Joint Press Statement: Biafra and Oduduwa Volunteer Force; - See video

 

June 14, 2021 | The Biafra Times

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE JOINT TRAINING OF BIAFRA & ODUDUWA VOLUNTEER FORCE

This is to put the Nigeria Government and her security agencies in Nigeria on notice that Biafra and Oduduwa has further strengthened their bond as one people, following the joint training of personnel from both sides. These joint volunteer force will secure the territories of Southern Nigeria against 'foreign Fulanis terrorists and any unwarranted aggression from any external force. 

Oduduwa and Biafra Volunteer Force demand immediate end to the ongoing  genocide against the people of Biafra and immediate demilitarisation of Biafraland as we are now ready to defend our territories against aggression. The killing and abduction in Biafra and Oduduwa land must stop immediately. 

We reiterate that an attack on Oduduwa land is an attack on Biafra and an attack on Biafra is an attack on Oduduwa. This is the bond the Fulanis tried for many years to destroy but today, the new generation of Oduduwa and Biafra have risen to say no to divide and rule. We are on the threshold of history because we are stronger together.  Today we have trained together, dined together and drank together. Should duty call for it, we shall die together in defense of the entire South. We shall defend our land together, this is historic day for both nations. 

Signed 

Biafra and Oduduwa Volunteer Force for the liberation of Southern Nigeria.

Helpline: Documentation Of Human Rights Violation In Igbo Land/Eastern Nigeria

 

May 19, 2021 | The Biafra Times

On behalf of the Eastern Rights CSOs and Intelligentsia Coalition (a coalition of 40 Rights CSOs and Intelligentsia bodies), Intersociety hereby appeals and invites members of the public in the East including town union, human rights and Christian faith activists or leaders particularly in Igbo Land part of Benue, Kogi and Edo and Eastern Nigerian States of Delta, Anambra, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi to report to us any human rights violation in their areas by the following: Army, Navy, Air Force (i.e. killing of unarmed and defenseless citizens through air bombings), SSS, Police and its various operational squads. Others are joint military and police special squads, jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and their ‘Banditry’ counterparts, etc. This appeal is authorized by Emeka Umeagbalasi and Barr Chidimma Udegbunam, Board Chair and Publicity Head of Intersociety

·         The human rights violations being focused on include: late night abductions and disappearances involving unarmed and defenseless citizens, burning down or destruction of living houses and sacred places of worship and learning, arrest and detention of civilians by army, navy and air force, police long detention of citizens without trial, sexual violence against women including abduction, rape and death-rape; extrajudicial shooting and killing (i.e. instant or custodial killing of unarmed citizens), false labeling and trumped up charges, indiscriminate late night invasion of dwelling houses and broad day light shooting of unarmed citizens, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and torture; Fulani Herdsmen and Fulani Bandits’ killings or destruction and seizure of farmlands and abduction, disappearance, rape and broad day and captivity murder of women and others.  

·         Details concerning the victims of human rights violation include: full name of the victim and his/her gender, age, religion and number of kids borne (if she is a married woman), victim’s community, local government area and state of origin; time, date and location of the rights violation and type of rights abuse perpetrated; whereabouts of his/her body if killed and disappeared or  name of security agency responsible for his/her body’s disappearance; name and contacts of victim’s  next-of-kin; number of  victims (if group victims) and name of the state actor or non state actor entity that perpetrated the human rights violation.

Read Also: INTIMIDATION OF NEWSPAPER VENDORS, JOURNALISTS BY NIGERIA SECURITY OPERATIVES IN IMO STATE, BARBARIC - IPOB

.       The purposes of this clarion call are to document and expose the atrocities perpetrated and their perpetrators for global attention and accountable-justice including trial at ICC and others as well as to safeguard the unarmed and defenseless citizens from remote and immediate operational atrocities of the Nigerian security agencies-noted globally as serial abusers and violators of human rights.

.       We are also determined at documenting and exposing the atrocities of the jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and their ‘Banditry’ counterparts across the East particularly in Igbo Land; being perpetrated for purpose of advancing the Government backed jihad project but deceitfully camouflaged as “rural cattle grazing”. We must not allow the ongoing grisly or ‘industrial scale’ human rights abuses and violations in Igbo Land and the rest of Eastern Nigeria to continue!

Please send your verified and verifiable details to our contacts below:

Phone/WhatsApp: +2348174090052

Email: [email protected]

Our Website is: intersociety-ng.org

Dated: Wednesday, 19th May 2021

Operation Amotekun: What Igbo Leaders Should Learn

January 17, 2020

By Christopher O. Evans | Biafra Writers

The creation of southwest security outfit, AMOTEKUN, is a direct message to the Islamic federal government that the west of the country won't accept its larger plan of arming Fulani jihadists and throwing Nigeria borders open to welcome more reinforcements. We're in a country where Fulani jihadists are armed with assault rifles and allowed to roam freely. Thousands have been slaughtered by them, communities have been razed down, and more mayhem promised. After each killing campaign, Miyetti Allah, the umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen, will address press conference flanked by the Nigerian police.

TY Danjuma has since been screaming that the current Nigerian leadership has a sinister agenda. Of course, Danjuma should know for he has been up there with them. Obasanjo have added his voice too. And Obasanjo should know for he too has been there. It's also important that both Danjuma and Obasanjo are now realizing that they didn't fight for one Nigeria, instead, they fought for the subjugation of the rest by the caliphate.

The purpose of this article, however, is to awaken the consciousness of the Biafran to the unfolding events. Southwest have both political parties, APC and PDP, states. When it comes to issues that matter to them they united to pursue an aim. The national leader of APC, Tinubu, is from Lagos state. There is no one political leader, whatever party he or she belongs, that is opposed to Amotekun. It's something for the security of all Yoruba against the Federal Government. Yes, Federal Government.

