A coalition of pro-Biafra groups, Thursday, called on the people of the defunct Biafra region to boycott the consumption of Fulani cow meat forthwith.
This came as a sit-at-home orfer by the groups crippled activities in many parts of the Southeast and the Southsouth.
They insisted that their native cow was a source of protein.
Addressing a press conference at an occasion to mark the 52ndanniversary of Biafra declaration by Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, they also stated that the struggle for the restoration of Biafra was in response to the continued marginalization, deprivation and genocide against Biafrans who were defeated during the independence war in 1970.
DAILY POST reports that reading a prepared speech on behalf of the 14 members of the Coalition, MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu noted that since the 1970 genocide until now, no Nigerian leader had dared to address the deprivation the people suffered during the period.
He stated that the 14 pro-Biafra groups including Eastern Peoples Congress (EPC), Igbo Cultural and Restoration Initiative (IYCRI), Belie Human Rights Initiative; Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria (MOBIN), Biafra National Liberation Council (BNLC), Biafra Revolutionary Organization (BRO) resolved to boycott fulani cow meant as a way of discouraging their alleged attempt to take over Igbo land.
The speech read in full:
The agitation for the restoration of Biafra is a well thought-out program in response to the continued marginalization, deprivation and genocide against Biafrans who were defeated during our war of independence in 1970. Defeat in war through guile and international collaboration did not stop our quest for independence especially bearing in mind the attitude of Nigeria even as at today. With hindsight now Nigeria would have adopted the properly articulated agreement at the Aburi conference of 1967. Unfortunately the Nigerian arrogance and abrogation of that accord led to war which they think stopped in 1970. Today’s agitation brings to the fore, the farce that the war ended in 1970 as all the factors that led to that war still stare us in the face.
The buildup to the events to the Aburi conference in Ghana began soon after the Nigerian independent government was sworn into office, although the template had been long designed with implementation started off by the Lugardian experiment of 1914. It was stimulated and fuelled by a social prejudice akin to anti-Semitism and the British ambition for a perpetual control of the abundant resources of Eastern Nigeria. These were the secrets which Lord Lugard claimed he was not authorized to reveal on the floor of the British house of commerce in May 1914.
These secrets also guided the British policy of neglect of Eastern Nigeria in terms of economic and social infrastructural development. This administrative policy of bias and neglect, the Biafran people bore till the “end” of the colonial rule. No wonder they were part of the reasons why the people of the East stood tall in the fight for independence.
Unfortunately, the inept government foisted on the nation by the manipulative mechanisms of the colonial masters soon became overwhelmed with political crisis that resulted in the January 1966 military intervention. Unfortunately again, but according to the designed script, the action of some soldiers of the Nigerian Army was quickly misinterpreted and used as a reason to blackmail Ndi IGBO. Hence the coup was ingenuously described as “Igbo-coup” and it became sufficient reason to single out the Ndi IGBO and entire people of Eastern Nigeria for mass killings. More than thirty thousand Easterners were massacred across Nigeria in a first tranche of massacres within a few months.
These were the sign-posts on the high way to the war of genocide that cost Biafra more than 3.5 million of her population between 1967 and 1970. At the end of the war, a dubious policy of “No victor no vanquished” was instituted. General Gowon’s acclaimed “3R” for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation became a façade through which the people were further marginalized. Otherwise how then could a government with an acclaimed policy of reconciliation turn around to deny Biafrans all their investments in Nigeria including their holdings in banks. They turned around and issued Biafrans with a paltry £20 not minding the amount one had in his bank account prior to the civil war! Not stopping at that, they sowed the seed of antagonism between Ndi IGBO and the neighbours via the policy of abandon properties as well as government sales of major economic assets to private individuals when the war torn Eastern Nigeria could not participate.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF BIAFRA AND BIAFRANS
For the survival and recovery to normal and decent living for the Biafran people, it is imperative that governance and the systems that support governance, plus the entire basis for social relations, must be over hauled. No half measures of the Nigerian government and Nigerian system can guarantee even the basic survival of the Biafran people. The vision of the BPLM which comprises the following groups, Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB), Eastern Peoples Congress (EPC), Igbo Youth Cultural and Restoration Initiative (IYCRI), Bilie Human Rights Initiative (BHRI), Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria (MOBIN), Biafran National Liberation Council (BNLC), Biafran Revolutionary Organisation (BRO), Biafran Liberation Crusade (BLC), Joint Revolutionary Council of Biafra (JRCB), Biafra Revolutionary Force (BRF), Customary Government of Biafra (CGB),
Biafran Central Council (BCC),
Biafran United Liberation Council (BULCO), Biafra Intervention Project (BIP) etc. will continue to flourish. A return to the Biafran sovereignty means a return to Biafran ideology and Biafran Spirit. It is only in the Biafran ideology of equity, justice and fairness can we find meaning to a national life and communal existence. It is only in the spirit of Biafran BROTHERHOOD can we realize the essence of our humanity.
