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talkbanterz · 7 months

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KANU MAY REGAIN FREEDOM BEFORE DECEMBER, SAYS OHANAEZE

Leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu

The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has expressed confidence in a possible release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, before the end of 2023, following ongoing confidential negotiations between the body and relevant authorities.

As a result, the body has urged all pro-Biafran agitators to stop hostilities against the Federal Government for 40 days, starting from October 31.

In a statement on Sunday by its Secretary General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Ohanaeze said it was imperative that all pro-Biafra agitators exhibit discipline during this crucial period in order to ensure progress in the ongoing negotiations.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the preeminent socio-cultural organisation representing the Igbo people, is pleased to announce its foresight regarding ongoing confidential negotiations that indicate the possibility of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, regaining his freedom by the end of the year 2023.

“However, in order to facilitate progress in this matter, Ohanaeze Ndigbo urges Biafra agitators to uphold a ceasefire for a period of 40 days, abstaining from any offensive aggression commencing on October 31, 2023. It is imperative that Biafra agitators exhibit discipline during this crucial period.

“The primary challenge we currently face is ensuring that the Biafra agitators cease all offensive aggression for 40 days, as this will pave the way for the desired solutions to secure the release of Nnamdi Kanu.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo firmly believes that engaging with all relevant authorities through diplomatic channels remains the most effective approach to achieve the desired results.

“We implore Ndigbo to exercise patience and understanding throughout this critical period. We acknowledge the pain and hardship endured by the people of the South-East since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration, and as custodians of our land, we assure you that positive outcomes are anticipated after the November 2023 Imo State governorship elections.”

Ohanaeze said it was confident that Kanu’s release would “undoubtedly serve as a resounding surprise to the South-East people,” while appealing to Nigerians whom Kanu might have offended to embrace forgiveness and prioritise the greater interests of Nigeria.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo remains committed to working behind the scenes, rallying and mobilising all relevant parties to achieve this crucial objective.

“We humbly beseech Biafra agitators to remain calm and observe a ceasefire for 40 days. This period of abstinence from offensive aggression will significantly contribute to ongoing negotiations and enhance the prospects of Kanu’s release.”

#Biafra news

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infinitebrownianmotion · 6 years

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My Year in Books

Dear Nobody

When asked if I’ve read a particular book, often all I would have to offer on the subject is a simple yes or no and perhaps whether I liked it or not. The interrogator might proceed to throw questions at me or share details about the book, which are usually met with a blank expression and/or a shrug. And as is usually the case, I will then be asked why I read so much if I can’t remember a thing about the book afterwards. I suppose I read purely for pleasure. I read so that I can lead many lives, look through new eyes, walk in someone else’s shoes, experience a range of emotions that I normally wouldn’t in my day-to-day life. I read so that I can learn new things. I read so that I can transcend myself. I internalize elements that I like in the books I read and then let them go. I don’t read to remember, although if something does stick in my memory, that’s great too.

Since 2014, I’ve set myself a Reading Challenge on GoodReads at the start of every year. It was this blog post by scientist and role model, TR Shankar Raman, that inspired me and continues to do so. Some years I complete the challenge, some years I don’t, depending on where I happen to be in my life at that point, both physically and metaphorically. It turns out that extended breaks in between jobs are great for reading, especially because one finds oneself broke and at home a lot.

Most of 2017 was spent at my field site in a remote corner of Arunachal Pradesh with atrocious cellphone connectivity. I had to come up with a way to keep track of my reading challenge without GoodReads.

This year’s challenge was a modest 42 books, which I’m happy to report I completed earlier this month! Overall, it was a fun year for reading. I surprised myself by reading far less Fantasy & Sci-Fi than I usually do. Not at all by design, I ended up reading quite a few works of fiction and one memoir written by people from non-Western regions of the world – India, Nigeria, South Africa, Palestine, South Korea, Japan – and I’m glad for it because I feel like I have delved a little into the history and culture of these places, carrying them around like a collection of mental postcards wherever I go.

I first discovered Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie when I watched her TED talk ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ back in 2009, making a mental note to read her first novel Purple Hibiscus. I finally got around to it this year (Procrastination 101) and boy, I fell in love with the narrative, the characters, the way Adichie doesn’t tell you what to think but describes everything in beautiful detail (never failing to activate all the senses) and allows you to arrive at your own conclusions. I then went on to read her other books – Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, The Thing Around Your Neck, Dear Ijeawele Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions – in quick succession. Through her writing, I learnt about the Biafran War (which I’d never heard of until that point), Nigerian cuisine (ah, I could almost taste some of it!), attire, what life is like growing up in a university campus in Nsukka or as a ‘Big Man’ in Lagos. I got a glimpse of sexism, religion, and the political history of the country that was forced into being by the British Empire. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the three people I would love to write like, the other two being Vladimir Nabokov and William Dalrymple.

My book of the year was Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to just about anyone. Because it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from or what genre you stubbornly adhere to, this book will pluck at your heartstrings. A warning at the outset – it will not be easy, you will explore the dark side of human nature, the book will become a mirror that shows you parts of yourself that you would rather not acknowledge. You will never truly recover from the reading experience. But I can assure you that you won’t regret it. The book is in the form of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, a borderline mentally disabled person with an IQ of 68 who works in a bakery. He has signed up for an experiment which, having been successfully carried out on a mouse named Algernon, is to be tested on humans for the first time. If successful, this scientific breakthrough will increase his intelligence by manifold. Charlie is excited about the prospect of becoming smart like his friends at the bakery. Reading through his progress reports, you are part of the process as Charlie begins to change, slowly at first and then in leaps and bounds. You watch as his relationships with the people around him change, as they start to treat him differently and he starts to realize the cruelty he was subject to. We also get glimpses of his painful past as his childhood memories resurface. In the meanwhile, at the peak of Charlie’s intelligence, Algernon has begun a sudden and unexpected deterioration, and eventually dies. What does this mean for Charlie? Ah, how can I possibly explain the range of emotions that this book evokes! It’s a journey of the soul.

Alice by Christina Henry was another great find this year. It’s a dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland, all the more delightful for being gory and macabre. Alice finds herself locked away in an asylum, but she can’t remember what happened to her or how she landed up there. She only remembers a man with rabbit ears. I won’t say any more about it – you’ll just have to see for yourself! After the spectacular first book, I was quite disappointed to read Red Queen, which I thought failed on many fronts but mainly in terms of plot. But if you like Henry’s style as much as I do, you could skip the second book and move on to the morbid world of Peter Pan in Lost Boy instead.