Tinubu, having observed the caliphate’s intention to monopolize power, has thrown his weight behind Amotekun whose creation has sent a strong message to the Fulani oligarchy that its plan is unacceptable. This is not all about security – it's also about 2023 presidential race.

READ ALSO: Biafra War: It Is January 15 Again

From the formative stage of Amotekun to its fruition, Yoruba political players and traditional leaders held several meetings, yet not one of them let the secret out. Not one saboteur! They didn't let in Joe Igbokwe or Loretta Onochie, however, they love the duo. The funding went smoothly. The recruitment and training went without notice. Perhaps because all attention was on IPOB. They spoke with one voice. The Fulani-led Federal Government found it difficult to deal with the matter because every Yoruba backed the move. Can the Igbo learn anything here? The greatest bane to our freedom is internal enemies.

Observe that whenever the Yoruba meet to discuss the all-important response to the Fulani-led Jihad plots, they do not advertise it. No one knows they are meeting. For instance, we just saw Amotekun, but we all know a lot of plans and meetings went into it. How didn't it leak? Igbos should learn to keep secrets. We call them cowards but their actions have spoken louder than words.

Since the floating of Amotekun, the Fulani-controlled Federal Government has been jolted. They just don't know how best to respond yet. And this tells the significance of Amotekun. The East can do it too if we can trust ourselves and work for ourselves. Biafrans have the widest of connections worldwide. But we need unity. We need oneness; we need ourselves; we need one voice; we need each other’s support; we need a rallying point, a rallying figure. We need one purpose, one dream, one pursuit, one mind. Our resources and strength of industry is an unmatched asset. The idea of wanting to swallow each other so as to hold sway is our greatest bane.

See how Tinubu follows Buhari at daytime but at nighttime turns to his people. This way they pulled this huge surprise. Not so with any of us. Once our people get a foothold on government they pitch tent with the caliphate. We’ve never had a set of dumb governors as we have now. The Fulani wish is their command. The great work of IPOB though is resetting the minds of millions of Igbo youths. This work is growing, and of course, cannot be ignored. The war against IPOB is a war no one can win. You can't muster huge resources against a course you think will end in vapors.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Instagram: biafrawriters

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Edited By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Igbo Presidency, Ohaneze, and Nigeria

January 10, 2020

By Christopher O Evans | For Biafra Writers

As every election year approaches, Igbo politicians bear up begging bowls, pleading that Igbos be allowed to produce the next president. Who then are the kingmakers that Igbos, and even the Yoruba, bow to? There seems to exist a mafia that decides the fate of Nigeria, and by extension, the fate of the component units in the federation. I offer to unmask the mafia.

Following the annulment of June 12 election, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the Southwest press/media, Oduduwa People's Congress (OPC), and other pro-democratic groups, mounted and sustained pressure for the disannulment of that election which a Yoruba business mogul, Moshood Abiola, decisively won. Abiola himself, the greatest ally of the caliphate and every ruling military junta in the country, had counted so much on the mafia to the extent he boldly spited the Igbos. No doubt he felt he had worked his way into the system and counted himself as accepted into the elite club of power mafia. His money had funded every military coup in the country. In a meeting of party caucus in Benin, Abiola openly boasted that he does not need the Igbos to win the presidential election. There and then, an indefatigable Igbo politician, Arthur Nzeribe, told him that he will never rule Nigeria in his lifetime.

Whether Arthur had a hand in the eventual annulment of that election is unclear. There's no doubt though that with that stroke of arrogant assertion against the Igbo the northern mafia sensed a crack and quickly exploited it. Without the support of the Southeast it is difficult to break off the northern grip to power, and neither can the southeast gain political power without the Southwest. Enormous hate between the Southwest and Southeast has handed the north easy advantage. Since the two regions cannot unite, they both found themselves perpetually prostrating to the north for any form of foothold around the corridors of power. So the Southwest are currently lobbying the northern mafia to be allowed to produce the next president.

READ ALSO: The Religious Maradonas, The Dirty Politicians And The Gullible Masses

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes he has secured enough goodwill to be allowed to become president after the incumbent. The Southeast are working up some kind of arithmetic which they hope favors them to be allowed to produce the next president. The northern mafia will decide where and who becomes the next president. As it is now, they are feeling that it is not yet time to let go of it.

Obasanjo as a military Head of State served as dictated by the north. Following the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed, Obasanjo, although next in line in the military hierarchy, went into hiding. He knew one can only rule on the permission of the northern mafia. He feared he might be killed since he is not from the privileged north. They sought him out, and he reluctantly accepted after extracting commitment from them to guarantee his safety. He turned out to be a very good choice because he allowed his second in command, Shehu Musa Yar'dua, a northern Fulani, to run the govt. Above all he maintained the isolation of the Southeast. The isolation of Biafrans has become Nigeria's supreme task.

As agitations over the annulment of June 12 election reached fever pitch, the mafia had to choose between breakup of the country and pacifying the Southwest. They have betrayed Abiola so much that he can never trust them again. The only option was to eliminate him. Obasanjo remained the best bet for them. So they freed him from prison and quickly gazette his pardon from treasonable felony. Then they made him president as compensation for the loss of Abiola, but not without planting Atiku Abubakar as his vice. Again Atiku ran the economy while Obasanjo jostle round the world. It took him four years to pick himself up. But no matter how much he learned, it wasn't enough for him to dare venture into the forbidden territory of seeing the Igbo as equal partners in the Nigerian project. He certainly didn't learn enough to break down the northern mafia. It's that sacred so much so that former president Goodluck Jonathan rather than cross the line opted to relinquish power.

