TheNewsGuru

Tag: Biafra

  • If we take up arms, hold Buhari responsible – IPOB

    The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari and the five governors of the southeastern states were working hard to criminalize it despite its non-violent stand.

    In a press release signed by Emma Powerful, media and publicity secretary of the group, he said the Buhari administration and the five governors were worried that despite the brazen provocation and attack against its leader and members, the group had remained non-violent.

    It said that President Buhari should be blamed if the group decided to shed its non-violent stand and take to arms as it has been pushed beyond the limit.

    “It was the Nigerian government and her security operatives that brought violence into the Biafra agitation, not IPOB. Should IPOB decide to engage in an armed struggle at a future date, the world must hold the government of Buhari, Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo responsible.

    “We always held peaceful rallies and protests all around major cities across Biafraland without any violent incident or objection from the masses, but they decided to tag us terrorists in order to justify the violent crackdown on innocent Biafran populations. Our happiness is that today the world can see that IPOB is innocent and have totally vindicated us,” he said.

    The group which referred to the governors and the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo as political contractors said they were envious of IPOB’s popularity and the demonstrable feat it had achieved in the struggle.

  • Biafra: We are committed to a united Nigeria – South-South, South-East Governors

    Governors from the South-east and South-south Zones on Monday rejected calls for the breakup of the country while rallying support for its continued existence as an indivisible entity.

    The governors made their position known in a communiqué issued at the end of an extensive meeting of the South-east/South-south Governors Forum in Owerri.

    They reiterated that a divided nation would not be acceptable to the people of the two zones and re-echoed the need for the country to remain united.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that eight governors and one deputy governor attended the meeting.

    The communiqué was signed by Chairman of the forum and Governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel.

    The forum commended the role played by stakeholders and patriots in instituting broad-based negotiations between the North and the South-east, saying this led to the setting aside of a quit notice issued to the Igbo by some groups.

    It, however, expressed worry over what it considered lack of significant federal presence in the region and called for more attention to be paid to the infrastructural needs of the affected states.

    The forum also resolved that the regions would unite in a way that would be beneficial to the political future of the people of the regions.

    It said that the bond between the South-east and South-south zones was much more than political party considerations.

    The forum also commended the efforts of security agencies in the regions, saying these had brought peace and stability.

    It commended the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for organising security summit in different zones and expressed optimism that the outcome would lead to better policing in the country.

    Governors who attended the meeting apart from Emmanuel were Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta).

    Others were Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ben Ayade (Cross River) while Anambra was represented by its deputy governor, Nkem Okeke.

     

  • Biafra: Kukah disowns comments on social media, says ‘I have nothing to do with it’

    The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has disowned an article credited to him encouraging the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which has been trending online.

    The Bishop in a terse statement personally signed by him on Friday, said: “Here is a disclaimer for notice of the general public.

    “There is a spurious and an untitled piece credited to me about Biafra which is enjoying wide circulation on the social media.

    “I have nothing to do with it.”

    Part of the article credited to the vocal Bishop on social media reads: “Anyone who thinks the Biafra agitation is a nuisance and irritating should know that it is not the collective aspiration of all Igbos but especially that no one has the monopoly of nuisance. Nuisance begets nuisance. When you stay with potash loaders you too will share in their dusty hair.

    “It is in this country that the same standards are not held against all. Some can get away with anything but others cannot get away with something. I shudder at those who blame the agitators for agitating. Everyone knows what is good for them. If you don’t know what is good for you then shut up and don’t obstruct those who know what is good for them.

    “If I have my way I will cease to be a Nigerian because there is no sense of nationhood. Those who have leverage over others use it to oppress them. Otherwise how can you explain the audacious impunity of a certain section of this country. They can intimidate everybody even a sitting president and get away with it. When GEJ was president he was literally harassed by this same people until they sent him packing and we thought they will be appeased. But a las we were mistaken!”

