IPOB : Biafra Group Accuses Police of Abducting 21 Members

 

Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday alleged that the Abia State Police Command abducted 21 Shalom Church members and other Christian denominations praying in the Afara-Ukwu residence of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

But the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Anthony Ogbizi denied the allegation, saying his men arrested about eight members of the militant wing of the IPOB who invaded the state in trucks from Rivers State to cause trouble in the State.

He said that three truck loads, with Rivers and Cross River number plates entered Umuahia and went straight to Nnamdi Kanu's house since last week and have been on surveillance of the city. He said the police had intelligence about their coming and plan to flood other parts of the state.

Ogbizi said his men did not go to Kanu's house, that the suspects were arrested while on surveillance around Afara area and could not explain their mission when accosted by mobile policemen manning the nipping point in the area.

He said those arrested were being profiled at the Command's Criminal Investigation Department, CID, to ascertain their mission in the state.

But IPOB in a statement by its media and publicity secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful alleged that "the Nigeria security agents abducted and tortured Jewish worshippers in Nnamdi Kanu's residence who came to pray at the compound on Sunday morning without any provocation.

"This is to alert the whole world that the Jewish worshippers praying in Afaraukwu Ibeku at IPOB leader's residence are currently undergoing severe torture from the Nigeria security agents at Central Police Station Umuahia and Zone 9 Force Headquarters, Ehimiri Estate Ikot Ekpene Road Umuahia.

"Some of the Jewish worshippers have been abducted and taken to unknown places, for easy execution. The Nigeria security agents have declared war on Christians and religious groups once again, as a daring move against the warnings and agreement made in Washington D.C between the US President Donald Trump and the Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari."

IPOB : Nigeria should learn from Biafra, Ohanaeze, Afenifere warn

Chieftains of pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and its Yoruba counterpart, Afenifere, have cautioned Nigerians to learn from Biafra to avoid a repeat of the horrifying episode in the nation’s political history.
They condemned the killings, saying these have left many displaced, malnourished and degraded.
The umbrella socio-cultural organisations noted that similar situations are factors that led to the 30-month Civil War.
They spoke at the presentation of a book: Shadows of Biafra, by Uchenna Nwankwo, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Victoria Island in Lagos.
Civil war hero and grand patron of Lagos Ohanaeze, Chief Guy Ikokwu, who represented the president general of the organisation, Chief Nnia Nwodo Jnr., noted that living participants of the Civil War from major and minority ethnic nationalities not only regretted their roles of “brigandage and folly”, but “now want a better Nigeria with equity and justice for all”.
He said: “Biafra was a lesson to Nigeria and the Black race. There were a lot of human errors which could have been avoided by Nigerians and Biafrans. Some of the participants and actors are dead.
“And in the last few years, militia Fulani herdsmen with AK-47 guns, some of whom are foreigners, roam agricultural settlements with reckless abandon, killing recklessly thousands every year and claiming land ownership in the Middle Belt and southern states of Nigeria.”
Afenifere chieftain, Chief Supo Shonibare, who called for true federalism that allows for collective leadership, said: “Uchenna Nwankwo is a timely material that forces us to revisit the lessons of Biafra.”
A 1992 presidential aspirant on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dr Uma Eleazu, who represented Falae, the chairman of the event, said: “We need to sit together to talk about and face our mistake.”
Other dignitaries at the event were former military governor of old Imo State and Lagos States as well as a chieftain of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (retired), Senator Ebenezer Ikeyinwa, Niger Delta activist Fred Agbeyegbe, His Royal Majesty Uche Dimgba Ezeudo, former Head of Service (HOS) of Lagos State, Chief Abeke Taire and legal practitioner, Tochukwu Ezukanma.
Ikokwu condemned the mayhem by Boko Haram and militia herdsmen.
The Ohanaeze chief urged the government to take proactive measures to end the menace.
He cited the upgrade and modernisation of the livestock industry to the modern ranch similar to the livestock equivalents overseas as the solution to a better rewarding beef, dairy, hides and skin industry.
The Igbo leader noted that this would enrich the nation’s economy through job creation and taxation.