READ ALSO: Nigeria Government Playing the Ostrich

Obasanjo hung on to finish his terms. He handed power back to them. Igbos continued begging to be given chance. The northern mafia cannot find anyone in the southeast – the like of Obasanjo – who would answer to be president while they direct affairs. Rochas Okorocha and Orji Uzoh Kalu tried. Rochas even became a Muslim, hoping to win them over. His patience ran out and he resorted to threats. But finally they caged him. Orji Kalu betrayed it when he went to the national assembly and fought to be the senate president against the mafia’s decision. To make it worse he played Igbo marginalization card. In the end he settled for senate majority leader. Little while later, they punished him with a jail term.

Igbo political class are not unaware the kind of toothless president they are begging to become. But they will make do with anything. They're threatened by the emergence of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as dominant voice in the Southeast. "Who does he think he is?" The truth however is that the Igbo do not need a politician now. We need a liberator. We do not need Nigeria. We need Biafra. We have spread out too much; we are in every nook and cranny of the country. The thought of going back home is frightening to say the least. But then, we can't continue in slavish conditions for the fear of change. Our destinies are currently not in our hands. One stroke of new policy will destroy our investments. They are doing it to our entrepreneurs – Ifeanyi Uba, Innocent Chumwuma, Ibeto, Orji Uzoh Kalu, Olisa Metu, etc. They are afraid of the Igbo with strong economic power. And we cannot fully realize Igbo potentials until the emergence of independent Biafra.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Instagram: biafrawriters

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Edited By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S NEW YEAR (2020) MESSAGE IS AN INSULT TO NIGERIANS

MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S NEW YEAR (2020) MESSAGE IS AN INSULT TO NIGERIANS

“I will be standing down in 2023 and will not be available in future elections. But I am determined to help strengthen the electoral processes both in Nigeria and across the region, where several ECOWAS member nations will go to the polls”. This was part of the new year message from the Nigerian President, General Muhammadu Buhari to Nigerians. Just imagine a new year message from a number one citizen of a country, a new year message from a man who says he believes in democracy, a new year message from a man who claims he believes in the rule of law.

What does this new year message reveal about the character and learning of the Nigerian President?
By their statements and actions, you will certainly know them.
That message from the President of Nigeria shows that he thinks he is doing Nigerians a favour by not seeking a third term in office when the Nigerian Constitution makes it abundantly clear that two terms is the limit. This thinking shows that this man is still imbued with his military mentality.
He thinks he is doing Nigerians a favor by quitting in 2023. He should well know that Nigerians, including the entrapped Biafrans have been victims of his misgovernance since the year 2015.

The traces and indices of your nepotistic, wayward, and incompetent leadership style are enough weights to pull you down. Your lack of all-inclusive leadership and failure to comply with the rule of law are even enough reasons for your government to step down without further delay. You would always be remembered as a President who had little or no regards to court orders and the rule of law. You would be remembered as one who said he belonged to all in English language but translated it in your native/body language to demonstrate both in appointment and sectional favouritism that you really belonged to your Northern Fulani brothers. You would always be remembered as a man who said you would give 70% to those that voted for you and 30% to those that did not vote for you. You would be remembered as a friend of Hitler and Stalin, a man whose agenda was to kill and exterminate Biafrans. A man whose effort was for the total Islamization of Nigeria and Africa at large.

Talking about strengthening electoral processes both within and across the border, is irrelevant because your regime is inexcusably guilty of supervising violently rigged elections in Nigeria. Is that what you want to export to the rest of West Africa? This was a new year message that is out of touch with reality with issues facing the Nigerian people. There is grave insecurity, poor infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, Islamic terrorism, hyper-corruption, relentless killings, tyranny, Fulanization and Islamisation of the indigenous people coupled with your terroristic/vampiric approach to the quest of the Biafran People in realising their nationhood through a United Nations supervised Referendum.

Biafrans particularly should ignore your self-serving message and remain focused on liberating themselves from this fruitless entity called Nigeria.

Written by
Obulose Chidiebere N.

Edited by Okechukwu Ise
For Family Writers Press International

If IPOB decides to take up arms Nigeria will not last six months - Chief Onyike

Chief Abia Onyike, Alaigbo Development Foundation Spokesperson

December 20, 2019 | The Biafra Times

By John Chukwuebuka


The spokesperson for Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), and Former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State, Chief Abia Onyike has warned that if the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and other pro-Biafra groups decide to take up arms like the insurgents in the north, Nigeria will not last six months.

Onyike, a former Deputy National President, Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), who spoke in this interview with one of our correspondents in Abakailiki, also alleged that political leaders of the north encouraged Boko Haram and other insurgents in the region by their actions.

Excerpts:

President Muhammadu Buhari continues to make decisions that many say are inappropriate.

There are issues like the disobedience of court orders, the lopsided appointments. Are you worried about the way things are going in the country?

Of course every Nigerian who is serious-minded must be worried. Nigeria is now more divided than ever before.

That is because of Buhari’s official policy, which is based on sectionalism. There was this misunderstanding that the government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was pro-Igbo because, under him, Igbo people held certain positions like chief of army staff, chief of naval staff and all that.

Now, the Yoruba people became more angry than any other group. They were the people who plotted to install Buhari in power so that Buhari will join with them to seize the political and economic paraphernalia of governance in Nigeria to the exclusion of the Igbo.

So, it was just like what happened during and after the civil war when (Obafemi) Awolowo aligned with the northern caliphate to levy war on the Igbo and the rest of Biafra. But even the Yoruba should now know better, they should check how far they have faired; whether the Fulani people have any respect for them.

Have the Fulani been sharing things 50/50 with them? That’s the point.


Where, in your opinion, are we headed in the country?

I belong to a group known as Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF). The group is one of the pro-Igbo socio-cultural organisations. Our own position is very clear.

