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| Restructuring Nigeria is a FARCE. I do't believe in it - Nnamdi Kanu |
APGA will die after Anambra polls —IPOB
Referendum only way out of Biafra agitation — Walid Jibrin
Igbo in Kano, now indigenes —Ganduje 7
Pro-Biafra groups fuse, make Kanu overall leader
Seven pro-Biafra groups, yesterday, agreed to work together under the leadership of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, with the aim of achieving faster, their quest for referendum that will lead to the formation of the Republic of Biafra.
The groups said they decided to work together so that they would be speaking with one voice, seeking one objective of securing the Republic of Biafra.
This came as IPOB, yesterday, accused the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), in Anambra State of jealousy over its comments that its leader, Kanu, should stop parading himself as an Igbo Emperor, adding that APGA will cease to exist as a political party after November 18 gubernatorial election in the state.
This is even as National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Board of Trustees (BoT), Sen.Walid Jibrin, said the only answer to the agitation by the Igbo for Biafra independence is referendum and not quit notice.
Rising from a closed door meeting with Kanu, attended by over 5,000 people from various groups in Afaraukwu, Kanu’s native home, to witness his appointment as the overall leader of Biafra, Comrade Uchenna Madu, who addressed journalists, said the decision was to work together and speak with one voice under a central leader, saying, however, that all the groups still exist but would be speaking with one voice as the quest for referendum hots up.
“Distinguished members and great people of Biafra and supporters of divine mission of emancipation of the land of Biafra from the oppressive Nigeria State, we salute you. Today, we stand in this holy land of Biafra in unique and brotherly gathering to honour our own brother, who distinguished himself in the self-determination struggle for Biafra actualization and restoration.
“Today in honour of our supreme leader, Chukwu Okike Abiama and in remembrance of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, we the people of Biafra under the representation of all the pro-Biafra groups, hereby, adopt and declare our brother, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as the new leader of Biafra Nation, under whose leadership, through the grace of Chukwu Okike Abiama, the people of Biafra shall rest.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s leadership shall bring unity, peace, progress and brotherly love among the esteemed people of Biafra through the instrumentality of mutual and intimate understanding among the pro-Biafra groups.”
The groups are Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB); Biafran Revolutionary Organisation (BRO); Eastern People Congress (EPC); Joint Revolutionary Council of Biafra (JRCB); Biafra Liberation Crusaders (BLC); and Salvation People of Biafra (SPB), all of whom agreed to work indiscriminately with the Kanu-led IPOB to pursue the Republic of Biafra.
In his reaction, Nnamdi Kanu said he was humbled by the decision of the various groups and assured that he would not let them down.
He said: “I am humbled by this decision of the groups. We started together and we have all ended up together because we are sincere and purposeful. I am not in the habit of letting my friends down.
“Everybody will be carried along; if I am invited for any meeting, I will take some people along. Today is a great day for Biafrans all over the world. Today, we have shamed our enemies that think that we cannot come together, who think that if we get Biafra, we will kill ourselves, we have shamed them.”
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| A cross section of members of the various pro-Biafra groups that converged in Umuahia to name Nnamdi Kanu the leader |
Answering question, Kanu said he does not believe in the restructuring of Nigeria being called by eminent Nigerians, saying that Nigerian Government would not keep any agreement reached in the restructuring exercise. According to him, it is referendum or nothing. He said Aburi agreement was reneged on by Nigerian Government and that the 2014 National Conference was dumped where it was coated by dust until the Biafra agitation became intense and it was remembered.
On whether the IPOB has formerly written to the United Nations demanding referendum, Kanu said the best letter was the continuous civil disobedience, which he said serves as “handwriting on the wall for the government. They wake up to see it everyday.”
A United Nations observer, Prof. Nwaimo Emma, was around, yesterday, to see what was going on. According to Nwaimo, who said he is a professor of religion, he was overwhelmed with the crowd he saw and said he would report back to the United Nations the true position of what he observed.
