Stop spread of Boko Haram, UN, EU tell Nigerian Army chief

NOVERMBER 22, 2019 | THE BIAFRA TIMES

Olaleye Aluko

ABUJA - The United Nations and the European Union Special Representatives to West Africa and the Lake Chad Basin Commission on Wednesday met with the Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Abuja, saying that the Boko Haram insurgents must be checkmated and their spread stopped.

The UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, and the EU Special Representative for the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin Commission, Angel Lusada, stated this during their visit to the Army Headquarters in Abuja. They noted that their organisations would work together in the fight against terrorism in the North-East geopolitical zone.

The UN representative noted that the establishment of the Lake Chad Governors’ Forum was a welcome development and “part of a holistic approach which will focus on the root causes of insurgency.”

Chambas said, “One area of interest is the ongoing efforts to checkmate Boko Haram and stop its spread because of its affiliation to international terror groups. That is why it is incumbent on us all that we must see the fight against Boko Haram as a fight against international terrorism.

READ ALSO: Hate Speech Bill Designed to Take Away Your Freedom of Speech

“We are all concerned and we believe that Boko Haram is a fight that we can win. That is why we are specially applauding the efforts of the army in dealing with the menace.

“We welcome the establishment of the Lake Chad Governors’ Forum which had its inaugural meeting in Maiduguri last year. We believe it is part of a holistic approach which will focus on the root causes of insurgency.”

Also speaking, the EU Representative, Lusada, noted that the union was committed to the Multinational Joint Task Force in the efforts to end Boko Haram and other terror groups in the Lake Chad Basin.

“There are many initiatives taking place and new ones coming up and this involves funding, but we want coordination. The crisis has become regional and can only be solved with regional partnerships. That is why we are meeting with stakeholders,” the EU chief said.

READ FROM SOURCE

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Instagram: biafrawriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Biafra: Coded military operation in Biafraland aimed to aid fulani terror herdsmen to acquire and consolidate forcibly taken farmlands

IPOB PRESS RELEASE

October 12, 2019 | The Biafra Times

We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wish to advice the Fulani dominated military hierarchy in Nigeria led by Tukur Buratai that constant harassment and killing of innocent civilians in the East will not make up for their failure to deal with insurgency and terrorism ravaging the North where they come from. Any reasonable society would have noticed by now that these meaningless military exercises designed to torment civil society is a tactical diversion to cover up the failures of the Nigeria Army in tackling Fulani terrorism. The plan is to give the world the misleading impression that insecurity is affecting every part of Nigeria and Biafraland when that is not the case.

Announcing countless and meaningless military operations within the borders of Nigeria is indicative that this army headed by Buratai are cowards and instruments of suppression and intimidation. Civilised democratic countries set up their armies to fight external enemies and protect their borders but in Africa as with all developmentally backward parts of the world, national armies are being used to oppress the civilian population of which Nigeria is a prime example.

Buratai's cowardly and incompetent army of occupation should be reminded that all they have succeeded in doing is turning the Nigerian military into a laughing stock because announcing exotically named military operation after military operation within a civilian space is making it appear more like a television drama series than a serious initiative. They should stop fooling themselves and reveal the motive behind these countless invasions of Biafraland which is to aid Fulani terror herdsmen to acquire and consolidate farmlands forcibly taken from non-Fulani communities in the south. The world must know that we are seriously engaging these band of terrorists in Ebonyi State where they continue to enjoy the protection and help from their fellow Fulani terrorists in uniform in their quest to Islamise Ebonyi State and wider Biafra with the help of the state governor Dave Umahi.

Not long ago, earlier this year, Operation Python Dance 3 was launched by this same bumbling and roundly incompetent Buratai, which ended up accomplishing nothing in terms of their stated aim of eradicating IPOB using military force. All they succeeded in achieving is raping of young women, extortion and mindless thuggery against defenceless citizens. It has now been firmly established that the Nigeria government and her security forces especially the murderous Fulani soldiers in Nigerian Army uniform cleverly designed these never-ending episodes of military action against innocent civilians to ensure they continue the elimination of Biafran youths with the blessing of South East governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo. This is the intention behind this ongoing Operation Python Dance 4 and Operation Crocodile Smile in Biafraland.

In 2017 this same Nigerian Army with active connivance of South East governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo used Operation Python Dance 2 as cover to attempt the assassination of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and elimination of hundreds of Biafrans of which 28 gallant men fell at Isiama-Afaraukwu Umuahia in Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's compound during the invasion.

At a time when Nigerian army is being roundly defeated on all fronts by Boko Haram, culminating in some soldiers fleeing from battle and recourse to Saudi spirituality as a means of combating their self made insurgency, Fulani caliphate have instead chosen to display the bravery of their army against unarmed innocent civilians in Biafraland.

It important that Biafrans know that this recent Operation Python Dance 4 in Biafraland is the brainchild of the Fulani caliphate and their slaves in Igboland  Dave Umahi, Nnia Nwodo with the usual brigade of Efulefus that will stop at nothing to ensure that Biafraland is reduced to another vassal colony of the caliphate like Illorin the same way Ukpabi Asika did before them. These quislings know their days are numbered and as with every traitor in history, they must face their fate at the right time. We will never forgive nor pardon them.

In the north, their governors are busy proudly and openly negotiating with known killers, bandits and terrorists but in Biafraland Dave Umahi, Willie Obiano, Okezie Ikpeazu and Nnia Nwodo are busy colluding with northern military officers to kill their own people.

There is no insecurity in Biafraland save for those introduced by land grabbing Fulani terror herdsmen, aided and abated by South East governors. 

We know Nigerian military have no shame and will continue to flex their muscle against unarmed peaceful civilians while running away from engaging Boko Haram in battle in the north. Boko Haram are rampaging and killing lives in the north. There are overcrowded IDP camps and abandoned villages in the Arewa core north but the senseless Nigerian army are in Biafraland extorting money from motorists and committing all manner of unspeakable atrocities.

We IPOB are not relenting in our exposure of the inadequacies and unconscionable actions of this Buratai led Nigerian army until the world is firmly aware of what obtains in Nigeria. Exposing and making sure the whole world knows about the evil plans of Nigerian government and her security agencies against the people of Biafra is our responsibilty and that we shall continue to do.