NIGERIA : What happened when Republic of Biafra was declared – Ekweremadu

Ekweremadu, who turned 56 on Saturday, said he was four when it happened.
Speaking in Enugu at 7th Enugu Annual Youth Summit, Ekweremadu said that kids like him who couldn’t fight suffered terrible shock during the civil war.Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has recounted the events that took place when the Republic of Biafra was declared.   
His full statement below:
“I am happy to address the 7th Enugu Youth Summit. Today, I am going to talk to you about myself with the hope that the young people here will learn one or two things.
I was born in 1962 and will be 56 on the 12th of May. It was on my fourth birthday that the Republic of Biafra was declared and what followed was 30 months of civil war. Within those 30 months, those of us, who were too young to fight, suffered a lot of setbacks. We had to sleep under trees, by bank of rivers, and in the valleys in order to avoid flying bullets.
We could not go to school because schools had been demolished or set on fire. Markets were destroyed; businesses were destroyed. Our friends, brothers, and sisters, who lived in the north and Lagos returned home with their businesses abandoned; their lives destroyed. That was how people like us started.
When the war ended in 1970, we managed to go back to school, studying under trees because there were virtually no schools standing, but we managed to proceed under that condition.
By 1974, I had got to elementary six and took the First School Leaving Certificate. Now, because of the number of children in the family that also required education, a decision had to be made whether I would learn a trade or proceed with my education. That decision took one year and it was that I was going to learn a business or trade. The day I was to be taken away to start learning the business, I disappeared from the house.
When I eventually returned, it was obvious to my parents that I preferred to go to school and in 1975, I got into secondary school. In spite of that setback, by the time I finished in 1980, I made grade 1, scoring “A” in almost all subjects. As it were in those days, if you did well in secondary school, you had the opportunity of teaching in secondary school. I was employed as a teacher and deployed to St. Vincent Secondary School, Agbogugu.
Two years later, I entered the University of Nigeria, earning my LL.B, went to Law school, was called to the Bar and later returned to the University of Nigeria for my LL.M. Years later, I got my doctorate degree in Law. Today, as part of my academic pursuit, I am a proud Professor of the Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in America.
My first political experience came when I was ten years old. I became the chairman of my age grade and this spanned a period of 30 years. I later became the president of my town union at 30. At 35, I became a Local Government Chairman. At 37, I was Chief of Staff. At 39, I became Secretary to the State Government and at 41, I was already in the Senate.
So, I have good news for you: if I could do it, you too can do it. That is the essence of this story. If anybody tells you, young men and women out there, that tomorrow belongs to you, don’t listen to him. It is today that belongs to you.
The next issue is: what has propelled me all these years? One is my absolute trust in God. I have always believed that power comes from God and with him, there is nothing you cannot achieve. So, no matter what they tell you, it is only God that can determine your fate. He has the final say.
But there must be principles that come with it. One is a sense of justice and equity. When I was the Local Government Chairman, I made sure that whatever we did encompassed the various communities under my watch. When I finished my tenure, I was adjudged the best local government chairman in Enugu State.
When I got into the Senate, I would not be just the Senator for Aninri people where I come from. I would rather be the Senator for Udi, Ezeagu, Oji River, Awgu and Aninri. I have made sure that if there are electricity or water projects, they have to go round.
