From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
THE Indigenous People of Biafra under the leadership of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu has congratulated the British government over the successful referendum which confirmed the country’s exit from European Union (EU).
The group described the exercise as a good omen and a step ahead of Biafra secession, calling on British government to support the wishes of Biafrans to secede.
A statement signed by the spokespersons of IPOB Mr. Emma Nmezu and Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya said that British government which is the closest ally of the Nigerian government must, as a mark of exemplary leadership, guide President Muhammadu Buhari and his colleagues to respect the wishes of the people.
The statement reads in part: “IPOB congratulates the government and people of Britain for organising the BREXIT vote and applauds the British government for respecting the wishes of her citizens. However, it smacks of hypocrisy that the same David Cameron that initiated the BREXIT vote has been propping up the Nigeria government in the acts of suppressing the quest by Biafrans to exit from Nigeria. Is it because Biafrans are blacks and if black Africans are inferior to white British people?
“Why does British government think that what is good for the white people is not good for the black people of Africa especially Biafrans? Mr. David Cameron, in organizing Brexit is taking advantage of the rights of people to make their choice. But in denying Biafrans the right to choose their own nation, Cameron is telling Biafrans that they are inferior because of the colour of their skin. He is directly telling Biafrans that because they come from an inferior race, they do not deserve to exist as a nation of their own choice”.
“There are indications that Scotland will restart their agitation for separation from Britain and both Cameron and his would-be successor will not stop them nor will they roll out tanks and other lethal weapons to mow down the Scots like Nigeria has been doing to Biafrans”.
“We have to re-emphasize here that self-determination is a right that must be exercised by all free people. Even Donald Trump, the presidential candidate of the Republican Party in the USA tweeted on the 24th of June, 2016 that “Self-determination is the sacred right of all free peoples”.
“By overtly or covertly blocking the self-determination efforts of Biafrans, they are telling the world that Biafrans are still slaves despite the abolition of slavery in 1833. We also note the faulty argument by David Cameron and the British government that they do not want to alter the pre-independence territorial integrity of Nigeria”.
“But this same territorial integrity of Nigeria was tampered with by the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun. We recall that in 1982 Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands but this same Britain never supported Nigeria to prevent the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun and this distortion of the pre-independence territorial integrity of Nigeria is the same excuse used by Britain to continue to keep Biafra under Nigeria”.
“From the success of Brexit, we call upon the incoming Prime Minister to work with Buhari to speedily organize Biafrexit.”