IECF 2023 Igbo President Threat; Should Nigeria be Afraid

 

Written by Eluwa Chidiebere Chinazu | Biafra Writers 

January 24, 2023

The Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF) is an organization comprising of many notable political figures from the Southeastern part of Nigeria. On different occasions, this organization that fronts the former governor of Anambra state, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, as their leader, has threatened the Nigerian government with the Igbo people quitting Nigeria should the federal government deny the region the 2023 president.

The Igbo people have been sidelined politically in a country that they spearheaded its independence in 1960. Since independence till date, the Igbo have ruled Nigeria for only 194 days. Unfortunately, the man (Aguiyi Ironsi) who ruled, was murdered in office. Some spurious individuals attribute this mistreatment against the Igbo race to the 1966-1970 Biafra-Nigeria war. They have however failed to revisit the activities before, during and after the war.

The recent threats from the IECF over 2023 presidential elections are what baffle me. Isn't it a total joke to think that the Nigerian government will bend its decisions because of IECF which cannot boast of its eminence even in the region they come from?

The IECF cannot point at any single demand they previously made that was met by the Nigerian government. The IECF demanded that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), be released to them, but the leader is still in detention. They promised barrage of sanctions against any Igbo person that will be a running mate to anyone outside the Igbo territory in the 2023 presidential elections but Ifeanyi Okowa is still moving freely. The IECF demanded that the PDP and APC parties in Nigeria should make an Igbo person their presidential candidate in 2023 elections, but the two didn't. Still heaven didn't fall.

Aren't IECF threats a political statement aimed at neutralizing the greatest force in the region which is IPOB. Anyone staking his coins for IECF threats should get ready for heartbreak. As birds of different motives, when this game is up, they will sing different songs.

Nigeria being a colonial construct is not designed to favour the Igbo man. The hatred against the Igbo race stems from the Nigerian independence which the Igbo people engineered. The colonialists when leaving, made sure that the Igbo race does not enjoy the country. The earlier the Igbo people come to this realization the better.

Anyone promising you president is only making a mockery of the pitiful condition of the Igbo people in Nigeria. This is the reality that will keep vindicating itself as far as the Igbos keep habouring such hope.

Edited by Nelson Ofokar Yagazie

Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah 

Contact us: bia[email protected]

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#BiafraFallenHeroes: Reminiscing The Great Moments Of A Great Icon, Selfless Leader And Pioneer Biafra Head Of State, Gen. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

By Victoria O. C. Agangan || For Biafra Writers

May 22, 2019

The image so often associated with Africa – a child with stick-thin limbs and swollen belly – dates back to the first televised famine, the Biafra war. The man who understood the power of that image was an Oxford-educated Nigerian soldier, Emeka Ojukwu.

Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, to use his full name, proclaimed the short-lived Republic of Biafra in 1967. His demeanour of a gentleman-rebel standing up to the Nigerian Goliath appealed to western intellectuals such as Frederick Forsyth and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. A Swedish count built and flew planes for the Biafra country's air force and its struggle for independence inspired the French humanitarian Bernard Kouchner to create Médecins Sans Frontières.

The son of one of Nigeria's most successful transport entrepreneurs, Ojukwu was from the Igbo tribe born on November 4, 1933, in Zungeru, the northern part of Nigeria. He received the best education – King's College, Lagos; Epsom College, Surrey and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated with honours in modern history in 1955. He refused to go into his father's business and instead spent two years as an unglamorous administrative head officer in the Eastern Nigerian public service.

Read Also: #BiafraFallenHeroes: A Living Eulogy To The Bravest Biafra Pilot And Squadron Commander, Artur Alves Pereira

In 1957, Ojukwu joined the Royal West African Frontier Forces as a recruit. He rose rapidly through the ranks, ending his training at Sandhurst at the time of Nigerian independence in 1960. Under British indirect rule, Nigeria had been crudely divided along tribal lines: politics was for the northern Hausa tribe, commercial clout was the preserve of the supposedly industrious Yorubas on the south-western coast and education was for the administratively inclined Igbos in the east of the country.

Unhappy at northern heavy-handedness and discrimination, Igbo officers staged a coup in 1966 and installed Ojukwu as governor of the Eastern Region, which includes the oil-rich Niger Delta. When the counter-coup came six months later, Ojukwu refused to step down.

As the Eastern governor, Ojukwu sought peacefully to resolve matters. He tried to maintain military hierarchy by insisting that Brigadier Ogundipe took the mantle of leadership instead of a junior officer, Col. Gowon but Ogundipe was convinced in London to step into the Nigerian High Commission.

On 29th September, a fatal pogrom with beastly brutality was carried out mostly against the Igbos and other ethnic groups in the Eastern region by the northern elements. Maimed, bruised Biafrans returned en masse, yet Gen. Ojukwu never abated his quest for peace having previously made futile attempts for a badly damaged unity that has become irreparable. He proceeded to Aburi, Ghana on 4th January, 1967 for a peace conference with Gowon, Gen Joseph Ankarah was the host. There, Ojukwu succeeded in getting Gowon to sign a peace treaty called "Aburi Accord."

Read Also: #BiafraFallenHeroes: We Remember Abie Nathan, Whose Magnanimous Efforts Was Unequaled During The Nigeria-Biafra War

Upon return, Gowon reneged on the agreement reached at Aburi. He split the Eastern region into three states. He was solely responsible for the war. Gen. Ojukwu from Nnewi, Anambra state, left with no other option, declared the defunct nation of the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967 with the mandate of the Eastern Nigeria Consultative Assembly. Three days later, Gowon declared war and besieged Biafra. The diplomatic war in the present day Nigeria is a replica of what Biafra has continously faced in the past.

Under pressure from Igbos in the military, he declared independence for the 29,000 square-mile region of Biafra on 30 May, 1967. A flag was designed, featuring a rising sun. A currency(in pounds and shillings) was issued and the beginnings of a welfare state were put in place. Ojukwu personally chose a movement from Jean Sibelius's Finlandia as the tune to the national anthem, in reference to the Nordic country's resistance to foreign domination.

But the region's oil wealth made Biafran independence intolerable to Nigeria and the international community and as a result, in July 6, 1967, then Nigerian Military Government headed by Col. Yakubu Gowon declared war and attacked Biafra. He besieged an already wounded people. He came with international support from thirthy countries, and for thirty months Biafra under the leadership of Gen. Ojukwu persevered against all odds.

A futile and avoidable two-and-a-half-year war cost millions of innocent Biafran lives as Nigeria created famine conditions and enlisted British and Soviet support against a ragtag army equipped with home-made military hardware.

The scar of that war is ever green in our minds — It was characterized by genocide of sorts and these included wanton killings, molestation and rape, blockage of food and aids, over three million Biafrans, men, women and children died. Many got displaced till date in foreign lands.

Read Also: #BiafraFallenHeroes: We Remember Those Butchered On 2nd Dec. 2015 By Combined Team Of The Nigeria Security Forces

By 1969, Biafra was on its knees and Ojukwu fled into exile in Ivory Coast, handing over the baton of leadership to his second-in-command, Maj. Gen. Philip Effiong from Itshekiri, present day Akwa-Ibom state. President Felix of Ivory Coast had recognized Biafra and offered asylum to him. Twelve years later he was granted a pardon and returned to Nigeria where he formed the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA and ran for president in 2003 and 2007. In 2008, he received his military pension from the Nigerian government but complained complained that it ranked him as a lieutenant-colonel rather than as a general, his rank in the Biafran army.

Vonnegut described Ojukwu as Biafra's George Washington. He wrote: "When we met General Ojukwu, his soldiers were going into battle with 35 rounds of rifle ammunition. There was no more where that came from. For weeks before that, they had been living on one cup of garri a day. The recipe for garri is this: Add water to pulverized cassava root. Now the soldiers didn't even have gari anymore. General Ojukwu described a typical Nigerian attack for us: 'They pound a position with artillery for 24 hours, then they send forward one armoured car. If anybody shoots at it, it retreats, and another 24 hours of bombardment begins. When the infantry moves forward, they drive a screen of refugees before them. If we go forward, we die. If we go backward, we die. So we go forward'".

The American writer was among a dozen intellectuals invited by Ojukwu to witness the Biafran war in a bid to influence western public opinion and secure airlifts of food. Another was Forsyth whose biography of him, Emeka, was published in 1982.

In Nigeria, Ojukwu's legacy is largely viewed as positive for having stood up for his ethnic group, having proved incorruptible and having essentially personified the country's view of itself as constantly riven along ethnic lines. After his death in November 26, 2011 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital – where he had been admitted following a stroke in December 2010 – President Goodluck Jonathan paid him a glowing tribute: "Ojukwu's immense love of his people, justice, equity and fairness forced him into the leading role he played in the Nigerian civil war."

Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, today, represents the adage: "He who runs, lives to fight another day." Presently, the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari and his Army Chief, Tukur Yusuf Buratai have killed, maimed, incarcerated, kidnapped and illegaly imprisoned and denied release even against court orders. In all these we must not relent. Our hitherto inner conscious mind have been awakened by Nnamdi Kanu. We must not relent but fight on until Biafra is restored.

We must not forget nor relent!
Adieu Gen. Ojukwu!
Long live Biafra!

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

An Exposition Between Biafra As Our Identity/Nation And The Niger Delta As A Mere Geographical Expression; Preserving The Very Fabric That Binds Us Together As A People

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Chief Editor | The Biafra Times

June 9, 2018

History teaches us that Britain established a colonial protectorate over the Bight of Biafra in June 30, 1849, under the authority of the British Consuls of the Bight of Benin which its protectorate was established in February 1, 1852. On August 6, 1861, both the protectorates which were neighbours under its own separate British consuls respectively, were merged to form what was called the “United Bight of Benin and Biafra Protectorate.”

From July 16, 1884, this merged into the British Protectorate over Brass, Bonny, Opobo, Aboh and Old Calabar(excluding Lagos Colony), which was confirmed on June 5, 1885, and named “Oil Rivers Protectorate,” where in August 1891, an effective consular administration was established, headed by a Consul general. These areas would in different steps merge further via the May 12, 1893 “Niger Coast Protectorate,” which on January 1, 1900, was renamed “Southern Nigeria Protectorate, SNP” into which on February 16, 1906, Lagos was incorporated. On February 28, 1906, SNP was made into the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and since January 1, 1914, it became part of Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.

From the above historical illustration, it is unambiguous that the Bight of Biafra was the oldest, then the Bight of Benin came, followed by the Protectorate of the Niger Coast before its final integration with Lagos and the Western Protectorates to form the single Southern Protectorate. These protectorates were all established from a well-organized last “West African Dynasties” called the “Aro-Confederacy.”

Taking inferences from historical teachings, the Aro-Confederacy (1690–1902) was a political union orchestrated by the Aro people, Igbo sub-group, centered in Arochukwu in present-day southeastern Nigeria. Their influence and presence was all over Eastern Nigeria, lower Middle Belt, and parts of present-day Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Arochukwu Kingdom was an economic, political, and an oracular center as it was home of the powerful Ibini Ukpabi oracle, High Priests, the Aro King Eze Aro, and central council (Okpankpo). The first king, Eze Aro 1 Osim Nnubia of the Aro Confederation hailed from Okonyong, present day Calabar, Cross-rivers state.

Aro-Confederacy was carved out from Ibom Kingdom. It was formed following a decree from Calabar (which was originally called Akwa-Akpa and renamed Calabar by the Portuguese in the 15th Century) ordering the Akpa-Forces to liberate and grant Right of Occupancy to those now called Igbos from the Ibibios whom were their Lords. Thus, ARO-Chukwu was carved out of Ibom Kingdom and a Confederation was decreed after the collapse of Ibom and thus, the administration of Aro-Confederation from Aro-Chukwu.

It was from the domiciliation of slaves by the Portuguese in an Island part of Equatorial Guinea originally called “Fernandopo or Panya” which was later called “BIA-FRA,” that the term “Bight of Biafra” came into existence.

Other than Akwa-Akpa (later renamed Calabar) the Eweka dynasty(1180-1246) and Ewuare (1440-1473) which expanded its City States to an Empire that was annexed by the British in 1897 and sent Oba Ovonramwen into exile in Calabar, were only internationally recognized pre-colonial Kingdoms.

From the above historical statements, it is glaring and evident that Biafra is not Igbo. Biafra is the name the Portuguese used to refer to the present Cross-River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, some parts of Edo, Delta and Rivers States of Nigeria; South East Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Search for the maps drawn by cartographers in the 15th Century. Early modern maps of Africa from the 15th–19th centuries, drawn by European cartographers from accounts written by explorers and travellers, revealed some information about Biafra which today covers the old Eastern region in Nigeria and southern part of Cameroon and which its name was changed from Bight of Biafra, to Bight of Bonny by the Nigerian government in the 1970s through the National Assembly as a result of the sad memories of the Nigeria-Biafra war.

However, after the gruesome fratricidal war in which millions of Biafrans were mindlessly massacred and starved to death, many policies and/or strategies was invented by the Nigerian government under the tutelage of the British colonists to alienate our coastal brothers in the riverine areas of Biafra from those of their hinterland counterpart such that they completely deny having any ties with Biafra or Igbo-speaking tribe of Biafrans in today’s Southeastern region of Nigeria. Some of them who have been so misinformed about their true identity and the roles their forebears played during the war, continued to ridicule themselves knowing or unknowingly that the Niger Delta Republic as declared by Jasper Adaka Boko is their true identity and that they have no ties with the Igbo-Biafrans.

The way and manner that the Igbos have been so abused and denigrated by our supposed brothers, compatriots and neighbours is really heartbreaking. What manner of deep seethed hatred is this? What have the Igbos done to the people of the riverine enclave? What is their crime that some of you do not hesitate to pass uncomplimentary and debasing remarks on the Igbos? Why this level of hatred against the best from our part of the country and unarguably the best from the country as a whole? Do you seek their blood to appease your gross misadventure with stupidity?

We all, especially those in the Eastern part of Nigeria must understand that we are all admixture of Igbos; there’s Igbo in everyone of us, despite whichever tribe we belong to. The entire Southeastern parts of Nigeria today referred to as "IGBO" is the admixture of other tribes across the region. Idoma, Ibibio, Efiks, Ijaw, etc, are all which culminates to IGBO.

To further buttress my point, in the Igbos of Abia and Ebonyi States of today, you can clearly find the Efiks, Ibibios, Anangs, and the Bantus of Cross-River State making up a reasonable proportion of their tribes, while also in Anambra and Enugu States, you will find the Edos, Idomas, Igalas, etc, the same thing with Imo State where you can find the Ikwerres, and Ijaws, and slightly Edos.

Coming to the Igala people, they share boundary with the Igbo people at the south, Idoma at the east, Benins at the west and Ebira people at the north.

The Igala people which its 55 percent population inhabits Kogi state and are also found in Anambra west are mostly Mmiata Anam, Umuoba-Abegbu Anam, Umuenwelum Anam, Oroma-Etiti, Umueze Anam, Umudora Anam, Umuikwu Anam, Inoma-Akator, Nzam, Igbedor and Iyiora Anam, all from the family of Ogbe, the descendants of General Ajida, a notable warrior of Idah origin(Idah is traditional headquarters of Igala kingdom). Ajida is the father of field marshal Ogbe who was married to Iyida.

But unfortunately, some of our people who has failed to realize that the name “Niger Delta,” is a mere geographical expression and not a people’s identity nor a country would want you to tender paper documents before they accept that fact. Just like our local gin "Ogogoro" is referred to as "Illicit Gin" while the names like MacDowell, Hennessey, etc, which are mere derivatives are applauded and preferred. Indeed, “Orients and Occidents” are chalklines drawn before our eyes to mock our timidity. It is said that the Ignorant wears his ignorance like a gold chain and displays it with pride believing it to be gold chain.

I love the terms Isaac Adaka Boro used in his definition of his proposed Niger Delta Republic. He said, “strictly we shall consider Niger Delta, to be the areas occupied by the Ijaws...” Spanning through the BIGHT OF BIAFRA. Isaac Adaka Boro was simply giving a landmark description of his proposed Niger Delta Republic which he intended to carve out from the old Eastern region of which the Ijaw League had been formed to agitate against their perceived Igbo domination just like similar agitation which brought about the creation of Mid-Western States (later Delta and Edo) from the Western region because of their perceived dominance of the Yorubas against other tribes within it.

This does not mean in anyway that Boro created the word “NIGER DELTA” which is a geographic landmark expression that have existed as far back as the words were invented in the dictionary. The 18th Century had the city of Calabar serving as the “COAST of the NIGER PROTECTORATE,” from whence the ROYAL NIGER COMPANY was formed... So, NIGER & DELTA & REPUBLIC are separates words existing respectively but coined by socioeconomic and political intents to express diverse meanings.

Some who are misguided in their line of thoughts will say that their own version of Niger Delta was a country, yet they can’t prove this. In what year was their so-called country declared? What evidences of its existence do they have in currency notes, government and institutions such as the military, police, the judiciary, a legislature; do they have evidences of these in pictures and in videos? What nations of the world recognized their nationhood and as such had diplomatic relations with them? Please can they bring all these to bear to back their submissions with hard undisputable facts. Then, I will give them a minute before I flood everywhere with evidences of the nationhood of Biafra which was very inclusive of all groups of the geographical Niger Delta minus ethnic groups from Kogi, Ondo and Edo states who were clearly not captured in the territory referred to as Biafra of 1967.