When I became the Deputy President of the Senate in 2007, one of the first major road projects we attracted was the Oji River-Awgu road, not Awgu-Ndeaboh road. The second was the Awgu-Ndeaboh-Mpu-Okpanku-Akaeze road. One day, I came back home and saw right in my village, the contractor had put asphalt on the road in front of my house. I called the Minister of Works and complained that the contractor had left the stretch from Awgu-Ndeaboh and started in front of my house. I said I don’t behave that way and that they must remove that asphalt. I insisted and they removed the asphalt, left the road as bad as it was and went and started where they should start.
At the time I got into the Senate, there was no electricity in any part of Aninri whatsoever. So, when the government decided to put electricity in my place, there was also the same temptation to take the light from New Haven, Enugu, straight to my village. I told them that I was not interested; that I had to ensure that all the communities on the way to my village had light before it got to me.
We wanted to do youth centre and we made sure that there is one in each Local Government. When we distribute human resources development, scholarship, every local government gets equal number. Aninri doesn’t get one extra.
Now, the lesson here is that when you are fair to people, they also respond in the same manner. Because I have been fair to all the local governments that make up my senatorial district, the people of Enugu west have graciously returned me to the senate for four consecutive times and if I want to go again, I am sure they will return me again.
At the Senate, I try not to see myself as the Senator representing Enugu West or just Enugu State or Igboland. I see myself as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That means that what concerns the people of Zamfara concerns me; what concerns the people of Sokoto also concerns me; and when Lagos is involved, I am also concerned. That was why I had to visit Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Adamawa, Gombe, and other places to support and tell them that this too shall pass, for they are going through, I went also passed through between 1967 and 1970; and that it shall be well with them.
Because of my pan-Nigerian attitude, my colleagues in the Senate in 2007 elected me as Deputy President of the Senate unopposed; in 2011 they repeated that. In 2015, even when my party was in the minority and I was running against somebody from the mainstream party, my colleagues believed that I could still serve as the Deputy President of the Senate and they would be satisfied.
In 2003, I got into the Senate and I was also elected from the Senate of Nigeria to represent my colleagues at the ECOWAS Parliament. In 2007, my colleagues rewarded me with the post of Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and later in 2011 when it was Nigeria’s turn to produce the Parliament’s Speaker, I became the first Nigerian to hold the position of the Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament. Because the speakership of the Community Parliament is rotational in alphabetical order, the next Nigerian Speaker of the Parliament will emerge in nearly 60-year time.
My point is that in whatever you do, try to be fair to all. In your home, treat your children equally. If you are president of a town union, ensure that there is equity. If you are a traditional ruler, do not discriminate between those from your village and those from other villages; and if you rise to be the Governor of a State as a young man, remember that every part of the State is your concern. If you are President of Nigeria, it is important that you realise that every part of Nigeria is your constituency and you need to treat them equally, with justice. If you do that, you won’t harvest trouble and Nigerians will not mind how many years you spend in power or where you come from. They will give you all their support and solidarity.
Finally, there is hope for all of you, the youth. I am a firm believer in the power of our youth. We will support all of you, who desire to run for any office. One of the practical ways is to reduce the age limit for you to contest elections. We have amended our constitution and hopefully the president will sign it.Thank you for this opportunity to share my life story with you. God bless our youth. God bless Nigeria.”