There is peace in Biafraland except for where Fulani terror herdsmen are wreaking havoc in Ebonyi State. It is therefore unacceptable that Nigerian army should be running around in armoured vehicles and tormenting innocent civilians when they should be combating insecurity in core Arewa North. What exists in Nigeria is a Fulani Islamic army of occupation not a national army by any stretch of the imagination. It is, therefore, the duty of the masses to resist them as we IPOB are doing.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Instagram: biafrawriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

IPOB alert the world on the clamp down order made by Gen. Buratai to kill Biafrans unprovoked

IPOB PRESS RELEASE Published on | The Biafra Times

February 7, 2019

We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leadership wish to alert the civilized world of recent savage statement and covert order to continue the killing of Biafrans in the guise of "clampdown on IPOB" from the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Buratai and other heads of security agencies. This order has resulted in the shoot at sight operation now going on across Biafraland especially in Abia and Ebonyi states.

Its on record that IPOB is a peaceful but determined liberation movement. It is equally known that our method is non-violent civil disobedience. That we have chosen to sit-at-home on 16 February 2019 does not in any way constitute a breach of the peace, only in the warped minds of Buratai and other unity begging Fulani Jihadists. These ongoing killings of innocent Biafrans, some of whom are kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night or snatched in broad daylight from our streets is an act of war.

Those who are silent in the face of this relentless provocation will have themselves to blame when the time comes. That Nigerian Army and other security agencies headed by Fulani Jihadists have decided to start another round of brutal clampdown against innocent people in Biafraland is condemnable. This is renewal of the genocidal strategy this same army carried out in 2017 with the active connivance of Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo. That Biafrans have decided not to participate in Nigeria's presidential elections by sitting at home does not in any way constitute election disruption. How Buratai and his handlers could have construed peaceful sit-at-home exercise to mean disruption pf elections is defies logic and common sense.

Since the announcement and beginning of this latest version of Operation Python Dance 3 by Nigeria Government and her security forces, people have been missing from their respective houses while some are no more attending to their legitimate businesses for fear of being kidnapped by the army, police and DSS. Many kidnapped victims are languishing in secret police cells and army detention facilities in Obinze near Owerri in Imo State.

Innocent people that never committed any crime against anybody or state are being slaughtered and their burnt lifeless bodies once again thrown into a borrow pit along Aba Umuahia expressway near Magazine Fuel Station in Aba, Abia State.

It is imperative we notify the general public and the world at large that Buratai in concert with Okezie Ikpeazu, David Umahi, Willie Obiano, Rochas Okorocha and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Ohaneze are still collaborating with the Fulani Jihadist to continue to exact what could only be termed the final solution for Biafra agitation.

Our decision to boycott next week's election is set in stone. No amount of cheap propaganda by professional political e-rats, Nigerian Army or Fulani slaves in Biafraland can alter our resolve to boycott this coming presidential election unless our simple demands are met.

It is important humanity is duly notified through this statement that Nigerian Army have no justifiable reason whatsoever to invade South East and South South because we will be sitting indoors in our homes. Our resolve to restore Biafra remains non negotiable and nothing can stop it.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Biafra: Same Charges; 16 Women Discharged, About 100 Others Still Remanded in Prison, Rape of Law

By Chijindu Benjamin Ukah | For Biafra Writers

August 24, 2018

16 Women Discharged, About 100 Women Still remanded in prison by the same magistrate court that said it is not within its jurisdiction to hear the charges against them.

After Magistrate S.K. Durumba in Imo State magistrate court said "it is not within my jurisdiction to hear your case" she went ahead to order that innocent Biafran women be remanded in prison on September 20, 2018. This is a rape of even Nigerian law.

This is an abuse of English law and a shame to Nigerian judiciary under the government of dictator Muhammadu Bulgari, impersonated by Aminu Jibril from Sudan.

It is not questionable that Okorocha on the order of Buhari pressurised the judge to remand over 100 women in prison to unduly punish them for demanding that Nigerian government produce their leader Mazi Nnamdi  Kanu and parents; His Royal Majesty Eze and Lolo Israel Okwu Kanu, were either killed or taken away by Nigerian army on September 14th 2018 when the army invaded their home in Afara ukwu, Umuahia during a military operation code-named; Operation Python Dance 2.

It is clear to all and sundry that the purpose of creating the judiciary arm of government in Nigeria have long been jeopardized. Unfortunately, The judiciary, which should be independent and serve as a check to both legislative and presidential arms of government, is now controlled by the presidency. Nigerian judiciary is a sham.

Come to think of it, why would Nigerian police who unlawfully arrested these women take them to magistrate court after charging them for terrorism, which they know is a capital offence and not within the jurisdiction of the customary court to hear? is it that the police does not know the law or they are being wicked?

Nigeria as a country is a disgrace to Africa and the world at large. It should be dissolved urgently and let all the indigenous people forcefully merged together by the British Empire, go their separate ways.

#FeeBiafranWomen

#WhereIsNnamdiKanu

#FreeBiafra



The Biafra Times

Biafra: Nnia Nwodo finally opens up on issues surrounding Python Dance, IPOB proscription, exonerates self

•Says I have no hand in the military operation
•I told Buratai that his evidence against IPOB lacks merit; Fulani herdsmen, the real terrorists not IPOB
…As book launch and presentation takes centre stage

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Chief Editor & Ifeanyi Dickson | The Biafra Times


August 4, 2018

ENUGU - The President-General of the umbrella Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, has stated that contrary to beliefs in some quarters, he has no hand nor input in the Operation Python Dance II conducted by the Nigerian Army last year September which claimed many innocent lives of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Speaking on Friday August 3, 2018 in Enugu, at a symposium on “Quest for self-determination by ethnic nationalities; way forward for peaceful coexistence in Nigeria,” organized by Movement of Biafrans In Nigeria, MOBIN and co-hosted by the convener, South East Elders Forum, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, Nwodo who condemned the military exercise said he was assured by the military along with South-East governors that they were only coming to rid the region of sundry criminal activities to ensure safety of lives and properties of citizens.

He, however, expressed surprise when the military invaded Umuahia, the hometown of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and slaughtered some IPOB youths, alleging that they created a paramilitary outfit known as Biafra Security Service, BSS and that they confiscated a gun belonging to a police officer.

According to the Ohanaeze President, when he inquired from the Army about the bloodshed and violence that erupted in Abia state, they swiftly accused IPOB of creating BSS whom they said were conducting “guard of honour” on uniforms every morning at the entrance leading to Kanu’s house which attracted the attention of the duo of Abia State Commissioner of Police and the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, who passes the road every morning when going to work.

