The
Unquestionable Right
of the Igbo to Actualize Biafara
*************
Help
us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name:
And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
Wherefore should the heathen say, where is their God?
Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the
revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
Let the sighting of the prisoner come before thee;
According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou
those that are appointed to die;
And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom
their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
So we
thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever:
We will shew forth thy praise to all generations.
Psalm
79: 9 – 13
****
In the
course of my investigations, I came across witnesses who testified
to methods of extermination which I found so gruesome and barbarous
that it is difficult to describe in any detail. These are :-
(i) Execution
in the Market Places. This involved the slitting of throats and
the chopping of heads in the market place.
(ii) The killing of unborn babies. In this the stomachs of pregnant
women were slit open, and the tiny unborn babies slashed with matchets.
(iii) The plucking of eyes out of their sockets. One of the witnesses
who testified to me had his left eye plucked out and he mentioned
that he was the last of a queue of Biafran Prisoners-of-war who
were having their eyes plucked out, and that he was able to run
away with one eye because when it came to his turn, an alarm was
given of a Biafran advance, and the plucker had to run for his gun,
thus making it possible for him to escape with one eye.
Other
barbarous methods, too indecent to discuss in detail, were also
mentioned by eye-witnesses. These included chopping off of the male
genital organ and plugging it into the mouths of the victims.
There
was also testimony regarding the ravishing of virgins, which consisted
of slitting open the female organ by means of broken bottles or
bayonets. Eight witnesses who testified to me of this had survived
this barbarity, but they mentioned a great many other women who
had died as a result of it.
(iv)
The skinning of life Biafrans. Witnesses who testified to this method
of extermination, mentioned that they were eye witnesses, and that
invariably all the victims of this died as a result of the skinning.
The method of “skinning alive”, as was testified to
me, was by means of broken bottles. This incident occurred in Ishagu.
Twenty-two males were “skinned” in this manner, as per
the testimony of one witness who mentioned witnessing this process.
Dr. Mensah
An International Commission of Jurist Find Prima Facie Evidence
of Genocide
****
Only
the uninformed and those in bed with the perpetrators, can deny
the survivors of a pogrom, genocide, holocaust, and planned marginalization
designed to finally accomplish what they were unable to accomplish
in war, the final solution – extermination, the only possible
relief – an independent state (country).
We the
members of the organizations that make up the coalition, “Ndi
Nche”, a pro “Igbo Biafara” coalition, believe
that any emerging Igbo Nation State must be built solidly on truth
(Eziokwu bu Ndu – Truth is the foundation of Life), on the
philosophy and “Omenala” of our fore-parents, that OHA
must always remain supreme, and the ‘Rule of Law”, must
never be compromised, nor must any elevate himself/herself above
the law.
We give
thanks to Chi Ukwu (The Supreme One), the Mighty Yah, for making
it possible for Igbo to continue as a viable nation despite the
continuing holocaust, genocide, marginalization, and all the harrowing
impediments placed on the path of the Igbo to bring the Igbo nation
to her knees.
Yes,
our heads have been bloodied;
Yes, the world did turn her back on us;
Yes, our kin and kindred were massacred in their millions;
Yes, our land continue to be laid waste;
Yes, a planned marginalization continue to be enforced against Ndi
Igbo;
Yes, traitors continue to be anointed as our leaders;
Yes, our properties continue to be looted;
But “Ama Ama Amasi Amasi – The Unknowable and Unfathomable
One”, the Mighty Yah, has not forgotten the promise He/She
made to our ancestors, including Abiama (Abraham) – All praise
and glory to Chineke, the Mighty Yah.
We are
reminded of the prophesy of a very special elder-statesman, Maazi
Frederick Forsyth, who even as the destruction of Biafra was no
longer in doubt, was convinced that defeat was only a minor set
back. He knew that the crimes committed against the Igbo was so
inhuman and brutal that the leaders of Nigeria had consciously pushed
Igbo out of Nigeria:
“What
had started as a belief was transmuted to total conviction; that
they could never again live with Nigerians. From this stems the
primordial political reality of the present situation. Biafra cannot
be killed by anything short of total eradication of the people who
make her. For even under total occupation Biafra would sooner or
without Colonel Ojukwu, rise up again.”
The
Biafra Story
By the Elder-statesman Maazi Frederick Forsyth (1968)
****
Assuming
it is necessary to make a case for Biafara Actualization, what better
elder-statesman than Maazi Julius Nyerere (President), can Igbo
call on to make her case!
The Case
for Actualization of the Sovereign Republic of Igbo Biafara
By the Elderstatesman Maazi Julius Nyerere
"Tanzania has recognized the State of Israel and will continue
to do so because of its belief that every people must have some
place in the world where they are not liable to be rejected by their
fellow citizens. But the Biafrans have now suffered the same kind
of rejection within their state that the Jews of Germany experienced.
