Details of the proclamation of the Republic Of Biafra 1967 (Part 2)

Details of the proclamation of the Republic Of Biafra 1967 (Part 2)

Continued from: Proclamation of the Republic Of Biafra 1967 (Part 1)Again on September 29, 1966, the pogrom was resumed Thirty thousand Eastern Nigerians are known to have been killed by North­erners. They were killed in the North, in Western Nigeria, in Lagos; some Eastern soldiers in detention at Benin were forcibly removed from prison by Northern soldiers and murdered.

At the time of the incident, millions of Eastern Nigerians resided outside the East and persons from other parts of the country lived in this Region . While Eastern Nigerians who assembled at Northern airports, railway stations and motor parks, were set upon by Northern soldiers and civilians armed with machine guns, rifles, daggers and poisoned arrows, the Army and Police in the East were specifically instructed to shoot at sight any Eastern Nigerian found molesting non-Easterners living in the Region. By early October, the sight of mutilated refugees, orphaned children, widowed mothers and decapitated corpses of Eastern Nigerians arriving at our airports and railway stations inflamed passions to such an extent that it was found necessary to ask all non-Easterners to leave the region in their own interest. Since the events of July, 1966, there has been a mass movement of population in this country. Nigerian society has undergone a funda­mental change; it is no longer possible for Eastern Nigerians to live outside the Region without fear of loss of life or of property. 

Two facts emerge from the events described above. The wide­spread nature of the massacre and its periodicity—29th May, 29th July, and 29th September—show firstly, that they were premeditated and planned, and secondly, that Eastern Nigerians are no longer wanted as equal partners in the Federation of Nigeria. It must be recalled that this was the fourth in a series of massacres of Eastern Nigerians in the last two decades. 

At the early stages of the crisis, the world was told that it was a conflict between the North and the East. That pretence collapsed when it became clear that Northern soldiers moved into Western Nigeria and Lagos as another step in Northern Nigeria’s bid to continue her so-called conquest to the sea. Belatedly, it was generally accepted that the fundamental issue was not a struggle between the East and the North, but one involving the very existence of Nigeria as one political entity. Throughout the Nigerian crises, some of the indegenious judges have been found quite unequal to their calling by reason of their involvement in partisan politics. People soon lost faith in them, and would not go to their courts for redress. In some measure, they were res­ponsible for the collapse of the rule of law in certain parts of Nigeria. Providence has spared us in the East from this terrible calamity.

It is now, necessary to summarise the attempts of the Government and people of Eastern Nigeria to solve the crisis, and of the bad faith with which these attempts have been received. 

On August 9, 1966, representatives of the Military Governors meeting in Lagos made decisions for restoring peace and for clearing the way for constitutional talks notably the decision that troops be all repatriated to their region of origin. These decisions were not fully implemented. 

On September 12, the Ad Hoc Constitutional Conference consisting of delegates representing all the Governments of the Federation met in Lagos, and for three weeks sought to discover a form of association best suited to Nigeria having regard to the prevailing circumstances and their causes, and future possibilities. This Conference was unilaterally dismissed by Lt.-Col. Gowon, the Head of the Lagos Government. 

It had become then impossible for the Supreme Military Council, the highest governing body in the Federation, to meet on Nigerian soil. As long as Northern troops were in Lagos and the West, no venue could be found acceptable to all the Military Governors for a meeting of the Supreme Military Council in Nigeria. It met at Aburi in Ghana on 4th and 5th January, 1967, on the basis of an agenda previously deter­mined by the official of the Governments of the country and adopted by the Supreme Military Council. Decisions reached at the meeting were ignored by .Lt.-Col.. Gowon ,and .the North. In the interest of this Region and of the whole Country the East stood firmly by those decisions, and, warned that they would be applied to Eastern Nigeria if steps were not taken by the Lagos Government to apply them generally. The East rejected all measures which did not reflect the decisions at Aburi. 

The Aburi accord was not implemented by the Lagos Government. All the meetings of Military Leaders held since Aburi were held without the East. All the decisions taken by Lagos were taken without comment and concurrence from the East. 

It became evident that each time Nigerians came close to a realistic solution to the current crisis by moving towards a loose form of associa­tion or confederation, Lt-Col. Gowon unilaterally frustrated their efforts . When the representatives of the Military Governors decided on August 9 that troops be repatriated to their Regions of origin, and it appeared to him that this would, lead to confederation, he unilaterally refused to fully implement that decisjon. When jn September the Ad HOC Constitutional Conferençe appeared near agreement an a loose Federation, he unilaterally dismissed them indefinitely. When in January 1967, the Military Leaders agreed at Aburi on what the Federal Permanent Secretaries correctly interpreted as confederation he unilaterally rejected the Agreement to Which he had, voluntarily subscribed. When in May, 1967, all the Southern Military Governors and the Leaders of Thought of their Regions spoke out in favour of Confederation, he dismissed the Supreme Military Council and pro­claimed himself the dictator of Nigeria—an act which, to say the least, is treasonable. 

Following the pogrom of 1966, some two million Eastern Nigerians have returned from other Regions, refugees in their own Country. Money was needed to care for them—not to give them mere relief but to rehabilitate them and, in time, restore their outraged feelings. The Lagos Government was urged to give the Eastern Nigeria Government its share of the statutory revenues. Lt.-Col. Gowon refused to do so in the hope that the weight of the burden would lead to the economic collapse of Eastern Nigeria. 