However, the issue here is not about Biafra superseding anyone or anything because we all are “Biafrans” by blood, association, history, challenges and creed. The word Biafra was never associated with secession until necessity mandated that its proponents found a tool with which to inspire, rally round and give its people an identity in the face of the mindless genocide meted out to them all irrespective of ethnicity. The Calabars would attest to this that the invasion of the old Eastern region started from their land at Ogoja before the invasion of Obollo-Afor, Asaba, Onitsha and Port Harcourt(formerly known as Igweocha). So we all are victims of a common history of genocide, oppression and seclusion which has still culminated into the rape been carried out on the resources our coastal States that produce crude oil.

Some misguided fellows who has got deep seated hatred for their Igbo brothers and whom Niger Delta means anything more to him than oil, will even today, tell you that they are Niger Deltans by origin while being ignorant to the fact that the word Niger Delta is not an ethnic group but more or less a description for ethnic groups living within the estuaries, lakes, deltas, river banks and tributaries of the great River Niger which clearly cuts across Kogi State to the North, Rivers State to the far South, Ebonyi and Cross-River to the far East and Edo/Ondo to the Western axis. Therefore, how can one in the riverine area opine that the Igbos are their neighbours. Igbos are not your neighbours but your brothers. Is one not being divisive and lavishing in self-deceit if he calls an Abia man who is just by his doorstep in Akwa Ibom, a neighbour, only for him to call a man far away in Edo and Delta his brothers? If brotherhood is to be considered by proximity in habitation, who amongst these would you rationally say are your brothers? Then, if culture and inter-marriages are to be considered too, who amongst them is to be regarded as your brother and who is to be regarded as your neighbour? Can they sincerely stop immolating us needlessly?

The act of prostitution is generally associated with selling one’s body for money, but in my understanding, that is the least significant example of the prostitute archetype. The Prostitute thrives most bountifully in subtle ways and in the ordinary, everyday circumstances. It comes into play most clearly when our survival is threatened. Its core issue is how much you are willing to sell yourself - your morals, your integrity, your intellect, your word, your body, or your soul - for the sake of physical security. The Prostitute archetype also dramatically embodies and tests the power of faith. If you have faith, no one can buy you. You know that you can take care of yourself and also the Divine is looking out for you. Without faith, however, you will eventually meet the price you cannot turn down.

How then can we beat this evil if we allowed shallow-minded ideologies to rip us apart? The more reason why educational series such as this is much-needed. Some knows but are not willing to imbibe it because they hold onto the lies in their heads and the prejudices in their hearts. It is these ones that are most dangerous to our existence as a people and as such we must continuously promote our ideology until there is no more room for them to keep trying to break our resolve to stand together as one by repeatedly infusing bitterness at every given chance.

There are persons amongst us whose toxic mindsets are more poisonous than the venom from the ones outside. They are the ones we are to be worried about. We need to thinker on how to plug this weak link which is the reason why we have been porous as a people. I remember writing one time that ignorance is our biggest enemy, it is in fact, a disease more dealdly than HIV/AIDS and Ebola.

They keep referring to Niger Delta as if it’s not same as Biafra from the territorial point of view. The only difference is that Niger Delta is a geographical reality with well-defined borders while Biafra is an ideology borne out of necessity and the need for the survival of our people. The land mass identified as Biafra is within the geographical boundaries of the Niger Delta and as such makes Biafra a component of Niger Delta and vice versa. Biafra needs not to be laid to rest in the minds of our people who bore the brunt of that bitter genocidal war because from that we can together spice-up an added identity and ideology which far outweighs the shortfalls of our past glories and mistakes.

Talking about the oil that has since been our burden, a curse rather than a blessing and the most employed tool of division amongst us as a people, I wish that we as a people would modify the admonition in this post and use it in taking our eyes and hopes away from crude oil to human capital development in Niger Delta. I pray that the oil fanatics would learn a lesson or two from Enugu state which was once the beehive of solid mineral exploration and the center of British mineral expedition in old Eastern Nigeria. Today, Enugu is a shadow of itself because coal is no longer a feasible source of fossil fuel. Shale gas, renewable fuel, bio-fuel and solar energy are fast becoming mainstream power/energy drivers and researches to further expand and harness their potentials are growing exponentially. It is only a matter of a few years from now and we would witness a global swift turn-around from heavy dependency on petroleum.

Atimes, I would sit back to think about what would the Niger Delta look like without crude oil? Would there be any word such as “Niger Delta?” Would it have been a political ticket in the hands of our cousins from the coastal habitations in bargaining lots and favours at the center? Would it have been a ground for the ethnic nationalities domiciled within its boundaries to malign and reject one of her own and call her all manner of names simply because they imagined a fantasy like "domination" from her offspring? Would they have depended on this very much derided brother of theirs who despite his willingness to stand with them when it matters, but have in return gotten the worst form of rejection from these cousins of his? I sincerely pray for the Lord of the Earth to dry up the oil wells if that is all it would take to bring a rude awakening and that our cousins be made to face the reality of tomorrow.

Again, why do we kill ourselves over names and identities which are merely expressive and situational? Why divide us over mere expressions? We have a common ancestor. My late grandfather told me about our ties with “Ndi mba mmili” meaning the riverine communities of the geographical Niger Delta and how we spread further Northward because of the Slave expedition of the Portuguese and the Aros. My community in Anambra State is on the bank of River Niger and we are very close to our brothers from Asaba and nothing separates us in culture or language or ancestry except the fact that the river crosses between us! So, will one tell me that simply because I am on the other side of the river that I am not from the "Niger Delta" but my brother from Asaba is simply because he is from Delta State?

From the deliberations so far, it is obvious that the Niger Delta region cannot progress if we keep seeing reasons for division amongst ourselves. Developments and progress can only be achieved in unity, that is the way God Almighty has destined our people. We have lived so many years apart and seeing only the diversity in each other which has taken us nowhere but in great suffering and drastic poverty even in the midst of all the resources and intelligence we claim to have. There are so many similarities in our cultures as a people and also amongst our brothers and sisters in the Middle Belt. We should all come together and make genuine efforts towards unity, living no one behind. All our deliberations should be towards understanding how to achieve this purpose and how to peacefully implement ideologies that will unify us and lead to the progress of our people.

We all have a great task of educating, informing, re-orientating and re-programming the minds of our riverine brothers, those whose hearts have been biased by the lies and sentiments of the older generation. We cannot afford to be disunited at this point in time of our existence. A very big applause goes to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu whose great teachings on Radio Biafra has greatly bridged the divide which has been a cankerworm in the midsts of our riverine and upland Biafran brothers. The sooner we the informed and consciously liberated minds in our land stood up to champion this ideology, the sooner we would extinguish all divisive voices which have held onto unrealistic sectional and clannish ideologies that divide us even further apart. Our own people are misguided and lost in their own ignorance masked as knowledge. When knowledge becomes counter-productive, ignorance is bliss. For Water and Sugar to mix and form a perfect solution, both have got to sacrifice the part that makes them what they are. Water has got to sacrifice its tastelessness and Sugar has got to sacrifice her solid nature so that both can mix and form a solution of “Sweet-Water”. Unite my people and say no to division and sectional allegiances.

Finally, looking at the state of the contraption called Nigeria, it is said that only the truth saves a nation and not lies and propaganda, resulting from blind partisan politics or financial inducement. This is the type of ideology driving those who see Nigeria as their real estate; those with the mentality of born to rule and advocates of unity by force.

It is common knowledge that Britain colonised Nigeria and abolished slavery. Have we asked ourselves why they abolished slavery? The same Britain that massacred the people of Scotland in the 12th and 13th century when they demanded independence is now the same British that conducted referendum for the Scottish in 2014 when they made same demand. Have we asked ourselves the reasons why? The answers are in history and knowledge about the nature of man.

Now, to juxtapose it with the Nigerian approach till this day, it is completely obsolete as you cannot apply force to get different nations to co-exist. If you do, instead of moving forward, such a union shall be retrogressive. All agitations, from Boko Haram to Shia Muslim group, Niger Delta militancy, IPOB agitation for the restoration of Biafra Republic, etc, are as a result of poor government approach to solving social crisis and ideological agitations.