READ ALSO: Kunle Olasanmi’s piece, a ploy by FG to re-arrest our recently released members - IPOB

“When they (Army) wanted to commence the second operation, we asked them why they’re coming back again to carry out the same military operation and they said it’s just a military exercise.

“But serious problem erupted in Umuahia at the peak of that second military operation and we called them for questioning and they told us, in fact the Abia state governor was there, that before they ventured into Umuahia, IPOB has what they call Biafra Security Service; that they wear uniforms and conduct guards of honour every morning at the entrance road leading to Nnamdi Kanu’s house which is also the same road the commissioner of police in the state and AIG passes while going to work each morning.

“This was exactly what they told me. I’ve never been there to find out the truth about what they said and I haven’t seen them myself,” Nwodo stated.

He said the information he received noted that one establishing “a paramilitary service that wears uniform without due legislation of the Abia state House of Assembly is illegal under them and they begged them to stop but they refused.

READ ALSO: Angst as FSARS arrest 18 locals over herdsmen incursion in Enugu community

“The worst scenario was when they told me that a police officer who was on duty and returning from the house of AIG and passing through that road and the Biafran youths stationed at that axis snatched away his gun but they told us the gun was later handed back to them.

“If you listened to some of the things I said in the past, you’ll find where I have alluded to some of these representations because the Attorney General of the Federation went to court and said that IPOB is a terrorist organisation.”

The Igbo leader further explain how he approached Transparency International and called for the setting up of an independent judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the killings of some IPOB members at Rivers state during IPOB-Trump solidarity rally.

“When we were sworn in as the executives of Ohanaeze, in the first speech I made, I said that they (IPOB) are my children and that their struggle is my struggle as well.

“I told (Lt. Gen. Tukur) Buratai(COAS) to establish a judicial commission of inquiry into the killings that happened at Portharcourt. I sent members of my executives to Portharcourt. They went to all the mortuaries and graveyards where dead members of IPOB were buried and they took pictures of them for the records.

READ ALSO: Igbo Presidency: Your narrative that Buhari will cede power to S’East, biggest joke of the century - ILT fires back at Osita Okechukwu

“And I told the Army chief, let’s exhume all these dead bodies and also bring those from the mortuary to serve as evidence but they vehemently refused. So, I went to Transparency International. They conducted an independent inquiry and released a report that 191 people were executed without trial.

“As soon as that report was issued, the chief of army staff, COAS, then decided to set up an inquiry peopled by retired and serving officers of the Armed Forces, none of whom were Igbos. I challenged him and said Buratai, you cannot be a judge in your own matter.

“I told him that the rules of natural justice demands that you must listen to both sides of the story. In this case, they must listen to IPOB and those who fired the shot as well so we can know who is saying the truth. I stated that the Army will not after killing us, go ahead to constitute a panel of inquiry by themselves. That means they’re judges in their own case. No other Igbo man apart from me said this directly to the COAS,” he added.

Nwodo also faulted the procedures adopted by the federal government in the proscription and designation of IPOB as a terrorist organisation, saying the evidence they provided in court lacks merit and not enough to establish IPOB as terrorists.

He said: “Buratai went to court under our law; the government does not require an open court to consider a group, a terrorist organisation. What he only needs to do is to go to the office of the judge; there’s what lawyers call an interlocutory action, and tender an evidence in front of the judge saying that this person or group is a terrorist organisation and if after going through the evidence, the judge can now make a decision.

READ ALSO: Biafra: The rejoiner; "Blame game over Kanu's whereabouts" futile attempt by state sponsored agent exposed

“But Buratai went to a judge in Abuja and deposed exactly what they earlier told me and the governors that IPOB youths are using force to snatch guns from security officials and that IPOB is a terrorist group. And I came out in the newspapers and told Buratai that the evidence he tendered in court may be enough to establish a criminal act but not enough to classify IPOB as a terrorist organisation. Nobody else said it apart from me.

“I also went to the British Institute of International Affairs popularly known as Chatham House and told the whole world that Fulani herdsmen is the 4th most terrorist organisation in the world as categorized by Global Terrorist Index and I gave reference to the source of this discovery, yet they have not classified Fulani herdsmen as terrorists but my children (IPOB) are called terrorists.

“So my brothers, those we’re fighting against has the determination to contain us. That is why if conventional warfare fails, you have to try guerrilla warfare. Therefore, if the style we employ in this fight fails, let’s try diplomatic style. Let’s learn how to apply our senses in whatever we do.”
...As Book launch, “What The Ibos Want,” takes centre stage at the event

One of the major highlights of the event at Enugu on Friday was the launching and presentation of a book written by Barr. Emeka Emekesiri, entitled: “What The Ibos Want.”

The book which was presented in 360 pages and 17 chapters was reviewed at the symposium by an Igbo elite and Professor from the University of Portharcourt, Mark Anikpo.

According to Prof. Anikpo, “the main purpose of the book is an effort to put record and also bring to light for the new generation of Ndigbo and for all and sundry, not only the almost eclipsed barbarism of the Nigerian state but also the treachery and double standards of the United Nations in its reluctance or even refusal to bring to justice, the Nigerian perpetrators of genocide against Biafra.”

He noted that the author of the book, painstakingly documented the Biafran case in a most graphic and convincing detail, adding that the facts are verifiable and the sources culled from libraries and museums all over the world, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

THE BIAFRA TIMES 2018

Contact us: [email protected]

Follow us onTwitter: @thebiafratimes          

Like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thebiafratimes/

Biafra: Fulani herdsmen Terrorists, Other Insurgents Are Government's Sponsored Organisations On Special Assignment

By Chidiebere Eberechi Kalu || For Biafra Writers

February 13, 2017

In the self-deceit contraption known as "One Nigeria," there are three classes of people inhabiting the country. The first class citizens, those who parades as owners of Nigeria, are the Hausa/Fulanis, the second is the Yorubas and the last are the Biafrans.

The Hausa/Fulanis are the only ethnic group who are authorised to do anything in Nigeria and nobody would challenge nor ask them questions because they are the occupiers of government positions, that's why they will go about killing innocent people (Biafrans), destroying their homes and farmlands, rapping their women and even claiming their farmlands for cow rearing, making life unbearable for Biafrans and nobody to complain to as most people afraid of being arrested or persecuted for saying the truth.

