MOBIN is opposed to restructuring and we shall tell you our reasons. It has become absolutely necessary for MOBIN to educate all Indigenous People of Biafra on the way forward. By Indigenous People of Biafra we do not mean the limited liability company registered in the overseas by the operators of Radio Biafra but all the remnants of the Biafrans and their descendants who were not consumed in the war as defined by Emeka Emekesiri, the founder and vision bearer of the body of persons known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who are the claimants in the case between Biafra and Nigeria in Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013 in the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Owerri Judicial Division. We understand that IPOB has now split into about three or four factions because some dissident and rebellious children of Biafra refused to be obedient to the original IPOB.
The vision bearer has explained and emphasised several times that Indigenous People of Biafra, whose acronym is IPOB, is not a limited liability company owned by two persons but a nation, a race, a people seeking for self-determination by legal methodology. They run a Customary Government and are governed under customary law by their Elders known as the Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra. We have attached the photograph they took in the Office of Indigenous People of Biafra in 2012 when they commenced the case.
Please visit the IPOB Government website at www.ipobgovernment.org for more information.
You are advised and requested to enter your details in the Biafra Database and also make donations on the website towards the Biafran Project.
For many years the Biafran activists had been going round in circles until Barr Emeka Emekesiri entered into the Struggle and introduced the legal methodology consisting of judicial, diplomatic and political processes. He laid the proper foundation for what is about to happen in few years’ time. Even though some unscrupulous Biafran activists hijacked the Biafran Project by Indigenous People of Biafra using media propaganda shouting “Biafra or Death”, the vision bearer has remained focused and undeterred. The Biafra Project by legal methodology is on course and Emeka Emekesiri is the Team Leader.
Stage 1: Obtaining judicial immunity for the Biafrans by filing the case in the Federal High Court between Biafra and Nigeria. The rule of law is that when two parties are in court, judicial immunity protects both of them and none will disturb, harass, intimidate, or arrest the other until the case is determined. Upon commencing the case between Biafra and Nigeria, the Vision Bearer and Team Leader served the necessary Legal Notices on the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Biafrans now have the right to continue running their Customary Government, holding their Town Hall Meetings, upholding their identity as Biafrans and participating in politics as Biafrans living in Nigeria, until the case is determined. The longer the case lasts the better for the Biafrans to have more time to build up their political institutions.
This was why he started with judicial process, knowing that the Nigerian Government would delay the case without knowing his plans. While the Stage 1 was taking place, some unscrupulous Biafran activists who felt that he had dominated the Biafran Struggle unleashed attacks against him by lies and false propaganda to destroy him and the human rights organization by which he filed the case. They told the Biafrans not to support him. They said they did not believe in his legal methodology but in confrontational approach and abuses and threats to the Nigerian authorities.
They said that Independence could not be obtained by legal method. As they refused to follow the due process, they came into severe confrontations with the Nigerian Army and Police who took pleasure in massacring and assassinating the Biafran youths in cold blood. It has been reported that thousands of their followers have been killed and their leader has got missing. They did not know why he adopted the legal method and filed the case in the Nigerian Court.
All the Biafrans who have followed the legal methodology are protected by law and respected by the Nigerian Authorities. The vision bearer has not lost any of his followers. He knows the dangers in the Nigerian political terrain. He knows that this is the country where high profile murders can take place and nothing will happen. He knew when very important personalities including the Number One Lawyer in the country, Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige SAN, was assassinated and nothing happened up to this day.
Stage 2: Devolution of Power: Regional Government of Biafra within Nigeria as a self-governing territory. The major disagreement he has with the other people is his acceptance of the Nigerian law and politics. While other Biafran leaders say that the Nigerian Constitution is fraudulent because it was made by the military and imposed on the people and therefore should not be obeyed, Emeka Emekesiri says that even if the Nigerian Constitution is fraudulent, it remains valid and binding until abolished or abrogated. For this reason, he has anchored the Biafran Project under the Nigerian Law and Politics.
Everybody is watching how he and his teammates will succeed in this Biafran Project under the Nigerian Legal and Political System. As they watched, he activated the political movement for the Biafrans known as Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria (MOBIN) which went into an alliance with a Political Party in Nigeria. MOBIN is now in charge of the Biafran Project, to create Biafra within Nigeria as a Regional Government just like Scotland within Britain. This is called Devolution of Power. This is the next step before outright independence.
MOBIN is vehemently opposed to the Restructuring of Nigeria as being advocated by some Northern and Southern Politicians. MOBIN advocates for Devolution of Power. It appears that many Nigerians do not know the difference between Restructuring and Devolution, or perhaps they use the two words interchangeably. Though similar in meaning, the two words are not exactly the same when used in political context. Restructuring usually applies to a business or company while Devolution applies to the government of a country. The Managing Director of a Company does not give up any of his powers in restructuring the Company but the Central Government must give up some powers and grant autonomy to the Regions by way of Devolution of power. The Region can have its own Parliament and govern itself based on the agreed powers devolved to it. This is where MOBIN comes into action now.
Although we all want outright independence from Nigeria, the factual and realistic indices on the ground show that it is better for us to attain independence in phases otherwise the new nation of Biafra may be worse than South Sudan. The people seeking for independence must be properly organized and prove that they are governable before they can be granted independence and recognised by world powers in the United Nations. By operating a Regional Government and learning the arts and science of governance, we shall acquire proper experience to exercise powers of sovereignty when we eventually gain outright independence. The period of Regional Governance will enable us to establish all the necessary structures for statehood and prove that we can govern ourselves before pulling out from Nigeria. We shall develop naturally as a nation-in-waiting just like the gestation period for a child who remains in the womb for nine months to attain maturity before birth. If we are granted outright independence today, we have no structures on the ground and the requisite discipline to sustain and exercise the powers of sovereignty. There would be civil war in the new Biafra among all the factions of IPOB, MASSOB, BZM, BSSA, BLM, BIAMOS, BNYL, BF, BSO, etc. They would destroy themselves in power tussle as happening now in South Sudan. Everything has a process. Patience is required in the Biafran Project.
MOBIN therefore calls upon all indigenous People of Biafra to join the Biafran Project Phase 2 as we take over power in the whole of Biafraland. We want the Biafran activists to join politics now and be voted into power. We want the Biafran activists to occupy all the political positions in the Wards, Local Governments and States in Biafraland. We want to see Biafran activists elected as the Governors of States in Biafraland. We want the Biafran activists to occupy the State Houses of Assembly in Biafraland and pass the Biafran Bills into law. We are not interested in the Abuja politics but in the Regional politics of Biafra. Join us today.