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Biafra has, according to its supporters, an indisputable claim to self-determination. Today, it is found in southeastern modern Nigeria. Previously, it was an independent nation but it was incorporated into the Nigerian state when the British merged a number of their West African colonies mainly for reasons of administrative convenience. British borders remained intact at the independence of Nigeria in 1960.
Biafrans claiming the right to self-determination claim to have as strong a claim as the people of East Timor or South Sudan, whose independence has been recognized. The right to self-determination remains the most powerful human right, which is why it is the first article of the main United Nations treaties on human rights. We hear about independence claims from Catalonia, Quebec and Scotland. Referendums and the democratic process are the accepted way to deal with the right to self-determination.
The Biafra people seek recognition of their right to self-determination and their right to a referendum, but his appeals deaf ears and are little reported. Nigerian territorial integrity provides the counter-argument.
Biafra caught the world's attention when he declared independence in 1967 and his people were then subjected to cruel war by Nigerians. The Biafrans, in truth, had no chance, but they maintained their independence for nearly three years until they were bombarded and starved. The photographs of this conflict, showing the consequences of war and famine, are still among the images defining post-colonial Africa.
Today we publish a powerful letter to President Buhari of Nigeria written by Solomon Egbo, a Biafra currently living in the United Kingdom, renouncing his Nigerian nationality. That this waiver is accepted is in the gift of the president. Solomon, who is now part of the Biafra diaspora, works for the main independent organization seeking to achieve self-determination for Biafra, the Biafra Indigenous People (Ipob), headquartered in Germany.
Their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was also a British citizen. He "disappeared" in 2017 following a military operation against his parents' house. The Nigerian authorities seek to qualify both Kanu and Ipob as "terrorists". The international community rejects this characterization.
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Dear President Buhari
I am writing to inform you that I am giving up my Nigerian nationality.
I am not Nigerian. I am Biafran. I have lived in the country called "Nigeria" for 40 years. Nigeria, as you know, is a country that was created for the administrative convenience of our colonial power, Great Britain, in 1914. Nigeria is forced amalgam of different peoples, different religious groups, different customs and beliefs. Nigeria may have worked for the British but that does not work for people forced to be Nigerians. She has never worked for the people of Biafra.
The crimes of the Empire are multiple, but the biggest crime of all is that, at independence, Africa was forced to retain the colonial boundaries imposed by the Europeans. By accepting this post-colonial settlement, African leaders have become complicit in the oppression of Africa. Your determination to keep the borders of Nigeria imposed by the British simply reinforces their dominance over us.
As you know, Biafra existed before the British appeared. Biafra is this land mbad that nestles around the Niger Delta. For all intents and purposes, Biafra is the southeast corner of modern Nigeria. Despite colonization and the absorption of force in Nigeria, we, the Biafrans, have kept our common values and our common identity. Biafrans are made up of different people, but we are all Biafrans.
We do not all speak the same language. I am an Igbo speaker. Other Biafrans speak Urhobo-Isoko, Ijaw-Epie-Ogbia, Ogoni, Efik, Annang, Eket-, Oron-Ibibio, Ogoja, Ejagham, Igala, Idoma, Ibani and Igbanke among others. Biafra consists of the following provinces: River Province, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Bayelsa, Delta. I am an Igbo of Biafra. Being Igbo and Biafran is synonymous.
The Igbo people have not done well in the UK game. Colonization was extremely disruptive. As a result of British policies, we were scattered across Nigeria and then, at independence, we were marginalized. Many Igbo had been installed in the modern states of northern Nigeria and, just before the ink dries on Nigerian independence, intimidation and attacks began. Mbadacre after the mbadacre drove the Igbo people out of the northern states. Northern elites controlled. You know that. You are part of this elite. As you know, our access to government has been blocked by your people. On May 30, 1967, we had enough and declared our own independent state, Biafra. We did not have a choice …
The world knows the war that led to Biafra because of these hungry and domed children's photographs. Post-colonial Africa is still defined and haunted by these images. This famine was the reality for my family. The Nigerian government's response to our declaration of secession was to attack with all its strength. The Biafrans fought with the few weapons we had. I think back to those Biafrans who fought for their survival with such pride.
They ran into a highly trained Nigerian army with the latest weapons. The British had formed an unholy alliance with the Soviet Union to ensure that the Nigerian state forces would prevail. Biafra was only a pawn in the global politics of the time. All that mattered was who controlled Nigeria. But you know all that. You were there. It was during this war that you made your name.