Fortunately they already had a homeland.
They have retreated to it for their own protection, and for the
same reason - after all other efforts had failed - they have declared
it to be an independent state. In the light of these circumstances,
Tanzania feels obliged to recognize the setback to African unity
which has occurred.
We therefore recognize the State of Biafra as an independent sovereign
entity, and as a member of the community of nations. Only by this
act of recognition can we remain true to our conviction that the
purpose of society, and of all political organization, is the service
of Man."
Elder-statesman Maazi Julius Nyerere
****
"The Declaration of Independence by Biafra on the 30th May,
1967 came after two military coups d'etat - in January and July
1966 - and two major pogroms against the Ibo (Igbo) people. These
pogroms, which also took place in 1966, resulted in the death of
about 30,000 men, women, and children, and made two million people
flee from their homes in other parts of Nigeria to the tribal homeland
in Eastern Nigeria. These events have been interspersed and followed
by official discussions about a new constitution for Nigeria, and
also by continued personal attacks on individual Ibos who have remained
outside the Eastern Region.
The basic case for Biafra' s secession from the Nigerian Federation
is that people from the Eastern Region can no longer feel save in
other parts of the Federation. They are not accepted as citizens
of Nigeria by the other citizens of Nigeria. Not only is it impossible
for Ibos and people of related tribes to live in assurance of personal
safety if they work outside Biafra; it would also be impossible
for any representative of these people to move freely and without
fear in any other part of the Federation of Nigeria.
These fears are genuine and deep-seated; nor can anyone say they
are groundless. The rights and wrongs of the original coup d'etat,
the rights and wrongs of the attitudes taken by different groups
in the politics of pre and post coup Nigeria, are all irrelevant
to the fear which Ibo people feel.
And the people of Eastern Nigeria can point to too many bereaved
homes, too many maimed people, for anyone to deny the reasonable
grounds for their fears. It is these fears which are the root cause
both for the secession, and for the fanaticism with which the people
of Eastern Nigeria have defended the country they declared to be
independent. Fears such as now exist among the Ibo people do not
disappear because someone says they are unjustified, of says that
the rest of Nigeria does not want to exterminate Ibos (Igbos). Such
words have even less effect when the speakers have made no attempt
to bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice, and when troops
under the control of the Federal Nigerian authorities continue to
ill-treat, or allow others to ill-treat, any Ibo who come within
their power. The only way to remove the Easterners' fear is for
the Nigerian authorities to accept its existence, to acknowledge
the reason for it, and then to talk on terms of equality with those
involved about the way forward.
When people have reason to be afraid you cannot reassure them through
the barrel of a gun; your only hope is to talk as one man to another,
or as one group to another. It is no use the Federal authorities
demanding that the persecuted should come as a supplicant for mercy,
by first renouncing their secession from the political unit. For
the secession was declared because the Ibo (Igbo) people felt it
to be their only defence against extermination. In their minds,
therefore, a demand that should renounce secession before talks
begun, is equivalent to a demand that they should announce their
willingness to be exterminated. If they are wrong in this belief
they have to be convinced. And they can only be convinced by talks
leading to new institutional arrangements which take account of
their fears.
The people of Biafra have announced their willingness to talk to
the Nigerian authorities without any conditions. They cannot renounce
their secession before talks, but they do not demand that Nigerians
should recognize it; they ask for talks without conditions. But
the Federal Authorities have refused to talk except on the basis
of Biafran surrender. And as the Biafrans believe they will be massacred
if they surrender, the Federal authorities are really refusing to
talk at all. For human beings do not voluntarily walk towards what
they believe to be certain death. The federal Government argues
that in demanding the renunciation of secession before talks, and
indeed in its entire "police action", it is defending
the territorial integrity of Nigeria. On this ground it argues also
that it has a right to demand support from all other governments,
and especially other African governments. For every state, and every
state authority, has a duty to defend the sovereignty and integrity
of its nation; this is a central part of the function of a national
government.
Africa accepts the validity of this point, for African states have
more reason than most to fear the effects of disintegration. It
is on these grounds that Africa has watched the massacre of tens
of thousands of peoples, has watched millions being made into refugees,
watched the employment of mercenaries by both sides in the current
civil war, and has accepted repeated rebuffs of its offers to help
by mediation or conciliation.
But for how long should this continue? Africa fought for freedom
on the ground of individual liberty and equality, and on the grounds
that every people must have the right to determine for themselves
the conditions under which they would be governed. We accept the
boundaries we inherited from colonialism, and within them we each
worked out for ourselves the constitutional and other arrangements
which we felt to be appropriate to the most essential function of
a state - that is the safeguarding of life and liberty for its inhabitants.