Other books I would recommend are Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (hilarious, charming and eye-opening account of his childhood in South Africa in the post-apartheid era), Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words by Andrew Morton (biography of Princess Diana, which I read only because I knew nothing about the Royal Family, it was an interesting read), Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (so much fun!), Women by Charles Bukowski (for his style), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (better than the movie).

I have this strange compulsion to finish any book I start, no matter how awful. If you suffer from the same disorder, then I would advise against picking up the following books: The Magicians by Lev Grossman (the characters suck, the plot sucks, the writing sucks – apparently it’s a trilogy, I steered clear of the second book), Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (didn’t find much to like, but started the second book to see if it could get any worse, then finished it before I realized I’d been reading the third book, so I accidentally read the trilogy – sort of), Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (mmm, I didn’t enjoy it one bit, I think I only like his writing when he’s on mescaline).

2017 was also a year for audiobooks. Up until now, I was on the fence about them. Would my mind drift while listening to a recording of someone reading a story? What if I didn't like the narrator? And since I like reading, re-reading, and mulling over particularly well-written lines, I dreaded the thought of having to navigate my way through the forward-back controls and the minutes and seconds of the aural world. Despite these concerns, I downloaded Philip Pullman’s triology, His Dark Materials. All three audiobooks were fantastic and I had a great time listening to them. I also found that audiobooks are a great companion to have when you can't read (easily) - in the shower, while exercising or doing the laundry, while commuting, you name it. And of course, there's nothing like snuggling up under the blankets and falling asleep to a bedtime story.

I’m currently reading The God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy and wondering about what my target should be for next year’s Reading Challenge. In the meanwhile, do you have any recommendations for me to add to my 2018 shelf?

Love, D

#reading challenge #GoodReads #books #reading

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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Biafra: Gen Gowon should speak up on the war genocide against Biafra now that he is live — Moghalu

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/biafra-gen-gowon-should-speak-up-on-the-war-genocide-against-biafra-now-that-he-is-live-moghalu/

Biafra: Gen Gowon should speak up on the war genocide against Biafra now that he is live — Moghalu

Former Presidential Candidate of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has challenged Nigeria’s former head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon to speak up about the genocide and all the other atrocities committed against the people of former Eastern Nigeria. Moghalu said Gowon has the best opportunity for that now that he is still alive. According to Moghalu, it was ethically wrong for Nigeria to be participating in the commemoration of the Rwanda genocide when worse atrocities that were committed in their own domain remain buried. — NIHSA In the same vein, wife of the former Biafra leader, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu alleged that the adamant being kept on the genocide against Biafrans was state-sponsored suppression, which she said will not do the future of Nigeria any good. The duo spoke Monday, at the second Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu memorial lecture at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, COOU, Igbariam, Anambra state. Moghalu while delivering keynote speech on the theme Ndigbo in the Contemporary Nigeria Politics: problems, prospects and Way forward, said that Gowon as superintendent of the war has long overstayed without making comments, his regrets or handicaps of the war. He also said that it was high time other Nigerians purged themselves of prejudice against Ndigbo as a result of the war, adding that Ndigbo should on their own need to forgive and not remain permanently bitter, so as to politically compete with the rest of Nigerians. Moghalu said: “In Nigeria we have continued to ignore the Biafra genocide while the country sends people to Rwanda every year over the same genocide that was committed there. This is a big double standard. Nigeria’s civil war should no longer be swept under the carpet and the leaders of the civil war are still alive today. The war must be addressed.” On the way forward, Moghalu suggested that the Nigeria archives should be declassified after 49 years of the end of the war, stating also that the Igbo should contest for Nigeria presidency in 2023. “We should pursue these objectives as a matter of priority, through persuasion. Igbo has over 30 million registered voters in Nigeria, spread across different parts of the country.” He disagreed that Ndigbo should only seek for a restructured Nigeria and leave seeking for a Nigerian president of Igbo origin. He said that the two were not mutually exclusive, noting that the Igbo can go for both Nigeria presidency and at the same time negotiate for restructuring and electoral reforms. On the emergency of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Moghalu said that “IPOB is a cry for justice” which was not supposed to be branded as a terrorist group when other renowned criminal groups were left free without any stigma.

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ruminativerabbi · 4 years

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Prospects for Peace

Like most of my readers, I’m sure, I was extremely curious to hear the details of the much ballyhooed peace plan for the Middle East promised for years by the current administration and finally published for the world to see just last week. Yes, I understood that its release date was surely timed specifically to draw the attention of the American people away from the fact that the plan’s presidential sponsor was at the time on trial in the Senate. And, yes, I certainly also understood that the chances of both sides hearing the details and then moving on directly to beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks were, to say the very least, remote. Still, I have to admit that I was extremely interested in hearing the details of the plan and, even more so, in seeing how the various players and non-players out there would respond to those details.

Some of the responses, particularly in the press both at home and abroad, were the knee-jerk ones any savvy observer would have expected. And, as everybody surely also knew would be the case, the Palestinian leadership made a huge show out of rejecting its every detail so quickly that it appeared not even for it to have been discussed at all by their leadership, let alone at length and in detail, before that response was formulated. (Mahmoud Abbas’s “a thousand no’s to this deal” comment was certainly clear enough, as was his reference to the deal as “the slap of the century,” which is actually saying quite a lot.) But diplomacy is the art of the possible, not the visible…and I continued—and continue—to hope that behind all that negative bluster lies at least the possibility of some sort of negotiated settlement based on the idea put forward in last week’s proposal.

One interesting detail that struck me was how uniformly it appeared to be understood—including by ardent supporters of Israel—that the details of the plan strongly favor Israel and that the Palestinians, after seven long decades of playing a loser’s game featuring relentless inflexibility and negativity, need finally to understand that time is most definitely not on their side, that the world—including a significant portion of the Arab world—is tired of their unwavering intransigence, and that most reasonable outside observers still can’t quite understand why the Palestinians walked away from Oslo Accords or—even more to the point—why the Palestinians, who seem never to tire of expressing their wish to function in the world as an independent nation, don’t simply declare their independence and then get on with the business of nation building.