We support the restructuring of Nigeria in such a way that we shall have autonomous regions. We should have a federation of autonomous regions. Even if the regions are the six geopolitical zones, let them be autonomous; let them develop at their own pace.

Nigeria is so large a country territorially, and in terms of religion, culture, we are very different.

You cannot therefore compact everybody under one central authority in Abuja. It cannot work, and has never worked. So, we support a return to a federation of autonomous regions.

If you are insisting that we continue to be governed from Abuja, that is fascism and if you want to insist on that, then whatever you see you take.

Do you fear there might be implosion in the country if nothing is done about the structure?

The implosion, has it not started? Are you not seeing the level of armed confrontations in the country? The federal government is battling so many things right now, including the Boko Haram insurgency and banditry in the northwest, and all kinds of violent groups.

The only group that is not armed now is the IPOB, MASSOB and other pro-Biafra groups. And they know it that if they were to be armed, Nigeria will not last six months.

So, let us thank God that the pro-Biafra groups are committed to peaceful agitation, the Mahatma Gandhi type of agitation.

But all the Islamic insurgents are armed to the teeth because they want to impose their religion on the rest of us. Unfortunately, the leadership of the region and the country contributed to it.

When you are the leader at the centre, and you begin to sympathize with Islamic ideology, you incubate insurgency.

Then when it gets out of hand, you begin to battle to retrieve it, that’s the problem we are having now.

But what could Buhari for instance could have done to fuel the insurgency?


It did not start now. What was Ahmadu Bello saying? On the 12 of October 1960, 12 days after independence, what did he say?

That this new nation shall be an estate of his great grandfather…?

Yes! Why should a leader talk like that when he knows that people are mixed up? And most of the leaders who led Nigeria since the civil war, from 1970 to now, were they not people who had the same ideology? Including Murtala Mohammed.

What were they expecting? In the year 1999 when we returned to democracy, what happened? 12 contiguous northern states adopted Sharia law.

What did that mean in a circular country that should be governed without religion? So, when you are doing that, you are giving signs to the masses that it is where you are going.

Then, some will become more fanatical than you, and that’s exactly what gave rise to Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa. Now, the leaders are pretending to be fighting it. Are they serious?

READ ALSO: Police Terror: IPOB Still Awaiting Evidence against its Lawyer, Barrister Ejiofor

MORE NEWS: Biafra: The Undertones of War on Biafrans

All those imaginations will come to naught. If you want peace in Nigeria, then the Nigerian state must remain a state that is neither for this or that religion, that’s the only way we can build a Nigerian state.

We are mixed up, not everyone is a Muslim, not everyone is a Christian and not everyone is a feudalist.

Those of us from the eastern part of Nigeria were not brought up under feudal institutions. We believe in democratic government. We believe that Nigeria is a republic, a democratic federal republic. We don’t owe any allegiance to any feudal authority, wherever it is.

That is the way the Igbo man works. That was the basis for what happened immediately after the independence period. Recall what happened in the Western Region, the killings that were taking place there. And now, look at what is happening, Fulani herdsmen.

Does that show you that the people want peace? The population of Igbo people is 60 million in Nigeria, we are not a small group. And the population of the Igbo nation is larger than any existing independent African state with the exception of Ethiopia. So, why do you think you can pocket the Igbo people. If you don’t want them, why not allow them to be independent?

Some have accused Buhari of pursuing ethnic ‘Fulanisation’ agenda. Do you share that belief?

It’s not a belief, we look at statistics, statements. There are statements he made which have been quoted severally. He never denied them. Look at the appointments he has made so far, all the key appointments have been given to Hausa/Fulani Muslims.

Majority of the service chiefs are from his own part of the country. So, what do you want us to say? Look at even appointments into the police hierarchy now. What type of thing is that? You want the country to be united, and the resources you are using to govern the country is coming from the Eastern Region, yet you do things like that.

Are you not ashamed of yourself? Does it show that you are intelligent and that you want the country to stand? There is a level to which human beings should not play God.

You have a book that is coming up in which you said you traced the history of Nigeria, especially as it concerns…?

Yes, the book is about the history of Nigeria: Igbo nation and Biafra, Africa’s last colony. I’m just seeing the Igbo nation as a colony. It was colonised first by Britain and when they were leaving, they handed us over to the caliphate to recolonise.

That’s what it is. And why was Nigeria colonised? Nigeria was colonised because of the rich resources in Southern Igbo land and the Niger Delta territories.

That area is the richest part of Africa. That’s the reason the British colonised the area, they didn’t do so because of the North or the West. But when they went there to colonise, they discovered that the people there are the Igbo people whom they had known in history.

They knew that these people would be very difficult to contend with.

So, they decided to create an omnibus federation by bringing in all kinds of people who have nothing at stake in order to create a nation-state of divided people that would be permanently under tension and crisis-ridden. That way, the indigenous people who own the rich economic resources would be under permanent slavery, just as you have in Southern Africa.

That’s the history of Nigeria. And until you understand it from that perspective, you cannot explain the permanent turbulence of the Nigerian federation.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Instagram: biafrawriters

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Edited By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Nigerian Government Commences Igbo Pauperization Agenda

By Johnson Nnabuife | Biafra Writers
October 26, 2019

The APC government’s “Next Level” agenda is now in full implementation. “Next Level” as pronounced by the Fulani cabal running Nigeria is nothing but a well-articulated and coordinated plan of starvation and pauperizing of the average Igbo-Biafran. Those who didn’t know what it is all about when it was first mentioned now know better.

First, Southern bothers are closed while the northern ones are opened. That is an obvious persecution; an economic emasculation of the people of South … predominantly the Biafran. And as if that is not enough, they flagged off a systematic burning of shops and other property in Biafra land. Just in a space of two days – October 16 and October 18, two oil tankers were used to raze down properties worth hundreds of millions of naira in Onitsha alone, consuming in the process tens of human lives.