When the Federation of Nigeria became independent in 1960, the same
policy was adopted by all its peoples. They accepted the Federal
structure which had been established under the colonial system,
and declared their intention to work together. Indeed, the Southern
States of the Federation - which includes Biafra - delayed their
own demands for independence until the North was ready to join them.
At the insistence of the North also, the original suggestion of
the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (the political
party which had its centre in the South) that Nigeria should be
broken up into many small states with a strong centre, was abandoned.
The South accepted a structure which virtually allowed the more
populous North to dominate the rest.
But the constitution of the Federation of Nigeria was broken in
January, 1966, by the first military coup. All hope of its resuscitation
was removed by the second coup, and even more by the pogroms of
September and October, 1966. These events altered the whole basis
of the society; after them it was impossible for political and economic
relations between the different parts of the old Federation to be
restored. They meant that Nigerian unity could only be salvaged
from the wreck of inter-tribal violence and fear by a constitution
drawn up in the light of what had happened, and which was generally
acceptable to all major elements of the society under the new circumstances.
A completely new start had to be made, for the basis of the state
had been dissolved in the complete break-down of law and order,
and the inter-tribal violence which existed.
The necessity for a new start by agreement was accepted by a Conference
of military leaders from all parts of the Federation, in Aburi,
Ghana, in January, 1967. There is a certain difference of opinion
about some of the things which were agreed at the Conference. But
there is no dispute about the fact that everyone joined in a Declaration
renouncing the use of force as a means of settling the crisis in
Nigeria. Nor does anyone dispute that it was agreed that a new constitution
was to be worked out by agreement, and that in the meantime there
would be a repeal of all military decrees issued since January,
1966 which reduced the powers of the Region. There was also agreement
about rehabilitation payments for those who had been forced to flee
from their homes, and about members of the armed forces being stationed
in their home Regions.
The Aburi Conference could have provided the new start which was
necessary if the unity of Nigeria was to be maintained. But before
the end of the same month, General Gowon was restating his commitment
to the creation of new states, and his determination to oppose any
form of confederation. And on the last day of January, the Federal
military authorities were already giving administrative reasons
for delay in the implementation of the Agreements reached at Aburi.
It was the middle of March before a constitutional decree was issued
which was supposed to regularize the position in accordance with
with the decisions taken there. But unfortunately this Decree also
included a new clause - which had not been agreed - and which gave
the Federal authorities a reserve power over the Regions, and thus
completely nullified the whole operation. Nor had any payment been
made by the Federal Government to back up the monetary commitment
for rehabilitation which it had accepted in the Ghana meeting.
In short, the necessity for an arrangement which would take account
of the fears created during 1966 was accepted at Aburi, and renounced
thereafter by the Federal authorities. Yet they now claim to be
defending the integrity of the country in which they failed to guarantee
the most elementary safety of the twelve million peoples of Eastern
Nigeria. These people had been massacred in other parts of Nigeria
without the Federal authorities apparently having either the will
or the power to protect them. When they retreated to their homeland
they were expected to accept the domination of the same people who
instigated, or allowed, their persecution in the country which they
are being told is theirs - i.e., Nigeria.
Surely, when a whole people is rejected by the majority of the state
in which they live, they must have the life to life under a different
kind of arrangement which does secure their existence. States are
made to serve people; governments are established to protect the
citizens of a state against external enemies and internal wrong-doers.
It is on those grounds that people surrender their right and power
of self-defence to the Government of the state in which they live.
But when the machinery of the state, and the powers of the Government,
are turned against a whole group of the society on the grounds of
racial, tribal, or religious prejudice, then the victims have the
right to take back the powers they have surrendered, and to defend
themselves.
For while people have a duty to defend the integrity of their state,
and even to die in its defence, this duty stems from the fact that
it is theirs, and that it is important to their wellbeing and to
the future of their children. When the state ceases to stand for
honor, the protection, and the wellbeing of all its citizens, then
it is no longer the instrument of those it has rejected. In such
a case the people have the right to create another instrument for
their protection - in other words, to create another state. This
right cannot be abrogated by constitutions, nor by outsiders. The
basis of statehood, and of unity can only be general acceptance
by the participants. When more than twelve million people have become
convinced that they are rejected, and that there is no longer any
basis for unity between them and other groups of people, then that
unity has ceased to exist. You cannot kill thousands of people,
and keep killing more, in the name of unity. There is no unity between
the dead and those who killed them; and there is no unity in slavery
or domination.
Africa needs unity. We need unity over the whole continent, and
in the meantime we need unity within the existing states of Africa.
It is a tragedy when we experience a setback to our goal of unity.
But the basis of our need for unity, and the reason for our desire
for it, is the greater wellbeing, and the greater security, of the
people of Africa. Unity by conquest is impossible. It is not practicable;
and even if military might could force the acceptance of a particular
authority, the purpose of unity would have been destroyed. For the
purpose of unity, its justification, is the service of all the peoples
who are united together. The general consent of all the people involved
is the only basis on which unity in Africa can be maintained or
extended.
