Since the end of the Biafran War in 1970, one tragic pattern has refused to change: Igbos—who are supposedly the beneficiaries of every agitation—have remained the only consistent victims of those same agitations. For over five decades, individuals have exploited the trauma, hopes, and historical wounds of our people. Meanwhile, the only constant currency paid is the blood of innocent Igbo men, women, and children.
This is not academic commentary.
This is not detached observation.
This is lived reality.
One that I personally confronted at the cold mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.
THE PERSONAL TRAGEDY THAT OPENED MY EYES
My late cousin, Eugene Okwumbah, nephew to my mother, was a loyal follower of MASSOB under Ralph Uwazurike. With nothing more than a primary school certificate, he believed he would become a Minister of Education in the “Biafra Republic.” He even urged me to meet Uwazurike to secure the role of Attorney General of Biafra.
Then he disappeared after travelling from Lagos to attend a MASSOB event.
The burden of finding him fell entirely on me. I searched police stations in Lagos, Anambra, Abuja, and Delta. I visited Uwazurike’s home in Ijesha, Lagos. I travelled to Okigwe. Everywhere, the response was the same:
No answer. No trace. No information.
It was an officer at the Imo State Command who discreetly advised me to visit Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri.
Nothing prepared me for what I saw.
The mortuary attendants, upon hearing my story, took me straight to where unarmed MASSOB members—allegedly killed in a confrontation with security agents—were dumped. Decaying bodies. Lifeless. Unclaimed. Hidden from public scrutiny.
And among them, was my cousin Eugene.
I had to return home and inform my mother that her nephew’s body was lying in a mortuary. The next day, I took her to Owerri where she identified him herself—a sight no mother should experience.
We completed the paperwork to retrieve his corpse for a dignified burial.
But even that was denied.
On returning to FMC the eve of collection, we were informed that all the bodies had been secretly given a mass burial after MASSOB operatives attempted to forcefully reclaim the corpses.
Eugene died leaving behind his aged mother, wife, and six children—none of whom ever got the closure of a proper burial.
Eugene’s story is but one among thousands.
The victims are always Igbos.
The bereaved families are always Igbos.
The graves are always dug in Alaigbo.
A CONSISTENT PATTERN: THE LEADERS FEED FAT WHILE FOLLOWERS DIE
From MASSOB to IPOB to ESN to the digital cults of today, the cycle is predictable:
The leaders grow wealthy.
The followers die, disappear, or are arrested.
Families are shattered.
Businesses collapse.
Communities live in fear.
The South East bleeds alone.
If the State had acted early and prosecuted Uwazurike, the devastation from the Kanu-led ESN and the terrorism of Simon Ekpa would have been significantly reduced.
Instead, each new group simply evolves from the ashes of the previous one, adopting new methods of extortion and manipulation while recycling the same victims.
THE NEWEST EXPLOITATION: DIGITAL BIAFRA, FAKE EMBASSIES, AND ONLINE CURRENCY
Today, we have entered a new era of emotional exploitation.
A nurse practitioner in the United States, Ngozi Orabueze, has created a fantasy “United States of Biafra (USB)”:
“Biafran passports” and “ID cards” for sale
A fake “Biafra Embassy” in Georgia
“Government loans” with promises of 100% interest when “USB is restored”
A fictitious Biafra capital named Ebube
Biafran currencies called Eje and Ejenma
Weekly online levies collected during Zoom meetings
Nationwide sit-at-home orders issued from her workplace in America
Doctors, engineers, academics—people who should know better—are falling for these scams, the same way earlier generations were deceived into cleaning Uwazurike’s house every Saturday.
The faces change.
The geography changes.
The technology changes.
But the victims remain the same—Igbos.
THE DANGEROUS INTOLERANCE OF DIVERGENT VIEWS
Arguably, the most frightening development is the growing hostility to opposing views. In today’s climate, any Igbo who dares to question the deception is immediately branded a SABOTEUR.
The punishment?
Arson
Beatings
Death threats
Intimidation
Social ostracism
Destruction of property
An intellectually vibrant people have been reduced to silence by fear of labels imposed by self-appointed liberators.
It is a tragic irony that only the supposed beneficiaries of the promised Biafra are also the only victims of the movement.
No one else is dying.
No outsider loses a child because of sit-at-home.
No other ethnic group faces these threats.
Only Igbos.
THE BOKO HARAM PARALLEL: WHEN EDUCATION BECOMES A CRIME
When Boko Haram—whose ideology literally means “Western education is forbidden”—began attacking schools in the North, we were horrified. We condemned them. We grieved for innocent northern children killed for seeking knowledge.
But what do we call it now, when Igbo primary and secondary school children are beaten, chased, humiliated, or even killed simply because they tried to attend school or write WAEC during fraudulent sit-at-home orders?
How different is this from Boko Haram?
Both violently suppress education
Both use fear to empty classrooms
Both target the future of their communities
Both weaponise ignorance
Both inflict pain on innocent children
The only difference is this:
Boko Haram is honest about its motives.
Those enforcing educational paralysis in Igboland pretend to be fighting for liberation while practicing the same ideology that has destroyed northern Nigeria.
No society survives when it wages war on the education of its children.
No movement can claim to fight for freedom while murdering the future it claims to protect.
WE ARE NOT IN COMPETITION WITH THE NORTH FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION
Some argue that northerners do not criticise their extremists. But have they looked at what that silence produced?
Whole towns destroyed
Millions displaced
Streets ruled by bandits
Entire populations living in IDP camps
Education crippled
Generations trapped in poverty
Why would any sane society want to replicate that disaster?
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The South East must not enter a competition of self-destruction with any region.
We cannot destroy our own homeland in the name of saving it.
A FINAL CALL TO MY PEOPLE
Biafra, for many, has become an opium—an emotional drug administered by deceptive merchants who cash out while their followers drown in grief, poverty, and trauma.
Our people are not wrong to feel marginalised.
We are not wrong to demand fairness.
We are not wrong to seek justice in Nigeria.
But we must separate legitimate political struggle from fraudulent emotional exploitation.
No people should bury their children because of lies.
No community should destroy its economy because of illusions.
No generation should allow fear to silence truth.
We must think clearly.
We must value life.
We must resist manipulation.
We must protect our homeland.
And above all:
We must never again empower those who profit from the tears of their own people.
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