The second set of people are the Yorubas; these ones are carried along because they are involved in some political appointments. And lastly are the Biafrans, who possesses the natural resources that Nigeria accrues its fundings from yet they are being marginalized, persecuted, massacred, incarcerated and murdered by government's anti-Biafra agents on daily basis for seeking their freedom and yet nobody is talking about it. We must allow justice to prevail.

Read Also: BIAFRA : THE PYTHON DANCE III AND OUR SHORTSIGHTEDNESS TO IT'S IMPENDING DANGER

It has now come to the fore that one of the aims for creating Nigeria is to eliminate the Biafrans and claim their God-given natural resources because of envy and jealousy. There was never a time when Hausa/Fulanis and Yorubas loved Biafrans. Since the creation of Nigeria, after the Nigeria-Biafra war, the British in collaboration with Fulanis stole our natural resources, using it to develop their country. They have taken us as slaves in our homeland. They have killed the future of our youths.

Instead of allowing the Biafrans have access to their resources as they truly deserved, they handed it over to the Fulanis whom they can easily manipulate. The Hausa/Fulani-dominated Nigerian government has sold our rights. We have nothing to call our own.

The Fulanis do not take us as humans, and does not share the same value with us. That's why Boko Haram terrorists and murderous herdsmen are being treated with kids gloves, pampered and protected by the Central government using their military arm. Hausa/Fulani culprits are not allowed to face the law but IPOB peaceful protesters and agitators are being haunted down and eliminated.

Read Also: Biafran suit in America: US rejects Nigeria’s defence of immunity

That is why we the Indigenous People of Biafra, seek freedom from Nigeria. We want to restore our nation Biafra which will be the hope of a common man were every Biafran will be treated equally because Nigeria is not for Biafrans, we were not Nigerians, we have never been Nigerians neither will we ever be Nigerians.

All we want is to restore Biafra's sovereignty that was brutally snatched away from her during the war. This time is different, it is not a call for war but simply for justice to prevail.


The Biafra Times
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Biafra: Archvillain of human rights archvillains escapes sanctions President targets Christians, Biafrans, other indigenous people

By Bruce Fein and Aloy Ejimakor

January 4, 2018

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

On Dec. 21, President Trump sanctioned 52 human rights archvillains under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (GMHRAA). It empowers the president to deny visas and freeze the assets of foreign officials complicit in extrajudicial killings, torture or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights to retaliate against persons for seeking to expose government lawlessness or to exercise internationally recognized freedoms, including freedoms of religion, expression, association, and assembly and the rights to a fair trial and democratic elections.
Mr. Trump erred in refraining from sanctioning the archvillain of human rights archvillains: Nigeria’s President and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari.

Among other things, he has turned Nigeria into a Gethsemane or Golgotha for 50 million Biafran Christians. They are more endangered in Mr. Buhari’s Nigeria than in any other country in the world.
Mr. Trump affirmed earlier to Christian Broadcasting Network anchor David Brody that helping Christians abroad was a “priority.” Last May 11, speaking at the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians, Vice President Mike Pence singled out Nigeria as a nation where Christians “confront intimidation, forced conversion, abuse, assault, and worse” for practicing their religion.
Mr. Buhari has welcomed sharia law in twelve northern Nigerian states. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Christian leaders in the northern states continued to report to USCIRF that state governments discriminate against Christians by denying applications to build or repair places of worship, access to education, representation in government bodies, and employment. They also reported that Christian girls are abducted by Muslim men to be brides.”

The USIRF recommended that Nigeria be listed as a Country of Particular Concern; and, that President Trump invoke the GMHRAA to sanction Nigerian officials complicit in violations of religious freedom.

Mr. Buhari balked at the request of the Christian Association of Nigeria to withdraw Nigeria from the Organization of Islamic Countries, which makes Christians second-class citizens.
In addition to persecuting Christians, Mr. Buhari is complicit in extrajudicial killings, torture, and gross violations of the right of peaceful assembly and protest. Biafrans have been Mr. Buhari’s prime victims, especially members and supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). It employs Mahatma Gandhi-like peaceful methods in support of restructuring Nigeria to remedy the longstanding persecution of Biafrans because of their religion and ethnicity from the Muslim Hausa-Fulani controlled central government. (In 1960, Great Britain handed the reigns of power in Nigeria to its toadies and denied Biafrans a self-determination vote required by decolonization mandates of the United Nations.)

According to the State Department’s Human Rights Report, since January 2016, in response to peaceful restructuring agitation by pro-Biafra campaigners, Nigerian security forces arbitrarily arrested and killed at least 100 members and supporters of IPOB. Some arrestees were subjected to enforced disappearance.

On Feb. 9, soldiers and police officers shot at about 200 IPOB members who had gathered for a prayer meeting at the National High School in Aba, in Abia state. Video footage showed soldiers shooting at peaceful and unarmed IPOB members; at least 17 people were killed and scores injured.
On May 29 and 30, at least 60 people were killed in a joint security operation carried out by the army, police, Department of State Security (DSS) and navy. Pro-Biafra campaigners had gathered to celebrate Biafra Remembrance Day in Onitsha. No investigation into these killings had been initiated by the end of the year.

Without due process, Mr. Buhari ordered the dissolution and punishment of IPOB as a terrorist organization, a ludicrous characterization disputed by the United States. Mr. Buhari disappeared IPOB’s de facto leader Namdi Kanu after the Nigerian Army attacked his home with live bullets and lethal weapons. In sum, Mr. Buhari is blocking all avenues of peaceful redress for Biafrans.
The Trump administration has vocally condemned gross human rights violations in Burma, North Korea, and Iran. Under the GMHRAA, it has listed Maung Maung Soe of the Burmese Army’s Western Command under the for military operations in Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohinga civilians; and, former President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia for employing a terror and assassination squad to cow or kill his political opponents. Mr. Buhari’s human rights crimes against Christians, Biafrans and Namdi Kanu are indistinguishable.

But instead of listing Mr. Buhari for sanctions, President Trump has sold him $600 million in high-technology attack planes and equipment ostensibly to use against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in West Africa and Boko Haram. Depend upon it. Those weapons will be diverted in whole or in part to terrorize Biafran Christians and IPOB.


The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

EDITORIAL: The Release of 500 Inmates From Kano Prisons Exposed President Buhari’s Mindless Favoritism And Preferential Treatment To His Northern Kinsmen

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue || Chief Editor, The Biafra Times

December 27, 2017

Recently, the media was awash with the presidential pardon and release of 500 inmates of the Kurmawa Central Prisons in Kano State, most of whom were members of the Boko Haram terrorist sect. This act of prerogative, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government claimed, was part of Federal Government’s efforts to decongest Nigerian prisons.

