Mr. Jean-Claude Junker, the blunt, strong-willed and battle-tested
\nPresident of the European Commission blew hot about the precarious plight
\nof the Igbo people and the dangers faced by members of the Indegenous
\nPeople Of Biafra (IPOB) in Nigeria lastweek.<\/p>\n
He said “it is the people\u2019s right to agitate and make a request from their
\ngovernment. Self-determination is a right enshrined in the United Nation
\nCharter.<\/p>\n
The people of Biafra have every right to request for a referendum. They
\nhave been in this struggle for a while now. They have never killed or shot
\na bullet instead they are the victims of attacks and murder. The EU hereby
\ncondemns the brutal attack on IPOB members and leadership under the
\npretentious disguise of a military exercise (Operation Python Dance). The
\nNigerian military is warned to adopt democratic tenets in handling
\ncitizens. The EU will not sit by idly and watch things go undemocratic in
\nthe largest economy of the West African region”.<\/p>\n
This is an excellent assesment of the situation and it provides a timely
\nwarning to the Buhari administration about their grave indiscretions and
\nobvious excesses.<\/p>\n
Yet instead of addressing the deep concerns that the EU, Amnesty
\nInternational, the United Nations and\u00a0 many other notable players and
\norganisations on the world stage have about what is going on in Nigeria,
\nMr. Lai Mohammed, President Buhari’s Minister of Information and a man who
\ntold us just a few years ago that it was wrong and unlawful to ban Boko
\nHaram, had only the following to say:<\/p>\n
“IPOB is a group sponsored by a coalition of political parties and looters
\nwho are bent on derailing the fight on corruption embarked upon by
\nBuhari-APC led government.”<\/p>\n
Such unadulterated poppycock and pernicious lies and such baseless
\nallegations and nonsensensical assertions, even when they come from a man
\nwhose credibility is at best questionable, beggars belief.<\/p>\n
Instead of attacking and insulting those of us that have condemned the
\nslaughter of Igbos and alleging that we are sponsoring IPOB the Buhari
\ngovernment would do well to consider Jean Claude Junker’s words and what
\nthe European Union have said about the barbaric killing of the Igbo and
\nthe universal right of self-determination which is protected and
\nguaranteed by international law.<\/p>\n
Since when has it been acceptable or the norm to unleash the dogs of war
\nagainst a group of innocent, unarmed and defenceless young people and
\ntheir colourful leader simply because they dared to ask for a referendum?<\/p>\n
The fact of the matter is that whether anyone likes it or not, the attempt
\nto break, subjugate, demonise, belittle, villify and wipe out the Igbo
\nrace through the auspices of intimidation, disinformation, manipulation of
\nthe media, mass murder and ethnic cleansing by the Buhari administration
\nshall fail.<\/p>\n
The truth is that this whole thing is not about IPOB but about the
\nconsistent expression of an irrational, illogical and pathological hatred
\nof the Igbos by the maximum ruler of the Nigerian state.<\/p>\n
And if he gets away with it and manages to achieve his sinister and
\nnefarious objective he will come after the Yoruba, the Ijaw, the Tiv and
\neveryone else in a matter of time!<\/p>\n
That is why it is important to refuse to be intimidated, to stand firm, to
\nhold the line, to resist him with every fibre of our being and to insist
\non the restructuring and the renegotiation of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Fifty years after our brutal and genocidal civil war we have learnt
\nnothing about the cataclysmic and devastating consequences and spiritual
\nimplications of slaughtering innocent people in the name of keeping
\nNigeria one.<\/p>\n
Why do you think nothing works in our country and that our people are mostly
\nunfulfilled, poor, miserable, afflicted and deprived? Why do you think
\nthere is so much suffering in our nation despite the fact that we have
\nbeen blessed with so many human and mineral resources?\u00a0 It is God’s
\njudgement.<\/p>\n
Until we stop electing pyschopaths, sociopaths and cruel men of blood into
\noffice and until our leaders stop killing innocent people whose only
\n“crime” is to express their desire to be free from slavery, bondage and
\ntyranny and to be allowed to determine their own future nothing will or
\ncan change for the better in our beleaguered country.<\/p>\n
As long as the ethnic cleansing and mass murder continues and as long as
\nour people cheer on our leaders as they commit these heinous crimes
\nagainst humanity Nigeria will continue to be a basket case of a nation
\nwhich is ruled by unrepentant and wicked tyrants, garrulous court jesters
\nand certified village idiots.<\/p>\n