Furthering the oppression, in many parts of Biafra like Ebonyi and Enugu Provinces, lands are forcefully taken from the indigenous people and handed over to Fulani. Army and police are stationed in such communities to keep the indigenous people from reclaiming their land.

Yet on the foreign scene, the Nigerian government encourages other countries to be hostile to Biafran residents.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Instagram: biafrawriters

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Edited By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

The Richest Igbo Woman who Helped Biafran Soldiers During the War

October 02, 2019 | The Biafra Times

Mary Nwametu Nzimiro was born on October 16, 1898, in Oguta, Imo state. Her father was one of the first two warrant chiefs for Oguta appointed by Britain’s Queen Victoria and her mother was a successful trader.

At the time when Mary was born, there was international trading between Nigeria, a major producer of cocoa, palm oil, palm kernel, and Britain, who sold manufactured materials, such as textiles, beverages, and salt to Nigeria during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1914, Mary became the first girl to be enrolled in a Roman Catholic School at Oguta and was later enrolled at the Catholic Convent School, Asaba, where she graduated in 1920.

That same year, she married Richard Nzimiro, a clerk with United African Company (UAC), the company where her mother had also established British trade contacts.

Mary started business as a petty trader, selling salt and because of her husband’s job, they were always moving around. They soon moved to Port Harcourt, where she started trading in textiles, gunpowder, and cosmetics.

According to history, in 1950, during a routine sales probe, Mary said that her estimated monthly turnover was £6,000 to £8,000. She also entered into a manufacturing venture, producing men’s undershirts and later owned two gas stations from which she collected an estimated annual rent of £25,000 in the 1980s.

Mary’s business grew so much that she eventually asked her husband to resign from his job to help her manage the business. Through hard work and the help of her mother, Mary became the principal factor for the UAC and also served as the sole agent for their eastern zone.

Her involvement in Nigeria’s political struggles during the 1940s and ’50s earned her, her council women’s wing of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens, which was one of the nation’s most influential political parties in 1946.

Read Also: Grief in Anambara as Governor Obiano Equates the Life of an Average Igbo with 500,000 Naira

With her help and support, Mary’s husband was elected as the first mayor of Port Harcourt in 1956 and she was reportedly the one who financed her husband’s political ambition.

Mary’s daughter, Priscilla Nzimiro became the first Igbo woman to become a medical doctor after she studied medicine in Scotland. As Mary’s prosperity grew, she became a philanthropist, especially in the area of education. In 1945, she founded the William Wilberforce Academy at Oguta.

After the death of Priscilla in 1950, the academy was renamed the Priscilla Memorial Grammar School. Mary Nzimiro awarded scholarships to Ghanaians, Sierra Leonians and Nigerians. She also provided the means for several women in her family to study domestic science and fashion.

Because of her success in business, she was invited by the directors of UAC to England for her first overseas tour in 1948. On other visits to Britain, Mary was twice hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In her homeland, Mary was honoured with the title of Ogbuefi, thereby becoming the second woman to be initiated into the Ikwamuo society, which was said to be reserved for men.

In 1956, she became a member of Moral Re-Armament founded by Frank Buchman. In 1966, Mary established the Nzimiro Memorial Girls’ Secondary School after her husband, who had died in 1959. The two schools are seen as Mary’s greatest contribution to national development.

She helped young women to be trained in modern domestic skills and also operated inexpensive lodgings for women who had come to Port Harcourt seeking work but had no place to stay.

During the civil war in Nigeria, Mary supported the Biafran soldiers with food. She traveled throughout the eastern region of the country, collecting clothing and food for distribution to soldiers in the army camps.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Instagram: biafrawriters

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Biafra: WIC to present case against Nigeria to UN, world powers

The Biafra Times | September 9, 2019

By Magnus Eze

The World Igbo Congress (WIC) rose from its annual convention in Houston, Texas, United States with a resolve to adopt diplomacy in the push for emancipation and possibly the independent state of Biafra.

A communiqué from the gathering also dwelt on several myriads currently plaguing the Igbo nation.

These included security of life and property in Igboland; the menace of the herdsmen, as well as the future of the Igbo regarding association with her neighbours among others.

The convention also discussed how to support WIC to fully play the leadership role that will be beneficial to Ndigbo and the promotion of synergy among all Diaspora Igbo organisations.

The communiqué issued by Secretary-General of WIC, Dr. Richard Nwachukwu, after its deliberations, indicated that the Igbo would approach the United Nations and the world powers to present their case against the Nigerian Federation.

It restated the call for the immediate relocation of Igbo businesses’ headquarters to Ala-Igbo in order to protect them from frequent and unwarranted attacks.

Other decisions from the convention were that all Igbo support the congress which in turn is mandated to provide leadership in galvanizing Diaspora Igbo and pursue a plan of action leading to the information acquisition and dissemination necessary to promote investment in Igbo land.

To promote and support technology transfer through mobilisation and active engagement of well-connected young Igbo entrepreneurs in the Diaspora to Ala Igbo, the congress agreed that it should work with Ndi-Igbo and progressive government functionaries.

READ ALSO: The Wickedness of Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, and His Butt Lickers in Abia Poly


The congress also agreed that it should pursue the establishment of Diaspora Igbo database so as to assist in strategic planning for the security and economic improvement of Igboland.

While lamenting that the 1999 constitution currently in effect in Nigeria, does not have referendum in any of the schedules,  it resolved to supplement the pursuit of Igbo emancipation through diplomacy and engagement of foreign powers, the United Nations and regional powers in matters involving the region politically, economically, militarisation, suppression, and persecution of Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria.