The fact that the Federation of Nigeria was created in 1960 with
the consent of all the people does not alter that fact. That Federation,
and the basis of consent, has since been destroyed.
Nor is this the first time the world has seen a reduction in political
unity. We have seen the creation of the Mali Federation, the creation
of a Union between Egypt and Syria, and the establishment of the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. And we have also seen the
dissolution of all these attempts at unity, and the consequent recognition
of the separate nations which were once involved. The world has
also seen the creation of India and Pakistan out of what was once
the Indian Empire. We have all recognized both of these nation states
and done our best to help them deal with the millions of people
made homeless by the conflict and division. None of these things
meant that we have liked these examples of great disunity. They
meant that we recognize that in all these cases the people are unwilling
to remain in one political unit.
Tanzania recognizes Senegal, Mali, Egypt, Syria, Malawi, Zambia,
Pakistan and Egypt. What right have we to refuse, in the name of
unity, to recognize the fact of Biafra? For years the people of
that state struggled to maintain unity with the other peoples in
the Federation of Nigeria; even after the pogroms of 1966 they tried
to work out a new form of unity which would guarantee their safety;
they have demonstrated by ten months of bitter fighting that they
have decided upon a new political organization and are willing to
defend it.
The world has taken it upon itself to utter many ill-informed criticisms
of the Jews of Europe for going to their deaths without any concerted
struggle. But out of sympathy for the sufferings of this people,
and in recognition of the world's failure to take action at the
appropriate time, the United Nations established the State of Israel
in territory which belonged to the Arabs for thousands of years.
It was felt that only by the establishment of a Jewish homeland,
and a Jewish national state, could Jews be expected to live in the
world under conditions of human security.
Tanzania has recognized the State of Israel and will continue to
do so because of its belief that every people must have some place
in the world where they are not liable to be rejected by their fellow
citizens. But the Biafrans have now suffered the same kind of rejection
within their state that the Jews of Germany experienced. Fortunately
they already had a homeland. They have retreated to it for their
own protection, and for the same reason - after all other efforts
had failed - they have declared it to be an independent state.
In the light of these circumstances, Tanzania feels obliged to recognize
the setback to African unity which has occurred. We therefore recognize
the State of Biafra as an independent sovereign entity, and as a
member of the community of nations. Only by this act of recognition
can we remain true to our conviction that the purpose of society,
and of all political organization, is the service of Man."
President Julius Nyerere-led government of Tanzania offers Recognition
to the Republic of Biafra. Published by the Government printer in
Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salam on April 13,1968.
****
And for
those who still doubt the war crimes, genocide, holocaust, and planned
marginalization committed against Biafrans, below are a few reports
that make it impossible to deny Ndi Igbo the Actualization of the
Sovereign Republic of Biafara.
The Brutality,
Inhumanity, Planned Marginalization, Genocide and Holocaust
“Easterners, those who were able, took flight and all the
entry routes to the East were jammed. At their heels were hordes
of Northerners shooting or clubbing down straggling women and children
and hunting down those in the bush. The climax to the holocaust
was reached on 29th September, as the Lagos Constitutional Conference
was about to adjourn. At the Kano International Airport, Easterners
waiting to be airlifted home were surrounded by armed Northern soldiers
and civilians and massacred. Those who took trains ran into ambushes
of Northern soldiers and civilians who looted their belongings and
maimed thousands.
Some of the extremes of savagery reached by our supposed Northern
fellow- countrymen are so bizarre that they defy description. There
were numerous cases of decapitation of living victims. A number
of student- survivors from institutions of learning in Northern
Nigeria were captured and all the fingers of their right hands chopped
off before they were rereleased. That would help in curtailing,
they were told, the educational lead of Eastern Nigria over the
North. There are several eyewitness accounts of pregnant women of
Eastern Nigeria origin who were ripped open and their unborn children
hacked to pieces, and accounts (most of them given by the actual
victims themselves) of women, some of them pregnant, who were forcibly
held down by Northern soldiers or civilians while lepers raped them.
Also, while hundreds of Easterners found genuine refuge from their
predators in police stations in the North, several others were turned
upon and slaughtered by Northern policemen in the very police stations
to which they had fled for protection. Until recently, there was
a juvenile of about sixteen lying critically ill in a ward at the
Enugu General Hospital who had been raped repeatedly by several
Northern soldiers. These soldiers had thereafter proceeded to savage
her genitals with a sharp object, then filled it with sand, and
finally, almost completely gouged her right eye with a dagger!"
NIGERIAN
POGROM & JANUARY 15: BEFORE AND AFTER.
****
“We
do not want, Sir, our Southern neighbours to interfere in our development....
