Boko Haram terrorists have reportedly ambushed a convoy of about 20 commercial vehicles travelling on a major highway in Borno State.
The insurgents reportedly fired several shots on the convoy of commercial and private vehicles with military escorts at Yeleri, along Maiduguri-Damboa road, at about 12:00p.m., on Saturday, military and civilian JTF sources told Daily Sun.
Details of the ambush were sketchy even as the military was yet to confirm the incident, on Monday morning. However, sources said some of the passengers in one of the vehicles might have been kidnapped by the insurgents.
Another source said the insurgents abducted some of the passengers in the confusion that followed sporadic gunshots on the convoy.
The Maiduguri-Damboa road which was closed for use, in May 2014, in the wake of persistent Boko Haram attack, was reopened in February 2016, by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
The erstwhile Enyimba of Aba skipper was reportedly involved in a ghastly motor accident in Kano on Sunday night.
The central defender starred in Pillar’s 1-1 draw against Enyinba at the Sani Abacha Stadium.
He prominently featured for Enyimba before joining Pillars a few seasons ago.
Those who aspire to lead must bear in mind the fact that they are servants and as such cannot ever be greater than the People, their masters. A good Leader must work hard to inspire the people and tend to be a friend to all his People.
He should have right judgement both of people and of situations and the ability to attract to himself the right kind of lieutenants who can best further the interests of the People . The leader must not only say but always demonstrate that the power he exercises is derived from the People. Therefore, like every other public servant, he is accountable to the People for the use he makes of their mandate. He must get out when the People tell him to get out. The more power the leader is given by the People, the less is his personal freedom and the greater his responsibility for the good of the People. He should never allow his high office to separate him from the People. He must be fanatical for the welfare of the masses not the few cabal and ndi Otimkpu around him.
A leader must at all times stand for justice in dealing with the People. He should be the symbol of justice which is the supreme guarantee of good government. He should be ready, if need be, to lay down his life in pursuit of this ideal. He must have physical and moral courage and must be able to inspire the people out of despondency.
He should never strive towards the perpetuation of his office or devise means to cling to office beyond the clear mandate of the People or encourage his supporters to be wearing clothes bearing his name or face. He should resist the temptation to erect memorials to himself in his life-time, to have his head embossed on the coin, name streets and institutions after himself, or convert government into a family business. A leader who serves his people well will be enshrined in their hearts and minds. This is all the reward he can expect in his life-time. He will be to the People the symbol of excellence, the quintessence of the new Political Order.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
One of the corner-stones of our expected new political order is Social Justice. We believe that there should be equal opportunity for all, that appreciation and just reward should be given for honest work and that society should show concern and special care for the weak and infirm. Our people reject all forms of social inequalities and disabilities and all class and sectional privileges. Our new Political Order believes that society should treat all its members with impartiality and fairness. Therefore, we must not apportion special privileges or favours to some citizens and deny them to others. For example, how can we talk of Social Justice in a situation where a highly-paid public servant gets free bag of rice and the poor housewife in the village pays N100 for a cup? A situation where a Bank Manager goes for free medical attention with insurance cover while the poor Mechanic man has no such protection under the Law. The State should not create a situation favorable to the exploitation of some citizens by others. The State is the Father of all, the source of security, the reliable agent which helps all to realize their legitimate hopes and aspirations. Without Social Justice, harmony and stability within society disappear and antagonisms between various sections of the community take their place. Our new Political Order driven by Biafran Ideology will uphold Social Justice at all times.
“If you thought oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1959, you could pass your high school economics with that information. It was actually discovered 50 years earlier.
Did you know that Oil from the Territory was sold for almost 50 years before the approach of Independence in 1960 forced the disclosure of Oloibiri by Britain? Even at that, the quantities were concealed from the newly Independent Nigerian Governments, until the Counter Coup of July, 1966, when the North packed their baggage to head back North in the famous ARABA putsch.
The then British High Commissioner to Nigeria, of course on the promptings and direction of his home Government, zoomed in upon Gowon halfway, and prevailed on him to reverse the decision of moving the North out of Nigeria, at a time Gowon already hoisted the Arewa Flag in a temporary Capital, Ilorin.
In the hurry to announce this reversal, the Gowon’s speech that was originally designed to take out the North, was poorly edited, leaving a portion that should have been expunged and so distorting the concluding part from the body of the speech.
That unexpunged portion is the celebrated Gowonian faux pas in which he in one breathe declared that “Everything considered, the basis of Nigeria’s Unity was no more”, yet going ahead in the next breathe to proclaim that “To keep Nigeria One is a task that must be done”.
It was in the heat of the ARABA (Northern Secession) move that the British whispered into the ears of the fledgeling Gowon Government, the huge quantities oil that Eastern Nigeria would have, if the North left, and so would become the poor neighbour of the South, particularly Eastern Region.