The brains in government today and their model cannot solve our problems. It is however, sad that some acclaimed leaders are already thinking and approaching issues in this same obsolete manner. They still want to force people to unite and co-exist naturally without setting out the standards. I wonder why anyone would continue to insult our sensibilities by joining issues with them and their infantile pettiforging meanderings as they have proved again and again that they are not within the radar of rational reasoning.

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

Civil War: Why Nigerian Army wasn't hard on Biafrans - Buhari': A Rejoinder

By IPOB Central Command of the Directorate of State

June 5, 2018

In the Vanguard newspaper published on June 4, 2018 and other media, it was widely reported how this version of 'Buhari' claimed that Nigerian soldiers were 'soft' on Biafrans during the Civil War. He further made claims that Gowon had issued the commanders general orders to be humane in the prosecution of the war. We, the Indigenous People of Biafra state categorically and without equivocation that Buhari's claims are as false and as strange they come, especially in the face of quantum evidence to the contrary, chronicled by independent observes of the wartime atrocities committed by Nigerian forces against innocent Biafran civilians, including women and children. We doubt if it is the same Buhari that addressed Eastern Youth Corpers in 2016 in his country home in Daura Katsina State on the horrors, pains, misery and suffering of the war, that made this latest 'soft' on Biafrans statement. It couldn't have come from the same person.

To better understand the Nigerian atrocities during the war, one needs to trace back to 1945 and then 1953 when the Hausa-Fulani political leadership in northern Nigeria planned and executed two premeditated pogroms on Biafran immigrant populations in Jos and Kano in an unpatriotic and envy driven opposition to the leading role Biafrans played in the struggle for Nigeria's independence from Britain. Vast numbers of easterners not just Igbos,  were murdered on those occasions and their properties looted or destroyed. Neither in Kano nor Jos did the colonial regime apprehend or prosecute anyone for these massacres and destruction, which expectedly and tragically emboldened the murderous northerners for the worst that was to come between 1966 -1970.

The perpetrators, whose scions like Buhari subsequently seized power in 1966 on the blood of their fellow officers of eastern extraction, continued their bloodletting that directly led to the war. And when the war came, Gowon deceptively labeled it a police action but what went on underneath was a genocide of epic proportions. There were extensive coverage of the genocide in the international media throughout its duration. According to accounts, the real Buhari committed grave genocidal atrocities of his own in the theaters where he participated or commanded, namely the battles for Nsukka, Abagana and Nkpor Junction, where Buhari had held command positions. This is subject of an ongoing suit filed at the ICC by IPOB.

During the battles for these sectors, Buhari’s officers and men torched entire villages and massacred the civilians that could not evacuate before the enemy arrived. These included children, the sick, infirm and elderly. At the conclusion of the massacres, the soldiers began their macabre dance of jubilation and Buhari was said to have told them that “Nnewi is next“. Yes - 'next' -as in the next massacre. It was on the heels and ashes of these genocide that the Gowon had, during the war, boasted publicly that his men had killed three million Biafrans. But given that the numerical strength of the entire Biafran armed forces hovered around 50,000 men, one can only concluded that the three million slaughtered were hapless Biafran civilians. Such atrocities is the reason why history of the Biafra-Nigeria was hurriedly removed from school curriculums.

In addition to Buhari, there were other self confessed butchers of Biafrans. One is Benjamin Adekunle, a notoriously gruesome commander of Nigerian forces who had no qualms in boasting about the goal of this horrendous mission o exterminate Biafrans. He stated at an August 1968 press conference, attended by journalists including those from the international media: ‘We shoot at everything that moves, and when our forces march into the centre of Igbo territory, we shoot at everything, even at things that do not move’. True to type, Adekunle duly carried through his threat with clinical precision both on his ‘everything that moves’ - targeting, especially southern Igboland where his forces slaughtered hundreds of thousands, and on the ‘things that do not move’-assault category. Adekunle’s infamous destruction of the famed Biafran economic and social infrastructure was indescribably barbaric.

In July 1968, the British mission in Nigeria estimated that 200-300 Biafrans were dying every day. However, these estimates were based on numbers reported by the Nigerian government, as the British did not have access to the Biafran enclaves. Two months later, during the height of the crisis, the International Committee of the Red Cross (which traversed Biafran during the war) estimated 8,000 and 10,000 deaths per day. It obtained these figures based on random samples of death rates in villages, refugee camps and hospitals across Biafra, and it cautioned that the estimates were likely to be conservative. Jean Mayer, Professor of Nutrition at Harvard’s ..  School of Public Health, similarly argued that estimates of 10,000 deaths a day appeared to be accurate. We reckon that Buhari would rather wish all these away but it won't work. It is a fact of history.


The Asaba Massacre is but another fact of history that clearly debunks Buhari's junk narratives. According to credible reports, Nigerian troops entered Asaba and began ransacking houses and killing civilians, claiming they were Biafran sympathisers. Reports demonstrate that several hundreds were killed individually and in groups at various locations in the town. Later, community leaders summoned the townspeople to assemble on the morning of October 7, 1967 hoping to end the violence through a show of support for "One Nigeria." Hundreds of men, women, and children, many wearing the ceremonial akwa ocha (white) attire paraded along the main street, singing, dancing, and chanting "One Nigeria." At a junction, men and teenage boys were separated from women and young children, and gathered in an open square at Ogbe-Osowa village. Then Nigerian troops under the command of Murtala Mohammed and Ibrahim Taiwo gave orders to machine gun "everybody". It was reliably estimated that more than 700 men and boys were killed, some as young as 12 years old, in addition to many more killed in the preceding days. Bodies of some victims were retrieved by family members and buried at home. But most were buried in mass graves without appropriate ceremony. Many extended families lost dozens of men and boys. Federal troops occupied Asaba for many months, during which time most of the town was ravaged, many women and girls were raped or forcibly "married," and large numbers of citizens fled and never returned until the war ended in 1970.

We shall conclude this Rejoinder by quoting Robert Melson, a foreigner, a Holocaust survivor and a Nigerian expert who witnessed what happened between 1967 -1970. In his book, 'Revolution and genocide', Melson states that: "I could not help but make the connection between their experience and my own. Biafrans were being killed purely for their identity: it was as if the twenty-some years after the Second World War had been compressed into a few minutes. The Holocaust monster was on the prowl again, and it was no use trying to escape its implications in Africa or elsewhere".

It appears after each successive sit-at-home directive by IPOB, the powers that be remember Biafra. Our quest for freedom, liberty and justice can never be dismissed. At the end of this whole process Biafra will be fully restored as a civilised nation by the grace of God.


COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL

MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB

UN World Environmental Day: Ogoni people recounts the hazardous effects of oil spill, queries FG’s sincerity over proposed clean-up

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue | Chief Editor, The Biafra Times

June 5, 2018

RIVERS— The indigenes of Ogoni land have once again decried the enormous sufferings of their people as a result of the effect of hazardous indiscriminate oil exploration in their communities by both the oil firms and the federal government.

In a statement to mark this year’s United Nations World Environmental Day, the Ogoni indigenes bemoaned the total neglect of their region, even as they questioned the avowed commitment of the Nigerian government to the restoration and remediation of the polluted environment by the oil and gas activities in the region.

In a bid to achieve a successful campaign against plastic pollution, oil spillage, gas flaring and black soothe blanketing the Niger Delta region, the Ogoni people who went down memory lane to describe how the British colonialists exploitated them, demanded the full implementation of the UN report on environment.

Part of the statement reads, “Ogoni territory lies on 404 square miles of the coastal plains terraces to the north-east of the Niger River Delta. An area inhabited by about a million people. Its population density ranks up to one of the highest in the world.

“Before the arrival of the British colonialist in 1901, the Ogoni people were mainly inhabitants whose core occupation and economic mainstay was farming and fishing. In less than 13 years, the British had destroyed the fabric of Ogoni Society to which no treaty was signed.

“Petroleum, the symbol of Ogoni agonies and pains, was discovered in Ogoni in 1958, and since then an estimated 100 billion US dollars worth of oil and gas has been carted away from Ogoni land. In return for this, the Ogoni people have received nothing but Environmental hazards.

“The exploitation has turned Ogoni into a wasteland: lands, streams and crooks are totally and continually polluted; the atmosphere has been poisoned, charged as it is with a hydrocarbon vapors, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and soot emitted by gas which has been flared 24 hours a day for 33 years in very close proximity to human habitation. Acid rain, oil spillage and oil blow-outs have devastated the Ogoni territory. High-pressure oil pipelines crisscross the surface of Ogoni farmlands and villages dangerously.