“Over the years, people in diaspora of different nations of the world, have been the key players and drivers of nation-building and economic emancipation of their homelands. It resolved that the congress should take the leadership role like other diaspora groups like Jewish Congress, apply pressure and lobbying mechanism to achieve Igbo emancipation.

“It is resolved that WIC should, through Association of Southeast Town Unions, establish formidable intelligence units in Ala-Igbo, as well as reinforce vigilante groups in Ala-Igbo to ensure that Igbo land is protected.

READ ALSO: We don't need your apology, IPOB tells South-East Govs

The WIC also urged Nigeria to actively support religious freedom by signing the Roundtable on Ministerial Inter-Religious Freedom which other countries are signatories.

It also unanimously resolved that every adult Igbo in the Diaspora should donate a minimum of $20 annually to the congress’ special account to serve as a token of commitment and bolster the achievement of the mandates outlined.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

I Hold No Grudge against Those that Tossed Me out – Senator Ike Ekweremadu

August 18, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who received an unexpected baptism of fire yesterday in Germany, has said that he holds no grudge against his baptizers. The senator who attended the Second Annual Cultural Festival and Convention organized by Igbos living in Germany made the statement through his Media Assistant, Uche Anichukwu, in Abuja.

Ekweremadu arrived in Nuremberg, Germany, yesterday where, according to him, he was billed to give a keynote address along with the President-General of the proscribed Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo. The senator somehow got more than he bargained for as some aggrieved Igbo youths arrived at the scene to toss him out, expressing dissatisfaction over the nonchalant attitude of Igbo politicians over the incessant killings going on in Biafra land.

Confirming the unfortunate encounter in a press statement through his media assistant, Uche Anichukwu, the disgraced senator said, “Much as I am disappointed in their conduct, especially as I am one of the persons, who have spoken up on justice for Ndigbo, the Python Dance, judicial killings in Igbo land and elsewhere, both on the floor of the Senate and in my written and personal engagements with the Presidency as well as rallied the South East Senate Caucus to secure Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s release with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe taking him on bail to douse tension in the South East, I nevertheless do not hold this to heart against them, for they know not what they do.”

Related News: Baptism of Fire as Senator Ike Ekweremadu Gets Tossed Out


The aggrieved Igbo youths that confronted Ekweremadu were sending a message to all politicians of Biafra extraction, and the senator seems to have gotten the message, hence his pronouncement of holding no grudge. The clause in the ‘no grudge’ statement, “for they know not what they do,” is understandably a wise man’s way of retaining pride. And yes, he can keep his pride for the encounter was not to assault his person but to draw his attention to urgent matters he and his co-politicians seem to be overlooking.

The downtrodden people of Biafra who have been so grossly overlooked by the elite who claim to represent them are therefore hoping that other politicians in the region will get the message delivered to them via the Ekweremadu encounter and turn a new leaf.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Baptism of Fire as Senator Ike Ekweremadu Gets Tossed Out

August 18, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

Igbos living in Germany yesterday vented their anger on Igbo politicians using Ike Ekweremadu as an instance. The expression of anger took place in Nuremberg, Germany, where the Igbo community gathered to celebrate the sacred feast of Iri Ji (New Yam Festival). Ekweremadu, a distinguished guest, arrived to add colour to the feast but received the baptism of fire as some angry youths registered their indignation in a way the senator wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

According to sources, the Iri Ji festival was progressing peacefully until some aggrieved youths arrived at the scene to chase the Senator away, asking him to return home. From the videos making the rounds, it could be heard of the indignant youths shouting at the senator “Our people are being killed back home by Fulani and you come here to eat yam?”

Villagers are being killed in their numbers by the terrorist Fulani herdsmen. When the army is not killing and abducting our people in the name of Python Dance and Crocodile Smile, they are shooting them at checkpoints over 100 naira bribe. The police kill even over 20 naira. Yet our politicians keep a blind eye, seeking pleasure at the expense of the people’s life.

READ ALSO: Biafra: The Price of Treachery and Sabotage

Rather than attend the just concluded Biafra Genocide Exhibition in London, former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, flew to Nuremberg, Germany, feast. Why any reasonable man – a senator come to that – would choose a house of feast over a very vital gathering of sober reflection such as Biafra Genocide Exhibition remains a baffle. Does such an act really cast the senator as one mindful of history and wellbeing of his people? The pleasure-seeking senator seems ignorant of the biblical injunction, “rather to be in the house of mourning, than in the house of feasting,” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). The treatment he got though seems to be a brain-resetting one.

What happened to erstwhile Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, is an expression of dissatisfaction; a reminder to the elite that power belongs to the people. Those in position of authority should therefore use it to the benefit of the common man whom they serve.

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Stop Wasting Your Time Praying, Beg The Igbo For Civil War Genocide - Fani-Kayode Blasts Gowon

August 13, 2019

By Iheme Kelechi 

Nigerian popular controversial Critic, and former minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has said the various prayer sessions being conducted by former Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon remains a waste if he does not apologise to the Igbo over the genocide against the group during the Civil War.

Fani-Kayode, in a statement on Monday, said 300 Igbo army officers, including an Igbo Head of State, were murdered on July 29th, 1966 by northern army officers, while 30,000 innocent and defenceless Igbo civilians (many historians say the figure is actually over 100,000) were slaughtered between September and December 1966 by savage and barbaric northern mobs in three separate pogroms in the north before the outbreak of the Nigerian civil war.

“Finally 3 million innocent and defenceless Igbo civilians, including one million children, were targeted and butchered by the Nigerian Army and the northern “Gwodo-Gwodo” auxiliaries and militias during the Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970,” he said.