And yet a strong case could also be made that the deal, although strongly rooted in a realistic assessment of Israel’s security needs, also grants almost axiomatic credence to many notions—including some rooted far more in fantasy than history—that the Palestinians have been putting forward as basic planks of their national self-image for decades. For example, the 180 pages of the proposal (which I have actually read and which readers can see for themselves by clicking here) accept the Palestinian claim to an ongoing presence in the region and ignore the fact that the today’s Palestinian Arabs are the descendants of the people who came with an Arab army of occupation that invaded from the east in the seventh century and brought the Jewish homeland under the jurisdiction of a series of caliphates based serially in Medina, Damascus, and Baghdad. (For more on the question of who the occupiers in this story are and who, the indigenes, click here.) For another, the proposal accepts as basic the right of the Palestinians to their own state as though this were a no-brainer that no one could rationally oppose despite the fact that the world—the real world, I mean, the one in which all parties to the conflict actually live—is filled almost to overflowing with groups possessed of strong senses of national identity whose chances of evolving into independent nations on the territory of other people’s countries are basically zero. (No need to trust me here either—just ask the first Basque you run into, or the first Chechen, Mohawk, Lapp, Breton, Ainu, Norman, Manx, Mayan, Biafran, Uighur, or Rohingya, and see what they have to say.) Furthermore, the proposal seems to accept as basic that the Palestinians have a right to at least a kind of autonomous presence in Jerusalem—despite the fact that the mosques atop the Temple Mount are already under the control of Jordan, an Arab-Muslim state. Nor, needless to say, does the report note—even in passing—that the two-state solution is already a feature of the Middle East, the Jewish state of Israel and the Arab state of Jordan existing side-by-side on the territory of the very British Mandate of Palestine that the United Nations, in the days when it could still be taken seriously as a force for good in the world, voted for partition on November 29, 1947. So to say that the document is hostile to the national aspirations of the Palestinians is not as correct as so many seem to think: in many ways, it accepts as valid and normative the basic principles that underlie those nationalistic aspiration even when they are rooted more in fantasy than in reality or history.

In the end, if the Palestinians can move past their tradition of unyielding obduracy, there are a lot of very good reasons for them to accept the plan put forward last week as the basis for the kind of intense negotiation that really could bring peace to the region.

There is, to start, enough money on the table to start the future state of Palestine off not only on sound financial footing, but possessed of enough funding to begin to create an Arab version of the start-up nation that has brought Israel such renown and prosperity. And we are not talking about trifling sums here—the report sees the potential for pumping $50 billion into the economy of a peaceful Palestinian entity in the Middle East in the course of the coming decade. If that kind of money were used wisely and well, the Palestinians could create a future for their own children that would be the envy of their Arab neighbors throughout the Middle East.

There’s also the practical side of American politics to consider here too. It is certainly well within the realm of possibility that President Trump will win a second term. But even if he loses to a Democratic rival, the chances of a new administration coming up with a plan that will offer the Palestinians more and that the Israeli leadership will still be able to support seem remote to me. Indeed, it is precisely because this plan speaks so directly to Israel’s security needs that the Palestinians should embrace it: this is their chance to negotiate their own autonomy without Israel being able to walk away from the table over its own security concerns without looking obstructionist and unreasonable.

Thirdly, this is a chance, once and for all, for the Palestinians to abandon—both with dignity and a principled acceptance of reality—the notion that somehow, when the dust all settles, the third- and fourth-generation descendants of people who decamped during the War of Independence will be able simply to move back into the homes their grandparents and great-grandparents fled in 1948. No Israeli government would ever agree to that. Nor would any Israeli who wants to live in a Jewish state—and least of all the descendants of Jews who were expelled from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Egypt, and so many other countries in the Arab world and who were never compensated for their losses. There was regrettable and unfortunate loss on both sides, but time has come to move past that sense of endless grievance and the agreement currently on the table speaks directly to that point.

Finally, the plan offers the Palestinians a way to wrest Gaza from the hands of Hamas by making it part of a future political entity to be governed by new leaders chosen by the people in free elections. Given what is on the table—and specifically given the way Hamas has failed to create in Gaza anything remotely like a peaceful society with a thriving economy—it’s hard to imagine the Palestinian people handing the mandate to govern to Hamas or any other terrorist organization. The Palestinians deserve to be led by leaders whose primary—maybe even whose sole concern—is the welfare of the governed. I can’t imagine that such people don’t exist. And this could well be the moment for such people finally to step forward and for things to change for the better. Of course, the current leaders of the P.A. certainly understand that they would be obliged—at least eventually—to cede power to a new generation of leaders and that means that agreeing to come to the table to begin working out a new deal for the Middle East would require a certain selflessness born of patriotism and hope in the future. Would Mahmoud Abbas and his people be capable of such a gesture? The odds are not good at all. But, as I have often noted in these pages, even the laws of probability allow for the occasional improbably event. We shall all soon see what the future brings. But, at least for the moment, we can hope that the Palestinians come to realize that they are standing at a crossroads and that a future characterized by prosperity and peace is well within their grasp.

#Israel #Palestinians #Trump Peace Plan #Mahmoud Abbas

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newsnigeria · 5 years

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Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/local-news/ruga-internal-colonization/

Ruga is an Internal Colonization Project, Defend Your Lands, Soyinka, Ooni Charge Nigerians

Source: https://solakuti.com/2019/07/08/ruga-is-an-internal-colonization-project-defend-your-lands-soyinka-ooni-charge-nigerians/

The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka to resist the ever ‘internal colonization project’ in the present form of RUGA settlements proposed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

The duo in a joint communique issued after a meeting on July 4,2019 at the Abeokuta residence of Soyinka, expressed concerns over increasing ethnic conflicts in the country and warned that the Nation cannot survive another civil war. Stemming from his deep concern with the alarming drift of the Nigerian nation into a dysfunctional state on multiple levels of citizenship, community belonging, security and productive opportunities, the Arole Oodua and Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has continued his search for solutions with a visit to Professor Wole Soyinka, Human Rights Advocate and Nobel Laureate in Literature, at his home in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta. After the meeting on July 4, 2019, during which numerous challenges to the Nigerian quest for national cohesion and survival were examined in depth, they both agreed to issue a joint communiqué as follows:

1.The colonial contraption known as Nigeria cannot survive another upheaval in the nature of the Civil War of Biafran secession. All efforts must therefore be made to anticipate and douse socio-political flare-ups that advance the chances of a recurrence of such a conflict, no matter how reduced in scale, its devastating effects on Nigerian humanity and erosion of the prospects of continuance as a cohesive entity.