In a series of dubious underhanded exchanges that followed rapidly, the British practically took over the handling of the crises all the way to when it became War in July 1967, from the poor School Certificate-holder soldier, Yakubu Gowon (Gowon went for tertiary education only after he was overthrown in 1975 by his July 1966 comrade-in-crime, Murtala Mohammed).
In that dark period, Gowon signed off the entire oil/gas reserves of Eastern Nigeria to the British for 50 years, more or less, contracting the War to Britain.
The British which held those concessions via Shell, had to parcel out substantial blocs of their holdings to the other World Powers and Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.
Thus the entry of Gulf Oil and Mobil (US) Elf (France), Agip (Italy). Soviet Union had oil at home and so didnt need oil blocs. What Russia (USSR) got was an open order to supply the hardware for the War, including MIG Jet Fighters, Ilushyn Battle Tanks, AK 47 Riffles, all at double of prevailing market prices.
This oil blocs bribe was the basis of the cooperation of the then World Powers with Britain and its stooge, Northern Nigeria, to kill 3.5 million Easterners in a simple Self-determination disputate, substantially resolved in Aburi, January 1967.
Back to Willinks Commission.
Could it be because of the Special love the the British had for the Niger Delta that the Commission Recommended the preferential accelerated development of the Area. Dead no. So much had been taken.
The people would soon find out. The Development was an upfront bribe and containment Strategy to help calm would-be frayed nerves.
Unfortunately, the North-led Government that took over in 1960 from the British, abandoned that proactive scheme (partly because the whole truth as to the quantities of crude and money involved was not disclosed to them by the British departing arrangers).
Some of the findings of the LNC on reasons Isaac Boro and his Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, (yes NDPVF did not begin with Asari) declared the Defunct Niger Delta Republic, had to do with this “detail” of British concealments, some of which are still in force.
Those who are still in doubt should find out whether Shell was not Headquartered in Owerri for 42 solid years up till 1960 in the place still called Shell Camp to date (now broken into several large premises’ including the Government House, Rockview Hotel, Alvan Ikoku College of Education, the Federal Medical Center, the Mobile Police Camp and a number of other Governmental institutions).
It was Premier Michael Okpara who bought the large premises off Shell in 1961 on behalf of the the then Eastern Region, after Shell moved to Port Harcourt in the dawn of this grand pretence at a distinct Niger Delta that had nothing to do with Igbo, which has now been confirmed by Junaid Mohammed when he charged at Jonathan with the rebuke that the Niger Delta was a creation of the North to manage its interests in Eastern Nigeria!.
Those who wish to interrogate this claim of 50-years-oil-sale-before-Oloibiri should get on SPDC website so they can see for themselves that it was in 1936 that a certain Company called Shell D’Arcy (Shell’s predecessor) came under Crown Regulation, to pay more to the Crown probably because of the impending Second World War.
Prior to that time, Shell D’Arcy had the same kind of Charter as the Royal Niger Company (later UAC, UNILEVER).
Those Charters were issued about same period at the turn of the 19th Century, before your Nigeria was created in 1914.
Do the arithmetic. Nigeria was purely a business venture of the British and everything that became our “Constitution” took their roots from that Main Object to date”.
BEING THE RESOLUTIONS ARRIVED AT FROM THE EMERGENCY YORUBA FARMERS SUMMIT HELD ON THURSDAY 15TH FEBRUARY, 2018 AT THE HOUSE OF CHIEFS, PARLIAMENT BUILDING, SECRETARIAT, IBADAN UNDER THE AUSPICES OF OODUA REDEMPTION ALLIANCE
Theme: JUST BEFORE THE FULANIS FINISH US!
1. That we are conscious of the character trait of the Fulanis that they conquer people, occupy their lands and rule over the land.
2. That this led to their conquest, domination and rule over the entire Hausa land till today.
3. That we have the memory, to the external shame of us Yorubas anyway, how the Fulanis tricked the Ilorin Yorubas into capturing their land over which they rule till today.
4. That we are conscious of their further incursion efforts into the entire Yoruba land which led to the Osogbo war of 1840 between the Fulanis and the Ibadan warlords who decisively routed them thus stopping their further incursion.
5. That we are aware of their ceaseless plots and strategy to still capture Yoruba land in fulfillment of the will of their forebear Uthman Dan Fodio whose design was that the conquest of the Yorubas would only stop at the ocean in Lagos where their blood-stained swords would be washed.
6. That we are conscious of the highest degree of harms the Fulani herdsmen have done to our farmers over the decades where their cattle destroy their farm crops at will, where they rape their wives and children and kill anybody who dares their will with impurity.
7. That the resurgence or large scale perpetration of the evil has now gotten to an uncontrollable and unacceptable level that an open confrontation or war has now been provoked between the Yorubas and the Fulanis.