Ordinarily, this should not have caused the ruckus and brouhaha the incident generated. It’s because this government has so fed Nigerians with so much poisonous diet of lies (and lies have expiration date), and has brazenly exhibited double standards that every step and initiative of the government is viewed with utmost suspicion.

Why not? When did presidents start releasing prisoners, a simple administrative extra-judicial jaildelivery function usually carried out by governors and Chief judges of States.

Read Also: Inside Report: The Infamous Sins Of Anambra SARS Agency

Nigerians want to know why this apparent “nichodemus act” was not extended to prison inmates in Ebonyi and Anambra states when the same president visited those states? It was noted that no single Nigerian or any unlawfully arrested and detained member of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in those states were released when the president visited. Not even an order came from Buhari to release Kanu’s father, Eze Israel Okwu-Kanu, the paramount ruler of Afaraukwu autonomous community whose whereabouts is still unknown since the infamous and brutal military invasion in his palace.

Yet, the pro-North president, who belongs only to the North, was bold enough to appeal to citizens of the Southeast to shun and/or distance themselves from agitations capable of undermining the unity of the country which according to him, IPOB is promoting. Looking at all these, it appears Buhari must have taken the Easterners as dummies, incapable of reasoning or discernment.

Why the apparent discrimination, favoritism and preferential treatment to indigenes of his Northern zone. Was he not the same president who unleashed deadly terror and wanton destruction of lives and properties using military operations Python Dance, Crocodile Smile, etc, in the Southeast and South-South regions respectively, as smokescreens, while he ordered the World Bank president, Kim Yong, to focus his developmental strategy exclusively for the Northern region of the country? Is this justifiable in any way?

Read Also: Nwoko: Buhari, Gowon, Atiku, Nwodo, Kalu, can’t stop Biafra’s independence

Some others wonder why the president should unleash on the society, a large number of criminal elements and dreaded terrorists when he has not fulfilled any of his promises to care for the teeming youths who are unemployed, leading to their mass exodus to Libya and other countries, where they are recruited into modern day slavery in the most bestial and dehumanising manner, barbecued and ultimately killed in the most horrific manner. What of spirally crime rate? Is this a ploy to build an army of hardened criminals towards 2019 elections, some other Nigerians wonder aloud. We are all watching very keenly.

The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Military Invasion: Afaraukwu Traditional rulers petitions Buhari, orders probe into Israel Kanu’s whereabouts, return of looted properties

From the Chief Editor || Biafra Writers 

December 14, 2017

ABIA– Traditional rulers representing the three communities in Afaraukwu, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, the hometown of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, demanding an urgent initiation of a full-scale investigation to ascertain the role and extent of damage incurred during the invasion by armed Nigerian soldiers at the palace of His Royal Highness, Eze Israel Kanu.

The revered monarchs in the petition to Buhari which was signed by the President-Generals of the three autonomous communities in Afaraukwu– Levi Ogbonna, Cletus Uwaechi and Chief Ikechukwu Ndubueze, noted that since the military invasion at Kanu’s home, neither HRH, Eze Kanu, his wife, Lolo Sally nor any of their immediate subjects has been seen or heard.

“That since September 14, 2017 the whereabouts of one of our traditional ruler, HRH Eze I. O. Kanu, and members of his family, including some members of Isiama Afaraukwu community, are still unknown,” part of the petition reads.

Read Also: Biafra: The Unabated And Unlawful Detention Of Biafra Activists And The Silence Of World Leaders

The monarchs who urged Buhari to initiate prompt action into the matter, further alleged that some members of the community were still missing since the military raid, expressing fears that they might have been killed and their bodies taken away to an unknown destination by the military along with members of IPOB.

The autonomous communities, Okwulaga Enyiukwu and Isiama, insisted that the army should be made to produce their traditional ruler, whom have since gone missing after the raid.

Also part of their demands, included full compensation for the brutal and mindless desecration of the palace and the return of household items allegedly carted away from the palace by the soldiers.

The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Nnamdi Kanu: The Stupidity And Unprofessional Conduct Of Buratai, FG, And The Need To “Invoke The Doctrine Of Last Seen”

By Chijindu Benjamin Ukah || For Biafra Writers

December 6, 2017

Today makes it the 84th day the Nigerian government of dictator Muhammadu Buhari and its Army led by Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, exhibited the most irrational and unprofessional conduct known to mankind, in a bid to forcefully quench the Biafra agitation, by invading the house of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu at Afara Ukwu Ibeku, Umuahia and then took him away after shooting dead many unarmed Biafrans in and around his home, in the name of operation python dance II.

It is on record that before the Nigerian army invaded Kanu’s home and abducted him on 14th September 2017, he was slated to appear at the Federal High Court, Abuja for his trial on October 17, 2017 which he had announced that over two million Biafrans shall accompany him to court. He was fully prepared to appear in court without fear, regardless of the intimidation of the Nigerian government and its machineries, to expose the lies and evil perpetrated by the government before the world.

There was no warrant of arrest from the court to arrest Nnamdi Kanu, of which if there was, it is not the responsibility of the army but that of the police to carry out the order. There was no reason whatsoever that should give rise to the invading of Kanu’s house by the Nigerian military. The military invasion is a clear evidence of the dictatorial tendencies and exhibition of President Muhammadu Buhari, a mockery of the Nigerian judiciary who granted Kanu bail and murder of democracy in Nigeria.

Read Also: Biafra: Prosecutor’s absence, not enough reason to adjourn Kanu’s trial— Barrister Ejiofor

It is not in doubt that Nnamdi Kanu is in custody of the Nigerian army because he was at home when they invaded his apartment and killed everyone on sight including dog and fowls, and ransacked his rooms. From the video clips, picture evidences of the army invasion and intelligent investigations by independent journalists and media houses, it is certain that no human being can escape such operation carried out with heavy war machines.

The Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai should produce Kanu and stop playing hide-and-seek games. If peradventure, he cannot produce him because they have secretly killed and buried the IPOB leader, then there is need for the court to invoke “the doctrine of Last Seen”, as provided by Section 36(5) Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“Last Seen Doctrine” in law, stipulates in cases of murder, where there is no explanation for the death or disappearance of the deceased and the defendant was the last person to be seen in company of the deceased, then circumstantial evidence can be used to link the defendant to the death of the deceased and prove the charge against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt. There is no burden on the defendant to prove his innocence and explain the death of the deceased but the burden remains on the prosecution to prove that the defendant killed the deceased. It is the duty of the prosecution to lead sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case against the defendant to require an explanation for the disappearance of the deceased and the absence of a reasonable explanation can support the inference of guilt.

