Release the Biafra Surrender Document Now! Open letter to Buhari

Release the Biafra Surrender Document Now! Open letter to Buhari

An open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR)

Dear General Buhari,

We greet and salute you on your assumption of office as President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria, following the recent less than free and fair presidential election (you, no doubt, saw the pictures of the lineup of underage voters all across the North that participated in the vote) in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared you the winner over Goodluck Jonathan. Uneasy lays the head that wears the crown. 

Now that you have finally achieved your dream of ruling this country in a civilian setting, after the treason of your reign as military dictator from 1983 to 1985, we are re-presenting to you an appeal that we made to Goodluck Jonathan during his time in office as president. That appeal is to release the declassified instrument of Biafra surrender, following the genocidal war of 1967 to 1970, which claimed the lives of over 3 million innocent Igbo and other Easterners.

While you enjoyed your coronation yesterday as the latest king of slave-ship called Nigeria, please allow us to enjoy and reflect on ours today, namely, – the commemoration of the independence of the Nation of Biafra. Recall that this was the day the Nation of Biafra, 48 years ago, proudly exercised their God given rights to Self-Actualization – freedom from rejection and annihilation. Is it not tragic, General Buhari, that you played an instrumental role in abuse of  Biafran human rights and freedom – by participating in the second recorded genocide in world history, and the first in the continent of Africa? Because of what you and your fellow travelers did in this foundational genocide, is it any wonder that the genocides later in Rwanda, Sudan, and other places in Africa followed suit, with reckless abandon with tragic consequences for the lives of millions of innocent Africans, including the more than 3 million Easterners who perished in Biafra? 

Herein is our second request to you and your Nigerian authority to release the declassified surrender document of the Biafrans. In our first request last year, we made our reasons very clear. Those justifications included the freedom of Information Act (FOI) that your predecessor signed into law in 2011, and the fact that 45 years is more than the maximum 30-year rule imposed for declassification of key national security documents by any serious entity. Your predecessor never responded to us, hence this second request. The other two tyrants, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu Gowon, which we also copied to, did not acknowledge or respond to our request. 

(Neither did Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo, the world renowned “Ofeke” Igbo of the present day Igbo organization. Perhaps, if they start by changing their name to “Ohabueze” that reflects the true Igbo way of life; their years of cowardice attitude might change for good.)

Therefore, General Buhari, here is another opportunity to humiliate the Biafrans by releasing the declassified surrender document.

In the event that this second request to release is not granted in 30 days, as the mandatory working days under the FOI specifies, we the Biafrans will reaffirm the following little known facts:

•That in January, 1970, there was a “Truce” by all parties of the conflicts

•That the conflicting parties sat down formally on a negotiating roundtable as old friends and “brothers.”

•That all the parties in the agreement roundtable were equal partners

•That the “Armistice” or “Peace” agreement reached was a permanent “Cessation of Hostilities” by the conflicting parties to sheathe their swords

•That all gladiators in the conflict agreed also in principle that they were “common brothers” of the same birth by the British Empire. (The hypocrisy of reconciling with a group, and then turning around to hate, haunt, and brutalize that group is mind boggling)

We will also demand that the citizens of Nigeria stop, with immediate effect, their erroneous and ignorant delusion:

•That they and their collaborators (including Britain, former U.S.S.R., the Arab League, etc.) defeated Biafra in that war

•That their unwarranted pomposity about being ready to teach the Igbo another lesson is laughable, knowing that 1967 is not the same as 2015

•That their continuous serial killings, intimidations, and harassments of Igbo people everywhere in Nigeria must not be mistaken as a sign of cowardice of the Igbo Nation

•That the haters and killers of Igbo people every day in Nigeria have no monopoly to violence

•That Self-Determination by any aggrieved group, as enshrined in the United Nation Charter, is a concept that Nigeria is not immunized from, going by the experience of many countries, including South Sudan recently, that has exercised that option. 

Thank you General Buhari as we await your reply. We wish you well. 

As one of your fellow Nigerians famously put it, “May your road be rough!”

Signed:

Maazi Nnanna Uma

For: IgboZaraIgbo

1629 K Street, NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20006

IgboZaraIgbo@yahoo.com

Cc:

General Yakubu Gowon

General Olusegun Obasanjo

The Ohaneze “ofeke” Ndi-Igbo organization

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