“The results of such reckless and unchecked environmental pollution and degradation include the complete destruction of the ecosystem. Mangrove forests have fallen to the toxicity of oil and are being replaced by noxious neap palms; the rainforest has fallen to the axe of multinational oil companies, all wildlife is dead, marine life is gone, the farmland has been rendered infertile by acid rain and the once beautiful Ogoni countryside is no longer a source of fresh air and green vegetation. All one sees and feels around is death. Environmental degradation has been a lethal weapon in the war against the indigenous people of Ogoni Land.”

The Federal Government had also in June 2016, flagged-off the clean up of the entire Ogoni creeks and mangroves ravaged by crude oil spills, which has made life unbearable for the local people.

However, the visit by Voice Of Democrat (VOD) which is a news wing of "Leading Democrats (LD)" to Ogoniland showed that the affected communities were still covered with black thick crude oil, which means no major cleanup has been carried out, thereby exposing the residents to grave danger.

In 2008 and 2009, two incidents of massive oil spills from the Trans-Niger pipeline devastated the Bodo coastline destroying every living thing in the river.

While the community was still dealing with the spill, another from the Trans-Niger pipeline at Koloma-Zommadom road rocked the community, this time beyond imagination.

Bodo and other neighbouring communities mangroves and farmlands were heavily polluted with crude oil spill, that destroyed opportunities, this has made fishing impossible and has ruined income that could have been generated from other aquatic resources.

Though compensation has been paid to affected individuals ten years after the spill, the water still remains dark and slippery, the mangroves covered with black mud and the creeks which are now a mixture of crude and water, have now become the only source of seafood classified as dangerous to health

Responds from some individuals as Voice Of Democrat continued on its tour was a young man named Mopri. He said: “We have no choice. This is what we eat and sell. Despite the spill, we still fish and take our bath in this polluted water. If you say we should stop selling and eating from the water, do you have an alternative for us?”

“I wish the spill did not happen. I wish my fish ponds were not destroyed, and I wish we did not have to inhale the stench from the oil spill in the last 10 years,” 77 years old Elder Moses whose eyes were stained with tears lost his fish ponds to the spill in 2008 and life has become miserable for the old man whose house is just beside one of the pond that is already covered with thick dark crude oil.

Indigenes of Bodo community had filed a lawsuit against Shell in a London High Court in March 2012 and received a £55 million out-of-court settlement and compensation from the company in 2015.

The community had achieved this uncommon feat, working with a pro-development non-governmental organisation, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) and a United Kingdom based law firm, Leigh Day.

On the payment of the fund, It was agreed that £35 million will be Splitted between those impacted by the spill and will each receive £2,200 (about N600,000) and £20 million will go to the community for the execution of legacy programmes and projects.

The Voice of Democrat crew also visited the popular Bodo market which used to be a centre for fish business. The market was filled with different species of frozen imported fish.

“If you want to go fishing or to pick periwinkles, which is the major occupation for women in the community, you have to paddle your canoe for hours through several rivers to where there is lesser spill to either pick periwinkles or fish.” This was the words of Madam Monica Kporuve Koroba, popularly known as Periwinkle Company due to her expertise in picking of periwinkle.

“Our men can paddle canoes for over five hours from the community to as far as Bonny Island waters just to catch fish and many of them had on several occasions came back with injuries sustained from attacks they received from people who saw them as intruders,” she said.

Madam Koroba took the reporters on a tour on the polluted waters across the community, and there was no sign of fish or periwinkles throughout the one hour canoe ride. “This is what our men and women go through everyday since the oil spill happened,” she said.

Bodo Community in Gokana Local Government area of Rivers State with a population of 69,000 people engages in fishing and farming. The mangrove forests and waterways that line Bodo Creeks were an integral component of the community's traditional sources of livelihood.

The Former Chairman of the Bodo Mediation Initiative (BMI), Inemo Samiama, refuted claims by the community, saying that Shell has actually started with the phase one of the clean-up exercise.

According to him, BMI is mediating between SPDC and the Bodo community to ensure effective cleanup of the entire oil spill site.

Samiama said: “The BMI process started more than four and half years ago and our objective was to get Bodo community and SPDC around the table and dialogue on ways to carry out the cleanup of the polluted sites which has actually started contrary to what some people may have told you.

“Shell appointed international contractors to carry out the cleanup work. The first step is to remove crude oil from the water surface before restoring landscapes that were damaged by the spill.

“I am pleased to say despite the challenges along the way, the cleanup exercise has started and it's not over yet. We are almost done with the first phase of the cleanup and about to commence the second phase.

“The clean-up is in three phases, the first phase is basically to remove crude oil from the surface of the water. The next phase is going to be the actually clean-up of the area and after that, the restoration phase.”

Speaking on the entire clean up of the Ogoniland, President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Pyagbara, called on the concerned authorities to ensure quick clean up of the affected communities.

He decried the high rate of recorded deaths in the whole of Ogoniland. “Ogoni people are dying everyday and they are still drinking from the polluted water because there is no alternative for them.

Pyagbara decried the delay in effective take-off of Ogoni clean-up flagged off by the Federal Government. He also expressed reservation over the delay in the provision of the emergency measures included in the report on Ogoniland by the United Nations.

Pyagbara raised alarm over the renewal of pipelines in Ogoniland, adding that the environmental impact assessment of the area should have been conducted before the resumption of any form of oil exploration in the area.

He said: “MOSOP has presented this case before the United Nations Human Rights Council last November 2017 and also initiated an online global campaign against the laying of the pipelines in Ogoniland. This has generated over 2,000 signatories of support from all over the world. MOSOP had also petitioned the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission to intervene in this matter.”


“They have also tried to strike out Bodo’s legal right to clean up on the basis that the delay was the fault of community members.

“Despite the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study, which clearly stated that petroleum hydrocarbons can affect human health when they breathe air, bath, eat fish, drink water or touch soil or sediment that is contaminated with oil, children of Bodo still enjoy swimming and engage in the display of their acrobatic skills in the dirty water. The Voice Of Democrat’s reporter’s efforts to prevent some children swimming in the oily water fell on deaf ears, as the parents insisted that they should be left alone to have fun.

“Already, asthma, gastroenteritis, hepatotoxicity, liver failure, remain the common disease among the community people, Dr. D.A Silas of Bodo General Hospital told Voice Of Democrat crew.

“It is unfortunate that Shell is not even thinking about the health implications of further delay in the clean-up exercise, as it has been recorded that Shell allegies attempt to strike out Bodo’s legal right to clean-up, as there have been accusing fingers directed to the Bodo youths for stealing Shell clean up equipments. Although there had been claims that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) had claimed that it has started the clean up of Bodo oil spill sites, but the condition of living of the people, showed otherwise.”

The World Environmental Day, WED, as being established by UN General Assembly in Stockholm Conference of 1972 to be celebrated every 5th June of every year, is a united nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging world awareness action for the protection of our environment.

In essence, it is a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues ranging from marine pollution, oil and gas spillage, human over-population, global warming, amongst others.


THE BIAFRA TIMES

Derogatory Comment By Alhaji Abdulkarim Daiyabu: Ohaneze Ndigbo, SS, And SE Leaders, Brought This Insult On Biafrans - IPOB

May 12, 2018

IPOB Press Statement

The derogatory comment about the forcible relocation of Biafrans away from their ancestral land of Biafra, divisively categorized into Igbos and Niger Delta, credited to one Arewa core northerner Alhaji Abdulkarim Daiyabu a derogatory comment about the forcible relocation of Biafrans away from their ancestral land of Biafra, divisively categorized into Igbos and Niger Delta, credited to one Arewa core northerner Alhaji Abdulkarim Daiyabu a supposed democrat, did not come to us as a surprise because Ohaneze Ndigbo, PANDEF and politicians from the region don't command any respect and are nothing but cowards at the beck and call of the Fulani caliphate. These are the sort of statements you get from people that cannot envisage their survival without oil and gas from Biafraland. It speaks volumes about who they are in the sense that they see the flawed British amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 as an act of divine providence. Where Allah through Britain gave them a passport to free ride on the back of other people. Only an economic invalid or chronically lazy person, together with his constituents, will posses such a primitive mindset and be proud of it.

Had politicians from the South East/South South and their so called socio-cultural leaders been chosen from amongst the people by the people rather than being stealthily appointed by Fulani caliphate, these misguided utterances would not have found its way into a national discussion worthy of our response. We therefore blame the politics of acquiescence and appeasement of the South East and South South political class who should view these frequent derogatory utterances from the Fulani north as a shameful indictment of their one Nigeria mantra.

When our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was around and touring Biafraland to spread the gospel of redemption, no Arewa or Fulani man ventured to make such a comment. But in his absence today, every manner of personality are rising up in the north to insult the people of Biafra (South East/South South). That Ohaneze Ndigbo and South East governors conspired with Fulani caliphate to engineer the military invasion of the South East in September 2017 to eliminate Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the one person the Fulani caliphate feared most, left our land open to ridicule by semi-illiterates who are not particularly blessed with the ability to reason things through before uttering them.