  • Biafra: ‘Nnamdi Kanu’s followers have entered one-chance vehicle’ – Army

    The Nigerian Army has said followers of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, have ‘entered one-chance vehicle’

    The Army also accused Kanu of having no verified means of livelihood except his use of “propaganda” which he employs to make people believe him.

    The was stated by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman in Abuja while rounding off a two-day media conference on the military’s enhancement of human rights.

    The army spokesman, who stressed the need for a robust army-media relationship towards enhancing national security, said those people following the IPOB leader were in a “one-chance vehicle.”

    Usman said, “There was an allegation that somebody (Kanu) went into hiding. Now, I can’t remember the day but in an interview on Channels TV, one of Nnamdi Kanu’s younger brothers said that he was in hiding and he knew where he was.

    “And one lawyer came up that he has taken the Chief of Army Staff to court. Now, who gave you the brief? You said you do not know where he (Kanu) is. Now, who gave you the brief? And the media is asking us where is Nnamdi Kanu? Why not ask the man that said so who gave him the brief to take people to court when he does not know where the man is?

    “…That is why those people following him have entered into a one-chance vehicle. This is somebody standing trial in a criminal case. Sometimes, whether we like it or not, we want to stand against the truth. But no matter how long, the truth will come to pass on October 17. This is an individual without a means of livelihood.

    “I can speak eloquently. So what? If I can speak like him; I can also have my own group, that’s exactly what is happening. So, what is the essence of our education as a people? You know that somebody is in a criminal case, and you believe in him.”

    The lead Defence Counsel to the IPOB leader, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said the statement of the military was an “afterthought”, adding that the case was in court.

    He said, “What we have put before the court is that the army should produce Nnamdi Kanu. The statement about his credibility or his means of livelihood is an afterthought. The case is already in court.”

  • Forget about BIAFRA, call for restructuring, Ohanaeze leader tells Igbo youths

    The Southeast should forget the agitation for Biafra, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said yesterday.

    The Igbo should work towards the restructuring of Nigeria, their apex socio-cultural organisation said.

    “We should forget Biafra and insist on restructuring. There is no Igbo person that is happy with the situation of things in Nigeria. We must seek peaceful ways of resolving the issues,” Ohanaeze President John Nwodo said.

    He spoke in Umuahis during the inauguration of the state and local government executives of the Abia State chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

    Nwodo said elders warned Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu against the manner he was going about his agitation for Biafra, but he did not listen.

    To the Ohanaeze leader, restoration of Biafra was a tall order, given the constitutional roadblocks which, he said, will not be in the overall interest of Ndigbo in their socio-economic and political relationships with other Nigerians.

    He said while youths were justified in expressing their anger at Ndigbo’s marginalisation in national affairs, Nwodo said they should moderate their actions and words. Hate speeches would not resolve any problem, Nwodo said.

    The Ohaneze leader spoke of how elders told Kanu and his other IPOB members to tone down their words and desist from denigrating people and groups.

    He also said Kanu was told that his insistence on Biafra and boycott of the November 18 election in Anambra State were not acceptable to Ndigbo, hence he should abandon his rigid position and join in the quest for restructuring.

    Nwodo justified the proscription of IPOB by the Governors Forum, explaining that what the state chief executives did was to stop IPOB from engaging in its public activities that could spark fatal clashes with security agencies.

    He said without the action taken by the governors of the Southeast, that the zone would still have been engulfed in bloodshed, adding that he would not sit by and allow the youth to be cut down prematurely.

    Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said Nigeria and the world were passing through perilous times, hence the need to seek peace.

    Ikpeazu said: “We believe in justice, equity and fairness. I believe in ‘live and let live’, as nobody delights in being oppressed.”

    He advised Igbo youths to respect leaders and listen to advice of elders instead of embarking on agitation to express their frustration.

    Ikpeazu said henceforth, youths and any Igbo person or group with grievances should complain to Ohaneze which is in a position to take the matter up with the appropriate authorities.

    Abia State President of Ohaneze, Mr. Chimaobim Ajuzieogu said the organisation would “no longer sit on the fence; neither shall we continue to observe as spectators in the affairs that affect us”.