Read Also: Biafra: Nigerian Government Frustrating Kanu's Trial By Keeping Him Out Of Circulation

The Nigerian army overstepped its bounds and humiliated the judiciary by invading Kanu’s house without prior notice or court order and if the court fails to invoke the “last seen doctrine” in this matter as needed, then, what is left of the Nigerian judiciary is done for.

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of over 70 million Indigenous People of Biafra, Director of Radio Biafra and Biafra TV. Biafrans are conducting themselves in the most civilized manner in this matter but it won’t continue that way. The day they will spew their venom if the needful is not done, and that will spell disaster for the Nigerian state.


The Biafra Times
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Contact us: [email protected]

BIAFRA: WE CAN TAKE IT NO LONGER

December 5, 2017

By: Eluwa Chidiebere || For Biafra Writers

Widely, wildly, my mouth lay abashed crying
My people have been abused
One and all
They have died penniless
They have suffered humiliation
In the hands of the callous well-offs

The blood sucker
The son of Dan Fodio
Whose teeth face Northward
Your crime is beyond pardon
Let me be part of your funeral
To give a testimony of your deeds

Saints and scholars
Whose collar and pen face Westward
The British Brutish bravado
Associates of the son of Dan Fodio
Milking our treasure
Freezing our future
Wait, the axe of Abiama will go up soon

Read Also: Biafra: Nigerian Government Frustrating Kanu's Trial By Keeping Him Out Of Circulation

In a life of slavery
I cannot sing aloud
I cannot laugh aloud
My mouth infected by dirges
As I watch the pillaging of my own
I can take it no longer

Lackadaisically, our tears fall
I have collected a million tears
They have yielded no dividend
No one seems to care
All have gone to sleep
While we lay awake

To the Prince of East
The son of the Sun
Confronted with the dead bodies of his own
To cow him into submission
Remember, you are 400 years old
The son of Dan Fodio is just 74 years old
Do not succumb to dictatorship

Read Also: Biafra: Be Wary Of DSS’ Fake Radio Station – IPOB To Newspaper Editors

The British brutish Dan Fodio’s military
See them coming with their canons
To hijack the people’s flight to freedom
Their python winding its body around a distressed land
Who will not laugh at my pitiful look at the tragic grounds?
Where the pillaging of my own took place

When the Sun descends
Like demons belched from the underworld
When the Sun beats the python
Death will favour
Like the wind is fleeting
Its shadow shall eclipse the venom of the python

When Allah has lost the ship of reasoning
When Allah fights Yahweh
Something has gone gravely wrong
The dearth of pantheons occupy the AWOL list
Life becomes not the accurate marker of existence
Life appears to have the most solid case

Read Also: Biafra: The 10 percent Governor Only Rules Himself And His Cronies, Not The People

To the pigs,
The owls of night, those that stay late drunk
That jump at the sight of coins
That act like beasts born of the heart
States, their comfort zones
Wait, the Prince with the book of judgement is coming

Our enemies should be afraid of us when we cry
When our tears fall
It shall dig a pit hole for their mass grave
Then, we weep no more
Like lion, we charge with anger
We can take it no longer


The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Biafra: Buratai, FG, Must Produce Kanu In Court, Justice Must Be Allowed To Take Its Toll

By Eluwa Chidiebere || For Biafra Writers

December 3, 2017

In a country where those who yearns for justice are treated with levity, detestation, brutality and at the end sent to the morgue without being accounted for, injustice is enthroned and given a red-carpet treatment. Only mad people in such a country are said to be well and in safe hands without their privacy encroached. This is the trend in the contraption called Nigeria where the elements of lie has found its progenitor in a man called Lai Mohammed, brutality and animosity reinstated in the person of Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Yusuf Buratai, where injustice is deliberately misspelled and subverted by Justice Binta Nyako, dictatorship and monstrosity reincarnated in a president called Muhammadu Buhari. Indeed, such a country is the hell Bible talked about.

On 14th September, 2017, the residence of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was invaded and ransacked by the heavily armed men of the Nigerian military who were acting under the command and tutelage of the Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai. Kanu was very happy in his home, receiving pleasure from the cozy environment of his fatherland until the murderous Nigerian army came and raided his home.

He was with his people; the IPOB family who were singing and clapping when the military came to eliminate him. The people out of love for their leader, used clogging of hands to resist the Nigerian soldiers who came without court warrant, from gaining access into Kanu's private residence. The Nigerian soldiers who are trained to kill unarmed citizens but cowardly running away from armed terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, out of brutality and animosity opened fire on innocent people, raining live bullets on them in order to pave way to eliminate the people’s leader. No fewer than twenty eight(28) people lost their lives to the murderous Nigerian military after their unprovoked and unwarranted attack.

Read Also: Biafra: Be Wary Of DSS’ Fake Radio Station – IPOB To Newspaper Editors

This unwarranted incident dispersed the survivors to different areas for safety, paving way for the soldiers to gain entrance into the IPOB leader’s house. Since then, no one has seen nor heard from him. Whether he is alive or dead is what everybody in the old Eastern region of Nigeria known as Biafra is eager to know.

In the court of law, there is a doctrine referred to as “the doctrine of last seen”. This simply implies that the person that saw him last is in the proper position to give account of his whereabouts. Then the gigantic question now is, who saw Mazi Nnamdi Kanu last? It is evidently clear that the Nigerian soldiers did and so must produce him in court. To buttress this, Gen. Tukur Buratai must have an ulterior motive when he sent his soldiers to raid the home of the leader of IPOB without getting a court warrant. This raises a question of whether Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is alive or not. If he is still breathing, then he just like before, has being kidnapped by Buratai to continue his torture and all manner of inhuman and degrading treatments against Kanu.

Above all, his court case is ongoing and he has never failed once to appear in court, then why raiding his house when he is not running away from trial? Therefore, if Gen. Buratai is sure and confident that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has violated his bail conditions, why not wait for the next court session for the law to take its course. If he doesn’t want to wait for the next court case, he should have gotten court warrant before raiding his home.