For nearly three years, Biafrans have stood. Surrounded, our hospitals and our homes bombed by Soviet planes, until a deliberate policy of starvation forces Biafra to capitulate and be absorbed in Nigeria – we know that it was deliberate because at a peace conference in 1968, the head of the Nigerian famine delegation is a legitimate weapon of war and we intend to use it against the rebels. "
The bitterest part is that most of Africa and the world has watched this free destruction of human lives, rape, ransacking and looting of cities, villages, communities after community in Biafra and elsewhere.At least two million people have perished, and the UN has not lifted a finger.Some have put the figure up to six million. it is not disputed, that is, 12,000 hungry Biafrais would die every day.
And you, President Buhari, played your own role in this war, commanding an area along the Oji River for to prevent the supply of Biafra.Later you would have said that you had no regrets and that you had no excuses.
It is incomprehensible that Nigeria got rid of the crimes that were perpetrated against Biafra and then demanded that we stay in the same country. The rape is forced to stay with the rapist. We did not want to be part of your country. We had no choice. In many ways, "peace" afterwards was worse than war. Those who had fled their homes found them occupied by emigrants on their return.
The jobs of our parents were taken away from them, the little money we had left us lost a new Nigerian currency which meant that Biafran was providing the old currency was not honored . Many, many Igbos left the country where they had no future and made their homes around the world. For decades, Biafra is more than a memory, and we could not even talk about it.
"Hold your ears," my father said to me one day. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was just a boy. We were sitting together on one of his special chairs covered with animal skins. He leaned closer. "You do not have the right to publicly discuss Biafra."
Quickly my answer was: "Why daddy?"
"They could kill you or you could spend the rest of your life in jail."
My parents suffered terribly during the Biafran War. They were the victims of the policies incited by the Nigerian authorities. My uncles and most of my grandparents did not survive: beaten, hungry, slaughtered, bombed out of their homes, the women of my family were raped by Nigerian soldiers. They were so hungry that my mother and father were forced to drink urine to survive.
My mother could barely talk about what had happened. Tears would smother him. I knew some of that, but like everyone else, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know the history of my people, the Igbo, the Biafran, before the arrival of the British, before the forced amalgamation of the people and in this brief time when Biafra was free after the 39th. ;independence. However, it was a big shock for me – it was a shock – to discover that I could lose my life if I dared to speak publicly about Biafra.
Yet, in my family, it's the mention of your name that provokes contempt. We despise you and everything you represent. You are the symbol of our persecution. our scarecrow.
I did not have a future in Nigeria. Igbo who identify as Biafrans have no place in Nigeria. I came to live in Britain in 2013. I am grateful to Great Britain for offering me a home to me and my family. The irony does not scare me that Britain, which 50 years ago helped my parents' enemies – people like you – is now a sanctuary for me. In 2015, I started my work with Ipob. I am based in Manchester but we are a global movement. There is a huge Biafran diaspora. It's wonderful to see so many rising British stars of Biafra origin (and Igbo). People like Chuka Umunna and Chiwetel Ejiofor have family ties with Biafra.
The mission of Ipob is simple. Our fight is to make recognize the right to self-determination of the Biafran people. We call for a referendum. It is up to the people of Biafra to decide, but I hope that self-determination means independence. Fifty years ago we were forced to fight for the independence of Biafra. Today we struggle with words and music and with our bodies and lives, but not with weapons. We reject violence. We put our faith in the rights of man. It's the ballot box, not the bullets, which will guarantee our release.
You and the state you preside reject the rights of man. Your instinct is to use force – the lethal force. Which of the atrocities committed by the Nigerian state against the Biafrans since you became president in 2015 was the worst? People have been imprisoned. There have been killings of supporters of the independence of Biafra – many of them, perhaps up to two thousand.
Your police and security services do not collect accurate statistics of course. We are collecting as much information as possible and Amnesty International has also reported on the use of lethal force against Biafran during major events where hundreds of peaceful protesters were shot dead; but they do not compile statistics as we look for it.
Our leader Nnamdi Kanu was imprisoned on absurd treason charges in 2015 because he dared to criticize you, President Buhari, and called for a referendum on self-determination for Biafra. Your security forces kept him incarcerated without trial until April 2017, when he was finally released on bail, which had been granted to him more than a year ago. And then in September of last year, the Nigerian army encircled the house where he was staying with his parents and attacked him with bullets and grenades. Many supporters were killed. Since that day, neither Nnamdi Kanu nor his mother and father have been seen. Nigerian forces and the Nigerian government have not provided any explanation as to what happened. They disappeared. We all fear what that means.
