A pro-Biafran outfit, Biafra National Guard (BNG) has called on Nigeria’s Federal Government to quickly set in motion the process of conducting a referendum to determine the fate of the people of Igboland instead of the continued killing, incarceration and forceful disappearance of Biafran agitators allegedly masterminded by security agencies.
BNG in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Major Nkuma, and made available to journalists in Enugu, weekend, regretted that agitators had continued to face ill treatments which were in total contradiction and opposed to human rights.
The group which proclaimed itself as the military wing of all pro-Biafran groups vowed to henceforth “respond to any violation of the rights of Indigenous People of Biafra”.
“Self-determination is the inalienable right of indigenous people and that must be respected but Nigerian government continues to neglect this right enshrined in the 2007 UN charter they are signatory to.
“Biafra National Guard is highly in support of a peaceful resolution of Biafra agitation through a referendum but knowing that the language of peace is alien to Nigeria, we shall bring them to conformity with the language they understand,” he said.
The statement expressed happiness for the release of the group’s leader, General Innocent Orji after 10 years of ‘unlawful detention’, and thanked Hon. Justice Ikeogu of Onitsha High Court 2 for his objectivity in the ruling that paved the way for the release of Orji.
“While the wife of General Innocent Orji, Mrs. Onyekachi Orji, his cousin sister Okwudili Bassey (arrested on 11th April 2007-the day she came to collect her school fees), a cripple member of BNG, Michael Okezie and other members of BNG and IPOB still detained by Federal High Cout2 Awka; we won’t relent in pursuing their case, to as a matter of justice release them and acquit them of the alleged treasonable felony charge”.
Major Nkume said that it will be a misconception of the situation at hand for anybody to think that the agitation for Biafra which assumed greater dimension since 1999 would abate, especially with increasing contradictions in Nigeria’s political and economic space where Ndigbo had continued to receive the short end of the stick.
He said that instead of the continuous massacre of ‘Biafrans’ the best option was for a referendum to determine their fate and to avoid further bloodshed, which according to him might lead to conflagration of greater dimension if not handled correctly.
“Nigerian state is taking the peaceful approach of IPOB for granted and that is why BNG will activate self defense, so that people will remain alive in Biafra pending her restoration,” he said.