8. That before the war is ignited, we have deemed it fit to call this summit where we shall discuss and make our grouse and positions known to the Nigerian government and the global community to the effect of our further intolerance of the menace on our racial pride.
9. That, therefore, the idea of the Federal Government contemplating at all in the first instance to establish colonies or grazing reserves for the Fulanis is a direct ploy to take Nigerians’ lands for the Fulanis, and this is absolutely unaccepted to the Yorubas.
10. That the basis for giving preferential or sacred cow treatment to the Fulani herdsmen whose business contribute no resources whatsoever to the coffers of Nigerian government is not there at all.
11. That it is on record that 95% of the resources sustaining Nigerian government comes from the Southern part of the country.
12. That the cattle business of the Fulani herdsmen is their personal affair which other people of the country must not be sacrificed for.
13. That we are taking this opportunity to appreciate and declare as heroes the Governor of Kano State Mallam Abdullahi Ganduje and his Niger State counterpart Alh. Abubakar Sani Bello for gratuitously offering to allocate mass of lands respectively such sufficient enough as to harbor all the Fulani herdsmen in the country for the grazing of their cattle.
14. That consequent upon this, we implore the Federal Government to appreciate these gestures and seize the opportunity by the forelock and so direct all Fulani herdsmen in the country to relocate to Kano and Niger States respectively.
15. That we hereby implore the rest of the Northern Governors to emulate these two heroes.
16. That failure to accept these offers, any further incidents of farm destruction or attack on any person of Yoruba extraction in any Yoruba parts of Nigeria covering Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Delta States would be given commensurate reprisals.
17. That essentially speaking, we implore all Fulani herdsmen to vacate Yoruba land with immediate effect and relocate to Kano and Niger States or their Northern States of conquest.
18. That we are conscious of the fact that a lot of our well-to-do people in Yoruba land also have their cattle breeding contracted to the Fulani herdsmen.
19. That we therefore implore all Yorubas in this category to withdraw their cattle with immediate effect and establish ranches, pens or byres for their cattle breeding.
20. That we take this opportunity to implore our well-to-do people to begin cattle breeding enterprises in a very conventional way.
21. That we implore all our states to establish cattle-breeding settlements for the beef consumption of our people without having to depend on the Fulanis’ cattle, after all, cattle-breeding is not a monopoly for the Fulanis alone.
22. That we are conscious of the fact that some of our traditional rulers in Yoruba land like Obas, Baales and Community leaders encourage the encroachment of the Fulani herdsmen into our lands by giving them titles like Jowuro, Seriki and Baranda. All traditional or community leaders in this category are implored to retract such titles.
23. That we emphasize that our traditional or community leaders should desist from mortgaging our land and the lives of our people to the Fulanis the way they did in the era of slave-trading.
24. That we take this opportunity to declare Mr. Ayodele Fayose the Ekiti State Governor as a hero of Yoruba land for being the only Yoruba governor who took the bull by the horns by legislating against the menace of the Fulanis in his State.
25. That we therefore implore all other Yoruba governors to be courageous enough as to follow suit.
26. That we are conscious that our law enforcement agents and military men have now started falling victims of the Fulani herdsmen’s menace.
27. That we therefore implore them not to be kowtowed by any compromise against their people but rather join us in the battle against the crudity and baseless murders of the people and destruction of farm lands.
28. That we commiserate with Governor Sam Otom and the people of Benue State on the recent evil perpetrated against their kinsmen.
29. That we also commiserate with all Yorubas’ relations who have fallen victims of the Fulani’s menace over the decades and most recently.
30. That we share our feelings with Chief Olu Falae and Admiral Samuel Afolayan a former Chief of Naval Staff of Nigeria over the wanton and massive destruction of their respective farmlands by the Fulani herdsmen.
31. That a standing committee of representatives from each state shall be established to ensure the implementation of the resolutions so arrived at.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement, on Tuesday, 13 February 2018, met with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to discuss a myriad of electoral challenges currently beleaguering the electoral process. Representatives of the commission present at the meeting were National Electoral Commissioners Okechukwu Ibeanu, Muhammed Lecky, May Agbamuche-Mbu, Adekunle Ogunmola, and AT Mu’Azu. The NECs apologized for the absence of the Chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, and extended his regret for missing the meeting.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement raised concerns about the torturous manner in which Nigerians have had to struggle for the registration and collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) across the nation. In detail, the movement expressed dissatisfaction over:
A. The inadequacy of Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) centers in almost every state of the country; the issue of underage voting during elections.
B. The rigid practice of placing constraints on voters who are unable to vote because they had to move from their point of registration to another location within the country.
C. The urgent need for the commission to implement the Electronic Collation and Transfer of Election Results initiative as a way of eradicating rigging and irregularities during an election.
