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| ADF blast Igbo governors as it rejects proscription of IPOB and tagging as a terror group. |
- IPOB is a serious organization pursuing a non-violent struggle for Self-Determination
ADF is aware of the strong-arm tactics and blackmail used by the Federal Government of Nigeria to force the Governors of the South-East to succumb to the invasion of Alaigbo after blackmailing the IPOB. - State Governors, State legislators and others in positions of authority answer to posterity
- It is an abomination and the sign of the worst form of ill-will in Igbo culture and indeed in most other cultures in Nigeria to invade the Obi (palace) of a traditional leader. It is a sign of war.
COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT THE END OF THE COUNCIL
MEETING OF ALAIGBO DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (ADF) HELD AT ENUGU ON OCTOBER 13
and 14, 2017.
The
Council of the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) held its meeting in Enugu
on October 13 and 14, 2017. The Council deliberated on various
issues including some critical political developments in Nigeria in general and
in Alaigbo in particular.
1.
On
the proscription and banning of IPOB:
The ADF
Council rejected the proscription as well as the banning of the Indigenous
Peoples of Biafra organization (IPOB) on the allegation that the IPOB is a
terrorist organization.
The Council
reaffirmed her views as expressed in the Communique issued after the Council’s
meeting of May 29, 2016 that the IPOB
was a serious organization pursuing a non-violent struggle for
Self-Determination. ADF is aware that the campaign of Self-Determination is a
form of struggle that is very common in the history of the crises-ridden
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Agitations for self-determination across Nigeria have been bred by
several factors including the parochial management of the affairs of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria as if it is the property of a section of the
country; the control of the resources of the country without any concern for the
interest of those from whose territories the resources are derived; the
inherent abuse of power, manipulation, and corruption in the system; the
obvious widespread ethnic and religious cleansing targeted at Ndigbo and other
ethnic groups in the Republic by one section against the rest, the brazen
destruction of farmlands, killing of innocent farmers of target ethnicities by
Fulani herdsmen edged on by their owners and patrons with the connivance of
Federal Securities; all these have led to agitations for self-determination by
the affected sections of the country.
Yesterday, it was the Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the Niger Delta
Agitators waging stern campaigns for
freedom and Self-Determination. The IPOB emerges as a unique pedigree of the
non-violent struggle for Self-Determination – engaging in peaceful rallies,
expressing radical views which under normal circumstances may be unacceptable.
IPOB has in a very unique manner tried to prove its authenticity as an
expression of the peoples’ yearning for freedom,
justice and equality. What else could be a stronger evidence of the synergy
between its agitations and the peoples’ aspirations than the way and manner the
people in and outside mainland Alaigbo both in Nigeria and across the world
responded to and obeyed the May 30, 2017
Sit-At-Home Call by the organization.
ADF believes that only leaders who do not care about the life and
aspirations of those they claim to lead would ignore such a signal as the May
30 Sit-At-Home call by the IPOB. Indeed
only such leaders can take delight in suppressing legitimate agitations,
subjecting innocent children and their mothers to all forms of torture,
humiliation and abomination.
ADF is aware of the strong-arm tactics and blackmail used by the Federal
Government of Nigeria to force the Governors of the South-East to succumb to
the invasion of Alaigbo after blackmailing the IPOB. ADF is also aware that
none of these Igbo sons, no matter the lure of personal gains, was smiling and
toasting to abuse of power while viewing those innocent unarmed youth shot to
death, some subjected to various forms of inhuman treatment including being
forced to drink stagnant, muddy water and drowning in it. Nor were they
comfortable beholding the sanctity of Igbo women being publicly assaulted by
the Nigerian soldiers.
Yes, ADF was never a flute player for the IPOB. Rather ADF did her
utmost to play the role of OKPUOBU in the series of interactions she had with
the leadership of IPOB, ADF did sternly caution IPOB leadership against any
excesses in their agitation, including rejection of the IPOB campaign against
the November 18, 2017 Governorship Election in Anambra State.