BIAFRA NEWS : Governor Wike Gives Traders 2 Weeks To Leave Port Harcourt Slaughter Market as He Plan To Shut it Down

Rivers State Government says it will close the Trans Amadi/Oginigba/Zoo abattoir and market in two weeks’ time because of the vandalisation of government property around the Trans Amadi / Zoo Roundabout by hoodlums who use these places to perpetrate criminality in the area.
A statement issued today in Port Harcourt by the State Commissioner for Information and Communications Barr Emma Okah said the Government can no longer tolerate the alarming degree of criminality that define lives in that axis.
In addition, the place has become an environmental disaster in our State and every effort made by the Government to enthrone sanity and crime-free regime there has been stoutly resisted by these hoodlums. In some cases Govt officials have been assaulted and shot at by these criminal elements in their bid to assert supremacy.
Accordingly, all those carrying on business at the slaughter as well as other traders in the slaughter market and it’s environ are hereby requested to vacate the place in two weeks’ time.
“Rivers State Government will unfailingly shut down the market at the expiration of the grace period” Okah said, warning that traders who refuse to vacate the abbatoir and the market will face the law at the appropriate time.

BIAFRA : Buhari had ‘unholy romance’ with Donald Trump in US – Biafra groups

 
 BIAFRA NATION
A coalition of pro-Biafra groups have described the recent meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and his counterpart from the United States, President Donald Trump as an “unholy romance.”
This position was made after a meeting in Enugu and was contained in a statement issued by spokespersons of the groups.
Those who signed the statement include, Comrade Uchenna Madu ( Leader of MASSOB), Nwada Eberechukwu Anigbogu ( DG, MOBIN), Engineer Innocent Amadi (BHRI) and Mazi Felix Anochirionye (EPC).
The groups include, Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB), Eastern Peoples’ Congress (EPC), Igbo Youth Cultural and Restoration Initiative (IYCRI), Bilie Human Rights Initiative (BHRI), Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria (MOBIN).
Salvation People of Biafra (SP), World Union of Biafran Scientists (WUBS), Shadow Government of Biafra (SGB), Biafran National Liberation Council (BNLC), Biafran Revolutionary Organisation (BRO), Biafran Liberation Crusade (BLC),
Others include, Joint Revolutionary Council of Biafra (JRCB), Biafra Revolutionary Force (BRF), Customary Government of Biafra (CGB), Biafran Intellectual Clergy Forum (BICF), Biafra Movement for Sovereignty (BIAMOS), Biafran Central Council (BCC) and Biafran United Liberation Council (BULCO).
The statement reads partly, “The people of Biafran nation are quite disturbed by the unholy romance between Nigeria’s president and his US counterpart.
“In the face of so many cases of ethnic cleansing against Biafrans by the Buhari administration, the people of Biafra had expected that the United States President upon meeting with Buhari would take a position against these attacks.
“Unfortunately, all we got was that compromising Press Conference between the two presidents. Though we expect some high level of diplomacy on Biafra issues, fifty percent of Biafrans are disappointed on president Trump of US
“Let it be on record that the Biafrans are not amused at the lackadaisical manner which Biafra issue was thrown under the carpet. As the police of the world, the least expected from the US is to institute a case against Nigeria.“Be that as it may, Biafrans would want the United Nations to know that the suppression, killing, maiming and jailing of our people by the Nigerian military has not stopped. They must stop playing politics with our future and existence.”

BIAFRA DAY : Zionists Vow to Declare Biafra Independence On May 30

Enugu — The Biafra Zionists Federation (BZF) said it would declare an independent state of Biafra on May 30 at the Enugu State Government House and asked the state government to vacate office before that date.

But in a swift response, the state Police Command said the group lacked the powers to forcefully overrun the state, warning that it would deal ruthlessly with anyone who breaches law and order in the state.

Addressing journalists in Enugu, leader of the group, Benjamin Onwuka, said there was no going back on the declaration of Biafra and dared the law enforcement agencies to arrest him.

He said: "By 7.00 am on Wednesday, May 30, I will be at the Enugu Government House on Nza Street to declare Biafra's Independence. I have informed the Nigerian army and on that day, they will see that there is greater power.

"We will take over the government house to announce Biafra. It was done in Kosovo backed by the United States of America and our own should not be an exception. Let them bring out their gun and any other weapon, but nothing shall stop us."

Onwuka also asked indigenes of defunct Biafra to ignore the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) on May 30 and throng the Enugu Government House for the event.

He stated that sit- at-home protest had been observed in the last 15 years without any significant impact on Biafra, stressing that "Biafra will not be secured on a platter of gold."

He said that the group was relying on the support of the United States of America (U.S.A.) and Israel to achieve the declaration of Biafra's independence, stressing that Biafra failed in the past due to lack of international support.

But the Police in Enugu warned yesterday that it would deal with any acts of lawlessness and disorder in the state, insisting that it would not tolerate any action that would threaten the government.

IPOB DAY : Agitators warn security agencies

 BIAFRA NATION

Biafra Nations Youth League, BNYL, has warned the security agencies to stay away from 30th May Biafra day.
The group said it would not tolerate killing of Biafran supporters on the day.
BNYL leader, Princewill Richard, in a statement on Friday, said, “We know that our unity as a people is a big threat to the government of Nigeria.
Biafra Nations Youth League, BNYL, has warned the security agencies to stay away from 30th May Biafra day.

The group said it would not tolerate killing of Biafran supporters on the day.
BNYL leader, Princewill Richard, in a statement on Friday, said, “We know that our unity as a people is a big threat to the government of Nigeria.

“We are equally aware that they have sharpened thier knives to drink blood that day, but we will resist in one way or the other”.
The BNYL, however, cautioned pro-Biafra groups not to allow hoodlums hijack their activities.
He condemned the recent proclamation by the self acclaimed President of the Biafra Zionist Federation, BZF, who urged supporters to gather at Enugu government house for hoisting of flag and Biafra re-declaration.
BNYL warmed that such act was not part of the struggle.
“No one should come out; he has no agenda, he should submit to closest group in Enugu or if he is aspiring to be a governor then he should join a party and contest we will vote for him being a Biafra agitator.
“I don’t know why he keeps repeating his previous activities that is yielding no good results, acting like a tout and yet condemn others.“Biafra is far beyond all these child’s play, and what baffles me is that those turning the struggle to caricature are men of 50 years and above”.