We view the rant of this very Alhaji among other Alhajis from the north, as the continuation of the oil in the Niger Delta belongs to Jigawa narrative. This preposterous assertion, as bizarre as it sounds may have found some traction among the elites in the north hence this provocative comment. There is a misguided school of thought in the north that thinks Nigerian military might defeated Biafra during the war. They are of the opinion that this Fulani Islamic army could be deployed once again to ethnically cleanse Biafraland to allow Fulani unrestricted access to our resources. Nothing could be further from the truth.

What Nigerians must know is that without the intervention of Britain there was no way Nigeria could have defeated Biafra, not in a million years. It would be a mistake this time for the Fulani caliphate to take the support of their historic ally Britain for granted because a Trump White House is markedly different from that of Richard Nixon. It was Britain that used it's global status to fight and defeat Biafra both diplomatically and militarily, not Nigeria. Core northerners should stop deceiving themselves because in a time of crisis as we are entering now, their stooges in Ohaneze Ndigbo and government houses will not be calling the shots, the people through IPOB will.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

Christians Killing: IPOB Condemns The Recent Killing of Over 45 Christians In Kaduna, Urge Middle Belt, Other Communities To Sit-At-Home Come May 30th

May 9, 2018

IPOB Press Statement 

The leadership and entire family members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is horrified at the recent killing of over 46 innocent citizens in Kaduna State and the seeming silence of the majority over atrocities committed by a minority. It's appalling that the present APC Government led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari has continued to allow his tribesmen (the Fulanis) to use sustained killings and maiming to frighten and cower  Northern minorities and Christians all over Nigeria into accepting the bloodbath going on in parts of Southern Kaduna and parts of Middle Belt as a norm.

The level of cowardice exhibited by the political class in Nigeria across every divide in the face of this unrelenting onslaught is so disgraceful there are no words to describe it. What this Buhari regime has succeeded in doing is using what amounts to state terrorism to subdue every dissenting voice in the land. People are detained at the whim of any high ranking person in Aso Rock with access to an army or police commander. It doesn't matter if the alleged crime can be substantiated or not as long as there are many loyalist judges to rubber stamp illegal detentions then nobody can stop them.

Judges and magistrates have been turned to prosecutors, persecutors and executioners at the service of the state. They are mandated to jail, detain and deny bail to any perceived enemy of the regime even when this means going against the Constitution of Nigeria. These judges now provide legal cover for Buhari's abuse of individual rights and fundamental liberties. Justice has been turned on its head due to the cowardice of men and dire need to prop up the existence of lazy people brought up on the myth that national survival is exclusively dependent on proceeds from oil and gas. In other words, without access to a natural resource like oil and gas these people are nothing, they are almost sub-human.

What the spate of killings, arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and political intimidations deployed by the controllers of the levers of power in Nigeria has done is to reinforce the message of IPOB that total dismemberment of Nigeria along ethnic lines and value system is the only solution going forward. Under the prevailing arrangement many more people will die needlessly as Nigeria heads full speed towards Somalia as predicted by our leader many years ago.

All affected communities in the Middle Belt and other Fulani herdsmen  besieged entities in the south has 30th of May 2018 sit-at-home to demonstrate their willingness to rid their land of these intruders from the Sahel. It's an opportunity to draw the attention of the international community to their plight. Only with the concerted attention of the civilised world will these marauding Fulani terrorists be contained and defeated. Every state and community across Nigeria affected by the menace of Fulani herdsmen and the absence of rule of law are advised to join IPOB on the 30th of May to sit-at-home to bring Nigeria to a halt in honour of those that died.

As we Biafrans remember and honour those that fought and died for us, let every otger ethnic group in Nigeria that have suffered injustice also remember those that died unjustly at the hands of Fulani terrorists aided and abated by Nigerian security agencies.

We are urging every Biafran, particularly Christians in the Middle Belt Region and Yoruba leaders to stand firm and observe this sit-at-home because Armageddon is coming and a coalition of the brave must come together to rise up to confront the evil from the Sahel. To do nothing is not an option. IPOB knew many years back that this day would come.  The overwhelming support given to Fulani ethnic cleansing agenda in the Middle Belt by the present APC Government have led them to perfect their plan to conquer and forcibly take over our land.

It is crystal clear to every reasonable person that only the ideological stance of IPOB can stop all these killings and massacre of innocent citizens across  Nigeria. Self determination for all ethnic nationalities is the solution or else Fulani terrorists will overrun and overwhelm every single soul that dare raise his or her head up.


If not for the betrayal of Ohaneze Ndigbo and sabotage of IPOB efforts by South East governors, by now the barbaric killings and massacre of Biafrans and Christian populations on the Middle Belt will be a thing of the past. We remain undeterred in our quest to stop the march of the Jihadists into our land. Other ethnic nationalities must decide if they want to seize this golden opportunity to align with IPOB hence bring the pain and misery of everybody to a final stop.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

Those seeking to implicate IPOB will end up implicating themselves

IPOB PRESS STATEMENT

29 April 2018

The attention of the worldwide family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been drawn to a statement making the rounds on social media that Alimajiri Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen intend to commence the bombing of police stations and government buildings to coincide with the visit of 'Buhari' to the United States in the hope of implicating IPOB. This evil plot, if determined to be accurate, is intended to serve two purposes.

1. The organisers of this terror campaign intend to deflect attention away from the massive embarrassment and public humiliation that awaits 'Buhari' in Washington DC courtesy of IPOB in the USA.

2. They may have wrongly calculated that embarking on mass murder and destruction is the only way to convince the US authorities that IPOB is a terrorist organisation deserving of proscription and extra judicial executions.


Whatever the motives of these Alimajiri Fulani terrorists, they have failed woefully. Our modus operandi remains the same. A sustained campaign of civil disobedience, targeted global campaigns, protests, boycotts, picketing, rallies, international diplomacy and worldwide coordinated legal assault on the criminal conduct of the Nigerian state. Anything outside these areas has nothing to do with IPOB.

Our reach is global, our appeal universal. Whatever South East governors, Nnia Nwodo and Ohaneze Ndigbo is planning with the Nigerian government in their desperation to bring IPOB into disrepute, will most definitely backfire on them. Should any bombs go off or properties damaged in this ignoble quest to implicate IPOB, the world must hold South-East governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo and Nigerian government responsible.

We don't need bombs to destroy Nigeria, truth is sufficient. Moreover Nigeria is falling apart at the seams on a daily basis courtesy of this barbaric Fulani misrule and Jihadi inspired ethnic cleansing. Those seeking to implicate IPOB will end up implicating themselves.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

IPOB: REVERSE THE PROSCRIPTION OF IPOB NOW OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES

APRIL 28, 2018

IPOB PRESS RELEASE

Going by unfolding events and the imminent danger of attack by Fulani terror herdsmen in the South East and South South, it has become imperative for concerned citizens to compel Gov. Dave Umahi, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Rochas Okorocha, Willie Obiano and Ohaneze Ndigbo to reverse their public proscription of IPOB or else they will be held responsible for any major herdsmen attack anywhere in the South East or other parts of Biafraland.

We are hereby placing all Biafran ethnic nationalities on record, especially the Igbos, that the criminal conspiracy to proscribe IPOB by South East governors in collaboration with Ohaneze Ndigbo was hatched to aid the Fulani invasion and conquest of Igboland. Under heavy pressure from the Fulani caliphate in mid-2017, Igbo governors along with Nnia Nwodo and Ohaneze Ndigbo executive conspired to leave Ala-Igbo defenseless by their treacherous proscription of IPOB.


By proscribing IPOB and aiding the indiscriminate arrest, torture, murder and detention of IPOB family members at the hands of Fulani law enforcement officers, these Igbo governors working alongside Ohaneze Ndigbo literally sacrificed Igboland and the lives of thousands of Igbo people to the marauding herdsmen. They not only opened the door for the invaders to come in, they knowingly aided the slaughter of hundreds if not thousands of innocent people in their quest to please their Fulani masters. Interestingly enough, the same Arewa leaders that prevailed upon Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo to proscribe IPOB have so far refused to proscribe their own Fulani terror herdsmen that are doing the killings in the South East, Middle Belt and other parts of Southern Nigeria. How perverse is that?