D. The urgent need to address the falling number of voters every election year despite the annual rise in number of registered voters.
E. The exigency of developing strategies to dowse the security threats and violence which characterizes elections in different parts of Nigeria.
Further to the movement’s observations on the conspicuous challenges beleaguering the electoral process, the movement proffered probable solutions which it strongly hopes that INEC would consider as days unfold.
According to the representatives of the Commision, the concerns raised by the movement are majorly the concerns of the Commision as well. And as a result, the discussion was centered around proffering solutions to the myriads of problems identified.
Important to note, that the representatives of the Commision mentioned the following as some of the steps that INEC has taken so far to mitigate the challenges, and to also eradicate them in the long run;
1. That in response to the complaints of Nigerians on the dearth of CVR centers in the country, the Commision has increased the numbers of CVR centers across the nation from 774 Local Government Areas to 1446 CVR centers.
2. That the Commision has registered 4Million Nigerians since it started the CVR exercise in April 2017.
3. That the commission will begin to distribute in batches the Permanent Voters Card of Nigerians who registered between April 2017 and now, starting from May 2018.
4. That there are 8.30Million uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in the custody of the commission.
5. That Nigerians can transfer their residence from the place of registration to wherever they relocate within the country.
6. That the commission is currently under-budgeted-for and underfunded by the National Assembly.
7. That the commission is faced with huge technical challenges, financial challenges, and manpower challenges.
8. That the commission completely frowns against underage voting and that it is committed to ensuring that defaulters are punished according to law.
9. That the commission is under-equipped and ill-equipped.
10. The representatives of the Commision encouraged Nigerians to report irregularities observed before, during, and after elections to the commission so as to ensure that such irregularities are addressed in the most stringent way possible and also take proactive measures to avoid reoccurrence.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the commission expressed deep concerns over electoral violence and the empowerment of thugs by desperate and unprincipled politicians. The commission, however, promised that it will ensure that proactive measures are taken to forestall electoral challenges and that it will ensure that all necessary and possible steps are taken to make the process of participating in the electoral process less-wearying for Nigerians.
The meeting ended with a sincere message of appreciation from the OurMumuDonDo Movement to the commission for honoring the request of the group to engage the commission, in less than 24 hours. Certainly, more engagements will be done in the coming days between both parties to appraise previous efforts and strategize on proactive measures to eradicate electoral problems, and also devise more impactful ways to achieve free, fair, and credible elections in the country.
Adebayo Raphael
National Publicity Secretary OurMumuDonDo Movement
In the press release forwarded to the BVI Channel 1 online and personally signed by the Administrator of the Customary Government of Biafra-Engr Anthony Aniebue;the release reads in full ‘The attention of the Customary Government of Biafra has been drawn to the recent upsurge in defying places and articles of religious belief by some religious fanatics masquerading as Biafrans.
The Customary Government of Biafra wishes to make it abundantly clear that it is the biggest act of irresponsibility for anybody, be him/her a Biafran or not to descend so low as to desecrat other people’s places or articles of worship.
We have notice recently the news on social media where some people from Biafra land are reported to have burnt or are burning down places of traditional religious worshippers or the much referred Christian Holy Book, the Bible.
This is highly condemnable, and the Customary Government hereby request that the law enforcement agents should go after such individuals, for this act which is likely to instigate social/religious disharmony in Biafra land. This act is a clear violation of the constitution and Law of the land which is firm against religious intolerance, and which supports citizen’s freedom of worship and association.
The Customary Government is of the view that individuals should be allowed their right to choose their religious belief while also allowing others their rights to do so without any form of intimidation or coercion.
Destruction of other people’s communal edifices in places of worship is very ignoble and also is a denial of people’s right to own traditional antique and artifacts.
Burning the Christian Holy Book, the Bible can be regarded as highest form of ignorance and can only come from mentally disorganized mind.
The Customary Government of Biafra wishes to state that the Biafra of our dream is a society that is filled with high level of religious tolerance, where citizen’s right to religion should not be interfered with by the state nor any other citizens or groups.
We wish to make it abundantly clear that nowhere in Biafra land shall such act be allowed.
All Biafrans are therefore advised to disregard those actions as having come from the pit of Hell and carried out by agents of destabilization and from unsettled minds.
This Government believes that such actions are fallout of this harrowing experience we are being forced to be part of in this disjointed association called Nigeria.
In our promised land, Biafra such act should not only be discouraged, but should be highly fought against.
Therefore we encourage all Biafrans to continue to support and be loyal to the Customary Government being led by the elders of the land, so that in due course, our freedom in all its ramifications will be ours’the statement concluded.
Nigeria is in total mayhem; strange things happen every day in this country. Recently, animals are being accused of crimes only humans can commit. funny enough people found in the bizarre stories told them with all temerity, including the president of the country. Funny country, right?