2.Among such issues of urgent import are the ongoing insurrectional movements that derive from religious fanaticism and intolerance, exemplified by Boko Haram and allied tendencies, as well as aspects of commercial enterprise, in which some groups consider themselves especially privileged, singular, and above laws and entitlements that are binding on other vectors of commercial and industrial undertaking. We have in mind destructive forms of social transactions that characterize groups such as nomadic cattle herdsmen, and their umbrella groupings in the nature of Myetti Allah.

3.We confess ourselves increasingly distressed and appalled, that the hitherto harmonious cohabitation, even routine collaboration, among the productive arms of society that Nigerians have taken for granted even from pre-colonial times, have deteriorated to unprecedented levels of barbarity, contempt for human lives and a defiant trampling on the civic entitlements of other productive vectors, such as farmers, the providers of both food and cash crops. This abhorrent, yet consistent pattern of sectarian, and homicidal arrogance is obviously not merely counter-productive but inhuman, criminal and divisive.

4.We must stress that the present development is not new, nor has it lacked warnings. Numerous times, voices have been raised, and resistance mounted against the evolution of internal heirs to external colonialism, be this manifested by a military elite or by religious or economic groupings which flaunt their scant recognition of, or respect for human dignity, civic rights and sanctity of human life. The state has cultivated the art of looking the other way – until forced to confront reality.

5.We re-affirm out commitment to the rights of every individual, every community, every collectivity of human beings as primary, and pre-eminent over and above all other parameters of human development or formal associations.

6.In this regard, the recent ultimatum delivered by a sectarian order to the president of this nation to set up the so-called RUGA cattle settlements across the entire nation within a stipulated time, despite national outcry, should be acknowledged as entitlement under the bounty of freedom of expression. In return, we exercise ours, and call upon Nigerian nationals across state demarcations to defend the sanctity of their ancestral lands. This birthright has never been annulled, not even under colonial occupation.

7.We call on the Nigerian people to recognize that the internal colonization project is ever recurrent, that there are backward, primitive, undeveloped minds that have failed, and continue to fail to overcome delusions in this antiquated belief in sectarian domination as the key to social existence, a belief that despises peaceful cohabitation that is based on mutual respect, a spirit of egalitarian apportionment, and recognition of the dignified existence of others, including their antecedent modes of material production of the means of existence.

8.We pledge our commitment and the commitment of institutions to which we belong and with which we identify, to the protection and advance of our own enduring faith in a common humanity, a respect for the rights of others, but also declare an uncompromising embrace of responsibility for the defence and protection of the rights and egalitarian entitlements of our indigenous communities.

9.We call on all occupants of the nation space known as Nigeria to adopt all the foregoing as guiding principles for mutual co-existence and to transmit the same to their offspring and wards as foundation blocks for their very social awareness.

10.We charge the Nigerian people, both on state and community levels to convoke a series of frank encounters, across the various interests and concerns, to debate and determine in full freedom the future structure of their nation, most especially with a view to attaining a genuine, decentralized functional governance arrangement. We propose a structure that enables the constitutive parts to progress at their own pace, determine their own priorities, and encourage creative exploitation of their resources for the benefit of their peoples. Such encounters will simultaneously address the numerous anomalies that plague the nation – from youth unemployment, infrastructural decay, insecurity and ethical collapse, to the untenable aspects of the protocols of the present constitution that supposedly bond the nation as one.

11.We consider it a primary imperative of nation existence that the constitutive parts of the nation take steps to preserve and enhance their distinct cultural identities, including tested and relevant pre-colonial values, their spiritual apprehension of phenomena and worship, all without detriment to the principles and ideals of mutual co-existence. To this end, we undertake to create state-of-the-Art Ethnic Museums for our people both at home and in the Diaspora where present and future generations can access their histories and cultures vividly, as living expressions of their very humanity, not simply as relics of eras vanished for ever or irrelevant to the present. 12.We pledge ourselves to join hands with others in fashioning a realistic, functional, and sustainable charter of development for the welfare and progress of our peoples, culturally, economically, and spiritually, where every individual freely obtains access to the means of his or her chosen path of development, and the fulfilling knowledge of valuable contribution to the well-being and advance of the overall community, and of humanity.

Signed:

Comrade Moses Olafare, Director, Media & Public Affairs, Ooni’s Palace

#local news from Nigeria

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cryptnus-blog · 5 years

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'Cryptocurrency is Freedom!' -- Interview with Ambazonian Secessionists

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/12/cryptocurrency-is-freedom-interview-with-ambazonian-secessionists/

'Cryptocurrency is Freedom!' -- Interview with Ambazonian Secessionists

CCN recently covered a story about AmbaCoin, an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency created by secessionist leaders in the Ambazonian region of southern Cameroon. As a follow-up, we sat down with Chris Anu, the separatist movement’s Secretary of State for Communications and IT, to discuss AmbaCoin and the prospects of cryptocurrency as a means of enabling freedom and resistance movements around the world.

CCN: The Cameroonian government recently carried out a prolonged shutdown of all internet and communication services across the parts of Southern Cameroon where there has been visible support for the Ambazonian cause. Does AmbaCoin intend to function as a peer-to-peer medium of exchange on the ground in the area, or does it merely function as a fundraising tool? If it is going to serve as currency in the short term, how will you get around the government communications blockade?

Chris Anu: AmbaCoin is intended to function as a transactional currency — peer-to-peer medium of exchange, a store of value, and a standard of deferred payment. This is what will equally give it its value and market cap. As it is adapted and used by Ambazonians on a regular basis, the CFA will gradually inch out. It will be independent of the CFA and of any government. Consequently, it is not impacted by devaluation and thus, a good choice to store value. Ambazonians have found ways over time to bypass the internet blockade using VPN services.

Use of internet shut down techniques to control a population will soon be a thing of the past. There are over two dozen companies now planning to beam satellite internet to every part of the globe. SpaceX launched a pair of experimental satellites in February of 2018 that are designed to beam an ultrafast, lag-free internet connection down to Earth. Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b are intended to blanket the globe in wireless broadband connectivity. The initial satellites in the network are expected to come online next year.

Google’s Loon has teamed up with Telkom Kenya Ltd. To build a network of high-flying balloons to connect people in the east African country starting next year. Signals are expected in sub-Saharan Africa as well. In 2015, Facebook teamed up with French satellite operator Eutelsat to launch a satellite — Amos-6 — that will beam internet connectivity to more than 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It was slated to finish construction and find its way into orbit by 2016 but had some delays.