The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) had meetings with the ADF
leadership at which we discussed many issues including the
ferocious non-election-in-Anambra campaign of the IPOB. ADF was on the
threshold of a joint-Press Conference scheduled for Tuesday, September 12th, 2017
where the IPOB would announce her withdrawal of the campaign against the
Anambra State Governorship Election. Unfortunately, and most tragically, two
days to that date we read that the Nigerian Army had
commenced their INVASION AND
OCCUPATION OF ALAIGBO in the guise of the so-called OPERATION PYTHON DANCE during
which the home of Nnamdi Kanu was attacked and many unarmed youths were
slaughtered.
ADF Council
notes with emphasis that IPOB had remained a non-violent self-determination
agitation group, which several national and international protocols give it
right to. We underline therefore that IPOB is not a terrorist organization and
should be allowed, unmolested, to continue its non-violent agitation. We also
note that, regardless of the truncation occasioned by the Nigerian Army, IPOB
had agreed to withdraw its no-election campaign in Anambra State. Council
salutes IPOB for that epoch decision, showing that it is an organization ready
to listen to their elders, especially when handled with the wisdom with which
Igbo Elders handle their angry youth and other citizens.
2.
On
the Military Invasion of Alaigbo:
The ADF reiterates our grave concern over the very
provocative and gruesome murder of unarmed civilians and the invasion of the
home of Nnamdi Kanu in the name of military exercise by the Nigerian Army
supported by tanks and military aircrafts. It is obvious that the brutal
killings of these unarmed civilians, mostly youths amount to sheer genocide and
therefore condemnable under the Nigerian law as well as international law. ADF
and other Igbo citizens and stakeholders are challenging the constitutionality
of the deployment of soldiers in the South–East when there is no war nor any
semblance of aggravated civil crises in the territory. ADF is also joining
other forces to place this gruesome
attack and massacre of the innocent children of Alaigbo before the legal
conscience and arbitration of the international community.
Meanwhile,
ADF calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to institute a national judicial
inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the killings and bring all those
responsible to justice.
3.
On
the Case before the Federal High Court Enugu:
ADF
believes in non-violent means of agitation and recourse to the rule of law.
Although we considered the deployment of the Nigerian Army to the South-Eastern
parts of Nigeria an illegality, we however opted to resist this imposition
through the Nigerian legal system. Thus, on the 14th of September
2017, ADF instituted a court action at the Federal High Court in Enugu seeking an
injunction for the immediate cessation and withdrawal of the Nigerian Army from
Alaigbo and a declaration of the action of the Federal Government of Nigeria as
unconstitutional amongst other things.
Although we are being warned that
Nigeria is a lawless State, where the legal system is under the firm grip of
Mr. President and his allies; and that even if the courts show enough courage
to follow the path of legality, the Executive will not honour their ruling.
Despite this, ADF shall continue with this legal challenge. Nigeria will not
remain a lawless country forever.
4.
On
the Treachery of Certain Political Leaders:
State Governors, State legislators and others in positions of
authority in Alaigbo should not abdicate their responsibility and surrender
their constitutional powers over the affairs of their respective states. There
is a posterity to which all men must answer to. History will not be kind to any
treacherous leader who sells the lot of his/her people for personal gains.
Among other pressing issues, State Governors, as the Chief Security
chieftains in their various states, should investigate how the Fulani herdsmen
acquire their AK47s and other sophisticated arms they use in terrorizing and
killing citizens in their very homes and farmlands. They should set up
vigilante groups to monitor the reported flow of arms and Fulani terrorists
into various parts of Alaigbo. Every single trailer entering Alaigbo, including
those presumed to be carrying cement, foodstuff, animals, etc should be
thoroughly searched to ascertain the authenticity of their luggage.
5.
On
the attack of the home of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB and the desecration
of the Palace of His Royal Highness, Eze Kanu, the father of Nnamdi Kanu.
It is an
abomination and the sign of the worst form of ill-will in Igbo culture and
indeed in most other cultures in Nigeria to invade the Obi (palace) of a
traditional leader. It is a sign of war. ADF, therefore, calls on the South
East Governors to take immediate steps to protect the palaces of our
traditional rulers. Council calls on Governor Okezie Ikpeazu
of Abia State to immediately ascertain the level of damage to the palace of Eze
Kanu, construct him a befitting palace in a new site while retaining the
present palace, in its present conditions, as an antiquity and a tourist center
so the world will be constantly reminded of the predicament and repression of
Ndigbo in Nigeria, particularly under the present administration.