That’s what we see in a country where nothing works from federal level, state level to the local government level. Corrupt practices are now the order of the day and unfortunately animals are being accused, they are now the culprits.
Its painful that the so-called giant of Africa is now a laughing stock worldwide, other countries we were better than makes mockery of us because of the hopeless people that are giving leadership positions.
The hopelessness of our country started when youths don’t know their position in the society, they worship people that they voted to serve them, and these so-called leaders gets drunk in power thereby syphoning money that is meant for the country’s growth.
The truth is nothing good will ever come out of this country unless the youths know their stand in the country, we need to wake up and rescue these innocent animals that are suffering defamation of character. From the rats accused of chasing the president from his office to the innocent snake that swallowed 36 million naira in Joint Matriculation Examination Board(JAMB) office.
We are not fools, stop forging funny stories to steal public funds and hide your incompetence. As the saying goes “If u can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”, so if can’t serve leave the office for capable hands.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Syinka, has again hit hard at President Muhammadu Buhari.
He told journalists in Lagos, yesterday: “Mr. President, I think you are under a trance,” adding, “the sooner he gets out of it the better.”
He claimed that the phenomenon of herdsmen and farmers clashes was not new but an issue that graduated to an alarming state in the last eight years.
He described the armed herdsmen as a new breed of Boko Haram and internal colonialists.
“The important thing is the consciousness of a need for organised resistance against the incursion of cows.
“In Ogun State, we have formed a sort of informal organisation called OSHA, Ogun State Hunters Association, and we intend to collaborate with similar movements, the police and the military,” he said.
With the theme; “Herdsmen and Nation: Valentine Card or Valedictory Rites?”, he gave an analogical tale of a state whose master’s insensitivity allowed for the overbearing actions of his subjects.
He lamented that mass destruction of farmlands in the most horrifying manner had become a norm festering with the encouragement of the government’s body language.
The Nobel Laureate said he was not happy with “the body language” of the government in handling the matter.
He described as appalling the position of the Inspector General of Police that the continuing loss of lives in Benue State, and consequent increase of internal refugees was simply a communal clash, stressing that little would be achieved in security without the adoption of state policing.
“If the IG can sit in Abuja and say of an event that is happening under the jurisdiction of a governor in another state is a just a communal clash when people are being slaughtered and their villages are being occupied, it shows of complete alienation.
“We have been saying it for a long time. We are now getting back to the commonsensical issue that the nation cannot function under a single police command,” he said.
Soyinka said the Nigerian Army “must now turn around to face another phenomenon which is considered in some international circles more deadlier than the Boko Haram.”
According to him, the containing efforts happening now should have begun six months as he expected the force to have immediately transferred its concentration from operations such as Python Dance and Crocodile Smile to where the heat was.
He said: “Why colonies were brought in to complicate things, I do not know. Ranching that is the word used everywhere. There is no organised illegal force that does not sooner or later spin up. Are these internally generated, or are they being launched by individuals who in their interest the nation must be in a state of anarchy?
“We sometimes talk about corruption but we don’t understand how far corruption goes. When you think of the amount being stolen in this country, enough funds, illegal funds flocking to destabilise the country. We might end up discovering that some of these people profit from ensuring there is chaos from Maiduguri to Lagos.”
Speaking on restructuring, Soyinka said: “Sooner or later people will recognize the fact it’s not broken record they are listening to, it’s their hearing that is impaired.
“In other words we have been shouting restructuring, now its inevitability has always been stressed.
“Anytime you talk about restructuring, you hear this gibberish that the sovereignty of this country will not be compromised. Who is talking about sovereignty?
“We are stating that the internal components of the country needed to be addressed on rational and the parameters were always set. We must decentralise governance.”
He cited Buhari’s recall of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf, after he was suspended for alleged graft by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, as a recent example of the unforced errors that characterised the government.
Reacting to Soyinka’s statement, the Special Adviser on Media to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, said: “Wole Soyinka is respected but his opinion does not constitute the gospel. He is not in government, so he is speaking from a perspective. Not everyone believes government is not doing anything.
“A large number of people believe the government is tackling the issue of herdsmen. The president is concerned about the opinions of people, but when it comes from the PDP, you know they are interested in getting power, so they will try to de-market the president.”