SES Networks, headquartered in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, has 12 satellites circling the globe with four more launched in 2018 and another four on order. Its fleet is delivering high-throughput data services to diverse places, many of which are remote or impoverished and could not afford to install the infrastructure necessary to support cable fiber. Beneficiaries include the Cook Islands, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Chad, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, the Caribbean, and many others. Sub-Saharan Africa is on schedule!

CCN: The comparison has inevitably been made with Venezuela’s petro, especially because both cryptocurrencies operate on the ERC-20 standard and are purportedly backed by the natural resource potential of their respective countries. As the Ambazonian independence movement is yet to achieve a substantial measure of success, how exactly will AmbaCoin avoid the problems faced by the petro such as general lack of liquidity/availability and lack of capacity/infrastructure to exploit the natural resource deposits that its value is based on?

Chris Anu: Obviously, with every vision of this magnitude, there are challenges. The success of this project rests of two main strengths of the Ambazonian people. The first is the resilience, determination and ingenuity of the Ambazonian people that has allowed them; given their circumstances; to survive all these years. The second is our belief in a free society where the rule of law is respected. Notwithstanding the corruption culture French-Cameroon has brought into Ambazonia, Ambazonians for the most part believe in the rule of law and freedom.

The problem Venezuela had was its corrupt society and absence of the rule of law and democratic institutions. We believe that with the establishment of democratic institutions like Ambazonia used to have and the respect of the rule of law that they have tried to maintain, foreign capital will flow in to resolve the liquidity problem.

CCN: Give us an exact idea of the demand that exists for AmbaCoin and your projection for how successful you think it could become.

Chris Anu: Major stock brokerage platform Robinhood have been offering cryptocurrency trading services since early 2018, and have continued to express their optimism towards the increasing demand for the crypto market. Some of the world’s largest banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have disclosed their ongoing initiatives to serve clients interested in cryptocurrencies as an asset class.

We believe that Ambazonians are ready to once again demonstrate their patriotism by giving up the CFA in favor of the AmbaCoin. We see adoption even within neighboring countries and countries within the Franc zone that do not want the CFA anymore. There is potentially a huge demand for AmbaCoin as our market indicators are telling us!

CCN: Let’s leave Cameroon for a minute and go over the border into Africa’s largest country Nigeria, which currently has a secessionist movement for the Republic of Biafra. Between 1967 and 1970, a bloody civil war was fought in that country over this issue, and what is generally credited with breaking the Biafran resistance was the Nigerian government’s economic blockade which prevented the Biafran government from taking part in international trade at any meaningful level.

Do you think that if the Biafran government had been able to create a state-backed cryptocurrency secured on the area’s natural resources, the outcome might have changed significantly? In the event of continued military conflict between the Cameroonian armed forces and Ambazonian loyalists, how will AmbaCoin help civilians from becoming the biggest economic victims of the war as was the case in Nigeria?

Chris Anu: A keen observer of the Ambazonian situation would already have noticed that there is an economic blockade of Ambazonia. The development of Ambazonia has never been a priority of the dictatorial and colonial regime in Yaounde. That is why Ambazonia fights today. Ambazonia used to have an airport in the city of Tiko and Bafut, a deep seaport in Victoria, prosperous industries but the colonizing power in Yaounde shut these all down. When they declared war on Ambazonia, they burned down their places of business even in Yaounde and Douala and in cities like Bamenda.

They implemented scorched earth policies by burning down villages, targeting individuals with possible economic resources and destroyed any remaining economic powerhouses and food sources. 1970 was a different environment. Today, with the restructuring of the UNHCR, there is the expectation of this body stepping in at some point to provide economic aid to impacted populations. Meanwhile, at a certain level when successful, the AmbaCoin project could apply quantitative easing to help support and rebuild Ambazonia. AmbaCoin could also use resources generated from sale to directly provide economic support to the affected peoples of Ambazonia.

CCN: On a global level, how do you think cryptocurrency adoption will impact on secession and independence movements in places like Catalonia and West Papua? In the context of such political movements, in your opinion are cryptocurrencies making power more decentralised or making the world more fractured?

Chris Anu: Every situation is different. Cryptos are not a solution to every freedom and liberation movement. Ambazonia was a UN-mandated trust territory with international borders. It had a prime minister who was its head of government and a functioning parliament; it went through three democratic peaceful transfer of power before any other African state. Therefore it has a national identity and consequently a currency acts as one of its national and state symbols. Ambazonia is basically restoring its independence voted on by the UN.

Catalonia, on the other hand, is one of Spain‘s wealthiest and most productive regions. Before the Spanish Civil War it enjoyed broad autonomy, but that was suppressed under Gen Franco. Prior to the constitutional court’s 2010 decision, a 2006 statute granted even greater powers, boosting Catalonia’s financial power houses. So its realities are very different from that of Ambazonia and a cryptocurrency might not necessarily be the right tool for its independence quest.

West Papua’s case is more similar to the Ambazonian situation in that their nation was handed to another entity without their expressed consent. The Indonesian government has been doing exactly what the colonizing government of Cameroon has done to Ambazonians — targeting killings, scorched earth policies, brutalization, maiming of citizens, imprisonment without trial, threatening freedom of expression, and so on. There is equally the current geopolitical and multilateral arrangement amongst nations that impacts their struggle for freedom. Nonetheless, there is a huge role for a cryptocurrency for West Papuans.

Meanwhile, there is good news too. West Papua’s struggle for independence is creeping up the international agenda as campaign groups, Papuan leaders-in-exile and concerned people all over the world bring to the forefront and to their leaders the injustices that are happening in West Papua. Cryptocurrency is freedom! It takes away control from centralized power and gives the power to the people and the private sector. It is independent of the control of a centralized government structure. Cryptocurrency is the next logical step in the evolution of fiat currency!

Editor’s Note: Some statements have been lightly edited for clarity.

Featured Image from Shutterstock

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charlotteswebcbd · 6 years

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History of Oil and Gas in Nigeria

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The early history (1908 - 1960) - The history of oil exploration in Nigeria dates back to 1908 when Nigerian Bitumen Corporation conducted exploratory work in the country; however, the firm left the country at the onset of World War I. Thereafter, license was given to D'Arcy Exploration Company and Whitehall Petroleum. However, both companies did not find oil of commercial value and returned their licenses. In 1923 new license covering 357,000 sq. miles was given to a new firm called Shell D'arcy Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria. The new firm was a consortium of Shell and British Petroleum (then known as Anglo-Iranian). The company began exploratory work in 1937. The consortium was granted license to explore oil all over the territory of Nigeria but in 1951 and then between 1955 and 1957, the acreage allotted to the company in the original license was reduced. Drilling activities started in 1951 and the first test well was drilled in Owerri area. Shell-BP in the pursuit of commercially available petroleum found oil in Oloibiri, Nigeria in 1956 and came on stream producing 5,100 bpd. Production of crude oil began in 1957 and in 1960, a total of 847,000 tonnes of crude oil was exported.

