The pioneer archbishop of the Enugu Anglican Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev’d Amos Amankechinelo Madu, has cautioned those calling for another war to desist from such.
He said that those making the call didn’t witness the 30-months Nigerian civil war between 1967 to 1970, stressing that they are ignorant of what they are asking for.
Bishop Madu stated this on Saturday in Enugu while featuring on Solid Fm’s flagship programme, Freedom Square, on the topic, “End of Civil and Unfulfilled Gratitude to God by Ndi Igbo: A Way Forward”
The Anglican prelate pointed out life during the war, which he described as genocidal, was really unbearable and extremely tough, as many children and adults died of starvation and curable diseases.
According to him, mothers at that time cooked food with neither salt, fish, meat nor vegetable, noting that it was an experience no one should ever dreamt of.
The Anglican bishop asked the elders to educate and direct the youths on the right path, in order to avoid mistakes that can push the Igbo nation into another civil war.
He lamented that the Igbo nation has failed to thank God on how his finger stopped the war, noting that everybody was surprise when the war ended in 1970.
“There is the desire to organise for the 15th January every year in order to honour God for what he has done for the Igbo nation.
“Only one diocese has done it before last year but many did it this year because of the awareness, and the awareness is a declaration that the Igbo nation should wake up from sleep for we have stayed long in wilderness, self-imposed slavery and bondage.
“We’ve been struggling for freedom from this self-imposed slavery and bondage in Nigeria.
“Every day and every time, you hear people protesting, groaning and saying all kinds of things happening to Ndigbo in different parts of Nigeria, most recently in Lagos.
“And in the political sector, the Igbos are hunted, Igbos are to be seen and not to be heard, Igbos cannot be accommodated.
“It is with great pleasure and great expectation mixed with great sense of responsibility that I want to address this important issue of what I call the Igbo dilemma, which has distablised the plans of Ndigbo.
“It has been conclusively realized that the predicament and the resultant general downturn of lives and fortunes of Ndigbo is traceable to what Igbos are doing and more to what they have failed to do.
“Guided by the Holy Spirit of God, a clarion realisation has come to the surface that first, Ndigbo have forgotten that they fought a deadly civil war from 1967 to 1970.
“Secondly, Ndigbo are yet to express gratitude through thanksgiving to God in appreciation of what God has done for them during and after the three years of excruciating genocidal war.
“There is need for the Igbos to thank God for what he did during the war that led to the end of the war. I can tell you that it was the finger of God that stopped the war, if not for that, we the Igbos would have been consumed.
“After the war, we quickly forgot to appreciate the same God that made the war to stop, rather we started chasing money.
“Until the Igbo nation acknowledge and thank God for his divine intervention, the Igbos will continue to suffer rejection and marginalisation in Nigeria”, the bishop said.