On the desecration of Igbo
women whose sanctity were violated by the Nigeria military, ADF calls on the Abia State Governor to encourage
traditional rulers in Abia State to perform the necessary absolution to cleanse
the land of this dreadful cultural and spiritual abomination.
- The Imperative
of Political rather than Military Solution to the Challenge of Biafra:
ADF
is of the view that the Federal Government led by Gen Muhammadu Buhari has not
explored, let alone exhausted the political solution to the separatist demands
of the IPOB, contrary to what happens in other parts of the country. Separatist demands has occurred again and again in
the history of the Nigerian Federation. Some have been ignored or even
inadvertently encouraged by those in high authority. It is on record that
President Buhari himself, as the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressive
Congress (APC), spoke against what he considered to be a repression of the Boko
Haram. The Boko Haram was at the time, as it still is now, engaged in bloody
campaign to create an Islamic Republic out of the existing Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
Unfortunately,
the ISIS eventually hijacked Boko Haram from the control of the Arewa leaders.
In their place the Fulani Herdsmen took over and have continued to wreck untold
havoc on the lives and property of innocent citizens in various parts of
Alaigbo, Yoruba land, Edo State, Southern Kaduna, Benue State, Plateau, etc;
and they are shielded by security forces of the Federation.
Council
therefore counsels with the APC government under General Muhammadu Buhari to
explore, in its entirety, the political and dialogue options in settling disputes,
especially the genuine challenge of Biafra.
7.
ADF
Council Condemns the Militarization of the Nigeria Federation by the Buhari
Administration.
ADF watches
with grave concern, the systematic militarization of the entire Country and
Alaigbo in particular by the current administration. The road blocks and
military installations in the South East are very reminiscent of a Country in a
state of war, albeit, with herself.
ADF urges
the President to withdraw these soldiers to the barracks. Those calling for
Restructuring must bear in mind that no meaningful Restructuring of the
Nigerian Federation can take place unless the Nigerian Military ceases to be a Fulani Military. The Reorganization of the
Nigerian Military is imperative if we are dreaming of a Federation of Free and
Equal citizens. All the arrogance exhibited in the discourse on Restructuring
is borne out of the fact that the Nigerian Military and Security Forces are
under the absolute control of the Fulani, Arewa Muslim forces.
8.
Supply
of arms to the Government of Nigeria in the face of Ethnic and Religious Cleansing:
ADF calls on all people of goodwill and the
international community to ensure that the arms being supplied to the present
regime is not used for the killing of innocent civilians nor applied to advance
the cause of ethnic and religious cleansing. During the invasion of the
South-Eastern States by the Nigerian military, sophisticated heavy weapons
purchased with our tax money, such as the MRAP, and attack helicopters and
Alpha jets were used. This is in direct contravention of the condition of the
purchase. ADF, therefore, calls on the International Community especially the
United States of America and Turkey who only recently supplied arms to the
government of Nigeria to note and halt further supplies and patronage, in order
to avoid continuing the aiding and abating ethnic and religious cleansing
currently going on in Nigeria
9.
Worsening
Cases of Human Rights Violations in Nigeria.
ADF salutes
the courage of the Amnesty International on its investigation of human rights
abuses in Nigeria. Council calls on the rest of the International Community to
join hands with the Amnesty International to investigate the worsening cases of
ruthless violation of human rights especially in the South-East and other
areas.
10.
Call
to Resist Forceful Islamization as well as Respect for Religious Freedom in
Nigeria.
ADF calls
for the spirited resistance of Islamization and forceful conversion of innocent
youths to Islam through other covert and overt means. Council asserts that the
religious freedom of individuals and groups must be respected. Council further,
most strongly, condemns the politicization of religion by the present
administration in Nigeria. We wish to inform the international community that,
at no time has Christianity been under tremendous threat in Nigeria, than under
this present administration. Council therefore requests assistance from
countries and international organizations in helping to stop the on-going
forceful Islamization of the Christian Communities in Nigeria.
11.
Growing
the Economy of the Igbo Nation Through the Invest-At-Home Strategy, Call on
Ndigbo to Embrace Invest-At-Home (Akuruo Ulo) Movement.
ADF Council
considered the economy of Alaigbo in the context of current developments in
Nigeria. Council notes that nothing is being done by the present administration
to promote the economy of the South East. In fact, everything is being done to
the contrary.
