IPOB PURSUITS AND THE EMPLOY OF ENWISDOMIZED CHARTS Written by KEMKA S. IBEJI

It was the Greek Philosopher of the golden era of Western philosophy, Socrates, who espoused a maxim which states; "Man know thyself". Socrates went further in his ethical pronouncements and espousals to assert that "an unexamined life is not worth living". These are very important statements to ruminate upon especially in the actions, inactions, activities and acts of the IPOB.

The import is simple, succinct and clear; the mode of operation of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), now more than ever, needs re-examination, reevaluation, review and reassessment. It has become increasingly important to begin to put questions to the right quarters by self inquiries in order to find out in comparison of the merits and demerits of the recent style of the group. This must be done by themselves and none other. 

This has become very necessary for the purposes of the health of the Igbo land and her people. Especially so for the "reason to be" of the IPOB. Why usually organisations and associations, institutions and people conduct checks on their traversed mileage is not only for the exercise as a formality but essentially to see to themselves that they are on track and in line with the standards prescribed by the goals of their engagement. It will be utterly bad and sad for stakeholders who ought to let their ships sail in a direction to work at cross purposes. IPOB is a stakeholder and there are other stakeholders as well in the Igbo mainstay. 

For the salt of the IPOB to continuously worth its taste, the preponderance of disadvantageous outings of the association (IPOB) which has enjoyed, overtly or covertly, the overwhelming support of the larger population of the Igbo race must immediately be mitigated and outrightly addressed by, especially, those who lead that association. They should be mindful of the flooding implications of an activist being reasonably abandoned and rejected by those he or she fights for. One must bring to heart the qualifier "reasonably" when reading the abandonment and rejection of the helper by the helped as alluded here. What does it therefore mean for the IPOB to be reasonably abandoned and rejected by the Igbos? In trying to understand this and answer the poser herein, it is also necessary to understand the jeers and mockery that are possible from those perceived as enemies who are the suffering objects of this all time fight - the enemies of Ndị Igbo. How does it feel when an enemy laughs cheerfully at those who have been working together against him or her? I mean, how do you feel thinking or imagining such settling? 

What it therefore quickly requires is the fat question; why IPOB? This question is very important to shape the mind of the IPOB members and those they think they are working for. Again, the engagement of IPOB is not the first of its kind in Igbo land and will not be the last. At each point in the history of the race, we recall, there comes a time when the people rise to fight a monster that has posed a giant threat against them. In the quickest bank of our memories we could immediately withdraw the immediate past experience of the Bakassi Boys. There are many other instances. One other thing that is unique to such self-help emergent grouping is the assumptive universal membership of all the indigenous people. It is usually assumed that everyone is a member of such movement whenever they sprout. Of course, everyone usually is a member, expressly or otherwise. But we also need to reconsider how those associations and groupings dissipate or retire.

Getting back to the most important question and ambition of this writing is to ask again; why IPOB? What is the goal of the IPOB?

If the goal of IPOB is to reestablish the Igbo race as a people with dignity, rational humans, pontificating (without brash pomposity) the inviolability of the people of this race and tribe, and implanting her substance in the sands of history as great nation of great and wise people, then a need for revaluation of her values is inevitably in high demand presently. The disruption of the sources of livelihood of the people, the destruction of the fabrics of their welfare, the annihilation of their mental, spiritual and psychological health, wealth and well-being, the distortion of the shaping of the future of the people (the young) are all bad happenings to such a people who one presumably fights for. This is therefore a tickle of the attention and the wisdom of the IPOB and her leadership to urgently and seriously audit their journey so far in mode of operation and terms of engagement. How much of their good intentions will be achieved with killing their own, sacking the learners, dispersing the teachers and bringing down institutions of learning? How much wisdom is in obstructing knowledge in the pursuit of social health if knowledge alone grants the achievement of social health? What degree of reasonability is found in shutting down the economic climate of the Igbos in Igbo land while the rest of the country prospers? What benefits are there in their killing their own brothers and sisters in the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police, Customs, NSCDC, DSS, and in all the security agencies of Nigeria? How much of the predicaments of those their brothers and sisters working under Nigerian government do they know and appreciate? What are the dangers of having the gamut of Nigerian security apparatus without one single Igbo man or woman to the Igbo people and especially the IPOB? How can IPOB be a daytime evangelist of life who prostitutes with the brazen harlots of death in the dead nights? How, in the paraphrased words of Prof. Chinua Achebe in his book "Things Fall Apart", can IPOB have the mind to murder a child who calls him father? Killing our brothers and sisters in the Nigerian security agencies who are incidentally supposed to be their eyes in those corners is foolhardiness, stupidity, insensitivity, madness and fractured insanity.

It is to this end that it has become very necessary to call the attention of the IPOB leadership and membership to the bad effects of these highly unproductive and crying unprofitable styles of this recent last. They should hasten up and rejig the bad pattern as not to lose the support of those they fight for and to incur the jeering and mockery of their traducers.