By Chikwas Onu Ikpe | Biafra Writers
September 17, 2017
On Friday, September 15, 2017, it stretched to our cognizance that the Defence Headquarters of the Nigerian military, in a declaration, categorized the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group. This is utterly laughable and ludicrous!
In the said declaration that: "The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group which has posed to be a security challenge in the country, has been metamorphosing from one stage to the other. After due professional analysis and recent developments, it has become expedient, to notify the general public that; the claim by IPOB actors that the organization is non-violent is not true.
"Hence, the need to bring to public awareness the true and current state of IPOB. In this regard, some of their actions, clandestinely and actively, that has been terrorizing the general public among others include;
a. The formation of a Biafra Secret[sic] Service.
b. Claimed formation of Biafra National Guard.
c. Unauthorised blocking of public access roads.
d. Extortion of money from innocent civilians at illegal road blocks.
e. Militant possession and use of weapons (stones, Molotov cocktails, machetes and broken bottles among others) on a military patrol on 10 September 2017.
f. Physical confrontation of troops by Nnamdi Kanu and other IPOB actors at a check point on 11 September 2017 and also attempts to snatch their rifles.
g. Attack by IPOB members, on a military check point on 12 September 2017, at Isiala Ngwa, where one IPOB actor attempted to snatch a female soldier’s rifle.
Concluding, they added that from the foregoing, the Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to confirm to the general public that IPOB from all intent, plan and purpose as analysed, is a militant terrorist organisation.
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Recall that in my previous article - "PYTHON DANCE, A STEERED OPERATION TO ELIMINATE BIAFRANS," I emphasized on the intent of the Nigerian government to legitimize their false alarm of "terrorism", if we had repulsed. But unfortunately, the Nigerian army took it upon itself. They have woefully failed!
I do not intend dilly-dallying the frivolous and fallacious declaration, let me just counteract declarations a and e :
• The inauguration of Biafra Security Service (BSS) which is not "Biafra SECRET Service" is embedded on and initiated to protecting the lives and properties of Biafrans fleeing from the genocidal quit notice by the Northern Hausa-Fulani, as October 1, 2017 inches closer. In addition, to inhibit the pillaging of our homestead and farmland, coupled with the sexual assault (rape) of our mothers and sisters by the Fulani militia, masquerading as herdsmen in all nooks and crannies of Biafraland.
If there is nothing wrong with OPC, a Yoruba security arm borne out of the June 12 struggle, still in existence and is working for the good of the indigenes of Yoruba; the Hisbah Sharia municipal, borne out of the Sharia colonisation struggle by the cattle herders, working for the good of their cattle and the Fulani herdsmen, borne out of nothing but to confiscate and acquire people's land (also operating for the good of the Fulanis). All these security agencies are armed! Then what crime is it to tow the line of these other tribes by creating a similar but non-violent unarmed security service called the BSS?
Related Post: Biafra: IPOB not a terrorist organization, Ohanaeze declares
• It is an abomination when one fights his fellow and yet raises a false alarm of assault against him. The Nigerian army, having weighted-armouries and lethal arsenals in their disposal barricaded the hearth of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; all his volunteer securities could do was to handpick stones, bottles and sticks, in self-defense — which even appears suicidal. The Nigerian army overwhelmed and mowed down scores of unarmed civilians; yet has the hardihood to shed crocodile tears. May the spirit of those innocent lives they have maimed continue to torment and haunt the perpetrators, world without end!
The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property in order to coerce or intimidate a government or the civilian population in furtherance of political or social objectives defines terrorism. On the other hand, the exactitude of the insurgency is an organized rebellion aimed at overthrowing a constituted government through the use of subversion and armed conflict. Furthermore, the analogy between the duo is a depicting fact that Nigerian army, whose soldiers are drawn from the rank and files of BOKO HARAM INSURGENTS, is answerable to terrorist(s).
More so, it is incongruous on the part of Nigerian army to proscribing any organisation, or in essence, inferring a declaration of terrorism upon such. In conformance to the TERRORISM (PREVENTION) ACT 2011 - section(2), subsection(1c), which says: "Where two or more persons associate for the purpose of or where an organization engages in — setting up or pursuing acts of terrorism, the judge in Chambers may on an application made by the Attorney General, National Security Adviser or Inspector General of Police on the approval of the President; declare any entity to be a proscribed organization and the notice should be published in official gazette."
Howbeit, if IPOB is a terrorist group, I am dumbstruck what will become of the Boko Haram insurgents - Gospel preachers? Then would the Fulani herdsmen become an organism of a charitable organisation.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is warranted without impediment, freedom of congregation, rally and conduct of peaceful protests in their host countries of residence, with formal permits and presence of Civil police, lest external interference. If IPOB were "terrorists", how could the security agencies of the United States of America have allowed series of rallies within the vicinity of the White House? How could IPOB have instituted a Headquarter in Germany without a restraining order(s) from the German government? Unbelievable! It is only in Nigeria where the exhibition of Biafran flags, mufflers and caps amounts to "subversion" and "terrorism".
The Nigerian army, before treading via the bottomless aisle, would have made enquiries as to the upshot of the wild-goose-chase by the Nigerian government, when it levelled among others, a charge that bordered on "managing an unlawful society" i.e IPOB, against our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. But the Federal government of Nigeria was deficit of prima facie evidence in relation to that; thus was overruled and quashed on March 1, 2017, by Justice Binta Nyako at the Federal High Court of Abuja, that "IPOB is not unlawful".
Read Also: Biafra: Operation Python Dance; Another Ploy To Kill More Biafran Youths And Assassinate IPOB Leader, Nnamdi Kanu
For avoidance of doubt, owing to the tabled document before the ECOWAS Court, IPOB is a registered and recognized organisation in the United Kingdom. IPOB was registered under the UNITED KINGDOM COMPANIES ACT 2006, with certificate registration number 9141882 with over 30 branches in the world.
Finally, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is an organisation so far as it goes, but a people whose solitary objective is anchored on Self-determinism — a process of Self-determination, which is the right of indigenous peoples to "freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development", as enshrined in the UN and AU Charters. IPOB is a law-abiding people, it is an indigenous nation of people and cannot engage in acts of terrorism. We have never engineered an assault neither do we intend to repulse. Notwithstanding the intimidation, subjugation and despicable carnage meted on the indigenous people of Biafra, we shall continue to ply the laid down principles by the United Nations (UN), in relation to Self-determination.
ONE DAY, ONE DAY WE SHALL BE FREE.
#SelfDetermination
#BiafraReferendum
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Publisher: Charles Opanwa
The Biafra Times
"ONE DAY, ONE DAY WE SHALL BE FREE." I say a Big AMEN to that. Weldone.
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