Fani-Kayode said if the Nigerian people really wanted their fortunes to change for the better and that if they really wanted to be restored to the great and prosperous nation and people that they once were, they needed to ask the Lord for forgiveness for what they did and what they were still doing to the Igbo nation.

READ ALSO: IPOB reacts to Army Release of fictitious name as killer of Chimaobi Nworgu

“General Yakubu Gowon can conduct all the prayer sessions that he wants for Nigeria but until he acknowledges the fact that the genocide that the Igbo people were subjected to under his watch between 1966 and 1970 was unacceptable and until he appeals to the Igbo nation to forgive Nigeria for what we did to them, things will get from bad to worse.

“Though it is unknown to most, our nation has been afflicted with a deep spiritual wound which was inflicted as a consequence of our barbaric actions over the years and particularly before and during the civil war. This is a spiritual matter and sadly and regrettably we see its consequences unfolding in the physical realm before our very eyes every day.

“The shedding of innocent blood always results in divine retribution and it goes from generation to generation. Unless remorse is displayed, forgiveness sought and national repentance is established, the cycle of divine retribution and judgement will continue unabated and affect the lives of millions."

READ ALSO: Nigeria: The Evil We Ignored

“The civil war “Gwodo-Gwodo” militias, made up of savage, bloodthirsty, heartless, godless, dark and evil men from Chad, Niger Republic, Mali and parts of north-western Nigeria are the spiritual forefathers and the same dark forces that have resurrected as terrorist and killer herdsmen that are slaughtering our people ALL over the country today,” he added.

According to Fani-Kayode, “the whole thing has come back to torment and haunt us and only God can deliver us from their hand. The fastest way to make your nation the land of the accursed and rejected is by continuously shedding innocent blood and show no remorse for it."

“We must recognise and accept this, we must endeavour to stop the violence and killings, we must beg God and our victims for forgiveness and we must do the right thing. Anything short of that will not put us on the road to redemption and restoration. May God open our eyes to see and accept these harsh realities and may He guide, help and lead us in all our endeavours.”

The Biafra Times

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Before Throwing in With The So-Called Igbo Leaders

May 26, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

Can one really point at anything achieved by the so-called Igbo leaders? The focus here is not on accumulation of individual wealth. No; the focus is on what they have achieved or done for us as a people.

They wear red caps and assign to themselves the name “Igbo Leaders.” They try to confuse you with high-sounding political terminologies, riding on your ignorance to work for selves. They proscribed IPOB, watering the ground for the Nigerian state to come up with the terrorist tag and its own version of proscription, yet IPOB is the only viable group concerned with our freedom, growth, and wellbeing as a people. They oppose Nnamdi Kanu – the only man that truly cares about you, offering his life in the pursuit of our common good.

Well, what good have those folks – the so-called Igbo leaders – done us? As an Easterner, you need to score above 250 to secure admission in the university but a Northerner with 100 marks smoothly gains admission. The system excuses this cheat on the altar of “education less privileged states.” Now ask yourself this question: what makes them educationally less privileged? Did we not all start the race at the same time? The allocation given to Kaduna state alone is bigger than that of three states put together down east. So what really makes them educationally less privileged? And if truly they are less privileged, how is that your making? Why are you being made to suffer for what is not your fault? 250 marks as against 100, and sometimes 80 even. Your only offence here is coming from a region considered slaves. What have the so-called Igbo leaders done about this cheat?

The Enugwu airport is the only international airport in Igbo land while Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani count many. On top of that, it is only one airline that is allowed to operate there. What have your Igbo leaders done about it? And even now, the federal government has announced its decision to shut down that singular international airport you have. What are your Igbo leaders doing about it?

RELATED NEWS: Why Igbo Leaders Should be Overlooked

Lagos has two functional seaports, and as we speak a third is being built at Badagery. Just at the neighbouring city of Ibadan a dry port is being built. Up North, another dry port is under construction. Down Biafra land, they shut down Calabar Seaport, Warri Seaport, and Port-Harcourt Seaport. Ninety percent of all the importation in this country is done by you. Yet they closed down all the seaports in your land and went to faraway Yoruba land and Hausa land to build seaports and dry ports to suffocate you economically. What have those claiming to be your leaders done about the situation?

They closed down Nkalagu cement industry and Ibeto cement industry to give Dangote rights of monopoly in the industry and to forestall all the employment opportunities Nkalagu and Ibeto Cement factories would have offered. You reading this article could have been working in either of the companies. And if not you directly, then your son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, relative or friend could have. That opportunity is lost because of the federal government’s indiscriminate action against businesses owned by your kind. What did Igbo leaders do about it?

Plying Biafran roads? Every half kilometer you’ll meet a police checkpoint. Sometimes the gap between subsequent checkpoints is not even up to half a kilometer. They harass and extort money from commuters, torturing and sometimes shooting road users that fail to comply. Study the policemen at these checkpoints; they are predominantly Hausa/Fulani, sometimes with minute attachment of Yoruba. What have those calling selves Igbo leaders done about the situation?

READ ALSO: Biafra Heroes Day: No Mockery of Our Dead Heroes on 30th May

And the nature of the roads themselves? Deathtrap. That’s the summation of a returnee who had a cause to drive around. So deplorable are our roads it’s easier to have accident than not to. After a journey one goes to church to give testimony of God saving him from death. To travel to a neighbouring city and return in safety becomes a miracle.  The situation is totally different in the North where fine road networks will make you think you’re in another country altogether. What have Igbo leaders done about it?

You are industrious; dexterous and highly productive. How are you being encouraged? Think of the boys at Aba Shoe village. Think of what they turn out manually and imagine what will happen if properly equipped. They need electricity to function. Not just the Aba boys; there are several of you being hampered by inadequate power supply. Yet the Ala-oji power plant in Aba built by Bat Nnadji to supply Aba, Obigbo, Igwe-ocha (Portharcourt), Umuahia, Okigwe, Afikpo, and other neighboring cities is grounded by federal government’s refusal to allow gas supply to the plant. Economic strangulation! What have the so-called Igbo leaders done about it?

