• Calls for division product of bad govt, says peace committee

By Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja

The National Peace Committee (NPC) led by former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has blamed failed politicians and poor governance for the rising ethno-religious tension in the country.

   “The drums of rising division also reflect the perceptions by our citizens that there is poor governance in Nigeria today.

“Politicians who have failed in delivering on the mandate of the electorate for better livelihoods and neighbourhoods have, instead, found common cause with advocates of division and hate,” it said in a statement jointly signed by the former military leader and Bishop Mathew Kukah.

The group  warned that the nation cannot afford the stoking of the fires of hate and divisiveness in its body-polity, especially at a time the ordinary Nigerians were engaged in difficult struggles to secure their livelihood, amidst rising insecurity and increasing fear.

While it expressed concern over the spate of separatist campaign, it called on politicians to deny support to or endorsement of groups that harbour or express disdain for peaceful coexistence among Nigerians.

It also urged the Federal Government to move fast to arrest the ugly situation.

It backed the position of government on the need to ensure effective enforcement of laws that prohibit hate and divisive speeches that constitute a threat to the constitutional and collective right to live in a democracy founded on free expression.

On the agitation for restructuring, the NPC appealed to the Federal Government to consider the reports of the Political Reforms Conference of 2005 and other National Conferences as bases for further and continuing dialogue on co-existence among communities in Nigeria.

It commended Acting President Yemi Osinbanjo for engaging with leaders of influence across the South-East and North in a bid to check the rise of mutual hostility and tension that have been stoked by elements from parts of the country.

While the NPC asked the Federal Government to review, update and enforce all laws relating to citizenship in Nigeria to ensure the equality of all under the law, it equally underscored the need for government to urgently work with the private and voluntary sectors to put in place measures to address the crisis of skills and jobs as key vectors of radicalisation.

To ensure the strengthening of national peace and cohesive, it urged that on-going efforts to reach out to leaders from various parts of the country be broadened into honest dialogue with all segments of the Nigerian population to ensure that ordinary citizens were accorded the opportunity to convey their views to government at the highest levels and get carried along in the formulation and implementation of government policies;

The group also underscored the need for government to urgently work with the private and voluntary sectors to put in place measures to address the crisis of skills and jobs as key vectors of radicalisation.

It called on the  Federal Government to review, update and enforce all laws relating to citizenship in Nigeria to ensure the equality of all under the law.

The statement said: “The National Peace Committee acknowledges that the drums of rising division also reflect the perceptions by our citizens that there is poor governance in Nigeria today.

“Politicians who have failed in delivering on the mandate of the electorate for better livelihoods and neighbourhoods have, instead, found common cause with advocates of division and hate.

In many parts of the country, young people who have been left without means of livelihood or hope in their future have become converts to radicalisation preached by demagogues in various guises including ethnicity and religion.

“We cannot afford at this or any other time to stoke the fires of hate and divisiveness in our body politic especially when ordinary Nigerians are engaged in difficult struggles to secure their livelihood, amidst rising insecurity and increasing fear.

“We have lost too many of our citizens to random and diverse acts of violence, have many more maimed for life or living in displacement. Tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by conflict and millions of our fellow citizens now face threats of starvation in the face of rising food insecurity.

“In many parts of the country, mass killings go unpunished and unresolved, inter-communal clashes have become chronic, economic deprivations and growing social exclusion and feelings of alienation, particularly among the youths are being exploited by segments of the elite with potentially dangerous and painful consequences for us all.

“These developments are sources of serious concern for the Nigeria Peace Committee. We know, of course that we are not alone in our worries and would like to commend the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, for engaging with leaders of influence across the South-East and North in a bid to check the rise of mutual hostility and tension that have been stoked by elements from parts of the country.

“Nonetheless, the National Peace Committee appeals to further voices of leadership, reason and moderation from all communities in the country to reinforce the message of the Acting President.

“At this time in Nigeria, more than ever before, we need government at all levels, which work for the people, with commitment to respect for the rule of law and to the security and well wellbeing of persons and communities in the country.

“We also need credible institutions, an economy that guarantees a fair deal and outcome for hardworking people, better physical infrastructures and an enabling environment in which citizens can thrive.