It is evident that in Nigeria the Biafran people have always requested for fairness, justice and equity. But these basic requirements Nigeria has continuously ignored, denied and rebuffed with arrogance and impunity. It is also evident that in Nigeria, it is only the Biafran people that have consistently desired and worked for national cohesion and unity. But to Nigeria, national cohesion and unity can only be granted on the altar of extreme socio-political and economic deprivations, structural and systematic marginalization of the Biafran people. Biafrans cannot and CANNOT, continue in a national relationship where Biafrans and Biafran identity are hated, deprived, exploited, structurally and systematically marginalized, dehumanized and brutalized. Enough is, indeed, enough!
In Nigeria the Biafran people have neither acceptance, nor accommodation. What is the rational explanation for the extreme hatred against Biafra? Can someone imagine that Nigeria can connive with outsiders to murder more than 3.5 million of fellow citizens? More shocking is the fact that from 1970 till date neither the Nigerian citizens nor their leaders have ever expressed any remorse for the destruction they have caused the Biafran people. To many of them, Biafra should remain a component of Nigeria only for the purpose of massaging their uncivilized ego of conquest and domination and their control of the resources of Biafrans.
Expressions of this ego was the inner reason for the bizarre and extravagant display by the Nigeria army code named python dance (war) and crocodile smile (war) in the South Eastern and Niger-Delta regions in 2017 and 2018. It is the same reason for the siege of the two regions (of Biafra) by the Nigerian military. Under this situation, the peaceful and unarmed Biafran citizens are daily subjected to military humiliations, dehumanization, extortions, intimidations and exploitation across the Biafran territories.
OUR RESOLVE TO BOYCOTT THE FULANI COW
Standing resolutely for the freedom of the Biafran people, we remain conscious of the past and present experiences of Biafra and Biafran citizens in Nigeria, as well as the wise counsel of our Elders as anchored in our ancient dictum that says “ONYE NDI IRO GBARA GBURU-GBURU N’ECHE NDU YA NCHE…….” We recognize the current existential challenge facing Biafran territories namely, the gradual penetration and encircling of our land by armed Fulani militants with a tactical support of the Federal Government of Nigeria. While we are equal and poised to the task of taking on these marauders on our sacred land, it is tantamount to foolishness for us to continue to supply the fuel with which our people and properties are burnt. Must we continue to patronize the trades of those who are determined to destroy us and to take over our ancestral land? Of course, no. Therefore, we hereby declare boycott of Fulani cow meat henceforth. By this declaration all Biafrans are advised to boycott cow meat consumption throughout Biafra territories and Biafra homes. All the social organizations, community welfare associations, churches and church organizations and all Biafran agitating groups are requested to encourage their members to observe this boycott of cow meat consumption with immediate effect. We have other sources of protein including native cow, goat, chicken, etc.
2019 BIAFRAN DAY ANNIVERSARY : A TIME TO SAY “THANK YOU” TO OUR HELPERS.
It is essential that the world and Biafrans in particular should continue to remember that the declaration of Biafra in May 30th 1967 was borne out of the extreme necessity for survival. The Nigeria government under Yakubu Gowon and their collaborators had designed plans for the total extermination of the Biafran people. Biafra was the only option then, and Biafra remains the only option for survival, peace and development for those to whom human lives remain the greatest beauty, indeed the essence of creation – NMA – NDU or Madu; the Igbo concept for Man.
The struggle for Biafran survival especially between 1967 and 1970 and its success was never the efforts of the territorial Biafra alone. It was by the collective efforts of those who believed in Biafranism, the ideology of equity, justice and fairness; those who believed in the spirit of Biafra – the brotherhood of mankind, the humanity of all the peoples of the world as equal creations of God.
It is therefore important we continue to remember the specific as well as collective roles and sacrifices of those individuals, groups, organizations and nations that helped Biafra to survive between 1967-1970. As a people steeped in humane living, it is in the Igbo cosmology and DNA to say “thank you” on any and every occasion that a good deed, solicited or unsolicited is done towards them. It is a debt!
To all our friends who stood solidly behind us when almost the entire powers that be in the world conspired to wipe Ndi Igbo out through a calculated genocide, this is the time to say “thank you”. Without you, the story would not have been about three million that died during the Biafran civil war and revolution, but would have been about a gregarious, boisterous, deeply Christian and ethnic group, wiped out completely from the face of mother earth. You said NO and today we are alive and can finally say “thank you”.
We cannot forget the invaluable humanitarian love and concern shown to Ndi Igbo by sister countries like Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia that, in spite of outright world opinion to the contrary, openly recognized the independence of the independent state of Biafra; and those also like Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Rhodesia, South Africa and the Vatican City who gave us maximum support, especially in logistics and humanitarian aids to survive.
