January 25,2018
For some years now, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been on the forefront in the struggle for the creation of a sovereign state.
With the absence of Nnamdi Kanu, its leader, during the time
of Operation Python Dance, as well as the branding of the group as a terrorist
organization, many believe the end is near for the group.
But in this email interview with TheCable, Emma Powerful, spokesman
of IPOB, said contrary to such belief, the group is more formidable now than it
has ever been.
He also spoke
on a variety of issues including what has become of IPOB in Kanu’s absence, if
the group would accept an option to dialogue with the federal government, the
newly launched Hausa radio service as well as what a sovereign state of Biafra
will look like.
TheCable: Some people find it difficult to believe that IPOB
leaders do not know where Nnamdi Kanu is, can you convince us that you do not know
Kanu’s whereabouts?
Powerful: Those that find it difficult to believe that the
leadership of IPOB does not know where our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is are the
same people that feign ignorance of the fact that the army invaded his
residence. They are the same people that failed to hear Defence Minister
General Mansur Dan Ali confirm on Channels TV during an interview that Nigerian
government sent soldiers to invade the home of our leader and to capture him.
Every right-thinking person knows the army went to kill Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on the
14th of September 2017 because there can never be any other plausible
explanation as to why the army will truncate an ongoing judicial process by
doing the work of the police. The question all right-thinking people should ask
the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) is this; is it the duty of the
army to be running round in armoured tanks looking for the enemies of Buhari to
arrest? Nigerian Army, for those who might still be feigning ignorance of the
fact, does not have the constitutional right to arrest anybody. Whenever
soldiers arrest and molest people, as they normally do in Nigeria, they are
breaking the law. That is what the Abdulsalami Abubakar 1999 Constitution says.
But in Nigeria, law enforcement agencies and even the law courts don’t know what
the constitution says. They are ignorant of their own laws. Those that invaded
our leader’s residence went there to kill him his family and parents, or else
they would have waited for him to appear in court on the 17th of October 2017.
Buratai and his army are in the best position to answer any question regarding
the whereabouts of our leader, especially at this time everybody, including
non-Biafrans, are missing his inspirational leadership.
TheCable: Since the Python Dance operation, not much has been heard
of the group regarding the Biafra agitation, does this mean the government
has succeeded in weakening IPOB?
Powerful: Where did this patently false impression come from that
IPOB has been weakened? Weakened in what way? If the media fails to carry to our
news to your audience, then the “misleading” narrative peddled by Lai Mohammed
and Nnia Nwodo that IPOB has been weakened, may be sustained in the minds of
the gullible. But the truth remains that IPOB is more formidable now than ever.
Despite the draconian and brutal crackdown on us, we have continued to hold
rallies and protests. New IPOB family units are springing up all over the
world. We successfully rallied in Onitsha before the successful boycott of
Anambra governorship election. We also rallied in Aba on January 20, 2018 in
remembrance of those killed last year during President Trump’s inauguration
rally in Igweocha. Indiscriminate arrest, illegal detention and harassment of
IPOB members have continued unabated. We stopped the treacherous Ohaneze Ndigbo
leadership led by Nnia Nwodo in Lagos and also at Enugu during the ‘Handshake
across the Niger’ event. Nobody born of a woman can weaken IPOB.
TheCable: Can you tell us the main idea behind the launch of Hausa
radio service, do you think the government will let the station fly?
Powerful: Hausa Service of Radio Nigeria, mind you
not Radio Biafra, was launched in response to the failed attempt by the
Department of State Service (DSS) to infiltrate and destroy IPOB from within.
The Nigerian government created a parallel radio station which we have since
renamed Radio Buhari International to reflect its true ownership. They
proceeded to launch another radio on a shortwave frequency with our sacred
name. Both stations are based in the US. They named a non-existent person the
leader of the great IPOB and claimed our leader and founder Mazi Nnamdi
Kanu has been replaced by this nonentity. It was at this point we decided late
last year to launch a Hausa language service to take our unique enlightenment
to oppressed ethnic minorities in the north because no enlightened society can
swallow such junk. There is quality information deficit across the north which
this Hausa radio service run by IPOB will address.
TheCable: While some of your followers and members have welcomed
the launch of a Hausa radio service, some Nigerians see it as a coy to gain the
sympathy of the north. Why the choice of Hausa when there are other languages
around the south-east? Why not any language from the south-south?
Powerful: We chose the Hausa language because the
majority of those at the receiving end of the falsehood propagated by the
cabals in the north are their fellow core northerners. Educating the
down-trodden masses of the north to understand the evil being committed in
their name is important the most important assignment today. We are convinced
that mass illiteracy and lack of access to unbiased information is the
reason why a majority of Hausa Fulani people live in abject poverty and
ignorance while their ruling class loot and accumulate all the wealth accruing
to them.
TheCable: IPOB failed in its bid to stop last year’s governorship
election in Anambra, what are your plans for the 2019 general election?
