MARY HELEN BERNSTEIN SHOWS PEOPLE LOVE AVENGERS MORE THAN NIGERIAN SOLDIERS

MARY HELEN BERNSTEIN SHOWS PEOPLE LOVE AVENGERS MORE THAN NIGERIAN SOLDIERS

By Ifeanyi Chijioke.

I was added to a buzzing and celebrated Niger Delta Avengers Facebook page last week and , the person that added me was a stranger so I never wanted to make any comment there. I followed the page and read previous updates, to my greatest surprise; Niger Delta Avengers’ have turned celebrities. I recalled last week that Garba Shehu tried to tag militants’ terrorists, an effort that was dead on arrival. Unlike Boko haram, people are beginning to see militants as the only solution to a rigid and clueless government. The militants have their demand list of which Kanu’s release is the major demand and conduct of referendum to decide what the people want. Their demands simply made them the army of the people; hence revolution is not possible, armed agitation is inevitable.
When Nigerian army claimed that members of Niger Delta Avengers were arrested, I followed the news and studied comments, the reaction of people were negative. One, the people have lost confidence in the army. Two, the people love Niger Delta Avengers more than the Nigerian soldiers because the soldiers are seen as zombies that always follow orders of any zombie made president. This is a very dangerous development; Avengers are being revered and celebrated for attacking the government. This is as a result of insensitivity and cluelessness of the government of the day to contain agitations within the ambit of the law. This government chose to use guns without knowing people can get guns and stand shoulder to shoulder with the government. One thing the people don’t have is power even though they give power; ability to use the power given to you to solve their problems is the unique approach to agitations.

Having chose gun, arrest and detention approach, nobody is a robot, the people would eventually revolt and that is the situation right now. The situation will soon be a full blown crisis because what the government is dealing with is an ideology that can never be defeated. The people are fanatical about Biafra and there is nothing that can kill it if not to murder over 70 million Biafrans and the question is, will 70 million be murdered? The reality remains that Biafra has come to stay and only referendum or division of the contraption will solve the problem. I don’t want to mince words or massage it, Biafra is an idea it’s time has come and there is nothing that can stop it, any attempt to stop it will cause atomic reaction that could consume both Dick and Harry.
Mary Helen Bernstein is a pure example of what Niger Delta Avengers has become; her birthday which was on 8th of July was on a low-key. Though she told me there would be some songs and maybe one or two hang outs, I had expected the birthday to hit the internet and maybe so much updates from her or reactions. I had written a long note of thanks for her contribution to making sure that over 1.5 million innocent children starved to death by Gowon, Buhari and co was not in vain. She had said that hence nobody was prosecuted for such act, that fighting for their death to be the price of independence was worthwhile.

Meanwhile, her decision to fervently engage in the restoration project of Biafra was as a result of her childhood experiences, she equated it to the present suffering of Biafran children as a result of post war treatments from Nigeria and decided to lead the charge. Just a moment I was waiting for her reactions or reply of the birthday wishes I and other people made, we never got that until she gladly posted on her wall that her birthday is complete and well celebrated.

At first, I have no clue of how the birthday was celebrated; she never reacted to birthday wishes but wrote on her wall “Thank you Avengers for my three birthday gifts” then I scroll down my screen to see the news of pipeline destruction, Avengers just blew up three flow stations and as she was taking that for her birthday, the whole internet was buzzing, there was joy in the air because Avengers just bombed government’s facilities. This is clearly a different ball game, this is not militancy but war of the people, and then it is wise to know that beyond being freedom fighters, Avengers are people’s soldiers.

The Nigerian army should understand that the heart of the people is with Niger Delta Avengers and there is unimaginable sympathy for them. I have and will maintain that Niger Delta Avengers is the responsibility of the people of Biafra and anybody that stands for justice. If you take a kind look at the demands made by them, you will come to the simple reality that this is a justified agitation. When you are so angry and decide to ask why they should use gun and bomb, then it would be fair you consider what happened in Aba, Onitsha, Enugu, Portharcourt, Delta etc, then you will understand that agitating with placards is prohibited in Nigeria.

Authored by Ifeanyi chijioke for the Great Biafra Journalists.

Published by Okpalaeze.