“The National Peace Committee therefore calls on State governments to commit to developing their own people more and relying less on Abuja to fund their consumption through monthly allocations.

“We also encourage the Acting President and the Federal Government to remain steadfast in the steps they are taking to reassure all communities and citizens of equal stake holding in the Nigerian project. In brief, Nigerians need an effective state that we can all call our own.

SOURCE: DAILY SUN

Source:Daily Sun

SOURCE

Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force, NDPSF,   and one of the arrowheads in the struggle to redress perceived injustice in the Niger Delta has said that Biafra will be independent whether some people in the country like it or not. Dokubo-Asari who said that he is a Biafran and not a Nigerian also said that the current agitation for the sovereign state of Biafra is not a call for war but that “Leave us let us go.” He said, Like Pharaoh, the Hebrews should be allowed to leave the north, maintaining that  anybody who would not let Biafra go will drown in the Red Sea. “They will drown if they pursue us.” Asari-Dokubo Corroborating what the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had said some days back, Alhaji Dokubo-Asari also said that the current agitation for the sovereign state of Biafra is not a call for war but that of self independence. Alhaji Asari-Dokubo said, “I’m not a Nigerian. Nations are not imposed on people. People don’t sit down in Berlin or anywhere and make people Nigerians. Nations are created by the will of the people. My people have never accepted Nigeria and so, how can I be a Nigerian? Nobody can impose Nigeria on me.” “The free will of the people create nations. If everybody gathered together, the Ijaw people, you know which includes the kalabari people, nobody forced the Kalabari people to become Ijaw people, because naturally, they know they are Ijaw people.” “So, nobody will force an Owerri man, an Nkwere man to be an Igbo person, he naturally knows he is an Igbo person.” “So, if we want to be Nigerians, then we have to sit down, and decide for ourselves that today, we are going to be, or as separate identities, and accept Nigeria as our country, as our nation and we become Nigerians. We’ve not done that.” “When I go up north, do they see me as a Nigerian? They don’t! They call me ‘Nyamiri.’ They call me Nyamiri! When I go to Yoruba land, do they see me as a Nigerian? They call me ‘Omo Kobokobo.’ That’s what they call me! Omo Kobokobo.” “ When a Yoruba man goes up north, they call him ‘Oyede Banza.’ When a Fulani man comes up to Yoruba land, what do they call him? They call him Gambari!” “I used to hear a story that there were about three people in a bus and the driver asked the conductor, how many people were in the bus and the conductor said two persons and one Gambari. He said shut up your mouth, is Gambari not a human being? But the conductor said that is your business o, me I know that in this bus there are two persons and one Gamari.” “So, if in the north there is a riot, they don’t kill Senegalese, they don’t kill British, they don’t kill Lebanese, they will kill a Yoruba man. They will kill an Igbo man, they will kill an Ijaw man. They will kill an Efik man, they will kill others but they will not kill a Lebanese, they don’t kill a Senegalese, they don’t kill Nigerien or Malian. That clearly shows that they don’t need you.” “Listen to the interview of that rogue that they are celebrating. People who joined to steal Ijaw people’s resources, Ahmadu  Bello. What did he say in his interview? ‘That if they want to employ people in the north, they will first of all take Europeans and so on, then when it comes, if they are going to consider Africans they will take Sudanese and so on but when they are going to consider other Nigerians, they will take them on contract. It is there, they can’t deny it.” “What country are you talking about? Obafemi Awolowo said Nigeria is just a geographical residence. But me, I’m not a Nigerian, I will never be a Nigerian!” On his thoughts about Biafran agitation “I’m a Biafran! Yes, in 1967, Biafra was declared and my people were part of the declaration of Biafra. The man who gave the name Biafra to Biafra was an Ijaw man, Chief Frank Opigbo. The man who first plaid the Biafran national anthem was Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson…1967 declaration of Biafra, I am a Biafran. So, the agitation, I am part of the agitation for the realization of the sovereign state of Biafra.” On whether dialogue and restructuring can solve the imbalance in the country “50 years after Biafra, what has been stopping the dialogue? 50 years is not enough for dialogue? 50 years is not enough for restructuring?” “I am 52 years old. So, since I was three years old, they went to Aburi. Aburi failed. So, what stopped them if they really believed we can co-exist? If they really believed we can peaceful;ly live together, what stops them form restructuring Nigeria, from doing the needful in the past 50 years?” “Is it now? So we are going to wait for another 50 years under the bondage of the people we are better than? People the United Nation and all agencies in the world said, in educational index, they are the lowest. In poverty index, they are the lowest. In everything, they are the lowest. Infant mortality, they are the lowest. VVf, it is more prevalent in their place. Are they the people?” “ The people who everyday stand up, bring ‘maitasin, bring the ‘izalah’, bring troika versus ‘quadiriha,’ bring Boko Haram, bring this, bring that one, kill people, election violence,… why will we be able to live together with these animals?” “So, who is fighting” We said we want to go, if they want to die, let them sit with us, we say please oh, we no wan live with you. Na by force?” “You get neighbough, I don’t have any resemblance with you. Even my father self, if I marry, I no go leave my father house? Na by force say I go live for my father house? Na by force say I go live with my brothers, if they are our brothers? Na by force say I go live with my sister?” “So, we are not asking for war? Who wants to die? I don’t want to die. I have 21 children. I want to enjoy my life to ninety-something. My grand mother died at the age of 94. My uncle just died at the age of 98. I want to enjoy my life very well, kokoro to the end.” “ So, who is calling for war? Who is calling for crisis? They are the ones who are attacking IPOB members. They are the ones who are killing people. They are the ones who are said they have the power to kill.” “Nobody is saying we want to kill anybody. Leave us let us go. Like Pharaoh,  leave the Hebrews to leave the north. He drowned in the Red Sea. They will drown if they pursue us.” On the solution “The solution is for us to leave! Every one of us. Simple. We want to We wan leave. No gragra, no nothing. Na gragra dey tear cloth.” “I am not a member of IPOB but am a Biafran. IPOB is one of the organization. I am into the Biafran agitation. My method of agitation might be different from the method of the IPOB. But we are going to the same direction so we have to work together. I have to hold IPOB, put our hands together and walk together to our destination. But that does not mean I’m a member of IPOB.” On the varying opinions of some southern leaders in the country about Biafra “ Which leaders? The people who are afraid, people who are lily-livered? People who are sea sick to frown off their mate? They are lily-livered!” “Tha Kano would have 44 local government and Bayelsa will have eight local government and Kano brings nothing, nothing to the sharing at Abuja at the end of the month and you are a leader, why should they take you serious? You have been there always, you cannot talk in front of your people.” “The Governor of Rivers state would like a slave ‘kokokokokoko, take our traditional rulers, go to Sokoto to  go and bow down to the son of Usman Dan Fodio and say he is the Governor of Rivers state. But when he is shaking his traditional rulers, his traditional rulers will bow for him. Such idiots are the people you say are our leaders? Who made them leaders?”

