Leadership goes beyond moving around in convoys, waving from air conditioned bullet proof wonders on wheel and attending wine sampling parties from tropical Africa to choice locations across Planet Earth.

The South – East Geo Political Zone has suffered enough, from within and without. I am glad that governors and other leaders of that very blessed area have suddenly rediscovered themselves and are trying to come together as one, beyond party affiliations.

The greatest threat to development is security. It is crystal clear now that Nnamdi Kanu, hate him or love him, has a role to play in the restoration of peace in the region. And the best way to begin the process of bringing back Igbo land is to work toward his freedom.

Young men are free to ask questions and demand a separate space. The Nigerian constitution guarantees that. Those of us who say Biafra, even as little boys, understand the pains of genocide. We are therefore more experienced and in a better position to say it the way it is.

At the same time, the best way to kill Biafra is for justice and fair play to prevail. The younger ones cannot understand why this fraud called Nigeria continues to march towards destruction when there are better ways to change the narrative.

Personally, I love all the nationalities that were forced into this suicide union by Lord Lugard of Abinger in 1914. I have nothing against the British. My problem is with wicked plunderers that used the Union Jack to plant perennial division here.

George Taubman Goldie was a criminal because he deceived London. All the children of 419 within us now, may trace their blood to Lugard as well, who tricked different people with distinct cultures into one large space that has continued to choke.

Lugard hated the Igbo and did everything to bring them down. But this is a nation of shining stars who can create a flowing river in the desert. You cannot kill the Igbo man because even within your own bedroom, there may be people with that identity.

It was therefore no surprise that at the time of independence in 1960, the Igbo had made good use of the good side of the British and were well placed to create an atmosphere of sustainable peace for tremendous development.

This was the situation, until some misguided Army majors decided to display youthful exuberance. It was an anti Igbo coup although they claimed that the objective was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo from prison in the Eastern Region.

Yes, they thought that because Awo’s party, the Action Group, had gone into alliance with the National Council of Nigerian citizens, they could fight Awolowo’s enemies, represented by the Northern Peoples Congress and Chief Ladoke Akintola.

On paper, those young officers, were led by Chukwuma Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna. Behind the facade, the monk behind the hood was Wale Ademoyega, whose Ode Remo home was not far from Awo’s Ikenne. And he had joined the Army as a District Officer.

The majors killed Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, shot Northern Region premier Ahmadu Bello, murdered his Western Region counterpart, Akintola, shot Finance minister Festus Okotie Eboh and cleared all the very senior Kanuri officers in the Army, one Igbo Lt. Col. and another Middle officer of the same rank.

What they failed to realise was that the Yoruba did not send them to eliminate Awolowo’s opponents. The same Awo was on the Nigerian side during the war. The North will not forget, even if after killing Nzeogwu and burying him in Kaduna.

The bloody genocide and Civil War that followed that exuberance, consumed over five million souls from  the Eastern Region and Biafra. Over five decades after the war, Ndigbo have not recovered from the consequences of that useless first coup.

South – East governors must begin with a Memorial for the dead. Their spirit is not at rest. And it must not just be about the Igbo. Some of the victims were neither Igbo nor Nigerians. Bruce Mayrock sacrificed himself in the United States.

They must honour Enugu Rangers, 1970 to 1980 set. It is a monumental shame that those great Flying Antelopes who restored Igbo confidence after the war have been abandoned by the same people. Godwin Ogbueze made a point.

He was a Biafran commando who captained the East Central State Academicals to win the Manuwa/ Adebajo Cup in 1971. In the 4-0 defeat of Lagos at Onikan, Ogbueze dribbled the opposition, after scoring a hat – trick, moved to the centre circle and sat on the ball, while game was on. His message was that the Igbo should remain strong.

Dr. Michael Okpara turned the Eastern Region to Paradise. Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea were not Asian Tigers then. The Lion barked in the East. The South – East governors must return that lost Paradise. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is waiting to pull them through.

A revamped South – East will paint a bigger picture. Remittances from their own abroad is stronger than the jaundiced Nigerian economy. The governors are multi millionaires, there should be no looting. This is time to work. And as we say in Pidgin English, if you work, you chop.