Second Niger Bridge has remained politics; they deceive you with it every four years. In Lagos, they have three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland – Eko Bridge, Carter Bridge, and Third Mainland Bridge. And as we speak, they are talking of Fourth Mainland Bridge. Yet, a second Niger Bridge is considered too much for you. Where then are the Igbo leaders? What are they doing about this situation?

READ ALSO: Biafra Heroes Day: I must remember my uncle on 30th May

The trend drags a lot further of course, but factoring in your time and our collective poor habit of reading, I choose to stop here.  I have provoked your thoughts, however. So think, think and think. Are these people really worth being called leaders? Are they worth your loyalty?

A leader does not seek his own; a leader seeks the good of his followers. Sadly, those parading selves as Igbo leaders cannot point at anything achieved for our collective good, instead, they ride on our misery to cut deals for themselves. So before you throw in with the so-called Igbo leaders, ask yourself what have they done for you? What really have they achieved? May God give you understanding.
Ndewo nu!

THE BIAFRA TIMES

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa

Why Igbo Leaders Should be Overlooked

May 24, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie,  Chief Editor | The Biafra Times

It was former President Goodluck Jonathan that promoted Enugu airport to international airport. Stella Odua, functioning in her capacity as aviation minister, worked hard to upgrade the airport really to a standard befitting of international airport. The jealous Yoruba, knowing that the Lagos airport is viable on the account of the Igbos who are the most traveled in the country, and figuring what will become of it should the Enugu airport start functioning in the full capacity of an international airport, began to work against it. Using their very biased media, they slandered Odua, creating the fertile ground for their political players and their counterparts from the North to mount pressure on President Goodluck to remove the hardworking woman from office. Fearing what would become of his desires to return to office should he ignore the demands of the caliphate and their conniving Yoruba political players, Goodluck succumbed to pressure. Odua was relieved of her duties. A Yoruba man now taking over, the ongoing work at the Enugu airport was stalled. Ohaneze Ndigbo saw it all but did nothing. Igbo political players did nothing. Ala-Igbo Development Foundation did nothing. Yet these are the groups that arrogate to selves the position of Igbo Leaders.

Assorted flights operate from Lagos airport, Abuja airport, Kano, Kaduna and the rest of the international airports in Yoruba land and in the North. On the contrary, however, the only flight allowed to land or take off from Enugu, Akanu Ibiam international airport, is Ethiopian Airline. Every other airline is prohibited. Even the Ethiopian airline is being discouraged with extreme charges. Nobody answering to that self-aggrandizing nomenclature “Igbo Leaders”  has stood up against this economic persecution; not the politician, not Ohaneze Ndigbo. Not even the elite fraud-front, Ala-Igbo Development Foundation, who claims to be primarily concerned with developments in Igbo land.

Again, the cost of flight from Enugu to China is almost double of what is from Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna to the same China. This is part of the grand plan to discourage travelers from taking off or landing at Enugwu. Naturally, people tend to flow to a region where they can cut costs. With the constant shifting from Enugu to either Lagos or Abuja, a time will come when the airline would have no choice than to shut down its operation at Enugu. The so-called Igbo leaders are either blind to this or observe, but choose to do nothing.

READ ALSO: Biafra Heroes Day: No Mockery of Our Dead Heroes on 30th May

Then comes the Federal government’s bold decision to shut down the Enugu international airport. The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, made this known at the 2019 Stakeholders’ Forum, in Lagos. As widely reported by various news outlets in the country, the minister said the Federal Government would have to downgrade the Enugwu Airport in terms of its status as an international airport, excusing the decision on the terrible state of the runway. Yet this is the same runway they stopped Stella Odua from rehabilitating and victimized her for daring to. Igbo political players, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Ala-Igbo Development Foundation and all other mushroom groups fancying selves as Igbo leaders are mute. What manner of leaders are they then?

The Heart of Darkness – Lagos state – alone has two functional seaports … one at Apapa and the other at Tin Can Island. And as we speak, a third is under construction at Badagry. Just at the neighboring city of Ibadan, a dry port is being built. Up north in Kaduna, another dry port is under construction. In Biafra-land however, the exact opposite is the case: Calabar Seaport is shut down, Warri Seaport is shut down and Port-Harcourt Seaport is shut down. Meanwhile, ninety percent of importation in Nigeria is done by Biafrans. Where then are the Igbo leaders? Ala-Igbo Development Foundation, Ohaneze-Ndigbo, and the politicians … where are they? None of them has made even ordinary statement about this, yet they love to call selves Igbo leaders.

One could go on and on and on. The economic emasculation is palpable, yet the so-called Igbo leaders do nothing about it. On what basis, therefore, are they leaders? On opposing IPOB?

READ ALSO: Biafra Heroes Day: I must remember my uncle on 30th May

June 12 is declared a national holiday in honor of one man – Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola – a Yoruba man. Yet, the six million Biafrans killed in the genocidal war visited on Biafra are not worth being honored with a day. Sad enough, the so-called Igbo leaders who ought to be at the forefront of the 30th May sit-at-home call in honor of the victims of the genocide have turned themselves willing tools in the hand of the Nigerian state to oppose the call.

Obvious then is the fact that the current crop of Igbos fancying selves as Igbo leaders do not know what leadership is. They are in fact self-seeking elements merchandizing our common good for personal goal, and as such, should be totally ignored.

THE BIAFRA TIMES

Contact us: [email protected]

Twitter:  @BiafraWriters

Publisher: Charles Opanwa