    Ajuzieogu said the new leadership of Ohaneze in the state would strive hard to restore the value system of Ndigbo through massive media campaigns, adding that Nwodo should be praised for the “revivalist strategy” he had adopted.

    Elder statesman Emmanuel Adaelu, who chaired the occasion, called for unity among Ndigbo, saying that the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo should be recognised as the voice of the Igbo and no group should try to usurp that authority.

    Nwodo also expressed dismay over the spate of hate speech on social media platforms by Igbo youths under the guise of agitating for Biafra.

    He said making inciting speeches was capable of causing crisis which could lead to mass violence in the nation, adding that it was pertinent to respect constituted authorities.

    Nwodo said the first hand experience that he had during the civil war had given him an understanding of the throes of war, adding that no nation had fought two wars and survived.

    “There are 11.6 million Igbo people living in the North and it will be wise for Igbo people living in the South-East and elsewhere to put them into consideration while speaking or engaging in certain activities.

    “I urge Igbo youths to desist from activities and comments that could spark violence in the nation. At the moment what Igbo people need to fight for is restructuring of the nation.

    “Ohanaeze is in an era of transparency. I assure you that we have not relented in speaking for the Igbo people,especially in the area of restructuring for the benefit of Igbo people.”

  • Biafra is a spirit, you cannot kill it- Prophet Chris Okafor

    The General Overseer of the Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministries a.k.a Liberation City has shared his opinion on the ongoing Biafra agitation

    The eclectic pastor said it is unfair for the Nigerian government to deploy the full weight of the military in the manner they did, to quell the secessionist agitations of the IPOB members and the people of that region.

    In his words: “Our Government needs to learn how to resolve issues with dialogue. No amount of time or resources expended towards dialogue is a waste. This is not 1967. Anybody who thinks that they can kill an agitation like Biafra with force is truly living in fools’ paradise. It can never happen! Biafra is a spirit. Wasn’t it Ojukwu who started it? He’s gone but Biafra is still here. You can’t kill a spirit with guns and arrows, not even with a nuclear bomb. If Ojukwu’s exit did not kill the agitation, how can any human being think or believe that Nnamdi Kanu’s exit will kill the agitation.

    “As a matter of fact, more people have now joined the agitation and mark my words, worst people than Nnamdi Kanu will soon emerge-they are already there and nobody knows how peaceful those ones will be. We should behave like a 21st century constitutional entity and stop using force to do everything. Dialogue is the only way out and the Government of the day must take advantage now!” he declared.

    Speaking further he urged Nigerians to keep praying for the nation.

    “Let us keep praying for the country, because if we don’t pray, we will all share from what is to come. We must pray in particular that God should give our leaders the wisdom to steer the ship of State in the right direction. Wisdom, the bible says, is profitable to direct”.

  • We don’t need your permission on IPOB – Nigerian govt replies US

    The Federal Government of Nigeria has reaffirmed that it does not need the permission of any nation before declaring Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), anyone or group a terrorist organisation.

    Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said Nigeria had never questioned the decisions of any country regarding the running of its internal affairs.

    Mohammed was reacting to the insistence of the US government that IPOB is not a terror squad.

    He told Punch that when many countries of the world declared their own citizens terrorists, Nigeria never interfered, out of respect for their sovereignty and integrity.

    Mohammed stated, “Nigeria is a sovereign country and it does not require the permission of any other country to declare any person or organisation a terrorist just as those countries don’t need the permission of Nigeria to declare any organisation a terrorist one.”

    Recall that the United States, last week, opposed the position of the Nigerian government on IPOB.

    Spokesman for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, said “Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution of grievances.”

    “The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law.”

  • Extradite Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria now – Rights group tells UK government

    A human rights group, Advocate of Social Justice for All has called for the immediate extradition of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra back to Nigeria.

    The group said it was disappointed that the UK government was hiding Kanu, after he had caused the death of many persons in Nigeria.

    The rights group was reacting to the shocking revelation made by former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu that Kanu fled to London through Malaysia.

