Editorial: Despite the proscription of IPOB, protests continues to rock major cities in the S-East

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue || For Biafra Writers

November 17, 2017


It was the lead counsel and Head of legal department of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq., that once said that the proscription and designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization are views merely expressed only on pages of the newspapers and does not carry any weight neither does it go any farther than that.

Realistically, Biafrans through their actions and inactions has shown that truly the terrorist tag on them is a mere waste of time and resources as they continue to hold their usual meetings and peaceful demonstrations in major cities against the slave masters, oppressors, colonialists and their instrumentalists in Biafraland.

These determined and unwavering acts has occassionally send shivers down the spines of the Nigerian government and its dictatorial cabals whenever they are confronted with the unflinching resolve and resoluteness of the Indigenous People of Biafra in restoring their ancient nationhood, that they are left with no other option than to resort to the continual deployment of trigger-happy security forces in the region.

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The Federal government had reasoned that the proscription and tagging as terrorists, the Indigenous People of Biafra, will accord them the necessary leverage and wherewithal to destabilize their activities and throw disarray and/or disaffection in the camp of IPOB.However, the fact still remains that an average Easterner is in connection with the plight of their IPOB citizens and therefore, does not feel threatened by their activities in anyway, no matter how outrageous and insensitive it might appear to others. And this has helped in no small measure to strenghten the revolutionary struggle of IPOB.

Today, despite receiving the imprimatur of the law court in proscribing IPOB, they continued unabatedly to storm the streets in demand of their rights to self-determination and calling for a referendum to determine the plausibility of a Biafra nation. Without harbouring any atom of fear in them, they had demonstrated against the scheduled Saturday’s Anambra guber poll in the cities of Onitsha, and recently, in Aba, Abia State.

If the terrorist tag truly had any devastating effect or if it has dealt a heavy blow on the foundation and organization of IPOB, perhaps President Muhammadu Buhari wouldn’t have appealed to the people for calm and renouncing of the Biafra agitation during his unceremonious visit to the South East almost three years since his ascension to the presidency.

In a dispensation where secession and demands for referendum forms major ideologies of some countries of the world, the Nigerian government unfortunately has not yet learnt their lessons in the abusive, violent and highhanded approach exerted on peaceful agitators for sovereign independent nations in the country despite the warnings. They still perceive the idea as naive, dead and buried, even when it is very much alive and resonating in the hearts and actions of many. If they still have any atom of conscience in them, it would have dawned on them that the use of brute and excessive force and the deployment of amoury and gun barrels on ideologically-driven agitators never quenches their agitation or quest, rather it spurs and encourages them the more to be consistent, determined and unrelenting in their pursuit for liberation.

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The government should know better that while it seems much more easier and feasible to roll out amoured tanks on unarmed and defenseless agitators as against those engaged in armed struggle, never put to an abrupt end, their resolved determination to continue in the struggle. In fact, it has proven to be the most formidable and unstoppable form of struggle because a situation where an armless people can boldly face the arsenals of the security agents, tells you that their resolve to accomplish their quest should not be mistaken nor taken for granted.

In their unrelenting quest for freedom, the Nigerian government should have realized that years of deploying armed troops and war tanks against IPOB has not yielded any veritable result in trying to quell the renewed agitation, rather, it has been sustained and empowered to gather more momentum. To achieve total peace where injustice, unfairness and absence of equity reigns, cannot be meted out with brute force. If the government continues the brutal suppression of activists/agitators using the country’s security apparatus, it is tantamount to pouring water on the back of a Camel while it continues to spring up like a skyscraper.


The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
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