A sage once said: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The Holy Bible also said: “He that is a friend loves at all times: and a brother is proved in distress.” This piece addresses all of my brothers in the South-South of Nigeria, especially those who still find it difficult to accept this singular truth, even if it stares them on the face.

The word “Biafra” should not still stand as a puzzle hard to crack between brothers that have equally come of age, its meaning and interpretation ought not to remain elusive even in these times when wisdom perpetually shouts on top of her voice on the hilltops, near the road and at the crossroads; at the entrance to the city, beside the gates, saying to whoever loves life: take of me, and live.

This is the testimony of wisdom, reason is making herself heard: "I appeal to all of you; I call to everyone on earth. Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense. Listen to my excellent words; all I tell you is right. What I say is the truth; lies are hateful to me.

Everything I say is true; nothing is false or misleading. To those with insight, it is all clear; to the well-informed, it is all plain. Choose my instruction instead of silver; choose knowledge rather than the finest gold. "I am Wisdom, I am better than jewels; nothing you want can compare with me. I am Wisdom, and I have insight; I have knowledge and sound judgment. To honor the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words. I make plans and carry them out. I have understanding, and I am strong. I help kings to govern and rulers to make good laws.

Every ruler on earth governs with my help, officials and nobles alike. I love those who love me; whoever looks for me can find me. I have riches and honor to give, prosperity and success. What you get from me is better than the finest gold, better than the purest silver. I walk the way of righteousness; I follow the paths of justice, giving wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures.

The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago; I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began. I was born before the oceans, when there were no springs of water. I was born before the mountains, before the hills were set in place, before God made the earth and its fields or even the first handful of soil.

I was there when he set the sky in place, when he stretched the horizon across the ocean, when he placed the clouds in the sky, when he opened the springs of the ocean and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said. I was there when he laid the earth's foundations. I was beside him like an architect, I was his daily source of joy, always happy in his presence - happy with the world and pleased with the human race.

"Now, young people listen to me; do as I say, and you will be happy. Listen to what you are taught. Be wise; do not neglect it. Those who listen to me will be happy - those who stay at my door every day, waiting at the entrance to my home, those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them. Those who do not find me hurt themselves; anyone who hates me loves death."

Now that wisdom has spoken in the simplest of terms, it behooves us to do nothing but hearken and apply. Setting aside all malice, suspicion, mistrust, hypocrisy, jealousy and all forms of evil, let us call upon ourselves the life-refreshing breeze which wisdom dispenses at no cost to whoever makes himself available.

Let us, in remembering Biafra and in thinking of its inevitable realization, consider the fixating will of truth. Let us accept that, freedom and human rights precede slavery, compulsion and all forms of cruelty; and let us, therefore, this time, pursue these with every knowledge that wisdom hands out to whoever wills. God, who is the creator and sculptor of all, is in Himself the embodiment and perfection of wisdom. In His omniscient grace, He has given us the freedom and rights to move and use everything within the garden of His love, except that tree of dissension - selfishness and pride which formed the foundational blocks of hell.

There is no foundation in God’s creation which was not laid in ardent love, perfection and excellence. Before God smiled at Himself, He had seen beauty and goodness in all of His creation which He has made for man. Even as crops yield their harvest, the ground continues to yield resources in a constant incalculable by man’s reasoning