BIAFRA REPORTERS WEEKLY HARD TRUTH FOCUSING ON THE CALL FOR SELF-DETERMINATION AND CALL FOR SECESSION

Authored by
Godwin Chinedu, Odirachima Ezeobi And Chinenye Chukwu
For TBP
28 August 2017

This edition of Biafra Reporters Weekly Hard Truth will be discussing on the difference between "the call for self-determination and the call for secession" as both words has been corrupted and wrongly applied during discussions by the Nigerian people and her government. According to Oxford Learner's Dictionary; Secession is defined as the act of an area or group becoming independent from the country or larger group it belongs to, while Self-determination is the right of a country or a region and its people to be independent and to choose their own government and political system.

GODWIN CHINEDU: It pains my heart when I hear people addressing us the Indigenous people of Biafra [IPOB] as a secessionist group, most times I wonder if they are educated enough not to understand the difference between secession and self-determination, or would I say they are maliciously trying to instil fear into the minds of our people, deceiving them on the urgency of what is at hand now. That’s the most reason whenever we talk about the restoration of Biafra they will tag it a call for war which is a replica of what the call for secession is all about. In recent times we have seen the likes of Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo, the Nigeria government and her media outfits attempting in different forms to persuade the gullible public with their lies that IPOB is a secessionist group in Nigeria. It befuddles me whenever I see some of the mainstream media outfits assisting the government to propagate this lie. These are people who are supposed to know that secession is the act of withdrawing informally from membership of a federation just like earlier defined, that it's the act of an area or group becoming independent from country it belongs. Now we must take note of the following, “membership of a federation and country it belongs” and the questions are as thus; Is Nigeria currently a nation, country or federation made up of many nationalities? Does Biafrans belong to Nigeria or are they members of the Nigerian state?

Recall, the amalgamation agreement that made Nigeria a country or a federation expired since 31st day of December 2014, so currently Nigeria is not a country neither can it be seen as a federation. The contraption called Nigeria is currently living on a borrowed time and there is no way the people of Biafra can be forced to belong to it. Therefore, self-determination becomes the right word to be used in the situation facing the Biafra people because it is clear that they want to decide on their fate, where to belong and not on a force ideology but on one wholeheartedly chosen by them.

The term ‘secession’ was derived from the Latin word “secedere” meaning merely an act of withdrawal not until 1861 to 1865 when America fought a "War of Secession". Since then, talking about secession evokes the images of war and its emotional effects for many if not logically tied to slavery and anarchy. I may agree to an extent that our fathers in the 1967-70 war can be addressed as secessionist because as at then the amalgamation agreement by the British colonial masters was still valid, not minding the fact that their consent was not in any way solicited before forcefully joining them into a union with the Arewa and Yoruba indigenes. As a result of the validity of the amalgamation treaty as at then, when they tried to secede due to a long-standing conspiratory antics by the Nigerian government led by Yakubu Gowon and the unwarranted killings of Biafrans in the north region, it led to war and genocide was meted on the people of Biafra, millions of innocent children were starved to death.

Hence, I seriously disagree with anybody addressing this golden generation of Biafrans as secessionist group when we have the United Nations Charter on the rights of Indigenous People slapping us in our faces.

In my opinion, it is a fraudulent approach to remind our people of the pogrom we suffered, our loved ones were killed and slaughtered, and our properties in various parts of Nigeria was wrongfully robbed from us by the Nigerian government all in the name of abandoned properties. All those evil were perpetrated against Biafrans in a bid to frighten our people from further agitating for the freedom of the Republic of Biafra which can be materialized through a referendum process and beat the call for secession out of the picture.

CHINENYE CHUKWU: The problem with those people calling us secessionist group is that they do not know the differentiation between self-determination and secession. Self-determination is an inalienable right enshrined in the United Nations Charter and Nigeria is a signatory to the charter. IPOB has chosen the non-violent approach in exercising that right not minding the extra-judicial death and violence against them by the Nigeria government through the security forces. IPOB is merely seeking to have a say on what will happen to them and their future generations since the forceful union of 1914 has expired. Calling the Indigenous People of Biafra a secessionist group is borne out of deliberate ignorance because there is no entity to secede from anymore because Nigeria has ceased to exist after the expiration of the 1914 amalgamation treaty by Fredrick Lugard of Britain.

ODIRACHIMA EZEOBI: I wish to disagree a little with my learned colleague and brother, Mazi Chinedu on the issue of our forefathers who fought the war being a secessionist team. It is important to remind our readers that in the year 1966-67, the Biafra people were pushed till they were between the devil and the deep blue sea. The only option left for them was to defend their lives by all means possible; the northerners were out for a massive jihad against our people in the guise of a revenge mission against Biafrans. The people of Biafra were never trying to question the Nigerian sovereignty rather they were protecting their lives from the Islamic fundamentalist because the Nigeria government actively supported the massacre.

The talk about self-determination continues to grow louder but the Nigeria government continues to feign ignorance and they are busy trading on the game of emotions by trying to relate self-determination with the concept of war which is the right attribute for secessionist group or secession. It baffles many rational thinkers that many intellectuals that claim to be Nigerians cannot rightly interpret a word as simple as self-determination.

For instance a supposed professor of legal studies in Nigeria took himself out of context, using the Nigeria constitution as a yardstick to buttress his assertion against self-determination, forgetting the superiority of international laws and charter. One has to question where such a fellow got his certificate[s] to the level of being a Professor.

Self-determination remains part and parcel of the United Nations and is also included in the African Charter. Self-determination is an internationally recognized instrument for peaceful separation of colonial entities and never a call for war. The sick President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, while speaking at the United Nations Assembly in 2015 publicly called for the implementation of the right to self-determination for his Sunni brothers in Palestine and Western Sahara. The question now is; Is Buhari not aware of this charter on human rights and self-determination before he embarked on such utterances, then why is he and his feudal-minded fellows in the north region referring to such demand by the Indigenous People of Biafra as a call for war? If Self-determination is a call for war, it means that Buhari publicly instigated violence against the people of Israel and Morocco in their lands.

I will also like to make an input in the vein of this discussion to remind and inform our readers and the world at large that the call for referendum by the Indigenous people of Biafra is for the determination of their political will power, economical, social and cultural future of their children born and unborn as enshrined in the United Nations Charter for Indigenous people thus self-determination.

The international community must come out from their hiding places and stop acting on the lies been fed them by the Nigerian government and her media outfits against IPOB and her Biafra freedom fighting techniques which abhor violent. It is important that the people of Biafra are supported to realize their dreams of restoring their identity from the forces that created Nigeria.

If the United Nations which ought to be mandated on the charter on self-determination turns dead ears on the call for same to be applied for the Biafra people, then we have no option than to gain our freedom the hard way. The leadership of United Nations and African Union will be held responsible for whatever outcome that will arise out of violence because there will be tsunami of war which will effect a huge migration to foreign countries which they will not be able to control. The Syria war should be studied closely to avoid a repetition in Africa.

Thanks to our readers for been with us this week as we look forward to educating and enlightening you again on the next edition of BIAFRA REPORTERS HARD TRUTH.