Major Dates in Early History of Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

1908: Nigerian Bitumen Co. & British Colonial Petroleum commenced operations around Okitipupa.

1938: Shell D' Arcy granted Exploration license to prospect for oil throughout Nigeria.

1955: Mobil Oil Corporation started operations in Nigeria.

1956: First successful well drilled at Oloibiri by Shell D'Arcy

1956: Changed name to Shell-BP Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited.

1958: First shipment of oil from Nigeria.

1960: Other non-British firms were granted license to explore for oil like Tenneco

The Mid History (1961 - 1990) - at this period, Nigeria was just understanding its latest grounds as an oil exporter and developing its export market. It was during this time that commercial exploitation of the country's reserves began with the Nigerian Government introducing its first regulations governing the taxation of oil industry profits in which the profits were to be shared 50-50 between the government and the oil companies. By the later part of the 1960s, the Nigerian Government considered ways to utilize the resource being exploited by the western countries to develop the country and with this thought formulated its first agreement for taking equity in one of the producing companies, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, jointly owned by Agip of Italy and Phillips of the United States. The option to take up an equity stake-in effect the first step toward the creation of the NNPC-was not, however, exercised until April 1971. In 1970, the end of the Biafran war coincided with the rise in the world oil price, and Nigeria was able to reap instant riches from its oil production.

Major Dates in Mid History of Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

1961: Shell's Bonny Terminal was commissioned; Texaco Overseas started operations in Nigeria.

1962: Elf started operations in Nigeria. (As Safrap), Nigeria Agip Oil Company started operations in Nigeria

1963: Elf discovered Obagi field and Ubata gas field, Gulf's first production

1965: Agip found its first oil at Ebocha, Phillips Oil Company started operations in then Bendel State

1966: Elf started production in Rivers State with 12,000 b/d

1967: Phillips drilled its first well (Dry) at Osari -I, Phillips first oil discovery at Gilli-Gilli -I

1968: Mobil Producing Nigeria Limited) was formed, Gulf's Terminal at Escravos was commissioned

1970: Mobil started production from 4 wells at Idoho Field, Agip started production, Department of Petroleum Resources Inspectorate started.

1971: Shell's Forcados Terminal Commissioned, Mobil's terminal at Qua Iboe commissioned

1973: First Participation Agreement; Federal Government acquires 35% shares in the Oil Companies, Ashland started PSC with then NNOC (NNPC), Pan Ocean Corporation drilled its first discovery well at Ogharefe -I

1974: Second Participation Agreement, Federal Government increases equity to 55%, Elf formally changed its name from "Safrap", Ashland's first oil discovery at Ossu -I

1975: First Oil lifting from Brass Terminal by Agip, DPR upgraded to Ministry of Petroleum Resources

1976: MPE renamed Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR), Pan Ocean commenced production via Shell-BP's pipeline at a rate of 10,800 b/d

1977: Government established Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by Decree 33, (NNOC & MPR extinguished).

1979: Third Participation Agreement (throughout NNPC) increases equity to 60%, Fourth Participation Agreement; BP's shareholding nationalized, leaving NNPC with 80% equity and Shell 20% in the joint Venture, Changed name to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC)

1984: Agreement consolidating NNPC/Shel1 joint Venture.

1986: Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

1988: Formation of 12 strategic business units, covering the entire spectrum of oil industry operations: Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Products and Pipelines Marketing Company (PPMC), Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO),Hydrocarbon Services Nigeria Limited (HYSON), Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Co. Limited (WRPC), Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Co. Limited (KRPC), Port Harcourt Refining Co. Limited (PHRC), NNPC Retail, Duke Oil

1989: Fifth Participation Agreement; (NNPC=60%, Shell = 30%, Elf=5%, Agip=5%).

Recent History (1991 - date) -

1991: Signing of Memorandum of Understanding & joint Venture Operating Agreement (JOA)

1993: Production Sharing Contracts signed -SNEPCO, Sixth Participation Agreement; (NNPC=55%, Shell=30%, Elf= 10%, Agip=5%), the coming on-stream of Elf's Odudu blend, offshore OML 100.

1995: SNEPCO starts drilling first Exploration well, NLNG's Final Investment Decision taken

1999: NLNG's First shipment of Gas out of Bonny Terminal.

2000: NPDC/NAOC Service Contract signed

2001: Production of Okono offshore field.

2002: New PSCs agreement signed, Liberalization of the downstream oil sector, NNPC commences retail outlet scheme.

[ad_2] Source by Nosa Tunde-Oni

Post Source Here: History of Oil and Gas in Nigeria

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newsdiaryonline · 7 years

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2019 : Atiku Versus Arewa Agenda, By Zubairu Jakara

So just who is Arewa’s most suitable candidate for the 2019 elections? This question may seem premature or even unnecessary depending on your concern for Arewa 2019. But when we observe the alarming level of discord within the region, especially since the outbreak of Biafran belligerence fuelled the embers of geo-ethnic intolerance across Nigeria, the prospects for Arewa getting a smooth and easy…

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#2019 Presidency #Arewa #Atiku #Nigeria

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naccysblog · 7 years

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Pro Biafra Disagree With Nnamdi Kanu! They Insist To Carry Out Election In Anambra State latest news on naccysblog.blogspot.com

ONITSHA – Despite the choice by the pioneer of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, that his gathering would blacklist the November 18 governorship election in Anambra state, unless a referendum was held for Biafra reclamation before that day, different partners and different star Biafra bunches have taken an opposite choice to that impact.

They said their choice to hold an opposite view was predicated on the requirement for Ndigbo to have solidarity of design, be their siblings' managers and guarantee dire improvement of the area to carter for the necessities of her residents.

Ascending from their vital meeting gathered by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Political Matters and the representative's Liaison Officer to the Biafra War Veterans, Comrade Arinzechukwu Awogu in Awka, end of the week, the expert Biafra bunches fought that the South-East governors must not take the quit see given to Ndigbo with a child's glove, thus the need to begin setting up empowering influences in the event of any consequence.