How is it possible that seemingly reasonable and apparently educated Igbo leaders could be persuaded by their northern counterparts to proscribe, ban and fight IPOB that are the only people capable of defeating Fulani herdsmen, when the same northern leaders have repeatedly failed to offer mere verbal condemnation of the atrocities of their all conquering herdsmen? One is forced to ask, where are the brains of these Igbo leaders. Definitely these are not the type of people that will defend Igboland in times of crisis such as now. They are too cowardly, compromised,  materialistic and will not hesitate to hand over Igboland to Fulani jihadists as long as they retain their political power, patronage and wealth. They are infinitely incapable of confronting this common threat to our existence.

Before the murderous invasion of the home of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Isiama Afaraukwu on the 14th of September 2017 by Nigerian soldiers acting on the instructions of South East governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo, it was common knowledge that the menace of Fulani terrorists were a distant memory. IPOB quietly and effectively checkmated their activities across the length and breadth of Biafraland. We repelled the terrorists and stopped them in their tracks in Delta and Enugu State on six separate occasions without fanfare.

That there weren't any Fulani terror herdsmen attacks throughout the period our leader was touring Biafraland was down to the excellent work IPOB did in our communities to keep it safe from herdsmen attacks. Since the invasion of our leader's home and his abduction by Nigerian soldiers, followed by the hasty and illegal proscription of IPOB by Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo, Fulani herdsmen has been emboldened to attack outlying villages with impunity. The most distressing aspect of it is that these governors have no solution to curb the menace. There has been more than four reported attacks in Ebonyi State alone in recent times to which Gov. Dave Umahi have appeared impotent to do anything about. Instead he is advocating for the establishment of Fulani cattle colonies in Ebonyi State all because he wants to be a Vice Presidential candidate to a northerner.

The blame for any Fulani invasion of any part of Biafraland must be laid squarely at the doorstep of South East Governors Forum and Ohaneze Ndigbo.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

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

IPOB Trial: “DSS has copy of my gun license,” Benjamin Madubugwu thunders as court declines to hear bail applications

•Says I’m being prosecuted because of my Biafran identity


By Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Chief Editor, Chikwas Onu Ikpe //
For Biafra Writers

Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah

March 28, 2018

ABUJA— There was a heated outburst today inside the courtroom of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, by the four IPOB defendants as the court ended its proceedings without calling up their bail applications for hearing.

The court had earlier slated today to adopt the bail applications of the four defendants namely, Bright Chimezie, Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawuisi and Chidiebere Onwudiwe whose charges were amended at the previous session.

Visibly angered about the development, the second defendant, Benjamin Madubugwu, said he believes the case is no longer between the Federal Government of Nigeria and IPOB members but between the Fulanis and IPOB, adding that his application was deliberately delayed becausr he is a Biafran.

“I know why this is happening to me because I am an Igbo man, a Biafran, that is why it’s like this.

“All these herdsmen killing people everywhere in Nigeria, how many have been arrested? Am in prison, I’ve not seen them in prison.

“Why would someone put me in prison for 3 years without telling me my crime? How can they charge me for unlawful possession of firearms when I have license? It was duly licensed. You(DSS) have a copy of the license. Go and ask the DSS when they invaded my house, they took the copy of my gun’s license and they know, yet, they’re still keeping me hostage,” he lamented.

Madubugwu added that for over three years he has been detained without trial, the international community remained silent in his plight even as his health condition deterioriates in prison custody.

He asked, “Why is the world keeping quiet? Nobody wants to hear me out. Nobody wants to help me. Is it because we’re Biafrans? Why are we being neglected? What is my crime for Christ’s sake? I have been keeping quiet for long and I would no longer keep quiet. This is pure injustice.”

However, as they(defendants) refused to return to prison custody pending when a new date to consider their application is fixed, it took the intervention of thr defense lawyers led by Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor to calm down the restiveness and charged atmosphere created by the aggrieved defendants.

The court, however, finally slated April 13, 2018, to adopt their bail applications.

THE BIAFRA TIMES
Contact us: [email protected]

Biafra: The Inhumane Treatment Meted On Biafrans By Proponents Of One Nigeria

By Chidiebere Eberechi Kalu || For Biafra Writers

March 3, 2018

Democracy in the contraption called Nigeria is a mere tool for propaganda. The freedom of speech is like an imaginary shadow seen on the pages of newspapers and heard from the speeches of politicians but in practice, it is being manipulated with intimidation in the highest level even when the person is speaking with facts and have enough evidence to back-up his statement, he is either ignored or persecuted with false allegations or maligned with baseless charges. This always happens when someone talks or criticises the corrupt practices and bad administration of the government.

Biafrans living in the evil forest called Nigeria are mainly intimidated by government officials, security agencies and even the judiciary cannot guarantee justice for the common man, especially Biafrans whom are been killed on daily basis by Hausa/Fulani soldiers and Fulani terrorist herdsmen who claims to be in the same indivisible country with the Biafrans. The Fulanis in this present administration occupies the highest ranking positions in the military, the Nigeria Police and every other agencies of the government that are licensed to carry guns. They also occupy the most influential positions in the executive and judicial arm of the government which they use against the Biafran citizens.

The perpetual hatred the Fulani/Islamic government harbour against Biafrans makes them torment Biafrans via their policies on issues concerning economics, security and politics. Biafrans are being tortured in the sense that harsh and evil policies are always placed on the area of the economy they engage most. For instance, Biafrans are good in commerce, importation and distribution of goods and services but their goods are not allowed to pass through their own seaports but rather forced to travel all the way from Biafraland to Yoruba land to clear their goods when they can easily do that in their own ports in Calabar, Onitsha, etc. Biafrans always complain of suffering while traveling hundreds of kilometres away from home to Lagos where they pay dues to the corrupt and cruelsome Nigerian custom officers. Sometimes, their goods end up being seized or damaged even after paying huge amount of money for clearance.

Read Also: Biafra: Nigeria Army should speak the truth about the whereabouts of our leader, Nnamdi Kanu - IPOB

These inhumane treatments are perpetrated against Biafrans because of the harsh policies of the government where household materials and provisions, even clothings are branded contraband. These deadly strategy was implemented during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo which has been used to torment Biafran businessmen and women who are trying to ake out a living from the bad economic conditions which accelerates poverty rate in Nigeria.

Biafrans' life means nothing to the Nigerian security agencies who arrest, incarcerates and kills them extrajudicially. Biafrans are in various prison facilities without trials or taking them to lawcourts. They are being subjugated to the worst punishment ever. The Biafrans in the military hardly get promoted rather, they would be sent to engage in deadly and dangerous missions without adequate equipment and resources. They also use this medium to reduce the Biafran population.

In Biafraland, police and military checkpoints can be seen short distances. Biafrans are been harassed by these security operatives who forcefully extorts monies from them. Commuters and commercial drivers in Biafraland are always at risk of being shot either by a soldier or a policeman for refusing to give bribe/monies to them.

Read Also: Biafra: Police confirms arrest of 11 IPOB members in Enugu

Even after seeing all these anomalies, some selfish politicians out of hypocrisy claims the country is one and indivisible, so that they can continue to be in power and loot the national resources and treasury of the country which is gotten from Biafraland. Since gaining their "partial" independence from the British, Nigeria has only had one civilian president from the Biafran extraction. Biafrans are never allowed to fully take charge of political offices in Nigeria without being bamboozled and frustrated out of office. Biafrans are not even in control of their various states and communities since their fate is determined somewhere in Abuja. They are being ruled by foreigners. Biafrans are not safe in Nigeria that is why they want to restore their ancient nation, Biafra.


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

NNAMDI KANU: YOUR COMICAL SIGHTINGS CANNOT DOUSE THE INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE TO PRODUCE KANU - IPOB TO FG

February 28, 2018

Yesterday it was a fake non-existent DSS computer generated 'IPOB leader' they christened Okwudili Ezenachukwu who nobody has ever seen or heard from, today we are being entertained with yet another tale by the moonlight that our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his beautiful devoted wife were spotted in Accra Ghana. The originators of this fake news and their merchants went as far as publishing old pictures of the couple to lend credence to what is in essence a calculated attempt to absolve the murderous Buhari regime of direct involvement in the abduction of our leader.

The fact still remains that Nigerian soldiers, exclusively comprised of Hausa Fulani men, invaded the home of our leader and abducted him alive or took away his body on the 14th of September 2018. Planting diversionary stories in the media to lessen the intensity of international pressure on Buhari to produce Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will not achieve the much desired intention of misleading the public, rather it will keep reminding the world that our leader is still missing presumed dead.

No amount of fabrication and idle unsubstantiable speculation will deflect or weaken our resolve in pursuit of freedom for our leader and Biafra. This is not the first, second or third time such frivolous speculation has been placed in the public domain. It started with our leader being spotted around Cameroonian border disguised as a Yoruba woman. When that failed to be substantiated with pictorial proof or evidence they moved to situating him a militant camp in the Niger Delta under the protection of our brothers the Niger Delta Avengers.