Ultimately, and beginning from April 1, 1967, steps were taken to recover what was due to Eastern Nigeria and to enable this Region and her people to survive. These are the “Survival Edicts”: The Revenue Collection Edict, the Legal Education (Eastern Nigeria) Edict, the Statutory Bodies Edict and the Court of Appeal Edict. 

At each stage during the crisis, in accordance with the democratic and republican spirit of Eastern Nigerians, the people were fully consulted for their advice and guidance. 

On August 31, 1966, the First Consultative Assembly and the Advisory Committee of Chiefs and Elders consisting of four representa­tives from each administrative division and other interests were sum­moned and the facts relating to the crisis put before them. Their advice was as follows: 

“Be it resolved as follows:— 

1. We, the representatives of the various communities in Eastern Nigeria gathered in this Consultative Assembly, hereby declare our implicit confidence in the MIilitary Governor for Eastern Nigeria, Lt.-Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, in all the actions he has so far taken to deal with the situation which has arisen in Nigeria since May 29, 1966.

2. In view of the grave threat to our survival as ‘a unit in the Republic of Nigeria, we. hereby urge and empower/advise him to take all such actions that might be necessary to protect the integrity of Eastern Nigeria and the lives and property of its inhabitants. 

3. We advise constant consultation by His Excellency with the Consultative Assembly. 

4. In view of the gravity of the present situation we affirm com­plete faith in and urge the need for solidarity of Eastern Nigeria as a unit. 

5. In view of the present situation of things no delegates be sent to Lagos for any constitutional talks unless the safety of the delegates is guaranteed.” 

After the adjournment of the Ad Hoc Constitutional Conference, these bodies, now enlarged to consist of ten representatives from each administrative division in Eastern Nigeria and other sectors of the community were summoned. The delegates to the Ad Hoc Constitu­tional Conference placed a full report before them, and by a resolution dated October 7, 1966, the Consultative, Assembly and the Advisory Committee of Chiefs and Elders advised as follows: 

1. PLACES on - record its. deep gratitude to, the Eastern Nigeria Delegation to the Constitutional Conference in Lagos for the diligent and faithful way in which, under conditions of severe strain, tension and fear, they carried out the mandate given to them by the Consul­tative Assembly and the, Chiefs and Elders of Eastern Nigeria. 

2. ENDORSES the stand of the Eastern Delegation it the Lagos Constitutional Conference.

3 URGES that as an interim measure, a beginning be made to implement those aspects of the recommendations as relate to the Armed Forces at least to the extent of returning to their Regions of origin and vesting the operational control of the regional contingents in the respective Military Governors.

4 RE-AFFIRMS its acceptance of the Report of the Committee on the Pattern of Constitution for Eastern Nigeria within the Federation of Nigeria and the additional suggestions proposed by the Graham -­Douglas Constitutional Committee regarding the legislative and executive functions to be devolved upon the Provincial Units and urges that the Constitutional Committee should forthwith study the details of the scheme with particular reference to the number and size of provinces, the distribution of functions between the Provinces and the Regional Government financial arrangements and the method and tuning of implementation. 

5 ENDORSES both the principle of the creation of more states in Nigeria and the statement of the Eastern Delegation to the Lagos Constitutional Conference to the effect that the splitting up of the country at this stage is not what is needed to normalize the conditions of life in the country and provide a sense of security for its inhabitants, that immediate constitutional arrangements for the country as a whole should be made on the basis of the existing Regions in order to save the country from impending disintegration

6 SINCE the issue of the creation of more states is a vital and inevitable item on the Agenda of the Lagos Constitutional Con­ference, RECCOMENDS the following as the conditions upon which , the creation of states should proceed:-

(a) The basis for the creation of states must be mutually agreed upon beforehand and must be uniformly and consistently applied throughout the country. 

(b) The creation of states must take place simultaneously throughout the country. 

(c) The creation of any new state must be based upon the consent of the people of the area which is to be included in the proposed state and where two or more distinct tribal groupings are comprised within such area the wishes of each such grouping must be separately ascertained and respected. 

(d) The population, area and economic resources of any new state which it is proposed to create must be reasonably commensurate to the enormous functions which the states will be expected to perform under the new constitutional arrangements envisaged for Nigeria. 

7. IN VIEW of the fact that the desire on the part of the minority groups for self-determination is the active force behind the demand for the creation of more states and since in the context of present-day Nigeria minorities are defined by reference to tribe, AFFIRMS its belief that the best hope for a satisfactory solution to the problems of Nigeria lies in the recognition and preservation of the separate identity of the various tribal or linguistic groupings and their right to develop each along its own line and at its own pace accordingly

RECOMMENDS that the creation of states throughout Nigeria should be on the basis of tribal or linguistic groupings or mutual consent between the linguistic groupings. 

8. ADVISES that, until the agreements, reached by the personal representatives of the Military Governors on August 8 and 9 are fully implemented, and until immediate compensation is paid by the Federal Military Government for the lives and property of Easterners lost in the disturbed areas of Nigeria, the Eastern Nigeria Delegation should no longer participate in future Constitutional Conference. 

9. SATISFIED that the interim report of the Constitutional Con­ference has been completely overtaken by the most recent events in the country, ADVISES that the only possible and logical solution to the problem of political association for Nigeria lies in the organization and running of common services.

A. IK0KU Chairman

DATED 7th October, 1966.