You met your match at Nnamdi Kanu. Our leader was a man of such integrity and vision. He united the Biafrans in a way that no one has had since the war. He inspired us and exalted us. His certainty that we would all live again in Biafra gave us our reason to be. His rejection of violence has puzzled you. He could have organized an armed struggle against the Nigerian state.
The extent of the persecution suffered by the Biafran people would justify the force. Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that persecution and the denial of rights can leave the oppressed with no choice but to resort to violence, but Nnamdi Kanu focuses instead on strengthening the nation and creating of a plan for Biafra.
While you denied him his rights, he was trying to build a state that would have recognized yours. The reason why there were so many deaths when your forces stormed his parents' house, is that the Biafrans have gathered just to be near him. To hear him talk. To be part of his movement.
Thus, Nnamdi Kanu disappeared. Yet you are pasting false news about him and Ipob. Your news agencies report false observations of him from Ghana to London. Our reaction to his disappearance? We responded with peaceful protests and, as you know, a very successful sit-at-home on May 30, which put the cities of Biafra, including Port Harcourt, to a standstill and emptied the 39, iconic bridge of the Niger River in Onitsha traffic.
I am not a fool. In our hearts, we all know the probable destiny of Nnamdi Kanu and his parents, but we are still unable to recognize his death. We live in hope. It's what the disappearing people do to the survivors. We have illusions. But no matter what you did to him and you will do, we will not give up his dream.
The persecution of our Nigerian state continues. Nobody is spared. I believe that I am being dragged even here in the UK by agents of the Nigerian state. You continue with your false news, desperate to suggest that there are clashes between Ipob and the Nigerian state. Yet, Ipob's response to your violence is to remain pbadive and to last. Faced with the level of cruelty to which we are subjected, our belief in non-violence is often put to the test, but you will not provoke us.
In June, you even arrested a member of the Nigerian Senate. Senator Abiribe had released on bail for Nnamdi Kanu and was arrested by the Nigerian State Department for "aiding and sponsoring a banned organization, Ipob". Senator Abiribe is not only a supporter of Nnamdi Kanu, he has also criticized government corruption in all areas. To justify your treatment of Nnamdi Kanu and Ipob, you have tried to qualify him as terrorist terrorists. Of course, the international community rejected the suggestion. Claiming the right to self-determination and a referendum is not a terrorist act.
Yet, that is how the Nigerian state operates under your presidency, Mr. Buhari. Criticism is branded terrorism, law enforcement is "helping and sponsoring a banned organization," calling for Biafra's autonomy is described as a crime and when a man or woman is arrested, they never really know why, or when they will be released. But they are lucky: they can be shot in the street without warning.
In 1952, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who would later become Nigeria's first prime minister from 1960 to 1966, and a leader of Nigerian independence – one of your heroes, President Buhari – rejected the rule. immediately the amalgamation of Nigeria by the British government.
He said: "
But Biafra was cursed with oil and everything changed. We, the Igbo and others of the Southeast, are in agreement with Sir Abubakar Balewa and we will do everything in our power to realize our dream of self-determination. We urge you, President Buhari, to listen to your hero. We also encourage the British Foreign Office to review its policy on Biafra.
Great Britain is a contradiction for me. On the one hand, the Ministry of the Interior has provided many biafrais, like me, with a home and, at the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stands alongside the Nigerian state. Will asking for a referendum on self-determination Biafran too?
Nigeria is an artificial entity. You are forcing people to live there and in doing so, you have come to embody all the malevolence that is now badociated with Nigeria. We bury our children killed by your security forces. These children only asked to be recognized as Biafrans. We do not have the Nigerian state on our side, but international law.
We will hold you and your State accountable. You have choices. A great African leader is a benign leader. You should have worked with Nnamdi Kanu to guarantee Biafra's right to self-determination. If you had, the world would recognize you as a visionary, but you would force us not to take up arms against you, but to use the law against you. We will win and your legacy will be revealed for what it is.
It is for this reason, President Buhari of Nigeria, that I give up my Nigerian nationality. I do not want it. I never wanted it. My parents did not want it. My family does not want it. I never wanted to live free, so that my children would grow up in an independent and democratic Biafra, free from corruption and violence, liberated from sectarianism and persecution, free from fear.
Regards
Solomon Uchenna Egbo
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