Power supply
is key to modern economic growth. Power supply to the South East is
systematically undermined to force Igbo industrialists to site their industries
elsewhere in Nigeria to grow the economy of such places and watch their own
homeland industries decay. The Oji Power Station, the first in Nigeria
constructed by the Michael Okpara-led Eastern Nigerian Government, was
deliberately destroyed to stall industrial development in Alaigbo. The
Geometric Power Company in Aba, the brainchild of Prof Bart Nnaji that would
have permanently solved the power supply problem in the East has not been able
to take-off after years of dedicated efforts and enormous financial investment
because of vested interests in and outside Alaigbo.
On the
transportation sector which is sine qua non for industrial and economic growth,
while successive administrations made efforts to rehabilitate the Lagos-Kano
rail line and is now fully functional, the one from Port Harcourt to Kaduna,
because it passes through the Alaigbo has been totally neglected. A new rail
master plan for Nigeria carefully left the entirety of the South East, while
Daura, the hometown of President Buhari, was included. The roads in the South
East is pitiable, ably demonstrated by the pools of dirty water that occupy the
roads which the Nigerian Army soaked and forced armless Igbo youths in
recently.
Council
calls on the state and local governments in Alaigbo to create the enabling
environment to welcome investments into the region. Council notes efforts at
state economic summits but wishes it be taken beyond that by creating a Regional
Economic Development Commission that will holistically handle economic
development in Alaigbo. A planned linkage of roads and rail lines will make all
parts of Alaigbo accessible from any other part under one hour. So people can
live anywhere and work anywhere, if the linkages are right. Governors should
therefore not be thinking in terms of their states but in terms of the entire
region.
Council
notes and commends the reconstitution of the South East Governors Forum and the South-East/South-South Governors’ Forum.
These developments are primary steps in taking the economy of the regions to
the next level.
Council
therefore reminds Ndigbo that it is their duty, and no one else’s, to programme
the economic development of Alaigbo even as stark opposition comes from
anti-Igbo forces in Nigeria.
Council
calls on all Ndigbo to embrace the ADF Invest-at-Home movement and Aku-Ruo-Ulo
philosophy which ADF launched in 2015. This will help create the necessary
employment for our teeming qualified but unemployed youths. This will also stop
the raging poverty in the land. Council wants our people in the Diaspora, who
have the means to come, invest and develop Alaigbo to reduce the tremendous,
orchestrated suffering of our people.
12.
National
Assembly urged to investigate the Allegation that President Buhari had asked
the World Bank to concentrate its Activities in the North.
Council
viewed with serious trepidation, the allegation that the President of all
Nigeria, asked an international organization of the status of the World Bank to
be selective in its development activities in Nigeria, concentrating same in
the North. If found to be true, Council sees it as a serious breach of his oath
of office. We call on the National Assembly to investigate sordid revelation by
the World Bank Chief himself. This is not just shocking but goes to expose
President Buhari and his migrant Fulani ethnic nationality flawed and illusory
thinking that Nigeria is a conquered territory.
13, Inter-Ethnic
Solidarity For Freedom and Justice
Finally,
Council notes the resurgence of understanding among Nigerians of other ethnic
nationalities that Ndigbo indeed has been pursuing a worthy cause in aid of the
struggle for Equity, Equality, Freedom and Justice. We note with renewed hope
that came from vehement condemnation of the Arewa Youths June 6 Quit Notice to
Ndigbo from Northern Nigeria by the Northern Christian Elders Forum, the Middle
Belt Forum, the Yoruba Nation, the South-South and other groups, too numerous
to mention, in defense of the Igbo. Council also notes the swift reaction of
the international community in condemning the dastard act.
ADF and all
Igbo patriots do appreciate you all. We will always stand with you to fight,
albeit through constitutional means, the Fulani hegemony and territorial quest
under the guise of jihad, which has amply come to light under the APC
Government led by President Mohammadu Buhari.
Only a
combined and dedicated alliance of all lovers of freedom, equality and justice
from all the various nationalities can liberate the people from the desperate determination of a minority ethnic
nationality to impose its will on the rest of the nationalities in Nigeria.
PROF T. UZODINMA NWALA PROF. NATH ANIEKWU
ADF President ADF Secretary
DR DOZIE IKEDIFE
Chairman,
ADF BOT
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