I should like to make it clear to you that if the British quitted
Nigeria now at this stage the northern people would continue their
interrupted conquest to the sea.”
Mallam
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1947)
Later to become Prime Minister of Nigeria
1945 Northern Moslems kill HUNDREDS of IGBO civilians in the Northern
city of JOS and loot their properties worth hundreds of millions
of dollars!
1953
Northern Moslems pounce on IGBO civilians in the Northern city of
KANO, HUNDREDS of IGBO men and women are killed and their property
worth in the hundreds of millions are looted!
“The
seeds of the trouble which broke out in Kano on May 1953 have their
counterparts still in the ground. It could happen again, and only
a realization and acceptance of the underlying causes can remove
the danger of recurrence.”
Official
Report of the 1953 Massacre in Kano
British Administrative officer
“Mr.
Chairman, Sir, since 1955 this government had laid down a policy.
First Northerners, second Expatriates and third non-northerners.
Mr. Chairman, Sir, I have noted very carefully all the speeches
made by all the Members in the Honourable House and I am ready to
put up to my Government their views and I hope my Government will
give them consideration ... I think these two things are the major
things I have to answer now. One is on scholarship and the other
is on how to do away with the Ibos.”
Alhaji
Mustafa Ismaila Zanna Dujuna (Minister of Establishments and training)
AN INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS FIND
PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE
1966
* MAY * JULY * SEPTEMBER *
(The worst pogrom in all of Africa up to that time!)
“It
is pertinent to observe that the Atrocities Tribunal found as a
fact that the Northern Nigeria authorities with their collaborators
had devised a seven point program aimed at a complete extermination
of the then Eastern Nigerians (now Biafrans) in Northern Nigeria
and other parts of the federation. The program is outlined as follows:
1. (a)
to kill off the Major-general and Supreme Commander of the Armed
Forces, T. J. T. Aguiyi-Ironsi;
(b) to kill off all Yamiri (Igbo) Army officers;
(c) and subsequently purge the Army of Yamiri by killing the rest
in the ranks.
2. With
the aid of the Westerners in the army, to take complete control
of the Armed Forces, the Police and the Navy and to purge off the
Yamiri in these forces too.
3. To
kill off and dispossess all the Yamiri domiciled in the Northern
region.
4. To
use the control of the Armed Forces to take control of the country’s
Government.
5. To
revenge Sarduana’s and Abubakar’s death by killing Dr.
Zik, Dr. Okpara, Ojukwu and Major Nzeogwu.
6. To
destroy Port Harcourt, Enugu and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
7. To
kill all
(a) Yamiri in top civil service posts;
(b) all wealthy Yamiri - male and female;
(c) all Yamiri educational giants;
(d) all grown up males and females of Yamiri;
(e) to leave out only sucklings in yamiri land.
(Tribunal Report pp. 133 - 134)”
AN INTERNATIONAL
COMMISSION OF JURISTS FIND
PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE
“The army was even more deeply involved. The following graphic
report was given to the Atrocities tribunal by Paul I. Okwawa, the
teacher we mentioned earlier, should silence the argument as to
whether or not Nigerians had the intention to exterminate Biafrans:
“At 6.30 p.m. on October 1st we arrived at the (Kano) Airport
and to my greatest surprise I saw a sight that drove fear into my
heart. Literally all the Northern ex-politicians had gathered at
the airport in their immaculate white gowns. I saw Aminu Kano. I
saw Maitama Sule, Inua Wada. Many Europeans also came to the Airport.
Exactly at 6.50 p.m. soldiers in green shirts and trousers invaded
the Airport.
“I had a presentiment that something bad was in the air, and
as we sat near our luggage we wondered whether these ex-politicians
and their European, Asian and Arab friends had come to witness the
final liquidation of our people. Soon shots were heard everywhere.
That day was declared a public holiday, and as usual many Ibos came
to the airport ....
“one soldier ordered me outside and asked me where I came
from. When I told him I was a Mid-Westerner he told me I was lying
because he knew where I came from. What I heard was: “About
turn! Quick march!” I heard a shot behind me and I fell down
and passed out.
“How long I was there before I came round I could not tell.
But when I became conscious, a heap of dead men was on me. Some
still breathing but others stone dead. It took me some time to extricate
myself from the dead bodies heaped upon me. I crept over other dead
bodies as I tried to hide because soldiers were still shooting people
in their hiding places at the airport. ...”
AN INTERNATIONAL
COMMISSION OF JURISTS FIND
PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE
“Bestialities and indignities of all kinds were visited on
Biafrans in 1966. In Ikeja Barracks (Western Nigeria) Biafrans were
forcibly fed on a mixture of human urine and feaces. In Northern
Nigeria numerous Biafran house-wives and nursing mothers were raped
before their husbands and children. Young girls were abducted from
their homes, working places and schools and forced into sexual intercourse
with sick, demented and leprous men.