    The ex- Abia state governor had said, “Kanu was not taken away by the military. Kanu went to Malaysia from where he travelled to the United Kingdom.”‎

    Reacting, however, ASJA said it was disappointed to learn that Kanu was hiding in the United Kingdom after illegally travelling through Cameroon and Malaysia.

    It said the development was a clear indication that the UK was harbouring a fugitive from Justice and this was irrespective of him holding dual nationalism – Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

    “The proper thing is for the UK to have allowed Kanu answer the treason charges against him in Nigeria before making any intervention,” the group said in a statement by its Executive Director, Asongo Venatius,.

    ASJA said it was supremely irresponsible for the UK High Commission in Nigeria to have issued its statement seeking clarification on Nnamdi Kanu when it knew it was in cahoots with the terrorist leader.

    He added, “The irresponsible behaviour became diabolic when the UK issued him an emergency travel document in collaboration with crisis merchants. This is the worst form of double standard ever.

    “We are at a loss to understand what the UK Mission in Nigeria or even the home country stands to gain by mischievously sinking so low to aid and facilitate his sneaking out of the country. This is a disgrace to the government and people of the United Kingdom, it is a blot that can only be erased by the government of the UK flushing out Kanu and all other bad elements that are trying to sabotage Nigeria.

    “If the UK truly believes in freedom, it must extradite Kanu, who is facing charges in a Nigerian court, so that those who stood surety to perfect his bail conditions do not end up in jail if he fails to show up for his trial.

    “Even where the UK has decided to spurn the ties that existed between it and Nigeria, we advise it to revisit the ill-advised choice of backing a terrorist against the Nigerian state. “As the UK should have learnt from initially supporting ISIS terrorists, the attacks by these sick minds would eventually take place on its soil.

    “The Advocates of Social Justice for All (ASJA) therefore demands that the UK High Commission in Nigeria immediately extradite Nnamdi Kanu to stand trial for his crime before his October 17, 2017 court appearance. Failure to do this will see ASJA leading Nigerians to occupy the UK High Commission’s premises in a manner it has never experienced before in any other part of the world.”

  • Buhari’s October 1 speech showed his hatred for Igbos – Ozekhome

    Activist lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech on Octpber 1 clearly displayed his hatred for people of the South-East.

    He said Buhari showed a fixated hatred for Igbos when he berated leaders of the region for allowing those feeling marginalised to agitate for the breakup of the country.

    Describing the speech as not only un-presidential but un-reconciliatory, Ozekhome wondered how Buhari could see nothing wrong in the murderous activities of herdsmen across the country as well as the illegal quit notice asking Igbos to vacate the North without any repercussion against them.

    Ozekhome’s stance on Buhari’s speech was contained, in a statement he signed, entitled ‘President Muhammadu Buhari’s National Day Broadcast: Yet Another Golden Opportunity Lost.”

    According to Ozekhome, “The entire national day broadcast by PMB on the occasion of Nigeria’s 57th independence is quite disappointing in all ramifications.

    “It was very un-presidential and un-reconciliatory. PMB left the real issues and pursued trifles.

    “The broadcast was rabidly narcissist, parochial, nepotic and clannish, as it failed to see anything wrong with the blatant and well reported threats by the Arewa youths to quit fellow Nigerians from their domains.

    “The speech followed his now well worn out fixation of perceived hatred for the Igbo race, whose leadership he needlessly scurilized and lampooned, for allegedly being behind IPOB and other agitations.

    “I doubt and didn’t hear him mention anything about gun wielding herdsmen that literally vanquish citizens in their own homesteads across Nigeria.

    “The President celebrated mediocrity and edified his government’s non-performance two and half years down the line.

    “I genuinely wondered if he was discussing the same country, Nigeria, that I am in, or another utopian planet Mars.

    “The beautiful picture of a peaceful country he painted so glowingly and artistically with the paintbrush of breathless satisfaction is quite different from the stark reality on the ground, which every beleaguered Nigerian labours under.

