Parresia
Publishers Ltd and African Centre for Media and Information Literacy in
partnership with Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation will on Tuesday, May 31, 2016,
present to the public a new book, We Are All Biafrans, written by
Chido Onumah. Designed as a platform to reinforce the debate about federalism
and national reconciliation, the event is expected to draw Nigerians from all
walks of life. Onumah is a journalist, blogger, human rights activist and
Coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL).
Like
his two previous books (Time to Reclaim Nigeria and Nigeria
is Negotiable), We
Are All Biafrans is a collection of essays published by the author in
various newspapers in the last three years (2013-2016) focusing on the crisis
of nationhood in Nigeria. It has five chapters namely, “The Politics of 2015”, “Dancing
on the Brink”,“Unmaking Nigeria”, “Of Scoundrels and Statesmen”, and “Last
‘Missionary’ Journey”.
A staunch advocate of federalism in
its proper sense, Onumah in this book contends that most, if not all, of the
problems of Nigeria today are located in the way the country is structured. As
he did in his previous books, he makes an eminently logical case for an urgent
socio-political restructuring of Nigeria in order to ward off a looming
catastrophe that could endanger our collective well-being. He argues that the
country needs to engage episodic political convulsions that threaten its very
foundation, including Biafra, June 12, Boko Haram, the “National Question”,
citizenship rights, and “militocracy”.
In his typical candid manner, he takes
on Nigeria’s indolent and reactionary ruling elite – civilian and military –
and their allies, as well as bandits in uniform, scoundrels posing as
statesmen, and conservative ideologues, religious bigots, and ethnic
chauvinists posing as patriots.
The
author notes that we can’t achieve any meaningful progress as a people until we
come to terms with the reality of our existence – that Nigeria is a deeply
flawed nation – and sincerely and selflessly confront it.
He raises fundamental questions
such as, What is Nigeria and who is a Nigerian? If Nigeria is a federal
republic, what constitutes or should constitute the federating units? He posits
that the different manifestations of Biafra may well be a metaphor as all ethnic
groups in Nigeria are victims of the terrible misrule of the past decades and
thus desire a change in their material conditions.
“Chido Onumah raises
opinion-making about Nigeria to the standards of great, uncompromising art,”
notes Odia Ofeimun, author, poet and ex-President of the Association of
Nigerian Authors (ANA). We are all
Biafrans is a clarion call to reclaim a country that is on the verge of
national suicide. It seeks to trigger the
debate that will eventually nudge Nigerians towards kick-starting the process
of a genuine re-invention of the country.
Released by:
African
Centre for Media & Information Literacy
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