Mr.
Erif Spiff (Eye witness)
Atrocities Tribunal
AN INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS FIND
PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE
“Finally,
the monstrous atrocities which accompanied the groesome massacres
of 1966 bore testimony to the fact that the perpetrators were religiously
intent on genocide. There were numerous cases of torture and humiliation,
maiming and mutilation, gouging out of the eyes and tearing out
of the womb, slaughter and decapitation - atrocities which can only
be explained by the determination of the perpetrators to destroy
Biafrans in every conceivable way. A witness, Dick Iwobi, described
to the Atrocities Tribunal an outrageous method of murder which
Northern Nigerians practised on Biafrans:
“This punishment is one of the most dreadful way of crucifying
a person. A heavy rod is tied across the back of the chest of the
victim with his hands stretched and secured firmly on the rod. While
the victim may still be standing on his legs, he is as helpless
as a man nailed to a cross. In this position they then proceed to
torture the victim by plucking his eyes, cutting his tongue or cutting
his testicles ...”
AN INTERNATIONAL
COMMISSION OF JURISTS FIND
PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF GENOCIDE
Band
of killers, mostly Moslems, in all Hamlets, Villages, Towns and
Cities in Northern Nigeria carried out one of the most barbaric
pogroms in contemporary history against the Igbo living in Northern
Nigeria. At the end of three waves of all-out massacres, FIFTY THOUSAND
IGBO (and other Easterner Nigerians) were slaughtered. Among the
dead were men and women of all ages, as well as children. Unborn
fetuses were not spared during these three months when armed marauders
prowled everywhere outside of Eastern Nigeria, hunting Igbo people
down like animals: Pregnant Igbo women were captured, their bellies
ripped open and their unborn children hacked to death.
1967
- 1970 (Nigeria - Biafra War)
“Let
us go and crush them. We will pillage their property, rape their
womenfolk, kill off their menfolk and leave them uselessly weeping.
We will complete the pogrom of 1966"
The theme
song of Radio Kaduna, government-controlled, is the above chant
in Hausa.
“There
has been genocide, for example on the occasion of the 1966 massacres
... Two areas have suffered badly [from the fighting]. Firstly the
region between the towns of Benin and asaba where only widows and
orphans remain, Federal troops having for unknown reasons massacred
all the men.”
“According to eyewitnesses of that massacre the Nigerian commander
ordered the execution of every Ibo male over the age of ten years.”
Monsignor Georges (sent down on a fact-finding mission by His holiness
the Pope)
Le Monde (French evening newspaper)
April 5, 1968
THE BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
“All
is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t
see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight
harder.”
Chief
Awolowo (Minister of Finance)
THE BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
“Unfortunately
this [Gowon’s] enlightenment at the top level does not penetrate
very deep: a lagos police officer was quoted last month as saying
that “the Ibos must be considerably reduced in number”
Dr Conor cruise O’Bien
21 December 1967
New York review
“The
same UNICEF representative went on to convey something of what lay
behind this intransigence: “Among the large majority hailing
from that tribe (Yorubas) who are most vocal in inciting the complete
extermination of the Ibos, I often heard remarks that all Nigeria’s
ills will be cured once the Ibos have been removed ...”
THE
BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
“I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council
of Churches, no Pope, no missionary and no UN delegation. I want
to prevent even one Ibo having one piece to eat before their capitulation.
We shoot at everything that moves.” Asked what his forces
would do when they overran the center of Ibo territory, Adekunle
replied, “then we shoot at everything. Even things that don’t
move.”
Colonel
Adekunle (Commander of the 3rd Marine Commando)
THE BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
Comments:
General Obasanjo (current President of Nigeria) continued with the
above policy after he replaced Adekunle as the commander of the
3rd Marine Commando.
“One
word now describes the policy of the Nigerian military government
towards secessionist Biafra: genocide. It is ugly and extreme but
it is the only word which fits Nigeria’s decision to stop
the International Committee of the red Cross, and other relief agencies,
from flying food to Biafra ...”
Mayer
Washington Post (editorial)
July 2, 1969
In July, a Northern led army declared war on the Igbo/Easterners
in their homeland in Southeastern Nigeria who, out of utter shock
at the pogrom unleashed against the Igbo, had concluded that Easterners/Igbo
were not wanted in the Nigerian Federation and had declared the
Eastern Region the independent Republic of Biafra. By the time the
war ended in January 1970, more than THREE MILLION IGBO people,
including over a million children had died. Many of the dead, especially
children, had died of starvation, a result of the deliberate policy
of the Nigerian government, which had imposed a total land, sea
and air blockade of Biafra, prohibiting even food and medical deliveries
to the war zone!