After a few months went by without any shred of proof they alleged that our leader was ferried by boat through the Atlantic Ocean to Ivory Coast. When again that failed to gain traction, they came up with these miraculous sightings in Ghana. These sightings are begining to assume the same dimension as those of Elvis Presley reportedly seen severally over the years around his home in Graceland Memphis USA.

We are waiting for the next installment of these comical sightings or where they will say our leader is. Hopefully this time around one of the Nigerian security agencies will have guts and decency to come forward to say they have him in their custody. The sooner the Nigerian Army and government speaks the truth about the whereabouts of our leader, the better it will be for Nigeria. Understandably and rightfully so, a lot of people are angry about what has befallen our leader and they are beginning to manifest their irritation whenever the name Nigeria is mentioned in a public gathering in Biafraland. How long the high command of IPOB can keep this anger under control is unknown to us but what we do know is that those holding our leader or his body should not let this anger become uncontrollable.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

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

Biafra: BBC Igbo Service, A Greek Gift From The British

By Akubumma Princewill || For Biafra Writers

February 22, 2018

The origin of the Greek gift otherwise known as the "Trojan horse" is a legendary event that took place during the Trojan war. During this period, the Greeks sought for an access route to the city of Troy and they came up with a trick. The Greeks, therefore, pretended to have abandoned the war and left the Trojan horse behind at the entrance of the city of Troy which appears to the inhabitants of Troy to have been an offering for their gods by the Greeks.

The Trojan horse itself was actually a trap loaded with arms and brave Greek soldiers; it was massively built to accomodate many of the brave warriors who were ready to attack the city right from within, if eventually it was taken inside the city. Fortunately, to the people of Troy, a Trojan priest saw the horse and understood its significance, so he cried out: "Do not trust the Greeks, even if they left us a gift."

However, the people refused to heed to the warnings of the priest and proceeded to take the Trojan horse right inside the heart of the city and kept it before their gods without the slightest knowledge that it was actually a ploy by the Greeks to have access to the city of Troy and destroy them from within.

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Therefore, by the time the inhabitants of Troy realised what was going on, their city fell under attack and was overrun by the Greek soldiers whom were hiding inside the Trojan horse. The Greek soldiers hiding inside the Trojan horse, were even the ones who opened gates for their compatriots who were battle-ready, waiting outside the city. And that was how the city of Troy was completely destroyed.

The moral lessons to be learnt from this story is simply teaching us never to trust a person who has been our enemy for so long, even if he/she has recently shown a change of behavior. In order to be on the safer side, do not accept his/her sudden show of care and concern towards you because there must have been something sinister about the sudden change.

Biafrans, this recent launching of BBC IGBO SERVICE by the British is a Trojan horse and must be seen as such, we need to trade with caution when dealing with the British, for they never meant well for us.

The British devoted their media outfit popularly knows as 'British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC)', to fight the Biafrans before and after the civil war and has continued to be a tool of oppression and subjugation against the Biafrans till date.

Read Also: Biafra: Court separates Kanu’s trial from co-defendants, fixes March 28 for sureties’ presentation

Just like the Trojan priest warned the inhabitants of Troy in those days to beware of Greek gift, Radio Biafra London and Biafra Writers is therefore sounding this gong of warning for our people to trade with caution. Because this latest move by the British has something sinister about it and must not be taken into our hearts in order to be on a safer side.

Recall that during the incarceration and detention of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in a Nigerian prison at Kuje, Abuja, there was a lot of speculations from many quarters that the only solution to quell the rising agitation in the Southeast by Biafrans is to give them an Igbo president as if that was what brought about the agitation. However, when they discovered that the agitation was not all about Igbo presidency, but total freedom for Biafrans from subjugation and oppression in Nigeria, the topic was changed to 'restructuring' which they are now using as a bait to contine to entrap unsuspecting Biafrans inside the damn British contraption known as Nigeria.

Now that Biafrans are preparing for a referendum vote to determine whether to continue staying in Nigeria or not, the British whom were the chief benefactor of the business enterprise called Nigeria, came up with this gesture by trying to show us love and care after using the same media platform to propagate evil and hate against us which resulted in the loss of over 2.5 million Biafrans during their conspired war of blockade and starvation.

Read Also: Biafra: Okezie Ikpeazu, the Traitor and His Assassination Plot Against Nnamdi Kanu

It was the same British through BBC who ensured that men and women of goodwill do not come to know about the real stories concerning the genocide perpetrated against the Biafrans during the Nigeria-Biafra war which they fully sponsored, rather they, through the BBC, told the international community that what was going-on in Biafra was a mere fight between rebels and the Nigerian military government while genocide was being committed with the intention of annihiliating Biafrans from the surface of the earth out the face of the earth for them to have unrestricted access to our God-given mineral resources.

Fellow Biafrans, we must remain focused at this point in time which is the most important time in the struggle for the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra and must not allow the British who only cares about the crude oil in your land more than your lives.

Thr bottom line is that the sudden but belated launching of the BBC Igbo service is a Greek gift otherwise known as Trojan horse.


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

Biafra: Release of Violent Boko Haram Suspects: Continued Detention Of Peaceful IPOB Members is the Worst Form of Judicial Immorality and Conspiracy – IPOB

February 19, 2018

We note with utter dismay and shocking disbelief that another group of Boko Haram suspects have been released by the Nigerian Army on the orders of the presidency according to news reports, while innocent IPOB family members are still being illegally and unlawfully detained, some for nearly 3 years without trial as in the case of David Nwawuisi at Kuje prison in Abuja.

To rub salt on the injury, Nigerian Police, DSS and Army rather than facilitate the release of Biafrans in their custody have instead continued with their reign of terror across the South East and South South. The latest is the arrest of Mrs Blessing Okoye in Obigbo Igweocha (Port Harcourt) on the evening of Sunday February 18, 2018 by Hausa speaking men of the state secret police the DSS. How can this APC government of Buhari, the Nigerian National Assembly (NASS) and Nigerian judiciary (NJC) morally justify the detention and continued arrest of a peaceful people with no history of violence whatsoever while releasing those involved in the most heinous and abominable crimes known to man?

Justice in Nigeria as we know it has been turned upside down, killers released, innocent people incarcerated indefinitely. This level of brazen judicial wickedness, immorality and double standards cannot obtain in any other society on earth except Nigeria.

Till date no single law court in Nigeria can categorically state, with any shred of conviction, that they have before then any evidence, no matter how insignificant, to the effect that IPOB has been involved in a disorderly conduct talk less of murder or any other illegality. IPOB remain till date the largest and most peaceful mass movement on earth. Our only crime is to demand for our God given right to self determination the same way humans have been doing since the dawn of civilization.

A Yoruba man Herbert Macaulay started the agitation for self determination that led to independence for the geo-political entity we have come to know as Nigeria. Today Buhari and his Fulani tribesmen are enjoying unprecedented political power, military might, wealth and influence directly derived from agitation for self determination initiated by a Yoruba man and those that emerged later like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo popularly referred to as nationalists. The record we are seeking to set straight here is that IPOB agitation for self determination is nothing new, it is as old as humanity itself. The only difference is that while Herbert Macaulay led agitation was against white supremacist colonial rule, Nnamdi Kanu led agitation for an independent Biafran state is against an equally obnoxious Fulani supremacist genocidal rule.

Therefore no amount of judicial impunity, injustice, sabotage, treachery or illegal detention will deter us from pursuing this noble path of peace to freedom. No government agency or court of law in Nigeria can tell you, with any degree of conviction, what the crimes of Nnamdi Kanu, Bright Chimezie Ishinwa, David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu, Chidiebere Onwudiwe or the thousands of others in detention are. This Buhari regime have succeeded in turning a constitutionally guaranteed right into a crime while excusing and in some instances condoning the murderous tendencies of his Fulani tribesmen, be they Boko Haram or armed herdsmen.

The continued illegal detention of Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawuisi, Bright Chimezie amongst others is a travesty of justice and an indictment of the conscience of every living being in Nigeria but more especially the judiciary, the supposed last hope of the common man. It is the worst form of man’s inhumanity against man. A government that rewards murderers with early release from detention whilst locking up innocent citizens is an abomination before Almighty God and an affront to human decency. United Nations, USA and other civilised nations around the world must not allow this grave injustice by Buhari and the impotency of a traumatised Nigerian judiciary to determine the fate of thousands of innocent men, women and children illegally detained simply because they are Biafrans.

The immorality of releasing killers and locking up innocent peaceful Biafrans is a stain on the conscience of humanity because such morally repugnant policy should not have any place in a 21st century world.


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