Read Also: Biafra: Nigerian Government Frustrating Kanu's Trial By Keeping Him Out Of Circulation

With this court case, Nigeria’s name has been dragged to the mud in the world. Everybody now knows the outcome of every court sitting which is adjournment upon adjournment. Every Dick, Tom and Harry understands the reality of the fact that the Nigerian government is running away from the truth with the ceaseless adjournments championed by their bought-over Judge. What the people are waiting to hear on every court sitting is the next date of adjournment as it has become apparent that nothing good can ever come out from the fraudulent Nigerian judiciary. Justice Binta Nyako, the judge presiding over Nnamdi Kanu’s trial is without no doubt compromised and manipulated by the Presidency.

Let me remind the Nigerian government that they should henceforth, trade with caution on everything that concerns Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s trial, for he is the leader of the old Eastern region known as Biafra. The people are standing seriously with him like never before more than they have stood for any leader from Biafra land. That has been shown with different demonstrations from the people who are unequivocally throwing their support for him.

For those giving blind support to the Nigerian government, it is time for you to start thinking like a higher animal you are. Darkness can never triumph over light. Stop supporting evil and call the devil by its name because when the axe of judgement of Chukwu Abiama(God) shall rise, all will reap whatever they have sown.



THE BIAFRA TIMES
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Biafra: Nigerian Government Frustrating Kanu's Trial By Keeping Him Out Of Circulation

By Chidiebere Eberechi Kalu || For Biafra Writers

December 1, 2017

It is now clear to the general public that the reason upon which the Nigerian government have been running away from the lawsuit instituted against it by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is so that they will finalize their evil plot to either eliminate him or take him away from making public speeches and appearances.

This simply implies that the Nigerian government has no substantial evidence against Kanu but only wanted him out of circulation so they can continue to loot the public treasury, milking the natural resources in Biafra land dry, and above all, to maintain the status quo to the detriment of average citizens of the country.

The Nigerian government whom instead of being the servant of the people, but existing as their greatest oppressor devised every means to prevent Nnamdi Kanu from fighting and preaching for the liberation of his people, including labeling him a terrorist.

Read Also: IPOB PRESS RELEASE: GRAND OPENING OF IPOB HEADQUARTERS IN GERMANY, WHERE BIAFRA REFERENDUM WILL BE LAUNCHED FROM

It is common knowledge that the last people that saw the IPOB leader are the Nigerian military when they invaded his residence in Umuahia during their operation to kill or abduct him and since then, no other person has ever seen nor heard from him. We are therefore urging the Nigerian government and its military to immediately release Kanu and return him to his family.

At this juncture, we wish to caution the Nigerian government that the earlier they stop their hide-and-seek game, the better for everyone because the more they keep hiding him, the condition in Nigerian will continue to grow worse. Biafrans remains resolute in the face of intimidation and harassment and abducting or killing the IPOB leader, will never make them backdown on the struggle which is ordained by God.

As the case of the IPOB leader comes up again on Tuesday, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, it is only natural that the government produce him before the court to answer to his charges. The case has suffered some setback ever since the military went wild and caused some irreparable damages in his home.

Read Also: Editorial: Buratai’s plea for court to quash suit compelling him to produce Kanu, illogical, perversive

We, the Indigenous People of Biafra wish to inform the Nigerian government on the need to release Nnamdi Kanu and save itself from incurring more problems that are yet to come because the spirit of Biafra has possessed almost all genuine Biafrans determined to continue to fight for their freedom and they will never contemplate quitting until Biafra referendum is guaranteed.


The Biafra Times
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Hunt for Avengers: Life at Okosugbene community one year after military bombardment— Inside Report

•Tales of sorrow, tears and blood characterise community’s condition
•Says they have recorded countless number of deaths occasioned by the incident
•People now sleep in the open— Community
•Gov. Okowa, FG, Relief Agencies have abandoned us— Community leader


By Chukwuemeka Chimerue || Chief Editor, The Biafra Times

November 26, 2017


DELTA— It is now over one year since the brutal, deadly and destructive military bombardment at Okosugbene, Gbekebor in Ogbolubiri Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, by a group of wild Nigerian soldiers who claimed to be carrying out a military operation codenamed “Operation Delta Safe,” ODS, in a supposed bid to flush out Niger Delta militants in the creeks of Okosugbene.

The sordid and unfortunate situation the Okosugbene community now find themselves in one year after the tragedy, is now characterised with tales of agony, pains, sorrow and more recorded deaths as a result of the aerial and land bombardment. Victims of November 24th, 2016, military bombardment of Okosugbene community have complained of acute lack of food, shelter and medication since the incident.

Dozens of innocent children and women displaced by the Nigerian Military now live together in an open make-shift house. The Okosugbene bombardment, as noted, was a clear case of genocide against the Ijaw people. “Bombing innocent villages because you missed your target is suicidal and a call for concern by well-meaning countrymen. It was senseless, unprovoked and the height of unprofessionalism and crime against humanity by the soldiers,” a village source posited.

Read Also: Biafra: Court Adjourns Kanu’s Trial Till December 5 As Judges Embark On A 5-day Conference

To rehash, when the peace-loving Ijaw people of Okosugbene community, a sleepy town in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta state, woke up that fateful morning of 24th November 2016, little did they know that luck had a negative gift in stock for them.

That gift was later at midday delivered by the cold hands of the bloodthirsty Nigerian Armed Forces, who came under the guise of hunting for the Niger Delta Avengers, and carried out an incessant bombardment of the once egalitarian community.

And by the time they completed their inhuman assignment, they left in their trail, sorrow, tears and blood as the community recorded scores of death during and after the unwarranted and unprovoked attack.

A countless number of villagers which included vulnerable and defenseless children, the elderly men, and women, while they scampered for safety sustained different degrees of injuries, some leading to immature deaths.

Pregnant women remained the worst hit of this needless attack as they were traumatized leading to some having painful miscarriages.

But one year after, a visit to Okosugbene by our Reporter, saw a community that is now a shadow of itself and equally met with a people that have passed through the valley of the shadow of death.

While conducting a research round the once busy but now deserted community, Mr. Wilson Arerebo, Chairman, Okosugbene community explained that it has been a harrowing experience for the people as they have passed through excruciating pains occasioned by the attack.

Read Also: Editorial: Buratai’s plea for court to quash suit compelling him to produce Kanu, illogical, perversive

He pointed to an open space that was filled with housing structures but were later leveled by the ugly occurrence as orchestrated by the military during the bombardment.

