nigeria Biafran war: Ojukwu’s son reveals who kick-started peace negotiations with Nigeria

 
The junior Ojukwu, who described now late Achuzia as a gallant soldier and a great Nigerian, said he was the first Biafran senior officer to make contact with the Nigerian side. The late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s first son, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Jnr.) has revealed that the Biafran war veteran, Col. Joe Achuzie, was the one who commenced the process of negotiating peace between Biafra and the Nigerian side before Maj. Philip Effiong came to meet the Nigerian side. recalls that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide had described the death of Achuzie as a great loss to Ndigbo and Nigeria, stressing that the history of the Biafra/Nigeria war would not be complete without mentioning Achuzie, a veteran who fought gallantly in the war.
However, in a statement in Awka at the weekend, Ojukwu (Jnr.) said, “He was the first Biafran senior officer to make contact with the Nigerian side and led them on to Maj. Gen. Phillip Effiong. That contact followed a visit to him by the Biafran Director of Propaganda, Uche Chukwumerije.
“He was part of the final discussions that led to Philip Effiong’s declaration of the end of the war, at which point he was interrogated and sent to detention. He didn’t think he would come out alive and based on these experiences, he later published his war memoirs – Requiem Biafra.”
Noting that Achuzie worked closely with his late father, during the battle for the emancipation of Ndigbo, Ojukwu said he was indeed a dependable officer during the Nigerian civil war. 
According to him: “It is with a heavy heart that I write to mark the passing of an Iroko, a champion of the Igbos and a great Nigerian.”
“As a civilian before the war, he was based in Port Harcourt from where he ran a large engineering firm which specialized in making explosives and training on its handling. He was the President General of the Ika Igbo at that time. He was nominated to represent the Ika Igbo at the Eastern Region Constituent Assembly which preceded the declaration of the Republic of Biafra. He was never in the Nigerian Military. However, he fought in the Korean wars from where he gained his Military and Guerrilla experience.”
“He was tasked with putting together a Biafran Militia. Based on performance, the militia was drafted into the Biafran Army and he became a Commissioned Biafran Officer. His zeal, his passion and his unconventional approach distinguished him in the battle field, though he was criticized precisely by some as being over-zealous. During the war, he was favoured by my father because of his uncanny capacity to produce results. He had a direct reporting line to him and he was involved on several fronts. The two remained quite close to the twilight of their years.”
Speaking further on Achuzie, Ojukwu said he was vocal against Igbo marginalization. “He was involved with Ohanaeze, he was at some point, the Secretary General, while Joe Irukwu was the President General. He was involved in the Oputa Panel. He remained very vocal about Igbo marginalization and supported the agitations for a new Biafra. While not calling out for secession, he believed strongly in self determination.
“Col J.O.G. Achuzie’s life was a life re-defined by the Biafran war as was the case with that entire generation and by extension the Igbo race. For one side, he was a villain and for the other side he was, and will always remain, a war hero.” he added.
“As a citizen of Nigeria, he was a man who chose not to sit on the sidelines as a spectator to history. Rather, he took his destiny in both hands and left an indelible mark in the history of our nation,” Ojukwu Jnr asserted.

Buhari plotting to arrest parents of missing schoolgirls – Fani-Kayode

 
President Muhammadu Buhari-led government was plotting to arrest parents of missing students of Government Girls Science and Technical School in Dapchi, Yobe state.
The former Minister anchored his claim on the fact that parents of the missing girls cried out to the world about the incident. Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Friday alleged that.     
In a tweet, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain maintained that the current administration is ‘heartless and mendacious. ‘
The PDP chieftain also insisted that Buhari’s government was empowering Boko Haram by paying ransom for the abducted girls.
He wrote: “Heard they are attempting to arrest some of the parents of the abducted girls for speaking out and letting the world know the truth.
We’re dealing with a heartless,mendacious govt who have empowered Boko Haram enormously by paying them huge ransoms for kidnapped girls Yobe

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has described the new report by Transparency International (TI) revealing that the perception of corruption in Nigeria worsened between 2016 and 2017, as another

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has described the new report by Transparency International (TI) revealing that the perception of corruption in Nigeria worsened between 2016 and 2017, as another vindication of his position that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari was not fighting any corruption.
He said; “Transparency International only confirmed what I have said before that President Buhari is only hiding under anti-corruption fight to harass his perceived political foes while protecting corrupt people in his government.
The governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has expressed concern over the reported abduction of 94 pupils of the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, appealing to the federal government to ensure that the remaining girls are found and stop lying to Nigerians that the Boko Haram insurgency had been “completely defeated.”
In a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said it was painful that despite the earlier claim by the federal government that Boko Haram was “technically defeated” and the latest one that the insurgency was “completely defeated”, 94 students could be abducted in Yobe State in just one day.
He said; “My heart goes to those 46 students that are yet to be found and I urge the federal government as well as the Yobe State government to do all within their powers to bring the students back to their families.
Most importantly, the federal government should stop lying concerning the fight against Boko Haram insurgents because it has now become the tradition that whenever the government boasts of defeating the insurgents, greater havoc is wrecked on the country