Nnamdi Kanu taking a gander at his Biafra supporters from the gallery of his dad's royal residence

Current travails of Ndigbo

The gatherings involving a group of IPOB; Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB; Biafra Liberation Council, BLC; Eastern Peoples Congress, EPC; Biafra Solidarity Movement, BSM; Biafra Revolutionary Organization, BRO; Joint Revolutionary Organization, JRO; World Union of Biafran Scientists, WUBS; Biafra Liberation Crusaders, BLC, Biafra Students Union, BSU; Salvation of Peoples of Biafra, SPB; Costumary Government of Biafra, CGB; Council of Elders Indegenous People of Biafra, CEIPB; Bilie Human Rights Initiative, BHRI; Biafan Government in Exile, BGIE; Ohaneze Ndigbo, OTU Suwakwa Igbo among various others.

Leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State part, Chief Damian Okeke Ogene who talked at the meeting, prompted Ndigbo to confront the present travails of Ndigbo with alert, adding that Ndigbo need to utilize their brains and astuteness now like never before as Nigeria of today has not treated Ndigbo reasonably.

Individuals from professional Biafra amass at the meeting

Okeke-Ogene forewarned against call for race blacklist and said that Ohanaeze Ndigbo is investigating every possibility in the journey for Ndigbo to begin executing the think-home rationality as embraced by Governor Willie Obiano, even as he lamented that the web-based social networking has been utilized to over warmth the country as of late, particularly the issue of no decision in Anambra state.

Additionally, the originator of OTU Suwakwa Igbo, Professor Pita Ejiofor noticed that boycotting of a race is a shrewd breeze that blows nobody any great, bringing up that Ndigbo are as yet experiencing incomplete blacklist of the 2006 national enumeration which a few people declined to be checked.

Ejiofor, in this manner, exhorted the genius Biafra gatherings to drop calls for race blacklist so as not to give the adversary motivations to wreck our kin once more. He made reference to Dr. Michael Okpara's blacklist of 1964 decision and the disagreeable outcomes that tailed it.

The Biafra War Veterans, talking through its picture producer, Major Ikechukwu Nwalunor (retd) said that they were cheerful to be a piece of exchanges and choices in transit forward as they have a great deal to contribute as individuals who battled the war are as yet alive today, including that Biafra is an absolute necessity accomplish however race blacklist is hellish cursedness and required a reconsider.

Companion Uchenna Madu, the MASSOB pioneer, in his deliver to the meeting said that while different groupings in Nigeria were suggesting partition that the Southeast pioneers met at Enugu and said that they remain for joined Nigeria and focused on that it is remarks like that that make inlet between the supposed pioneers of the area and ace Biafra gatherings.

Even minded arrangement

He, in any case, said that Anambra decision is no issue contrasted with the October 1 quit see, including that there is sufficiently still time to repair issues about race blacklist. He guaranteed that all the genius Biafra gatherings will talk on the issue when the time is ready.

Prior in his comments, the convener, Awogu noticed that the meeting was called to investigate the present province of Ndigbo in the substance called Nigeria, the current quit see given to Ndigbo in the northern piece of the nation and the prospective Anambra state governorship decision which has been creating heat, with a view to proffering an even minded arrangement that will be adequate and helpful to Ndigbo.

Confidant Awogu likewise noticed that the meeting concurred on a basic level that Anambra State governorship surveys will hold as planned. "In any case, that we ought not overlook that October 1 date (quit see) will start things out before November 18 occasion (Anambra decision), so we ought to be careful about October 1 due date influencing the November 18 race and not the call for race blacklist by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB."

He stated, "assuming the risk (quit see) is done on October 1, its effect and comparing multipliers could likely snowball, God preclude, into what may in itself have grave results on the November decision. Many have not thought along that course but rather will be fairly engrossed with the nonexistent require the Anambra State decision blacklist. Give us a chance to wriggle out of the danger postured by October 1, at that point see whether decision won't hold in Anambra express the succeeding month."

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#news #sports gist and many more. see what we at best in offering

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beardedenemyballoon-1b8253dd · 7 years

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KILLING "BIAFRANS", A NEW NATIONAL PAST TIME__BARR KINGSLEY UGHE

They were Nigerian youths and members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB. Stampede into disillusionment by the spectra of institutional injustice by the Nigerian State against their nation, they organised and started agitating for self determination. Their rank and file have been brutally and serially decimated and repressed by a violent, murderous and insensitive Nigerian state. Scores are dead already by controlled live bullets from the guns of state agents. Their leaders are illegally locked away in a lonely cell somewhere in a dingy jail. They can hardly , in all honesty be said to constitute security risk to the Nigerian state. Yesterday, they came out to peacefully rally in support of the new president of the United States of America. Rightly or wrongly, they believe the fate of their agitation and wrestling with the Nigerian state lies with President Donald Trump.

They wrote the police and state secret service , seeking approval and protection during the peaceful rally. Their letters were received. They were not advised not to rally. Their letters though received, were not acknowledged. The Nigerian State had another sinister agenda for them. They came out on the D day. Peaceful, organised and not violent. Unknown to them, the Nigerian State had determined that the blood of an Igbo man is not worth any value. They laid in wait for them.Their war time issued assault weapons drawn. These innocent Igbo youths drew near, singing and oblivious of the looming death around the corner. When it came , it was too late. They were brutally mauled down and hacked to death by Nigerian police and soldiers. Their only sin ; they were Igbos, an "inferior " federating nationality, doomed to a forced coexistence within a nation that has a serial loathing for their types and tribe.

Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe. If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how? That shows that the genocide against Ndigbo is systematic and deliberate. Our history as a nation is crammed with instances of death, murder and destructions where innocents Igbos were incinerated, stabbed, hanged, buried alive and shot down in the name of revenge and religion by other sections of the country. Yes other section of the country by default and conspiratorial silence.