SOURCE: VANGUARD

23/06/2017

PRESS RELEASE

The attention of the Customary Government of IPOB has been drawn to the rhetorics coming from Nigeria Ruling class that Nigeria is indivisible and that any call suggesting division of the Country is treasonable.

It is rather unfortunate that Nigeria Ruling Class has rejected every opportunity to redress the ‘sins’ of the past. It is even worst when they know the existence of lawsuit no  FHC/OW/CS/192/2013,a case authorized by Justice (Rtd) Eze Ozobu OFR and Dr Dozie Ikedife OON  asking the court to establish the rights of Indigenous People of Biafra for self determination.

The public should note that it is the refusal of Nigeria authority to give peace a chance that ignited the current street agitation for Biafra.The Elders of Biafra has provided a legal platform for the issue of Biafra to be resolved on the round table ,alas certain influential people around the positions of political powers  keep on feeding the innocent public  with wrong information that Nigeria remains indivisible even when they know that the quest for Biafra is not a call to divide Nigeria but to restore an already existing Nation-Biafra.

Customary Government of IPOB wants to reiterate that a peaceful restoration of Biafra will make Nigeria much stronger and united. We do not think that Nigeria will collapse or disintegrate if we leave the unholy union because the owners of Nigeria can live happily and manage their country without us. Egypt did not collapse or disintegrate when the Israelites left. India did not collapse or disintegrate when Bangladesh left. Ethiopia did not collapse or disintegrate when Eritrea left. Sudan did not collapse or disintegrate when South Sudan left last year. At the moment, UK has voted yes to leave EU and that action will not divide EU. Why are the Nigerians afraid to let the Biafrans go? If Nigeria shall disintegrate at all, it will not be caused by the Biafrans but by the wickedness and injustice in the Nigerian polity.