IPOB:Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB blasts factional group, accuses DSS of blackmail, propaganda

 
The Okwudili-led IPOB disowned the elusive Kanu while throwing their weight behind Okezie Ikpeazu, Governor of Abia State who has been under attack from the. Kanu-led pro-Biafra group.          The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Thursday reacted to report by Mazi Okwudili Ezenachukwu claiming to be the new leader of the pro-Biafra group and not the elusive Nnamdi Kanu .
In its reaction, IPOB said Okwudili was a pseudonym by the Department of State Services, DSS, to cause distraction within its members.
A statement by IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful said DSS would continue to fail in its attempt to infiltrate its ranks.
Describing the report as “propaganda and blackmail,” IPOB insisted that such reports always surfaced when the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government runs into trouble with its image.
The statement reads, “We the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) view as laughable the latest attempt by the Nigerian secret police DSS to rescue one of their sinking Igbo slave in the person of Okezie Ikpeazu by seeking to deflect attention with the concocted, faceless, non-existent ‘Okwudili’ they claim is heading a ‘faction’ of IPOB. Hausa Fulani Arewa North and their slaves in Igboland, of which Okezie Ikpeazu and Nnia Nwodo are most prominent, even more than Rochas Okorocha, are misguided into thinking the great global IPOB family can be fooled by such kindergarten tactics of planting names in the public domain and claiming the person is IPOB leader. DSS as a spy agency should work harder at infiltrating IPOB because all their efforts so far have failed miserably and will continue to fail because we are the most disciplined mass movement anywhere on this earth today.
“Parading what is in effect a ghost as fake IPOB ‘leader’ to give the impression that IPOB is divided is a wretched joke long anticipated by the highest command of IPOB four years back and something we knew would happen, so we are prepared for it.
Therefore, it did not come to us as a surprise when this morning DSS hurriedly issued their usual Okwudili’ press statement to the media to limit the fatal blow IPOB dealt Okezie Ikpeazu by simply stating the truth through our press statement yesterday that countered the lies he was spewing.
“The public must understand the tricks and propaganda strategy of DSS. Any time this APC regime is in trouble with their image, they fabricate false high propaganda value news and blackmail, cajole or bribe media houses to carry it, so public attention will be deflected from the real issue/s. Remember the timing of the release of Chibok girls in 2017. Is it not a coincidence that this DSS generated press statement, attributed to a faceless nonentity they named ‘Okwudili’ claiming he is IPOB leader, came out on the day Amnesty International published their report confirming that at least 12 people were shot dead at the home of our leader on Afaraukwu Umuahia on 14 September 2017?
That is the extent this deceptive Buhari regime is prepared to go to confuse the weak and gullible. Okezie Ikpeazu in less than 3 years in office, supervised five well known massacres of innocent men, women and children in Abia State, from which he will never escape justice, for he will be punished severely at the appropriate time.
We knew Okezie Ikpeazu’s Hausa Fulani masters will come to his rescue and today they have done exactly that by using our hallowed name to seek to exonerate him. This move is too little, too late for them. Anybody who is remotely interested in knowing how ridiculous this whole fabrications are should remember similar attempts in the past by DSS to give the impression that IPOB is divided which came to nothing.
This present Nigerian government in the past have floated RE-IPOB, TRIPOB, CG-IPOB and many more on the pages of newspapers, in the hope of attracting money hungry Igbo traitors to destabilize IPOB and betray Biafra but all their efforts failed.
They floated a radio station in the US called Radio Biafra International which failed to take-off till date, that attempt to replicate the world famous Radio Biafra was what caused IPOB to launch Radio Nigeria Hausa Service. Okezie Ikpeazu, Nnia Nwodo and other traitors must know that lies and deception can never help their cause of exchanging our blood for money and political relevance in Nigeria.
There is no ‘Okwudili’ leading IPOB. If this fake person does exist, how come there is no picture of him anywhere, he doesn’t address any gathering, he has no village, no parents, nothing. He is a mirage, a figment of the imagination of DSS and corrupt Igbo leadership. ‘Okwudili’ we know for sure exist in DSS computer hard drives and no place else.
From there they move him to the pages of newspapers for a few hours and the name vanishes. Anybody who allows him or herself to be deceived by this childish antic from DSS might as well believe Jubril at Aso Rock today is Buhari or that Naira notes is the main diet of snakes and monkeys.
IPOB is one indivisible family under God. No man born of a woman is capable of dividing IPOB. If you claim you are Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s replacement, please come out let’s see you, after that then come down to Biafraland and address us

Indigeneous People of Biafra, IPOB, has decried what it described as the worst form of judicial immorality and conspiracy, the continuous release of violent Boko Haram suspects and detention of peaceful IPOB members.