    “His speech writers either wallowed in utopian mystic of redemptive messianism, or in crass fraud and grand deception.

    “But, Nigerians are no fools. Did I hear PMB say this is the first time a government at the Centre is losing the governorship, senatorial and Houses of Assembly’s elections to the opposite at the state level?

    “No sir, wrong. Whoever gave Mr. President this false electoral history has done him incalculable disservice and great damage and ridicule’.

    “Few examples: Remember Ondo state (Labour Party), Osun and Edo states (AC), Anambra (APGA), etc?

    “Not only did the ruling PDP lose the elections to those opposition parties, the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan actually rolled out the drums and congratulated the new governors, Senators and House member.

    “Peter Obi won the Anambra state governorship election in 2010 for the second time on the platform of APGA.

    “Obasanjo was President at the Centre under the PDP, just as Bola Tinubu won the Lagos state governorship seat twice under AD and ACN, with Obasanjo as president under PDP at the Centre.

    “Buhari lost yet another golden opportunity to balm bruised nationalities’ ego and cement Nigeria’s yawning cleavages, hate and divisiveness.

    “Must everything be predicated on falsehood, force, threats and gun boat diplomacy, viet armis?

    “It didn’t ever work. When he applied such excessive force and threats to the Niger Delta militants, I counseled then it would not work.

    “The marginalized youth picked up the gauntlet, serially blew up oil pipelines, tore up Nigeria’s oil jugular into smithereens.

    “Crude oil output plummeted to about 700 thousand barrels per day from 1.5m barrels.

    “It took the then Acting President Yemi Osibanjo’s shuttle diplomacy to the Niger Delta region to quell the strife.

    “It was Napoleon Bonarparte, a French General and Emperor (1769-1821), who famously declared: “do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything.“PMB sir, allow Nigerians enjoy the full bloom of democracy and its inbuilt mechanisms for conflict resolution.”

  • IPOB: ‘We need urgent clarifications on Nnamdi Kanu’s status, whereabouts’, UK Govt tells FG

    Worried by the disappearance of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, from public scene for over two weeks now, the United Kingdom has asked the Federal Government for clarifications on his whereabouts.

    The British government sought to know if Kanu, who also doubles as its citizen is alive or dead.

    The Press Officer, UK high commission in Nigeria, Joe Abuku, stated that the inquiry followed reports that Kanu had been missing since September 14, 2017 when armed soldiers allegedly stormed his residence in Abia State.

    “We are seeking urgent clarification from the Nigerian authorities about the status and whereabouts of Mr. Kanu, a British-Nigerian man, who has been reported missing since September 14,” Abuku stated in an email to The Punch’s inquiry on Thursday.

    Asked if the UK would strip Kanu of citizenship on account of the declaration by Nigeria that he was leading a terrorist organisation, the mission said it does not comment on individual cases.

    “One of the conditions that can make the United Kingdom strip its citizen of nationality is if the person engages in a terrorist activity at home or abroad. And Kanu has dual citizenship and therefore a citizen of Nigeria and the UK,” the mission stated.

    When asked if the UK supported the Nigerian government’s proscription of the IPOB, Abuku stated that the group was not a proscribed organisation under the British law.

    “The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a proscribed organisation in the UK,” the mission spokesperson stressed.

    However, when asked if the group was free to raise funds or hold rallies in Britain, Abuku said he would need to get an official response on that, but subsequently declined to respond to the question.

    He also declined comment on whether the IPOB might be designated as a terrorist group or proscribed by the British authorities.

    Abuku said, “We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription. A decision to proscribe an organisation must be based on a belief that it is concerned in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000, and it must be proportionate.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the United States had earlier said it did not consider IPOB a terrorist group and urged Nigerians to de-escalate tension and embrace peaceful resolution of grievances.

    Spokesperson for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, had said, “Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tension and peaceful resolution of grievances. The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law.”

    However, as at press time, TheNewsGuru.com could not immediately ascertain if the federal government has responded to the United Kingdom’s inquiries about the whereabouts of the embattled IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.