“The
war seems to be reaching its conclusion, with the terror of possible
reprisals and massacres against defenseless people worn out by deprivations,
by hunger and by the loss of all they possess. The news this morning
is very alarming ... One fear torments public opinion. The fear
that the victory of arms may carry with it the killing of numberless
people. There are those who actually fear a kind of genocide.”
Pope
Paul VI
THE BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
“Until
now efforts to relieve the Biafran people have been thwarted by
the desire of the central government of Nigeria to pursue total
and unconditional victory and by the fear of the Ibo people that
surrender means wholesale atrocities and genocide. But genocide
is what is taking place right now - and starvation is the grim reaper.
This is not the time to stand on ceremony, or to ‘go through
channels’ or to observe the diplomatic niceties. The destruction
of an entire people is an immoral objective even in the most moral
of wars. It can never be justified; it can never be condoned.”
Mr Richard
Nixon
September 9, 1968
During the Presidential campaign
“The
loss of life from starvation continues at more than 10,000 persons
per day - over 1,000,000 lives in recent months. Without emergency
measures now, the number will climb to 25,000 per day within a month
- and some 2,000,000 deaths by the end of the year. The new year
will only bring greater disaster to a people caught in the passion
of fratricidal war.”
Senator
Kennedy appeals to America’s Leaders for greater humanitarian
aid to Nigeria - Biafra and efforts to end the civil war.
Sunday, November 17, 1968
“However,
Richard Nixon got a very different sense of the situation when he
met Rogers and officials of the African Bureau. Following their
briefing, he telephoned his National Security adviser and said:
“They’re going to let them starve, aren’t they,
Henry.”
President
Richard Nixon
THE BRUTALITY OF NATIONS
DAN JACOBS
Since
1980 thousands of Igbo have continued to be attacked and massacred!
1980
Northern City of KANO!
1982 Northern City of MAIDUGURI!
1984 Northern City of YOLA!
1985 Northern City of GOMBE!
1986 Northern Cities of KADUNA and KAFANCHAN!
1991 Northern Cities of BAUCHI, KATSINA and KANO!
1992 Northern City of ZANGO KATAF!
1993 Northern City of FUNTUA!
1994 Northern City of KANO!
....
2000 (Feb.) More than 3000 CHRISTIANS which included more than 2000
IGBO were slaughtered in cold blood by Northern MOSLEM FANATICS
in the Northern City of KADUNA!
2000 (Apr.) Northern City of DAMBOA!
AT PRESENT
SECRET KILLINGS OF IGBO CONTINUE IN THE NORTH!
As we
write, a well-designed plan is being carried out throughout Nigeria.
The Igbo people are the largest single ethnic group of Christians
in all of Africa. As usual the current plan targets the Igbo for
subjugation, even destruction. The Igbo nation continues to pay
a heavy prize for their religious beliefs and ethnic background!
Before
we continue on this subject, we ask that you look at the map below:
As shown
in the map above the following states: SOKOTO, ZAMFARA, KATSINA,
KEBBI, NIGER, JIGAWA, YOBE, BAUCHI, BORNO, KANO, GOMBE are now Islamic
states.
These
states have unilaterally adopted Islam as their state religion and
legal/criminal code, in direct and flagrant violation of the constitution
of Nigeria. They have even gone further to stop and confiscate the
assets of legitimate businesses that belong to law abiding citizens,
mainly Igbo.
To understand the implications of what the Igbo and other non Moslem
nations face in Nigeria, we have included the map of states in Nigeria
showing the unfolding ISLAMIC REPUBLIC. Muslim extremists and their
political and religious leaders now believe that, for Nigeria to
remain one country, it must now become an Islamic nation. The people
of Southern Sudan, for more than 30 years, have been involved in
a life and death struggle with the Arab, Islamist Northern Government
in Khartoum, in a total rejection of the Islamization of their area.
We the Igbo people totally reject the TALIBANIZATION and ISLAMIZATION
of Nigeria. The Igbo people do not want to live in an Islamic republic.
We want to live in a nation in which the law makes a clear separation
between church and state, where the law respects the rights of all
citizens to follow the religion of their choice, where government
can not make policies favoring one religion over another.
It is important that we stress the following:
Islam is a great religion and we have nothing against Islam or Moslem,
whether such Moslems live in Nigeria or else where. We recognize
the right of Moslems in Northern Nigeria, or else where, to practice
and live by the Islamic principles in their own NATION. They have
now declared that right and we support them.
Since
the Igbo and other non-Moslems have every right to practice whatever
religion they choose and live by whatever principles they choose,
it is important that the free world recognize and accord this equally
very important right.
