The leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Tuesday, took his agitation for
the actualization of a Sovereign State called Biafra to the European Union
parliament.
The IPOB leader told the
parliament that it was the ill treatment meted by the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration that aggravated the
situation that worsened the agitation for Biafra.
In a paper presented by Mazi
Kanu, to the EU Parliament and made available to reporters by IPOB’s Deputy
Leader, Uche Mefor, Kanu pointed out that “after the Nigeria Biafra Civil war,
Biafrans slowly rebuilt their world, but as far as Nigeria was concerned, they
were not and never had been Biafrans, they were Nigerians from South east or Igbo-speaking
Nigerians.
“Biafran war was airbrushed out
of the Nigerian consciousness. Biafrans could only whisper about their loss.
Joining the global Biafran diaspora was one option for those who could get out
of the country; other remained in Biafra land, their Biafran identity amongst
themselves, undiminished.
“Nigeria leaders particularly the
present administration of Buhari continues to prioritize crushing assertions of
Biafra identity has been the order of the day as even peacefully commemorating
the war risks arrest, detention prohibited ill treatment or being shot.
“In recent years the Nigerian
state authorities have conducted three orchestrated campaigns against Biafrans,
and the three Operation Python Dance military operations have been battles targeted
against the Biafrans, the first being in 2016 and the second in 2017 and the
third that is ongoing, all designed to undermine calls for Biafra self
determination.
“Operation Python Dance campaigns
are laden with intimidation, serious and systemic human rights violations
carried out by the state with impunity and IPOB which is a voice for Biafrans
for self determination, a non violent group being always targeted for
destruction.
“It is the determination of the
IPOB to ensure self determination by calling for referendum that the Buhari led
Nigerian government decided to brand it as a terrorist organization, a
proclamation the EU, the United Kingdom and United States of America have all
rejected.
“Nigeria is the problem not the
solution, adding that Nigeria has always been a fiction because it was created
for British administrative and colonial continence in 1914, having drawn
together alleged desperate people into one entity.
“Biafrans do not speak the same
language, as many speak Igbo, and others speak Urhobo-Isoko, Ijaw-Epie-Ogbia,
Ogoni, Efik, Annang, Eket, Oron-Ibibio, Ogoja, Ejagham, Igala, Idoma Ibani and
Igbanke among others.
“To put Biafra in its Nigeria
geo-political context, Biafraland is made up of Rivers Province Cross Rivers,
Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Bayelsa, and Delta and the Fulani
herdsmen have shown interest in the provinces from the central belt of Biafra
such as Enugu.
Kanu further stated that the
Biafra persecution started with the Independence as one colonial master was
replaced by another and that Biafran fared better under the British than they
have under Nigerian dominance.
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