IGWEBUIKE ETHIC AND THE CASE OF BIAFRAN AGITATION

Résumé

The phenomenon of diverse people espousing different ethical schemes, demonstrates that ethics, for the most part, originates from the history and experiences of a people. Every society, by reason of distinct experiences, are structured in peculiar ways, and are guided by peculiar principles of action. This, by no means, derogates from the universalist appeal of ethics which, was patently espoused by Immanuel Kant, but a sober reminder of the feminist epistemologists’ grounds for perspective relativity of ideas. The centrality of Igwebuike ― literally ‘strength in numbers’ ethic, to life and development in Igboland, cannot be exaggerated. Its significance to the protection of human and natural rights echoed by the UNDP, and the sustenance of the Biafran agitation for nationhood, is weighty. In this paper, we established the Biafran agitation within the gambit of the Igwebuike ethic, and by the same token, demonstrated the futility of applying physical solutions to a collective ideological task. We underscored the profuse immersion of the Igwebuike ethic in the origin, growth and sustenance of the Biafran agitation, which, in so doing, established a strong nexus between them. By using the hermeneutic and expository methods, we critically appraised the problems, and proposed that for a lasting solution to the current quagmire, efforts must be made to assuage the pains of the right’s violations of the Igbos.