I write in my capacity as the Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra with the conduct of the case in Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 pending in the Federal High Court Owerri between Biafra and Nigeria. In that case, the Claimants are described as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA suing in a representative capacity by the human rights organization called Bilie Human Rights Initiative. The case was instituted by the authority of the Customary Government headed by the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra under the Nigerian Customary Law. Many people including some Biafran activists have raised questions on the legality of a customary government. In fact, some anarchic vociferous Biafran activists have attacked the Customary Government so vehemently that we began to ask whether they were hired by the Defendants. For these reasons, I have decided to address these issues clearly:
2. The facts and evidence of the existence of the Customary Government of Indigenous People of Biafra are fully pleaded in Court and the Defendants have been duly put on notice. The Biafrans have judicial immunity to organize themselves by a home-rule within Nigeria under Customary Law. The Defendants are forbidden by law to interfere with the home-rule of the Claimants. In this case, the Claimants are Indigenous People of Biafra who sued Nigeria in a representative capacity by the human rights organization called “Bilie Human Rights Initiative”. Let me make it clear that the human rights organization is not the same thing as Indigenous People of Biafra. It is an agent sent by the Biafran people to advocate for their rights in Court as the people are not yet a sovereign legal entity. It is an elementary doctrine of law that a non-legal entity can only sue or be sued in a representative capacity. Let the overzealous Biafran activists know that Biafra is not yet a legal entity and therefore can only sue or be sued in a representative capacity. The human rights organization can in future represent a trade association in Court such as the Market Woman Association. It is different from the people it represents in Court and cannot interfere with the affairs of the people.
3. Actually, the Customary Government of Indigenous People of Biafra is not the first in the world. It is recognised in international law as well. It is by this means that the Palestinians govern themselves within Israel as they seek for their independence. It is a natural order that a people seeking for independence must be organized as a people and must speak with one voice. The President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, has also mentioned the need for the Biafrans to gather themselves together as a people to pursue their common interest.
4. The cases of Palestine and Biafra are similar in a way. The Palestinians applied the power of international politics and were granted the Observer Status of the UN after 25 years of struggling for independence. They therefore enjoy some measure of diplomatic immunity. The Biafrans applied the power of national and international law to institute the case in the Nigerian Federal High Court and therefore enjoy judicial immunity. This judicial immunity continues even if the case finally moves to the International Court in The Hague. In fact, the Biafrans as the Claimants in the on-going case have an obligation to maintain law and order among themselves by an internal government structure that ensures peace in the land as long as the case lasts. This internal government structure is what we call the Customary Government of Indigenous People of Biafra. A Customary Government is called “Ochichi Amaala” in Igbo Language. It is a government by the Council of Elders. This is the Customary Government that speaks for the people. At all levels in Biafraland, there has been the customary governance from time immemorial. This is the Government that authorised the Biafran Struggle for self-determination by the Rule of Law. It is government by the Elders of the land based on Customary Law.
5. The concept of judicial immunity is that where two parties are in Court, no party will molest, disturb, harass or interfere with the other party until the case is over. We have made it clear in Court that we are Biafrans by indigenous identity but Nigerians by citizenship which was forced upon us against our will. Therefore, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney General as Defendants cannot interfere with the internal governance of the Claimants. However, if any child of the claimants commits an offence, the Nigerian Government has the power to punish the offender for the said offence and not for being a Biafran by indigenous identity.
6. Let me now refer to the pleadings in Court. Paragraphs 31 and 32 of the Evidence adduced by the Biafrans against the Defendant’s Preliminary Objections stated as follows:
31. That the Claimants are an organized body of people under the control and management of our Customary Government known as the Government of Indigenous People of Biafra with various government departments as shown in the Policy Statements and Orders exhibited in these proceedings as Exhibit A8 headed by the Supreme Council of Elders with physical office addresses as stated in this Further Affidavit and pursuing their right to self-determination by due process of law.
32. That despite the forceful occupation of our territory by the Defendants, we the Indigenous People of Biafra are obedient and loyal to our Customary Government headed by our Council of Elders known as the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra which we recognize and submit to as the de facto government of Indigenous People of Biafra under Customary Law.
Submissions in Reply:
21. In reply to Paragraph 21 where the Defendants asserted that Nigeria had been a single and one united country right from the amalgamation of 1914 to date, Claimants aver as follows:
(1) In 1961, some parts of South Eastern Nigeria joined Cameroon by a Plebiscite (Referendum) while some parts of North Western Cameroon joined Nigeria despite the amalgamation of 1914.
(2) In 1967, the remaining Eastern Nigeria declared independence as the Republic of Biafra despite the amalgamation of 1914 and governed the Biafran territory for three years. The Republic of Biafra was recognised by five countries that have seats in the United Nations including Haiti, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania and Ivory Coast.
(3) The Claimants declared war against the Republic of Biafra and fought with the young Republic for three years and could not defeat Biafra until the World Powers of the Great Britain, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and all Moslem countries helped Nigeria to defeat Biafra and force the Biafrans back into Nigeria. We draw the attention of the Court to the history books listed at Paragraph 6(b), 6(d), 6(e), 6(g), 6(h), and 6(k) of the Claimants’ Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons.