Powerful: Who told you IPOB failed in our bid to stop
the elections in Anambra state? We successfully boycotted the elections as a
prelude to what the world will witness come 2019. Less than 1% of eligible
voters bothered to turn up to vote. That was the reason INEC spent days doing
their best to bump up the figures to a respectable level. This, they succeeded
in doing because the Abuja anointed politicians don’t want the world to know
that power has slipped from them back into the hands of the masses. They don’t
want the world to know how potent IPOB is but we know that they know. We have
variously challenged INEC to publish the original result sheets collated from
polling stations around the state to prove that less than 1% voted but to no
avail. Go around Anambra state today and hear people testify that elections
were totally boycotted. Where INEC got the figures they announced, only them
can say. Election rigging, manipulation of results and inflation of voter
figures is nothing new in Nigeria. They are panicking already because we have
demonstrated that our people listen to IPOB and no other. 2019 will be a year
to remember because, in so far as Biafraland is concerned, there will be no
voting.
TheCable: Is IPOB willing to come to the negotiation table if the
federal government invites it for dialogue?
Powerful: The answer is no, because Nigeria is not
yet civilised enough to understand what dialogue means, neither are they known
for keeping to the terms of any agreement reached. Name one agreement Nigeria
entered into that ran its course. They think we are for settlement, how
mistaken they are. We would only consider meeting them through a third party or
mediator. History tells us that all conflicts end up on the conference table.
Bearing this in mind, we would be willing to discuss with civilised sensible
parties on how best to speedily facilitate the peaceful dissolution of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s condition is a condition that is clearly unsustainable. The best way
to go is referendum.
TheCable. Will an Igbo presidency in 2019 make IPOB back down on
its quest for a sovereign state of Biafra?
Powerful: Nothing can make IPOB back down from this
divine quest to restore the lost sovereignty of Biafra. Only the will of the
people, clearly expressed during a referendum. We hear Nnia Nwodo, Ohaneze
Ndigbo, Igbo governors and Abuja based errand boys, we ignorantly refer to as
politicians or elite, tell us south-east and south-south do not want Biafra,
which is a lie. There is only one way to establish the truth and settle this
matter once and for all time. That is referendum. If we lose in a referendum,
we stop the agitation for Biafra same day. The will of the people is what must
prevail under this and every circumstance.
TheCable: Many of those who do not support your ideology have
expressed dissatisfaction over what they describe as your violent approach —
something very different from the method Odumegwu Ojukwu adopted while on the
struggle for Biafra. What do you have to say?
Powerful: It is very sad and unfortunate that people
don’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘violent approach’ as you put it. Violence
doesn’t need dressing up in convoluted grammar because a situation is either
violent or it is not. Those people peddling the myth that IPOB preach violence
are the same Abuja rent boys and slaves. They will do and say anything to
please their masters in order to hold on to political power and privilege. The
same way Britain imposed unwanted corrupt men as warrant chiefs across
Biafraland during the colonial era to their purpose is exactly the template the
north adopted in the aftermath of the civil war to dominate, control and
subjugate Igbo land and the rest of Biafraland. Have you heard of any emir,
sultan, governor or politician from the north condemn herdsmen who are actively
killing people on a daily basis? You know the answer to that? Only in Igbo land
will a washed out politician beholden to Abuja for his dear life, rise to the
position of a leader. No other society will accept such anomaly. IPOB is not
violent and we don’t intend to pick up arms anytime soon, when we do, the world
will know.
TheCable. You have other groups also agitating for Biafra, among
which MASSOB is also included. Why can’t pro-Biafra agitators come under one
umbrella and form a major front?
Powerful: This is another misconception I must
correct now. All genuine groups agitating for Biafra restoration came together,
when our leader was released from illegal detention early last year, to declare
unanimously that he is the undisputed leader and arrowhead of the new agitation
for Biafra restoration. IPOB cannot stop DSS or Lai Mohammed’s ministry of
information from setting up a new Biafra group on a daily basis if they so
choose. There is biting hunger and poverty in the land, so there will be
regular supply of hungry people willing to accept pittance, for sake of
preservation, to answer a pro-Biafra group. Groups come and go but IPOB
remains. In as much this dispensation of our agitation for a sovereign Biafra
is concerned, there is only one leader, Nnamdi Kanu and one organisation, IPOB,
that resonates around the world. We remain without doubt the most organised and
most potent freedom fighting outfit on this earth bar none.
TheCable: If Biafra comes to fruition today, how does IPOB want it
run? Will it be a democratic nation? What is the IPOB idea of a sovereign state
of Biafra?
Powerful: Biafra will be an open transparent society
where laws protecting individual rights and freedoms will form the bedrock or
foundation upon which the nation rests. Every political process will be
democratised, from the election of the president, prime minister, members of
parliament to district judges and police chiefs. There will be no siren escort
for political office holders because all men will be genuinely equal before the
law. It will become a criminal offence for any law enforcement officer to
arrest a citizen without valid reason that can stand up to scrutiny on a court
of law. Nobody will be prosecuted or persecuted for anything they say. There
will be absolute freedom of speech. If the prime minister feels hurt by what is
written against her or him, they should head to the courts and bring a libel
suit, rather than telling the police chief or IG to arrest the person. The
police in Biafra will not be routinely armed and on no account must the army be
mobilised to do police work. Any army officer seen on the street with his
uniform will be arrested, court-martialed and dismissed unless the country is
at war. Basically, Biafra will be the complete opposite of Nigeria.
SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/interview-will-forget-biafra-one-condition-says-ipob-spokesman
SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/interview-will-forget-biafra-one-condition-says-ipob-spokesman
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