Meanwhile, the leader of Afenifere Youths, Eric Olawale, has said the Afenifere youths have totally lost confidence in the leadership of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over his failure to arrest the Arewa youths, who gave the Igbo quit notice from the North.
Olawale also said they have lost confidence in the Northern governors over the same issue, saying that with their action, they have failed to provide leadership.
Olawale who said he was in Umuahia in solidarity with Nnamdi Kanu and other pro-Biafra groups, said that they are also keenly interested in having Oduduwa Republic.
No more APGA after Anambra polls —IPOB
Responding to the alleged letter written by APGA in Anambra State threatening a showdown with IPOB for allegedly giving an order of no election in all South-East, starting from Anambra gubernatorial election come November 18 this year, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful said: “We are not deterred by the noise coming from APGA because after November 18, 2017 guber election in Anambra, APGA will cease to exist as a political force because they killed innocent Biafrans fighting for the liberation of all of us.
“We stand strongly to tell the whole world the position of IPOB under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that we will not be participating in any party politics or electioneering in Anambra State or elsewhere for that matter. All we are asking for is a date for referendum, not war, so the people of Biafra can decide their fate in this abominable entity called Nigeria.
“The political vampires who are APGA members and other politicians in Biafraland claiming to be lovers of Biafra and her freedom should know that if Nigerian government fails to give Biafrans a date for referendum to ascertain the will of the people in no distant time, there will be no more elections in Biafraland.
“We the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and its leadership worldwide view the childish antics of APGA as a jealously laden, derisory attempt to divert attention away from the fact that APGA, as the governing party in Anambra State, has been responsible for the death of innocent Biafrans numbering over 2,000 since the formation.”
Ezu River dead bodies
IPOB also alleged that the infamous Ezu River bodies and the heinous massacres at Nkpor and Head Bridge Onitsha were perpetrated by APGA on different occasions. It said: “The party employed wholesale slaughter of our people as a way of stopping the agitation for restoration of Biafra, not knowing that we are prepared to keep dying until Biafra is restored as we swore.”
Referendum, only way to Biafra agitation —Walid Jibrin
In his address to newsmen in his country home, Nasarawa, Jibrin said the solution to the current wrangling in the country is to conduct a referendum where all contentious issues will be addressed, noting that quit notice from any quarter will not help the Nigerian situation.
He said: “I will not support anything by any group to bring division in the country. Peace and unity are the necessary requirements for the development of any nation.
“If truly the Igbo want their country, Biafra independence, it is only referendum that will grant Igbo the independence. Everybody has his/her opinion to express as Nigerians. If public opinion through referendum wants the Igbo to have their country or the North their own, so be it.”
We need national truth and reconciliation commission —Monarch
In a related development, Obong Etim Charles Daniel Abia, paramount ruler of Eket, Akwa Ibom State advocated a truth and reconciliation commission to address the various regional and ethnic differences in the country. He attributed the agitation by the Igbo for independence state of Biafra to the refusal of the north to genuinely reconcile and reintegrate the Igbo into the national scheme of things years after the civil war.
Obong Abia, who spoke to Vanguard in his palace, yesterday, said the north was still angry with the lgbo and has continued to discriminate, victimize and deprive them of national recognition 50 years after the Nigerian/Biafra war.
Igbo in Kano, now indigenes — Ganduje Meantime, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State, has weighed in on the recent quit notice, saying the Igbo in his state and “everybody is now an indigene of Kano.”
Ganduje said: “Nobody has quit Kano; they said they are not going anywhere and we too, we told them that they were not going anywhere. So, it is an issue that we in Kano want to be an example of national integration.
“Therefore, in Kano, we are dialoguing with the people and, in fact, we have even abolished the issue of indigene versus settlers. Everybody in Kano is an indigene of Kano but there are some indigenes of Kano with primordial claims elsewhere which is a fact.”
-Chioma Gabriel, Anayo Okoli, Omeiza Ajayi, Chinonso Alozie, David Odama & Emmanuel Ikora (Vanguard)
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