IPOB REPLIES BUHARI :SAY BREXIT IS MORALE BOOSTER FOR BIAFRA

·  IPOB replies Buhari ·  Says BREXIT is morale booster for Biafra   The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), yes­terday dismissed as baseless, the statement by President Muhammadu Bu­hari that most of those agi­tating for a free independent state of Biafra did not “see” or experience the Nigeria/Biafra civil war of 1967-1970. A statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Supreme Council of El­ders of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Eze Iheanyi Nwokenna, declared that all the elders of Pro-Biafra ex­perienced the war and par­ticipated in it. It therefore described as unfortunate and insult­ing the statement credited to Buhari recently that the current pro-Biafra agitators did not witness the Nigeria/Biafra war. Parts of the statement read; “It appears that the Nigerian President has will­fully hidden the truth of the Biafra struggle for self-de­termination from the gen­eral public. ‘’We want to bring it to the notice of the whole world that by the Legal Instrument dated 12 Sept 2012 served with the Originating Sum­mons from the Federal High Court Owerri on the Federal Government of Nigeria and Attorney-General of the Federation as Defendants, the Supreme Council of El­ders of Indigenous People of Biafra headed by His Royal Majesty & His Lord­ship, the Honourable Jus­tice Eze Ozobu OFR (rtd) as Chairman, Dr Dozie Ikedife (Ikenga Nnewi) as Deputy Chairman, Brig. Gen Joe Achuzia (rtd) as the Secretary and other members of the Council, notified the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the remnants of Biafra who were not con­sumed in the war had de­cided to exercise their right to self-determination by the rule of law in the name of Indigenous People of Bi­afra (IPOB) suing in a rep­resentative capacity by the human rights organization called Bilie Human Rights Initiative. “Upon the commence­ment of the suit between Biafra and Nigeria in 2012 as Suit No FHC/OW/CS/102/2012 which was later renumbered as Suit No FHC/OW/CS/192/2013, the body known as Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) came to the notice of the Nigerian Gov­ernment and received judi­cial recognition. “The Federal Government of Nigeria hired its own law­yers and joined issues with us and both parties have been in the legal battle for more than three years. “Contrary to the assertion of Mr. President, we make bold to state that all the El­ders of Indigenous People of Biafra who authorized the Biafran struggle for self-determination by the Rule of Law in 2012, saw the war. “In fact, most of the Elders fought in the war and were senior to President Buhari in military career. We the El­ders of Biafraland are solidly behind the Biafra struggle for self-determination by le­gal and diplomatic method. We have emphasized several times in our publications that the Biafra struggle for self-determination must fol­low the due process of law. “We have made it clear that we are Biafrans by indigenous identity but Nigerians by citizenship which was forced upon us against our will. “This is why we are in Court and in the United Na­tions and have been admitted into the Consultative Status of the United Nations ECOSOC through our Legal Represen­tative. We do not accept the use of violence, insults, abus­es, hate speeches, incitement to anarchy, disrespect to con­stituted authorities, and other vices, as a method of struggle for self-determination. “The next adjourned date for the hearing of the case be­tween Biafra and Nigeria is 22 September 2016. “President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian leaders are aware of the next hearing date and have in­structed their lawyers. “We want to make it clear that we commenced the suit between Biafra and Nigeria in 2012 during the admin­istration of President Good­luck Jonathan. “This fact therefore de­stroys the argument of the critics who have accused us of commencing the Biafran struggle for self-determina­tion because Dr Goodluck Jonathan lost the election in 2015 to President Buhari. “Even if an Igbo man of the One-Nigeria-Syndrome becomes a President of Ni­geria, we the Biafrans shall still leave Nigeria. After all, Mr Gordon Brown of Scot­land was the Prime Minister of Britain but the Scottish people still want to go. ‘’We are aware that Presi­dent Buhari and the Nige­rian Leaders are doing ev­erything possible to hide the genuine Biafran struggle for self-determination by the rule of law from the eyes of the public. “Most of the media houses in Nigeria have willfully kept the truth away from the reading public while promoting the agents of lawlessness and anarchy. “It is clear to us that the Nigerian Government has continued to promote the rebellious kids parading themselves as “Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)” who abuse the Elders of the land to discredit the Biafran struggle and make it look childish. ‘’For not disclosing to the public that the matter between Biafra and Nigeria is in court, the Defendants are helping the rebellious kids to attract more con­verts who do not know that there is a legal option. This is why the children are on the streets. “They were not told that the matter is in court as the Nigerian media and the Radio Biafra, London have done everything possible to hide the self-determination case from the public. Ev­erybody knows that when a matter is in court, nobody fights or makes noise about it until the court decides the case. “The best thing the Fed­eral Government of Nige­ria will do now is to inform the general public that the matter between Biafra and Nigeria is in court and will soon be resolved. Also, the Federal Government should not cause a delay in the hearing of the case.” “In his statement, Mr. President reminded us of the Biafrans who lost their lives during the war. He failed to tell the world that the Federal Government of Nigeria violated the laws of war and used starvation as a weapon of war to kill the children and the civilian population of Biafra in order to win the war. “What was the intention of Mr. President in reminding us of the wounds inflicted on us by the Defendants in the ongoing case? We advise Mr. President to stop making provocative statements that infuriate our children. “On the issue of self-deter­mination, we are not going back. Both the Nigerian Law and International Law are on our side. Certainly, Biafra must be free. It is only a mat­ter of time!” Meanwhile, The Indig­enous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), has congratulated the people of Britain over their choice to exit from the European Union (EU) in last Thursday’s referendum tagged BREXIT. IPOB spokespersons, Emma Nmezu and Clifford Iroanya, in a press statement yesterday also applauded the British Government for respecting the wishes of the people by organising the ref­erendum. The pro-Biafra group, therefore, urged the British Government which it de­scribed as “the closest ally” of the Nigerian Government to “as a mark of exemplary leadership, guide President Muhammadu Buhari to or­ganise a BIAFREXIT akin to BREXIT.” IPOB accused Britain of hypocrisy for giving Britons the opportunity to decide whether or not they wished to belong to EU on the one hand, while on the other hand strongly opposes the agitation for self rule by Bi­afrans. According to the state­ment, “it smacks of hypoc­risy that the same David Cameron that initiated the BREXIT vote has been propping up Buhari‘s gov­ernment in the murderous acts of suppressing the quest by Biafrans to exit from Ni­geria. “This leaves Biafrans to ask if David Cameron’s hypoc­risy is because Biafrans are blacks and if black Africans are