Our eternal gratitude goes also to the humanitarian heroes who stood in the gap when our situation as a young nation fighting for our very survival was at stake. They were there through thick and thin and endured indignities just to save Biafran children and the Biafran people. They were not fazed by the horrors of kwashiorkor or the incessant intimidation by the might of the then Nigerian government gone rogue against all international conventions on war. Our lives became their lives, our burdens their burden. We will never thank you enough, but we say “thank you”.
We will like to mention the Irish priests ably led by our own dear Bishop Shanahan who refused all entreaties and sat it out with his Biafran flock throughout the war and had to pay a terrible price for it. He was jailed by the Nigerian government after a farce of a trial in Port Harcourt prisons. As you continue to rest in peace, we say “thank you”, we will never, ever forget you. You were not only enyi Biafra but Biafra personalized and internationalized. Through you we also thank each and every Irish priest and Reverend Sister who stood and battled for the very lives we live today.
Not to be forgotten were also their brethren in Christ, the Anglican clergy and all the clergies of other denominations who stayed behind and physically fought and defeated kwashiorkor and gave us life. If it were possible, we would mention each one of you by name. But only eternity will be enough in appreciating you all.
Also remembered in fond and evergreen memories are the Christian Organisations like Caritas, World Council of Churches, Joint Church Aid (JCA) aka “Jesus Airlines”, Canada-relief Organisations (made up of the Presbyterian and Oxfam, all of Canada), Church World Services, Diakonische week (Church group), Holy Ghost Airlines – run by Irish Holy Ghost Fathers, and the American Jewish Agency among others.
We also thank the very young pilots and technicians who came when they saw the horror we were passing through; the unceasing bombings of children in hospitals and Red Cross centers, and grew angry and left all to come to the defence of humanity and succeeded. We are alive today and thanking you is the evidence — August Martin – First American Commercial Pilot who died in a crash bringing relief to Biafra; Dorestein E. Johnson – from Iceland – a pilot who also died in a crash, Ron Archer, and 27 other pilots and crew members who died bringing relief to Biafra.
The International Red Cross, we also thank you. The Biafran war was your first real challenge of such magnitude and you did not fail us despite the federal government of Nigeria’s intransigence.
What about the individuals who could not come to Bifraland physically but mobilized world opinion, raised resources morning and night and made sure that we did not die? We, today, remember the likes of Stev Jobs, Bruce Myrock , Dr. Herman Middle Kloop of WCC, Johnna Lennon and Wife, Yoko Ono (British International music icon), Miss Miriam Reik – from USA, David L. Korean, Edward Kinny, Dr. Bernard Koucher, Rev. Fr.Tony Bryne, Tessy Johnson, Roy Sterner, T. Williams, Peter O’Toole, Johnny Correa, Bob Gilsens, Count Gustav, and Von Rosen.
We also say “THANK you” to:
Medicine Sans Frontiere – Doctors Without Borders
America Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
The French Red Cross
Save the Children Fund, and
UNICEF. By all your combined efforts we are here today.
Finally, we wish to remember the survivors among the over ten thousand Biafran children who were shipped abroad in 1969, as a strategy for territorial Biafran survival. Although most of them are lost in the mix of the populations of their host countries, it is our hope and prayer that they continue to retain the spirit of Biafra. We are happy that many of them are already making significant contributions for the growth and development of their respective communities, countries and the world.
As well the BPLM acknowledge the efforts of other pro Biafra groups like Ala Igbo Foundation (ADF), Biafra Independent Movement (BIM) , Mazi Nnamdi Kanu led IPOB, DOS led IPOB, Biafra Reconciliation Movement etc. We also acknowledged the sacrifices and eloquence of Alhaji Dokubo Asari and other Niger Delta activists in restoration of Biafran freedom. BPLM also salute the management of BVI Channel 1 for their consistency, eloquence and neutrality in discharging their media duties for Biafra. We also salutes the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
We wish to use this opportunity to call on all the groups and leaders agitating for restoration — whether as resources control or restructuring and regional autonomy or sovereignty – to join the BPLM coalition. It is not a formation of a new organisation but a unification of purpose, the restoration and freedom of Biafra. As it is not a single organisation, it does not have a single leadership. The structure and its operations are based on a collegiate leadership and control. The college of leaders of BPLM (coalition) is consisted of the leaders of all the participating groups and decisions are based on equal voting rights in council. There are equal representations of groups in the council. It includes Biafrans from Ijaw, Akwa-cross, Igbo blocks and the others.
Come and let us work together to move the Biafran Project to the next level. Biafra holds a better prospect and a better promise. Come and let us work for the restoration of Biafra. It is achievable.”