(4) In 2002, the part of Cross River State of Nigeria called Bakassi Peninsula was ceded to Cameroon by the Judgment of the International Court of Justice despite the amalgamation of 1914.
(5) From the date of the amalgamation of 1914 until now, the map of Nigeria has been redrawn several times. The newest Map of Nigeria is the one without Bakassi Peninsula as Bakassi is now Cameroonian territory.
22. In reply to Paragraph 22, Claimants aver as follows:
(1) That protests against the amalgamation started almost immediately. In the National Assembly before the Independence when there were disagreements and quarrels between all the parties, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa described it as the mistake of 1914 but later changed his mind on the advice and promise of Britain to give power to the North.
(2) Defendants have failed to rebut the Claimants’ averment at Paragraph 16 of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons that agitation for secession has continued among the ethnic nationalities that were forced to become Nigerians; and that the people of the Islamic North do not believe in the lifestyle and philosophy of the people of the East or West and therefore want to have an Islamic Republic and have actually created an Islamic State in the North through violence by their militant group called Boko Haram.
(3) Defendants have failed to rebut the evidence attached as Exhibit B10 in these proceedings, being the Map of Nigeria showing that the Sharia Law has shared Nigeria into two.
(4) In the preface to his book, “The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War”, pleaded at Paragraph 6(b) of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons, Major General Madiebo said, “Serious doubts may still exist in many minds as to why Lt Colonel Gowon (later General) suddenly did a complete turn-about and rather than secede as he had originally planned and said, preferred to plunge Nigeria into a civil war, which took a toll of an estimated three million lives, in an attempt to re-unite the same Nigeria he had set out initially to break up”. It is clear from this testimony that the North did not accept the amalgamation but agreed on the advice and promise of Britain that the North would rule Nigeria and protect British economic interests.
(5) At Page 237 of the book, “Biafra or Nigerian Presidency- What the Ibos Want”, pleaded at Paragraph 6(f) of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons, the Odua Group known as the EGBE IRAPADA OODUA (EIRO) is agitating for the self-determination and sovereign nation of the Oduduwa Nation described as “the children of Odua, now referred to as Itsekiri, Yoruba, Ilaje, Ijebu, Ekiti, Oyo, Egba, Igbo-mina, Ikale, Edo, Yewa, Awori, Akoko, Ondo, etc”, being all the people of Western Nigeria.
(6) At the moment, the 12 Northern States in Nigeria have adopted the Sharia Law as their State Law while Boko Haram has established a Caliphate in the North in the exercise of their right to self-determination using violence as a method of self-determination. These are clear evidence that the indigenous peoples of the land did not accept and have not accepted the amalgamation of 1914.
23. In reply to Paragraph 23, Claimants aver that they seek to exercise their right to self-determination by the rule of law and therefore did not and would not commit any act in breach of the peace by disrupting or opposing the Defendants in their programme of celebrating their 100 years of amalgamation. In further reply thereto, Claimants aver that they did not celebrate with the Defendants for the 100 years of slavery called amalgamation.
24. In reply to Paragraph 24, Claimants aver that the fact that Nigeria has not disintegrated does not mean that it would not disintegrate if the ethnic nationalities who seek for independence are continuously held together against their will. In such a situation, the disintegration of Nigeria may be explosive just like the USSR disintegrated and all the peoples went back to their ancestral roots.
25. In reply to Paragraph 25, Claimants specifically plead the Ancient Maps of Africa 1662 and 1707 exhibited in these proceedings as Exhibits B1 and B1.1 respectively showing the ancient country of Biafra carved into Nigeria at the amalgamation. In further reply thereto, Claimants plead the Bight of Bonny Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, Exhibit B1.2, made by the Defendants to remove the name of Biafra from the Map. Furthermore, the Claimants aver that Biafra existed for more than 400 years before Nigeria was created by the British and that they are known as Biafrans by indigenous identity even though they have been forced to accept the Nigerian citizenship against their will.
26. In reply to Paragraph 26 of the Counter Affidavit by which the Defendants denied the facts in Paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons on the ground that the facts did not relate to the matters under consideration, Claimants aver as follows:
(1) The Defendants have failed to rebut the confessions of Mr Harold Smith (the British Officer) in Exhibits B5 – B7 which can be viewed and listened to on the internet showing the fraudulent foundation of Nigeria;
(2) The Defendants have failed to rebut that the Nigerian Senate has revealed that 83% of the Oil Wells in Nigeria are owned by the Northerners as shown in Exhibits B9 and B9.1
(3) The facts stated in Paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons are so weighty that the Defendants cannot wish them away;
(4) The weighty matters stated in Paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Affidavit in support of the Originating Summons are evidence of fraud and discrimination committed by the Defendants which affected the Claimants adversely;
(5) Fraud vitiates every contract or agreement while discrimination against a people is an apartheid policy that forms the basis of struggle for self-determination. The fraud committed by the British to give power to the North upon attainment of independence of Nigeria in 1960 has vitiated every agreement (if any) by the Claimants to remain as One Nigeria. The Defendants have continued to falsify the census figures in Nigeria and to give the false impression that the North is more populated than the South, and that population increases towards the desert and decreases towards the sea in the Nigerian Human Geography! Therefore both incidents of fraud and discrimination committed by the Defendants are relevant to the matters under consideration for which the Claimants want to be free and independent from Nigeria as they no longer wish to be called the citizens of a fraudulent and discriminatory country.