This
threat to Islamize Nigeria, and in fact West Africa can best be
illustrated by the two articles below:
#1
Post
Express
Category: News
Date of Article: 06/05/2000
Topic: Libya to Build Islamic Varsity in Kano ... Signs N30b contract
Author: Bassey Inyang, Kano
Full Text of Article:
To further promote Islamic education in the country, the Libyan
government, over the weekend in Kano, signed a contract of $300m
(N30 billion) for the construction of an Islamic university in the
city.
The $300 million school is to be known as Moumar Gaddafi Islamic
University, Kano, a name borrowed from the Libyan strongman Col.
Moumar Gaddafi. Addressing newsmen in Kano over the development,
the Director of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), Mr. Mohammed
Ali, said his organization is handling the project on behalf of
the Libyan government, adding that the school project would be financed
from the "Jihad Tax" paid by Libyans.
Ali disclosed that the decision to set up an Islamic university
for the propagation of the faith in Nigeria was informed by one
of the five pillars of the faith which provides for the prosecution
of a Jihad (holy war) to spread the religion, first championed by
Holy Prophet Mohammed."Whatever we are spending is from the
pocket of the Libyan people called "Jihad Tax" it is one
of the Islamic pillars that you have to do it with your money or
through any other means" Ali, who spoke through an interpreter
stated.
According to Ali, the idea behind the university was to ensure that
the Islamic knowledge was preached throughout Nigeria and other
sub Sahara African countries.
He stated that the idea behind the university was also aimed at
checkmating the influence of European imperialists in Nigeria and
Africa at large, adding that at the fullness of time, the project
will facilitate the formation of the United States of Africa (USA).
Ali said the move by Gaddafi to propagate the teaching and learning
of Islam in Nigeria was not new as the leader of the Jamahariah
was only following the footsteps of his forefathers who helped in
bringing Islam to Western Sudan. Ali, who also spoke on the conflicts
in parts of Nigeria as a result of the introduction of the Sharia
said the conflicts wee not borne out of the Sharia but external
forces from outside the country who were bent on splitting Nigeria.
He asked Nigeria to resist foreign powers with all resources at
their disposal so as to keep the country united.
Ali disclosed that the WICS was enjoying every amount of support
from the Kano State government and the Federal Government as well,
saying "President Olusegun Obasanjo and Gaddafi are very good
friends."
The Gaddafi University which is to be cited along Gwarzo road in
Kano city, will be constructed by Messrs AG. Ferrario Ltd.
The school will cover all landscape of 137 hectres, and will teach
all conventional subjects ranging from medicine, sciences, agriculture,
engineering, arts and a host of others.
The contract papers were signed on behalf of the construction firm
by Mr. Constantino Ferrario while Mohammed Ali signed on behalf
of the Libyan government.
*************
#2
The Guardian
Online http://www.ngrguardiannews.com
Tuesday, June 6, 2000
Nigerian Moslem leaders to attend Sharia summit in Niger
NIGERIAN Moslem scholars and leaders will attend a Sharia summit
scheduled for Niger Republic's city of Madawa alongside their counterparts
from Togo and Republic of Benin this week, British Broadcasting
Corporation said yesterday.
The summit is to promote Islamic law in the sub region.
*************
These
two articles above and others that we can provide if needed, will
definitely point the trajectory to an unfolding Islamic conquest
if permitted. Remember that since 1945, Southern Sudan has been
in a death struggle against this impending conquest.
We are told that “Nigeria has taken steps towards a fairer,
more democratic government, that the elections held in February
represent a positive sign for Nigeria’s future.” But
does this also extend to the Igbo? Below is a verifiable track record
of the so called fair democratic Obasanjo’s regime.
New Heights
in Marginalization (Obasanjo regime)
“A
conversation with one of the most impressive ministers provided
significant insight into the political aims of the federal Government
.... The Minister discussed the question of the reintegration of
the Ibos in the future state .... The war aim, and solution properly
speaking of the entire problem, he said, was ‘to discriminate
against the Ibos in the future in their own interest’. Such
discrimination would include above all the detachment of those oil-rich
territories in the eastern Region which were not inhabited by Ibos
at the start of the colonial period (1900), on the lines of the
twelve-state plan. In addition the Ibos’ freedom of movement
would be restricted, to prevent their renewed penetration into other
parts of the country ... Leaving any access to the sea to the Ibos,
the minister declared, was quite out of the question.”
The
Biafra Story
Frederick Forsyth
If the
history of skewed appointments since independence leaves any one
in doubt about the emergence of a pattern, the Obasanjo regime has
cleared such doubts. No regime has betrayed so much disdain for
the rights of the Igbo in its appointments as the Obasanjo regime.
We review the appointment so far. It is important to stress that
no Igbo has attained the position as executive head of state of
Nigeria since the end of the Nigeria-Biafra war in 1970; also glass
ceiling has been created to limit Igbo from attaining ministerial
positions in the following departments: Defense, Foreign, Petroleum,
Internal Affairs, etc
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