…Says there’s no going back on Biafra restoration
Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has berated Governors Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and Willie Obiano of Anambra State for trying to stand on their way during its May 30 sit-at-home order.
The pro-Biafra group, however, commended seven governors in the South-east and South-south for not coming out to attack its members like their two counterparts did as they observed the sit-at-home order across the states in the regions.
The Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, who made this known in a statement issued at the weekend said: “We appreciate the fact that some governors such as Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Rochas Okorocha, Nyesom Wike, Ifeanyi Okowa, Seriake Dickson, Udom Emmanuel and Ben Ayade did not belittle their offices by coming out to act as attack dogs for Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) as Umahi and Obiano did”.
Powerful, who thanked “the people of Biafra” for the successful sit-at-home order, said that it was declared to honour the fallen heroes of the civil war and those who died in the cause of the struggle for the restoration of a Biafra state.
Expressing the group’s gratitude to all ‘Biafrans,’ he said that “this year’s event had resounding success across Biafraland and all over the world despite all odds and machinations of the enemy.”
He said that the success of the order would “go down in the annals of history as a confirmation that IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was exceptionally indefatigable and the dominant force across the entire East not just in Igboland.”
Powerful said that the order was a confirmation that the vast majority of the people were with IPOB and remained committed to its collective pursuit for self-determination for all.
“So, as Asaba, Owerri, Enugu, Igweocha, Aba, Onitsha, and all Biafraland sat at home this 30th May 2018, we are emboldened that, like in South Africa and Kenya, it is only a matter of time before IPOB prevail and lead our people to freedom. It is a duty we owe to the dead, ourselves and posterity.
“But like Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu once said ‘Biafra is of the mind’, so no one can kill or suppress it. How could anyone ever believe that it is possible to prevent us from remembering and honouring our dead, our maimed, our persecuted?
“These were the very first words that, in 1967, brought into being that great nation of Biafra, inspired by the indomitable will of a people to resist evil, to resist genocide, and in defense of liberty. It was an epoch in the lives of Biafrans of that generation and like no other place in history, they stood shoulder to shoulder to defend their lives, their land and their freedom. Many paid the supreme sacrifice. So, it lies within our rights and conscience to never forget.
“Decades after that dark episode in our history, the same evil has again reared its head – maiming, killing and persecuting many Biafrans since 2015. So, it is with a solemn commitment to the memory of our fallen heroes; to freedom and self-determination, that we Indigenous People of Biafra ordered this year’s ‘sit-at-home’ in keeping with the edict handed to us by our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He charged us to always remember the 30th of May each year and to keep it holy by sitting at home in perpetual remembrance of all that fought and died for us.
“It is pertinent to note that great nationalist struggles throughout human history suffered one setback or the other. So, just as in our own case, we are very much aware of all the attempts from within and without to break the will of our people.”