7. The Customary Government is not funded by the State because no State Government in the East has passed the Customary Government Bill into law unlike their counterparts in the North who passed the Sharia Government Bill into Law. The Customary Government is funded by donations and customary levies which we call “utu-isi” in Igbo Language. For example, the Elders’ Council usually sends a Town Crier to go round the communities with a gong or drum announcing that a decision has been made that every adult male should pay N20 while adult female should pay N10 to carry out one project or the other. Some wealthy sons and daughters of the land can donate large sums of money to help in the execution of the projects. This is how the Customary Government is financed. Customary levies are compulsory while donations are based on free volitions.
8. I must give credit to the Defendants (The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General) that they have not interfered with the Customary Government of the Claimants. It is rather the unruly children of the Claimants who are attacking themselves and attacking their Elders’ Council trying to show themselves ungovernable. I was informed that when the Claimants convened a Town Hall Meeting at Uyo in Akwa Ibom State at the instance of the Akwa Ibom brethren, some of the children of the Claimants who were struggling for leadership positions threatened to destroy the hotel venue of the Meeting and threatened the elderly host who therefore cancelled the Meeting. For this reason, the Claimants have moved the Town Hall Meetings back to their original venue in Anambra State. Honestly, the Biafrans cannot blame Nigeria if they fail to organize themselves as a people and speak with one voice.
9. I am aware that another group based abroad has attacked the Customary Government and asserted that it was not the Shadow Government which they had approved. My response to this issue is that my clients are not running a shadow government but a Customary Government. The Claimants are not a political party that can run a shadow government which is usually run in a parliamentarian system of government. My clients do not run a shadow government but a Customary Government.
10. The Customary Government is an institution that cannot be destroyed. It has been in existence from time immemorial. It is not a new thing. It is based on the Nigerian Legal System. What made it look new is that the Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra who created the new concept of struggling for self-determination by legal method resurrected the indigenous identity of the Biafrans and their indigenous governance which he wrote in his book, “Biafra or Nigerian Presidency- What the Ibos Want”, published in 2012. In the book, he defined the people as INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA showing the Ancient Map of Biafra in 1707 and described himself as the SOLICITOR FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA.
11. All the arguments and submissions made by the Nigerian Government and the Attorney-General of the Federation in the on-going case cannot help them. We have proved that Nigeria is divisible and that the right to self-determination is inalienable and unquestionable as provided by the Nigerian Law. This struggle for self-determination by legal method is what Professor Chukwuma Soludo described as the New Biafra Movement in his book review at Abuja on 29th Sept 2016. Let me quote him correctly:
“If Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu and Nnamdi Azikiwe who died as Nigerians were alive today, they would have towed the line of the new Biafra movement. Bakassi changed the map of Nigeria the day it was ceded to Cameroon and I wonder why Biafra too cannot change it.”
– Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Book Review on “The Politics of Biafra and the Future of Nigeria”, Abuja, 29 Sept 2016.
We have argued this issue in Court. In 1961, some parts of South Eastern Nigeria left and joined Cameroun despite the amalgamation and the so-called indivisibility of Nigeria. In 2002, the Bakassi Region of Nigeria was ceded to Cameroun by the judicial power of the International Court despite the amalgamation and indivisibility of Nigeria!
12. In concluding this message, I assert strongly that the Claimants have the right and power to govern themselves within Nigeria as a people under Customary Law. The Palestinians are governing themselves within Israel while seeking for their independence. Is it a crime for the Biafrans to gather themselves together under their Elders’ Council in accordance with their Customary Law? Why do these anarchists deceive the youths and preach disobedience and lawlessness? These anarchists have incited the youths into confrontations with the Nigerian Police and Nigerian Army who killed them in disguise of maintaining law and order! The Administrator and all the Officials of the Customary Government are hereby advised to continue with their works without allowing further distractions from the anarchists and establish customary governance at all levels in Biafraland. The Administrator and his Team of Officials are given the mandate to organize all the Claimants in the on-going case under the Supreme Council of Elders so that the people would not be like sheep without a shepherd. The Defendants are hereby put on notice. Therefore, I challenge all those opposing the Customary Government to assemble their lawyers and meet me in Court. I will say no more.
