AKATAKA---THE BIAFRAN WITH A NIGERIAN HEART AND THE DISPOSITION OF AN AMERICAN

THE DILEMA OF  A CONFUSED COUNTRYMAN

Akataka is a confused citizen.He still finds it difficult to place his
identity in Nigeria.He was born fifteen years before the civil war in
Nigeria.As a young man he witnessed the destruction and carnage that the
war brought in the territory named Biafra.He suffered so much deprivation.
Hunger and disease were his close companions as the war raged on.He thanked
Providence when hostilities ceased as the Biafrans capitulated.The human tragedy
that was the war was declared over.Life returned to normalcy and he was able to
go back to High School in 1970.
    By 1973, Akataka left for the United States.He gained admission to study
Physics at the prestigious MIT in Boston.He graduated magna cum laude and later
made it summa cum laude in nuclear physics from the same university.
     He visited home on a regular basis even though he worked for a jet propulsion
laboratory and at a nuclear power complex somewhere in the Nevada Desert.The visits
stopped in 2009 when he got fed up with conditions at home,especially the desire of many
young people from his area to flee abroad in search of greener pastures.He felt that the country had
failed the youth but still believed the situation could be remedied with some tinkering of the prevailing political structure and great leadership.To his chagrin this was not to be.He decided
to place the issues of Nigeria in the dark recesses of his brain.This attitude of living in denial was
not to last for too long because of the activities of a young upstart named Nnamdi who was running
a kind of pirate radio from the UK.He was amazed at the one they called a rabble rouser who was
bombarding the airwaves with facts and figures on Nigeria.Some of the messages were mere  propaganda,some were laced with innuendos and seeming hatred towards some individuals and ethnic groups in Nigeria.The language used for the broadcasts were mostly uncouth but he was hit by some of the home truths therein.He had been sucked in but yet maintained a level head as a rational
and analytical scientist.He felt that Nnamdi had gone too far,that Biafra in Nigeria was a better option
than separation.He believed in the restructuring of the Polity for a better Nigeria.He received a rude shock when many respected individula in the country vowed never to let that materialize.
      Akataka is now in Nigeria on a visit.He is so much in love with the diversity and the blend
of multi ethnic groups in the country.He was in his community yesterday.He tried to address some IPOB youths on the need to tread with caution and  was nearly stoned.He is confused now and
on his way to New York enroute Lagos.His mind is running riot.He does not know on what side of the divide he should belong as the National Assembly says no to restructuring.He sought my advice.
Who can assist me advise him?