If we continue to condone and refuse to desist from state sponsored
\nrepression and the mass murder of Igbos, northern Christians, Shiite
\nMuslims, Niger Deltans or any other group of people who are seen by our
\ncollective oppressers as soft and easy targets our nation will continue to
\nbe perceived as an abominable and accursed dwarf that crawls around like a
\nhelpless, crippled and stunted child in the comity of nations.<\/p>\n
Nigeria was once the hope of the black man but sadly in the last two years
\nshe has become an embarrasment and burden to Africa and a reference point
\nfor everything that is reprehensible and shameful in the world.<\/p>\n
A nation where savage and insensitive beasts murder innocent men, women
\nand children in the sanctity of their homes whilst the people cheer them
\non and embrace their murderous barbarity with joy and glad tidings.<\/p>\n
A nation where political opponents can be locked up for years without any
\nrecourse to the courts and without any form of due process.<\/p>\n
A nation where opposition members and dissidents are villified and
\nsubjected to every form of shame, malevolence and indignity simply because
\nthey refuse to bow before the maximum ruler and worship him as a living
\ndeity.<\/p>\n
Can God’s prescence possibly be in such an arrangement and can God’s
\nblessing possibly be in such a place?<\/p>\n
Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, one of the true crusaders for justice and human
\nrights in Nigeria and a man of remarkable fortitude and immense courage
\ncaptured the mood and painted an accurate picture of the situation when he
\nsaid the following:<\/p>\n
“The Fulani herdsmen who go on rampage daily, maiming, rapiing and killing
\nand those responsible for the Agatu massacre, Shiites massacre, Southern
\nKaduna pogrom, indiscriminate killings, brazen quit notice givers across
\nNigeria, etc, have never been arrested, prosecuted, let alone been
\nproscribed and stigmatised as terrorist organisations. We must surely have
\nand operate two sets of laws for two sets of people in Nigeria”.<\/p>\n
How true this is! Yet even if the majority within the Nigerian political
\nclass and media are not prepared or able to confront and expose this great
\nevil and speak truth to power, the international media, who are thoroughly
\nand understandably mortified and shocked by what is unfolding in our
\ncountry, are evidently ready to do so.<\/p>\n
For example the Washington-based Newsweek International Magazine, in an
\nexcellent article written by Mr. Connor Gaffey just last week, focused on
\nthe fact that “many Biafran Christians” had been subjected to
\n“extra-judicial killings” by a northern Muslim-controlled and led army.<\/p>\n
They condemned the activities of the Nigerian military in the east in very
\nstrong terms, decried the dangerous situation that is unfolding in Nigeria
\nand echoed President Olusegun Obasanjo’s laudable call for dialogue
\nbetween the IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Buhari.<\/p>\n
In their own contribution to the debate the respected New York-based
\nHuffington Post published the following artice which was written by Mr.
\nBruce Feinn, a highly celebrated and distinguished human rights lawyer and
\na former Deputy Attorney General in the Reagan administration. He wrote:<\/p>\n
“The United Nations will live in infamy for lending its megaphone on The Hausa-Fulani Muslim strongman is currently orchestrating genocide as Last June, Buhari tacitly endorsed a Hausa-Fulani threat to expel by force Hundreds of innocent civilians have died and more have been injured or Instead of providing Buhari a megaphone, the United Nations should be These sanctions against Nigeria would honor twin objectives of the United The genocide of Biafrans is not a \u201cdomestic\u201d matter within the exclusive Nigeria\u2019s 190 million inhabitants make it the most populous nation in The international community planted the seeds of contemporary Nigerian and While the suffering and persecution of Burma\u2019s Muslim Rohingya have captured He concluded by saying, “Chad had its Hissene Habre, Libya had its Muammar These are valid and legitimate observations and laudable assertions from a Let us hope that President Muhammadu Buhari and his military commanders Mr. Jean-Claude Junker, the blunt, strong-willed and battle-tested President of the European Commission blew hot about the precarious plight of the Igbo people and the dangers faced by members of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nTuesday, September 19, 2017<\/span><\/span>, to Nigeria\u2019s elected military dictator
\nMuhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
\ndefined by the Genocide Convention against Nigeria\u2019s 50 million Igbo
\npeople because of their ethnicity and unwavering devotion to Christianity.
