General Muhammadu Buhari,
President and Commander-in-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Presidential Villa,
Abuja, Nigeria.
Dear General Buhari,
We greet and salute you on your assumption of office as President and
Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria, following the recent less than free and
fair presidential election (did you see the pictures of the lineup of
underage voters all across the North that participated in the vote?) in
which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared you
the winner over Goodluck Jonathan. Uneasy lays the head that wears the
crown.
Now that you have finally achieved your dream of ruling this country in a
civilian setting, after the treason of your reign as military dictator
from 1983 to 1985, we are re-presenting to you an appeal that we made to
Goodluck Jonathan during his time in office as president. That appeal is
to release the declassified instrument of Biafra surrender, following the
genocidal war of 1967 to 1970, which claimed the lives of over 3 million
innocent Igbo and other Easterners.
While you enjoyed your coronation yesterday as the latest king of
slave-ship called Nigeria, please allow us to enjoy and reflect on ours
today, namely, – the commemoration of the independence of the Nation of
Biafra. Recall that this was the day the Nation of Biafra, 48 years ago,
proudly exercised their God given rights to Self-Actualization – freedom
from rejection and annihilation. Is it not tragic General Buhari that you
played an instrumental role in abuse of Biafran human rights and freedom
– by participating in the second recorded genocide in world history, and
the first in the continent of Africa? Because of what you and your fellow
travelers did in this foundational genocide, is it any wonder that the
genocides later in Rwanda, Sudan, and other places in Africa followed
suit, with reckless abandon with tragic consequences for the lives of
millions of innocent Africans, including the more than 3 million
Easterners who perished in Biafra?
Herein is our second request to you and your Nigerian authority to release
the declassified surrender document of the Biafrans. In our first request
last year, we made our reasons very clear. Those justifications included
the freedom of Information Act (FOI) that your predecessor signed into law
in 2011, and the fact that 45 years is more than the maximum 30-year rule
imposed for declassification of key national security documents by any
serious entity. Your predecessor never responded to us, hence this second
request. The other two tyrants, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu
Gowon, which we also copied to, did not acknowledge or respond to our
request. Neither did Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo, the world renowned “Ofeke” Igbo of
the present day Igbo organization. Perhaps, if they start by changing
their name to “Ohabueze” that reflects the true Igbo way of life; their
years of cowardice attitude might change for good. Therefore, General
Buhari, here is another opportunity to humiliate the Biafrans by releasing
the declassified surrender document.
In the event that this second request to release is not granted in 30
days, as the mandatory working days under the FOI specifies, we the
Biafrans will reaffirm the following little known facts:
• That in January, 1970, there was a “Truce” by all parties of the conflicts
• That the conflicting parties sat down formally on a negotiating
roundtable as old friends and “brothers.”
• That all the parties in the agreement roundtable were equal partners
• That the “Armistice” or “Peace” agreement reached was a permanent
“Cessation of Hostilities” by the conflicting parties to sheathe their
swords
• That all gladiators in the conflict agreed also in principle that they
were “common brothers” of the same birth by the British Empire. The
hypocrisy of reconciling with a group, and then turning around to hate,
haunt, and brutalize that group is mind boggling
We will also demand that the citizens of Nigeria stop, with immediate
effect, their erroneous and ignorant delusion:
• That they and their collaborators (including Britain, former U.S.S.R.,
the Arab League, etc.) defeated Biafra in that war
• That their unwarranted pomposity about being ready to teach the Igbo
another lesson is laughable, knowing that 1967 is not the same as 2015
• That their continuous serial killings, intimidations, and harassments of
Igbo people everywhere in Nigeria must not be mistaken as a sign of
cowardice of the Igbo Nation
• That the haters and killers of Igbo people every day in Nigeria have no
monopoly to violence
• That Self-Determination by any aggrieved group, as enshrined in the
United Nation Charter, is a concept that Nigeria is not immunized from,
going by the experience of many countries, including South Sudan recently,
that has exercised that option.
Thank you General Buhari as we await your reply. We wish you well. As one
of your fellow Nigerians famously put it, may your road be rough!
Sincerely,
Signed:
For and on behalf of membership of:
IgboZaraIgbo
1629 K Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
IgboZaraIgbo@yahoo.com
Cc:
General Yakubu Gowon
General Olusegun Obasanjo
The Ohaneze “ofeke” Ndi-Igbo organization