Is Biafra synonymous with war?

Is Biafra synonymous with war?

''Carthage was destroyed, its land sew with salt and its population killed or enslaved. Rome had defeated Carthage in the First Punic War which was primarily a series of sea battles which was fought over many years with Rome emerging victorious''. 

Very salient question, it is the captor that has given those with no privy to knowledge the impression that the quest for the freedom of indigenous people of Biafra is synonymous with war, first we must acknowledge that by the 1999 constitution, the people of former Eastern Nigeria are indigenous people of Biafra with distinct religion, culture, language and boundary and on September 13, 2007 the UN General Assembly in Washington DC adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. the Declaration is a long and complex document with a preamble and 46 articles.

The text recognizes the wide range of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. Among these are the right to unrestricted self-determination, an inalienable collective right to the ownership, use and control of lands, territories and other natural resources, their rights in terms of maintaining and developing their own political, religious, cultural and educational institutions along with the protection of their cultural and intellectual property. 

Article 1 Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 4 and international human rights law. 

Article 2 Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.Read further to know your rights: http://www.refworld.org/docid/471355a82.html

We asked another salient question .

If the indigenous people are seeking for freedom, have they been in captivity?, the answer according to a survey carried out by Bilie Human Rights Initiative five years ago, and echoed by radio Biafra London, 98% of the indigenous people of Biafran believe they are in captivity in an unholy and forced marriage in the entity called Nigeria and are in the court of law both the federal high court Owerri to disengage from Nigeria and the ECOWAS court Abuja to free Nnamdi Kanu (www.ipobgovernment.org).The 2% Uncle Toms cannot override the majority in a 21st century global democratic society. The peace ,dialogue and legal angle must be pursued to its logical conclusion to give Nigeria who is seating on a time bomb the fullest benefit of doubt to give room for an interrupted referendum.

However , Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart epic novel said “Let us not reason like cowards,” said Okonkwo. “If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head. That is what a man does. These people are daily pouring filth over us, and Okeke says we should pretend not to see.” Okonkwo made a sound full of disgust. This was a womanly clan, he thought. Such a thing could never happen in his fatherland, Umuofia. 

At this juncture let me use histrionics to illustrate the Biafran scenario.

• I AM PREPARED TO DIE Pretoria Supreme Court (20 April 1964)Nelson Mandela. "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices - submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa’’.Madiba.

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I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court are true and some are untrue. I do not, however, deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the Whites.

• I have already mentioned that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto. I, and the others who started the organization, did so for two reasons. Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war. Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or to defy the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer violence with violence...

• But the violence which we chose to adopt was not terrorism. We who formed Umkhonto were all members of the African National Congress, and had behind us the ANC tradition of non-violence and negotiation as a means of solving political disputes. We believe that South Africa belongs to all the people who live in it, and not to one group, be it black or white. We did not want an interracial war, and tried to avoid it to the last minute. If the Court is in doubt about this, it will be seen that the whole history of our organization bears out what I have said, and what I will subsequently say, when I describe the tactics which Umkhonto decided to adopt.

• During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for. But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

This message is very salient to Nigerians because history is starring us in the face by the incarceration and trial of Nnamdi Kanu. Biafran are so serious about their freedom that they are ready to die for it, but let the Nigeria military Bourgeoisie not think that this impending war is going to be conventional, no , if the army cannot defeat the Boko Haram and the Niger Delta militants, 

how then can they defeat Biafrans who are scattered 30% across the nation and beyond the boarders. The defiance of Biafran youths during this year protests and the result lion heart of Nnamdi Kanu is similar to the Madiba and South African situation

Biafra do next intend to destroy Nigeria as Rome destroyed Carthage or as Islam destroyed Christianity in Turkey, but hope to peacefully exit as Israelite exited from Egypt without destruction but where she refuse to repair her destroyed ear drum as to listen to the voice of reason, Biafra will have no choice than to change tactics from the 1967-1970 situation to force Nigeria and the world to let our people go.

• Long live United States of Biafra

-M.M.Mbanaja