\nBuhari\u2019s genocide marks the culmination of a long train of Biafran
\nsubjugation by radical Hausa-Fulani Islamic terrorists. The dictator\u2019s
\npower is anchored to an illegitimate constitution decreed by a military
\ndictator in 1999 to hold the Christian Biafran people in bondage to
\nHausa-Fulani Muslims. Nigeria\u2019s constitution has never been approved by
\nNigerians.<\/p>\n
\nand violence and to plunder 11 million Igbos in twelve northern Nigerian
\nstates that have adopted Sharia as their legal codes if they did not
\nabandon their Igbo homes and businesses by\u00a0October 1, 2017<\/span><\/span>. During the
\npast few years in northern Nigeria, Hausa-Fulani terrorists have destroyed
\nthousands of churches and religious schools and displaced millions of
\nChristian Biafrans.<\/p>\n
\nterrorized by Nigeria\u2019s military acting under Buhari\u2019s direction in the
\nlast week alone. A courageous and influential Biafran leader, Nnamdi Kanu,
\nhas had his home attacked and quarantined by Nigeria\u2019s armed forces and
\nhis followers killed. Grisly videos and photos taken at scenes of the
\nharrowing crimes are conclusive. What they prove amounts to state
\nterrorism\u2014the systematic employment of violence to intimidate or coerce a
\ncivilian population.<\/p>\n
\nexpelling Nigeria from membership under Article 6 of the United Nations
\nCharter. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should be referring
\nthe dictator and his henchmen like Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Tukur
\nYusuf Buratai to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court,
\nFatou Bensouda, to investigate for complicity in genocide. The UNSC should
\nalso be imposing an arms embargo on Nigeria under Chapter VII of the
\nUnited Nations Charter until the right of the Biafran people to
\nself-determination is secured through a free and fair referendum conducted
\nby the United Nations Electoral Unit. At present, dictator Buhari is
\ndiverting arms purchased for ostensible use against Boko Haram, an
\ninternational terrorist organization, to the terrorizing of Biafran
\nChristians. Buhari has no interest in defeating Boko Haram because its
\nthreat triggers military and financial assistance from the United States
\nin its global war on terrorism.<\/p>\n
\nNations: (1) \u201cto establish conditions under which justice and respect for
\nthe obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
\nlaw can be maintained;\u201d and, (2) \u201cpromoting and encouraging respect for
\nhuman rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to
\nreligion”.<\/p>\n
\njurisdiction of Nigeria. Genocide is a crime against all of mankind which
\nconcerns every country. Moreover, if dictator Buhari is permitted to kill
\nand enslave Christian Biafrans with impunity, Nigeria could degenerate
\ninto a Hausa-Fulani Islamic theocracy and could become a state sponsor of
\nterrorism. Nigeria\u2019s example would embolden the persecution of Christians
\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n
\nAfrica. It is a model not only in West Africa but throughout the
\ncontinent. It is too important for its fate to be left to the roll of the
\ndice.<\/p>\n
\nAfrican strife by arbitrarily carving up the continent in favor of
\ncolonial powers at the1884-1885 Berlin Conference. The United Nations is
\nsaddled with a moral obligation to help remedy the dystopias spawned by
\nmany of its key members.<\/p>\n
\nheadlines and the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner on
\nHuman Rights, Zeid Ra\u2019ad al-Hussein, Nigeria\u2019s far worse oppression of
\nBiafrans has been largely ignored. It is difficult to resist the
\nconclusion that the international human rights community squints when
\nblacks kill blacks”.<\/p>\n
\nGaddafi and Nigerian President Buhari should learn from those examples
\nbefore continuing his genocidal murders and torture of Biafrans. Justice
\nwill pursue Buhari as tenaciously as the Furies pursued Orestes. He would
\ntremble if he reflected that God is just, and that His justice will not
\nsleep forever”.<\/p>\n
\nrespected
\nindividual that has dedicated his entire life to the cause of protecting
\nhuman rights and a medium that prides itself on the highest standard of
\nliterary excellence and investigative journalism.<\/p>\n
\nare listening!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"