That the indigenous people of Biafra have an unquenchable thirst and hunger for freedom is certain. The message of Biafra has been passed down to the children from generation to generation just as the message of the captivity of Israel in Egypt was passed down from generation to generation for four hundred years. We believe that the map of Biafra deleted by the Europeans at the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885 shall be redrawn, even if it does not include all the original tribes that made up the ancient country. In the Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013, the Claimants defined the indigenous people of Biafra as the inhabitants of the South-East geopolitical region of Nigeria, parts of the South-South geopolitical region of Nigeria and parts of the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Though our enemies sowed some seeds of discord among us to divide the Eastern Region of Nigeria, we know that we are of a common ancestry.

The Customary Government of IPOB wants to reassure Biafrans across the globe that our burning desire for freedom is unquenchable and remains ‘unpurchasable’ .All Biafrans are hereby advised to remain calm and await for further directives from the De Facto Government of IPOB-Customary Government as the international lobbying continues.

Ndubuisi Anaenugwu

Director- Directorate of Information,CG-IPOB

www.ipobgovernment.org;www.bvichannel1.com

EMEKA EMEKESRI, SOLICITOR FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF BIAFRA, REPLIES PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

ON HIS STATEMENT AGAINST BIAFRA INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE.

Your Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, for some days now, I did not consider it necessary to respond to a statement credited to you in the Sun Newspaper of 10 May 2016 where you were reported to have said that instead of allowing the Biafrans to go, it would be better for all the Nigerians to be drowned in the sea. I did not want to respond to you because I had thought that the Attorney-General of the Federation and all your lawyers defending Nigeria in the on-going case between Biafra and Nigeria at the Federal High Court Owerri in Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 would advise you to be careful in making some utterances which I believe, with due respect, to be careless statements from the President of a country. I am making this response because your statement is contemptuous of the proceedings in court and likely to prejudice my clients’ case. Let me reproduce the statements from the Sun Newspaper:

“President Muhammadu Buhari vowed, yesterday, in his home state of Katsina, to use all resources at his disposal to crush any agitation for the division of Nigeria. The president said the country fought a civil war which claimed over two million lives in order to be united. Buhari, who spoke at the palace of Emir of Katsina also urged Nigerians to be patient with his government as, according to him, the current hardship being experienced, may not be unconnected with efforts at laying a solid foundation for sustainable nation building. Buhari was in Katsina to attend the state’s economic and investment forum which he will officially declare open this morning. In a veiled reference to the current separatist agitation for Biafra being promoted by a group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Buhari warned it would be better for the entire country to commit mass suicide than to allow such campaign to succeed. He referred to the promoters of the agitation as “kids” who were not born during the civil war. According to Buhari, “today, Nigeria is a strong and united sovereign entity because some people laid down their lives for the country. At least two million people died during the civil war but, today, some people who were not born during the civil war are agitating for the division of the country. We will not let that happen. “For Nigeria to divide now, it is better for all of us to jump into the sea and get drowned.”

Mr President, with due respect, it appears that you have not informed Nigerians that the country is sitting on a keg of gunpowder from the legal arsenals of the Biafran lawyers battling with the Nigerian lawyers in the Federal High Court Owerri since 2012 on the issue of Self-determination of the Biafran nation. The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation are the Defendants in the suit. The Defendants have changed their lawyers several times because the case is too hot for them. This is the case that terrifies the Nigerian Government as they know that it may end up in the International Court of Justice at The Hague where Cameroon defeated Nigeria and took away the Bakassi region.

The doctrine of indivisibility of Nigeria is not sacrosanct as the Bakassi region has been separated from Nigeria by judicial power! Why did the Nigerian Government not argue in the ICJ that the Nigerian Constitution said that no part of Nigeria could be removed from Nigeria? Of course, you ought to know the power of law. By law nations are created and by law nations are restructured or dissolved. It is not a child’s play. Mr President, you may assemble more lawyers to defend Nigeria in this case but I assure you that my clients will surely win the legal battle because it may not end in the Nigerian courts. We are preparing for The Hague.