We are so use to the mass killing and murder of Igbos that we have relaxed into lethargy and accept every act of genocide against the Igbo nation as a national past time. Today, killing an Igbo man or woman in Nigeria is no longer a form of human debasement. It is the norm. A kind of twisted acceptance of a macabre dance of death in a nation whose soul is turn head down. I could never have imagined that firing and killing 11 innocent people on national television would actually seem so "easy", especially in the era of the 21st century. Is National entertainment as a nations now the killing of our Igbo brothers and sisters? or is killing our children entertaining to those whom we have elected to lead us ? The actions of the Nigerian state as far as the Biafra agitation is concerned makes the push and prospect of armed conflict amongst the hot headed and radical segment of the Igbo youths attractive to even the moderates within them. There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile to continue talking about peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed defenceless people. This is sad but the billions of contracts the same Nigerian state awarded to ex militants in the Niger Delta of Nigeria as compensation for armed agitation makes the case for the logic that at least in Nigeria, all armed agitators have been victorious, and all unarmed agitators have been destroyed. Was anybody else bothered by the sight of mine-resistant armoured vehicles and guns pointed at unarmed youths in Port Harcourt yesterday? Are we so use to the recurring spectra of genocide against the Igbo nation that "few more deaths" have become a common place event? Is our collective national conscience so dead that the wail and lamentation from the east has become some sort of music to our ears? Any time state security agents shoot unarmed Biafran agitators, virtually our collective humanity shudders and stops. What for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but the irresistible power of unarmed truth. The truth here is that killing innocent people is always wrong - and no argument or excuse, no matter how deeply believed, can ever make it right. No religion on earth condones the killing of innocent people; no faith tradition tolerates the random killing of our brothers and sisters on this earth. No matter what cause one defends, it will suffer permanent disgrace if one resorts to blind attacks on crowds of innocent people.The truth here is that the structure of the Nigerian state is skewed and tilted. It must be restructured, renegotiated and those who want out of the this forced Nigerian Union be allowed to go. The case of the Biafra peaceful agitator appeals to me and have my sympathy and support. Right to self determination is an inalienable right. No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people. Not even the artificial unity of Nigeria. For in reality, there is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. We must rise up and call a spade a spade. Kingsley Ughe, General Counsel, Joint Legal Action Aids, (JLAA)

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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UN, Kanu, And IPOB, The truth must be known....

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/un-kanu-and-ipob-the-truth-must-be-known/

UN, Kanu, And IPOB, The truth must be known....

By Ochefu Itakpa

By now the media hype of the “storming” of the 2019 United Nations General Assembly in New York by the delusory Nnamdi Kanu at the head of an IPOB delegation must have achieved his sinister agenda of bamboozling the ignorant and misled Igbo youths. The self-destructive impetus of the Biafran pursuit, even among its conscripted clan members, was recently targeted at Kanu’s former “elders” with the near fatal “Nuremberg trial” of Ike Ekweremadu followed by the declaration of Europe a “no go area” for Igbo leaders.

It is now also dawning on the rest of the world that Kanu’s IPOB is a malady with a methodology for manipulating its adoption as a “liberation” movement for “oppressed Biafrans”, ultimately aimed at the Indigenous Peoples incubator of rebelling separatist groups in the UN. On September 13, 2019, IPOB posted: “UN vows to expel Nigeria if Buhari fails to allow Biafra to be created,” as the title of a Youtube video that went viral on Facebook. However, the video did not show any thing relating to the claim that the United Nations has resolved to expel Nigeria if President Buhari did not allow Biafra to be created. In fact, the first half of the video was from an episode of The Core, a show on Channels Television, titled “Biafra: A Metaphor for Restructuring”. The second half showed Nnamdi Kanu addressing a group of people.

A few days later it was the European Union’s turn for an internet scam that shared a picture on Facebook and Twitter claiming to show Nnamdi Kanu addressing the European Parliament. The picture was captioned: “Breaking news. IPOB Leader Nnamdi Kanu and Deputy Uche Mefor shakes (sic) European Union Parliament in Brussels. EU says Kanu, IPOB not terrorist organization. UN official hands Kanu invitation inside EU Parliament.” It was later discovered that the picture was an edited version of a photo that showed former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili addressing the parliament in 2006. Virtually everything about Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB is make-believe!

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But of course, in today’s world, especially after the international tragedy of using weapons of mass deception to contrive weapons of mass destruction so as to wage genocidal war against Iraq, such criminal creativity can have devastatingly real implications, and Kanu’s bizarre IPOB could indeed be madness with a method.

This confounding conclusion is irresistible when supposedly reputable international technocrats such as Agnes Callamard, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Execution confers credibility on Kanu/IPOB by devoting a substantial portion of her recent official assignment in Nigeria to what is now beyond any doubt a huge hoax.

At the end of her visit, Madam Special Rapporteur sounded more like a femme fatale of the sovereignty and stability of Nigeria at a press conference where she bemoaned “the repression of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB” , and wailed that “the security response is dangerously quasi-prospective, with individuals, communities and associations actively targeted for what they may have done decades ago, or for what they may do or may become, rather than for what they are doing or have done.”

The UN agent provocateur exposed her dalliance with Nnamdi Kanu’s covert mission by giving the most falsified and biased account of the events leading to his unlawful departure from the country without any reference to his court arraignment or jumping bail. All she claimed to know is that “the IPOB leader went in exile and some of its followers disappeared since then. Following this event, the Federal High Court in Abuja proscribed IPOB and designated it as a terrorist group”.

Agnes Callimard thereby turned deaf ears and feigned ignorance of the series of contemptuous denunciations of Nigeria’s sovereignty and government, provocative challenge of legitimacy and authority of national security and defense forces, brazen formation and parading of private militia and open threats of terrorist activity for which Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB are notorious at home and abroad. She was exclusively interested in the prejudiced delimitation of her brief to highlight exaggerated alarmist narratives on necessary functions of law enforcement, security and defense forces whilst covering up the well-documented activities that attract such intervention.

So, Madam Provocateur was vociferous in reference to “police and military excessive use of lethal force in violation of applicable international standards, the militarisation of policing” and “quasi-prospective security responses”. Only briefly does she manage to acknowledge that the same measures “may have halted the progress of the insecurity at least on the surface and reduced the rates of killings” and “the increasing criminality, conflicts and security hot-points”. Perhaps Agnes Callimard will go a step further to give us the “international standard” purpose of nations having law enforcement, security and defense agencies other than to protect and preserve the sovereignty and internal stability against external aggression and domestic threats!

But, Agnes Callimard is just doing what she is paid to do by her UN employer. The UN is obviously working at the next level after the adoption of Resolution 6/295 in September 2007 as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. For the avoidance of doubt, its Article 5 unequivocally declares: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life” of their countries. May Nigeria survive and outlive their sinister schemes against its sovereignty.

Ochefu Itakpa sent in this piece from Makurdi.

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thisdaynews · 5 years

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Soyinka: RUGA Internal Colonisation, Nigeria Can't Survive Another Upheaval Like Biafran War

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/soyinka-ruga-internal-colonisation-nigeria-cant-survive-another-upheaval-like-biafran-war/

Soyinka: RUGA Internal Colonisation, Nigeria Can't Survive Another Upheaval Like Biafran War