When asked what has become the fate of the former landlords, Arerebo, responded that, “Some have fled the town while others are now squatting in the makeshift apartments (pointing at one).”

He added that majority of the people now sleep in the open as they have no place to call their home any longer.

On the effort of government, both at Federal and State levels to have them resettled, Arerebo, again, painted an ugly picture of neglect, abandonment, and of a government without a human face nor sympathy for their plights.

He also narrated how the incident took away their means of livelihood and disrupted their socio-economic lives. He added that most of the people that were formally rich have now turned beggars as a result of this mindless attack on the community by the Nigerian Armed Forces.

In his words, “We are predominantly into fishing but the attack destroyed all our fishing equipment such as speedboats and other fishing materials thereby turning some of us into beggars.”

Read Also: Biafra: IPOB raises alarm, says DSS breeding fake members

He further told our source that for the past one year, they have written series of distress letters to the State and Federal governments and other interventionist groups such as the National Relief Agency, all without any useful response.

He stressed that the community massively voted for Senator Ifeanyi Okowa in 2015 general election to emerge as governor of the State but now he has completely abandoned them.

Going philosophical, Arerebo concluded that for Okosugbene community, their help shall come from God as things have fallen apart. But he quickly reminded the State governor that 2019 is around the corner when he will again come for their votes.

Speaking in the same vein, the Secretary, Okosugbene community, Blessing Inikorogha, said he is yet to fathom why the community was destroyed in the first instance as they were known to be peace-loving and has not in anyway associated or harboured any member of the Avengers’ group.

Continuing, he lamented the deliberate decision by the government at both State and Federal levels to abandon the community to their fate.

Wilson Arerebo had earlier told our Reporter that the community has been in existence since 1825 without government presence, wondering why the same government that failed to provide for them has also decided to destroy the ones they were able to achieve through self-help.

One of the fishermen, Mr. Peter Ebitimi, who earlier spoke with our Correspondent said: “We were bombed while we were still asleep, I am a fisherman, our village is made up of only fishermen and women, there is no militant camp near our village, I do not even know how I survived the heavy bombs.

“The military bombed us out of frustration when they could not locate the alleged militants they were looking for. My sister, Paulina Maika, was seriously wounded on the head, several fisher men/women and children are still missing, and others injured were rushed to the hospital in Warri,” he added.

Read Also: Biafra: The 10 percent Governor Only Rules Himself And His Cronies, Not The People

Another fisherman, who expressed concern and grief that the fishing settlement was described as a militant camp, said; “It is not true that our village is a militant camp neither is it true that there is a militant camp near our village. What happened was that some militants came in contact with military patrol gunboats in Burutu-Warri River, close to our village Junction.”

“The military shot at the militants and the militants responded with heavy fire, and the military was frustrated. The soldiers called for help to tackle the militants, but very unfortunately before the arrival of more gunboats and two fighter jets, the militants had already fled.

“So when the military bomber jets came, they began to hover and bomb every mangrove tree and equally bombed our village. They bombed us from both land and air. The military missed their target and bombed us,” he said.


THE BIAFRA TIMES
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]

Editorial: Buratai’s plea for court to quash suit compelling him to produce Kanu, illogical, perversive

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue || Chief Editor, The Biafra Times

November 23, 2017

The motion filed at an Abuja High Court by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai to dismiss the application by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, seeking to compel him to produce his client; the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, lacks merit and sense of reasoning.

The Army Chief, through his lawyer, Mr. Akinlolu Kehinde had argued that Kanu was not and had never been in the custody of the Nigerian Army, adding that they did not at any time arrest or take Kanu into its custody within the period the military operation lasted in the South-East.

Kehinde further argued that there was no document before the court to prove that Kanu was in the custody of the army, noting that the onus was on Kanu to prove that he was taken by the army.

However, Is it not an irony that while the Nigerian government is pressurizing the Court to compel the Sureties; Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and others to produce Kanu in Court, the Chief of Army Staff on whose instance and by implication, the Sureties were not able to fulfil their obligatory duties, is asking the court to struck out the charges which they have not been able to defend.

Read Also: IPOB: Kanu Remains The Supreme Leader Of IPOB; Caliphate Cabals Fabricating Unadulterated Falsehood In The Hope Of Twisting The Minds Of The Gullible

Recall that few days after the government announced the plan to call for a revocation of Nnamdi Kanu’s bail, the Nigerian Army announced it would commence an operation in the South-east. Operation Python Dance was an exercise to checkmate criminality and other forms of vices in the region, as claimed by the army.

However, by the time the exercise commenced in Abia State, Kanu’s home state, we began to hear and witness faceoffs between IPOB family members and soldiers with the latter killing scores of innocent and unarmed agitators and violently invading homes not mapped out as points of their duties.

The Army Chief played a major role on circumstances leading to the disappearance of the IPOB leader through the instrument of their unlawful invasion at the latter’s compound. Senator Abaribe, standing as Kanu’s surety, had a valid reason in his submission to court that but for the violent military raid at Kanu’s residence, he would have fulfilled his obligatory function of producing Kanu to court on the 17th of October.

It is therefore baseless, perversive and a height of irresponsibility that after extrajudicially invading Kanu’s home whose matter is still pending in court, the Army Chief summoned the courage to ask same court to dismiss the application even when it is predicated on facts and merit.

Read Also: Biafra: IPOB's Head Of Directorate Debunks News Of Kanu's Sack, Says He Remains IPOB Leader Whether Dead Or Alive

On the other hand, the court would have noted that Kanu had always presented himself for trial hitherto to this incidence and as a result, should ask the Army Chief to explain reasons leading to their unlawful invasion which has incapacited the sureties in fulfilling their mandate.

Suffice it to say that the sinister or ulterior motive behind the military invasion at Kanu’s private residence and the Army’s claim of not having the former in their custody, is simply to prolong the detention of other Biafra detainees and frustrate their civil trial at the lawcourt, thereby endangering and subverting the Will and authority of the judiciary in the long run.

This appears to be the more reason, the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, should look inwardly before delivering her judgement on the matter on the 13th of December, 2017. Since the sureties has given valid reasons for not presenting Kanu in court, the attention should shift from them and the beam light focused on the Army to ensure they do not scuttle the judicial process. Let every party involved in the matter answer to his deeds and misdeeds. The Army Chief in particular, must take full responsibility for his illegal and wanton actions towards the plaintiffs in this matter.


The Biafra Times
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: [email protected]