The Nigerian Government knows that the ongoing suit between Biafra and Nigeria was authorised by the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra, some of whose members are older than Mr President Muhammadu Buhari and senior to him in the Army. The Nigerian Government and the hierarchy of the DSS Police know the leaders of Indigenous People of Biafra because at the commencement of the suit in 2012, we duly served all the Nigerian Authorities with the Legal Notices including the documents from the Court showing the Elders of Biafraland who are the leaders of Indigenous People of Biafra.

I am surprised at your statement to the Press that the promoters of the Biafran agitation for self-determination were “kids” who were not born during the war! Mr President, you have insulted the Elders of my clients who signed the Legal Instrument in the Federal High Court authorising Bilie Human Rights Initiative to file the action on behalf of Indigenous People of Biafra against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney-General of the Federation. Our Elders require an apology from you for referring to them as “kids” promoting the Biafran agitation. Just as we respect you as the President of Nigeria, we also expect you to respect our Elders who are the custodians of the Customary Government of Indigenous People of Biafra.

The Biafran Liberation Struggle is under the control of the Biafra Elders being led by the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra who have adopted the legal and diplomatic method of self-determination. ,

Mr President, your statement that instead of allowing Nigeria to divide it would be better for all Nigerians to drown in the sea and commit mass suicide is very serious with very serious legal and social implications. You are directly or indirectly telling the Judge to dismiss the case of my clients so that Biafra cannot be free from Nigeria. I believe that you were not joking when you made that statement. You really meant it. You wouldn’t mind drowning all the Nigerians in the sea instead of allowing the Biafrans to go.

However, I think, with due respect, that you made that statement in ignorance of what the Nigerian law says about the peoples’ inalienable right to self-determination. I do not blame you because you are not a lawyer by training. You are a soldier turned into a politician. I rather blame your lawyers who should have advised you before you made those provocative statements.

Nevertheless, I want to allay your fears about the break-up of Nigeria. We have no intention to destroy Nigeria. We respect Nigeria and the Nigerian Government. Our intention is to set Biafra free from Nigeria by the rule of law and not to destroy Nigeria just as Eritrea was set free from Ethiopia without destroying Ethiopia; just as South Sudan was set free from Sudan without destroying Sudan; just as Bangladesh and Pakistan were set free from India without destroying India. Mr President, it must not be by war. I do not really blame you and other people who think in error that self-determination must always be achieved through war and violence. There are three methods of achieving independence, namely: the military method, the political method and the judicial method. Scotland is using the political process of referendum because the British law has not provided for the right of self-determination as a legal right by an Act of Parliament but the Biafrans are using the judicial process because the Nigerian law has provided for the right of self-determination by an Act of Parliament.

Under the Nigerian law, the right to self-determination was created as a legal right by an Act of the National Assembly unlike in Britain. I do not want to bother you with the issues of law here. Whether by political process or judicial process, the exercise of the right to self-determination must not always be through war. Mr President, the next court hearing is on the 2nd June 2016 at the Federal High Court Owerri and we are expecting you and your lawyers in Court.

Your Excellency, my clients want to go and rebuild their own nation of Biafra so that the owners of Nigeria will enjoy their country very well without further disturbances from the Biafrans. Mr President, please mark my word: “As long as you hold my clients in Nigeria against their will, there will be no peace for Nigeria. I assert firmly that Biafra shall be free either within Nigeria or outside Nigeria and nobody shall be drowned in the sea as you have threatened”. My clients are yearning for freedom and they must be free. It is either freedom within Nigeria or freedom outside Nigeria. Please refer to the 8 issues for determination in Court and the 8 prayers we have made in Court. I assert with authority on this question of self-determination that Justice shall prevail in the end and the heavens shall not fall. Lest I forget: I have heard a rumour that when somebody makes a constructive criticism against your views, or holds an opinion contrary to yours, you would unleash the DSS policemen against the person like attack dogs. Is it true, Mr President? Please, I advise you to be properly guided with wisdom and understanding in your utterances and actions.

Emeka Emekesri, Esq.
Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra
Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013
Federal High Court Owerri