 
Weekend, a Federal High Court sitting in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger State released no fewer than 475 suspected Boko Haram members to be rehabilitated by their state governments. the Indigeneous People of Biafra, IPOB, has decried what it described as the worst form of judicial immorality and conspiracy, the continuous release of violent Boko Haram suspects and detention of peaceful IPOB members.
Reacting to the development, the IPOB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, noted with dismay the release of another group of Boko Haram suspects while innocent IPOB family members are still being illegally and unlawfully detained, some for nearly three years without trial as in the case of David Nwawuisi at Kuje prison in Abuja.
It continued: ‘’To rub salt on the injury, Nigerian Police, DSS and Army rather than facilitate the release of Biafrans in their custody have instead continued with their reign of terror across the South East and South South. The latest is the arrest of Mrs Blessing Okoye in Obigbo Igweocha (Port Harcourt) on the evening of Sunday February 18, 2018 by Hausa speaking men of the state secret police, the DSS. How can this APC government of Buhari, the Nigerian National Assembly and Nigerian judiciary morally justify the detention and continued arrest of a peaceful people with no history of violence whatsoever while releasing those involved in the most heinous and abominable crimes known to man? Justice in Nigeria as we know it has been turned upside down, killers released, innocent people incarcerated indefinitely. This level of brazen judicial wickedness, immorality and double standards cannot obtain in any other society on earth except Nigeria.
Till date, no single law court in Nigeria can categorically state, with any shred of conviction, that they have before them any evidence, no matter how insignificant, to the effect that IPOB has been involved in a disorderly conduct, let alone murder or any other illegality. IPOB remains till date the largest and most peaceful mass movement on earth. Our only crime is to demand for our God given right to self determination the same way humans have been doing since the dawn of civilisation.
A Yoruba man Herbert Macaulay started the agitation for self determination that led to independence for the geo-political entity we have come to know as Nigeria. Today, Buhari and his tribesmen are enjoying unprecedented political power, military might, wealth and influence directly derived from agitation for self determination initiated by a Yoruba man and those that emerged later like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo popularly referred to as nationalists

David Eyo, a 31-year-old head-teacher, who allegedly defiled his 10-year-old pupil and infected her with a disease was on Tuesday

Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, who gave the ruling, directed that the case file should be duplicated and a copy sent to the State Director of Public ProsecutionDavid Eyo, a 31-year-old head-teacher, who allegedly defiled his 10-year-old pupil and infected her with a disease was on Tuesday remanded in Kirikiri Prison on the orders of an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court.s (DPP) for advice. 
The accused, a resident of Aguda in Surulere area of Lagos, is on trial for defilement.
He defiled his 10-year-old pupil (name withheld) several times in the premises of the school he said.
NAN reports that the case was reported by the pupil’s parents to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT).
According to Mrs Titilola Rhodes-Vivour, Coordinator of the DSVRT, who was present in court, the child had informed her classmate about the defilement which had occurred several times within the school premises. The classmate who is the girl’s friend, told her mother who in turn informed the father and the case was reported to the Eric Moore Police Station in Surulere.
At the police station, it was referred to the Gender Desk and the desk got in touch with the DSVRT for further investigation.
The survivor could not tell her parents because the accused threatened to flog her, telling her that she will die if she tells anybody of the defilement.
According to the survivor, who was preparing for her Common Entrance Examinations, the pupils used to stay after school hours to be tutored by Eyo who works also as the headteacher, choir master and class teacher. Eyo had the habit of isolating the survivor from her classmates and defiling her in the classroom and infected her with a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD).
The survivor alleged that the sexual abuse had started since September 2017 when she was in Primary Five
The case has been adjourned until June 25.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, Tuesday afternoon ordered that the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi

 
Justice Binta Nyako made the order following an oral application by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Shuaibu Labaran, who noted that Kanu’s continued absence from court since he was granted bail in April 2017, “has frustrated progress in the case The Federal High Court in Abuja, Tuesday afternoon ordered that the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, be separately tried from the rest of his co-defendants.
In the circumstance, the prosecution shall be asking for the indulgence of your lordship to separate the trial so that progress can be made in this matter, Labaran said.
Other defence lawyers did not oppose the application.
Kanu and others are being prosecuted on five counts bordering on treasonable felony, among other charges.
He had not been seen since September 22, 2017 when his team of lawyers and family declared him missing after soldiers allegedly invaded his home in Abia State.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, Tuesday afternoon ordered that the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, be separately tried from the rest of his co-defendants.
Justice Binta Nyako made the order following an oral application by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Shuaibu Labaran, who noted that Kanu’s continued absence from court since he was granted bail in April 2017, “has frustrated progress in the case

In the circumstance, the prosecution shall be asking for the indulgence of your lordship to separate the trial so that progress can be made in this matter,” Labaran said.
Other defence lawyers did not oppose the application.
Kanu and others are being prosecuted on five counts bordering on treasonable felony, among other charges.
He had not been seen since September 22, 2017 when his team of lawyers and family declared him missing after soldiers allegedly invaded his home in Abia State.

However, his co-defendants were produced in court by prison officials for Tuesday’s proceedings.