafran police officers actually have been waiting for their mockers to develop human decency? Of course not. Hence Ndigbo cannot allow a flailing Buhari presidency to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat by using our geriatric corps of surviving Biafran police officers against us as pawns. God forbid. Ndigbo have always been able to take care of their own, no matter what.
It is instructive that after engineering the "pardon" in 2001, a political gambit at best, former president Obasanjo remained in office for another six years, during which he forgot to apply his almost limitless executive powers in ensuring that these abused Biafra police officers got justice. Before and after his seccond coming, OBJ has been a member of the National Council of State for as long as anyone can remember. . Now an Igbo-hating President Muhammadu Buhari has taken over the charade and has again thrown in the 2ND NIGER BRIDGE for good measure. Haba! This is against the run of play. Again, what's the hurry? What is the origin of this sudden outbreak of love for Ndigbo? Some people have pointed at the 2019 elections. However, I do not find that to be realistic or even convincing. How does a man who is obviously unsure of successfully completing the current term as president, go gunning for a new term eighteen months into the future. With the kind of overt opposition that Buhari is facing from all of us, one would expect that all efforts should be focused towards salvaging this current time in office. I fail to see how the hide and seek surrounding dismissed/retired Biafran Police officers and the 2nd Niger Bridge contributes towards that rescue mission.
President Buhari must take the generality of Ndigbo to be proper mumu. That is quite telling.
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