THE ADF GREENBOOK
THE FUTURE OF NDIGBO IN THE NIGERIAN FEDERATION
MEMORANDUM OF
THE ALAIGBO DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (ADF)
[Part3]
4. THE INTENSIFIED AGITATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BIAFRA.
By the beginning of the twentieth Century, the predicament of Ndigbo and their frustration with every aspect of their existence in Nigeria had reached such a boiling point that there was renewed agitation for the restoration of the Republic of Biafra.
1. In 1999, the Movement for the Restoration of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was set up.
2. In 2012, some Igbo elders went to court to seek the separation of Alaigbo under the aegis of Biafra from the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The case has been in the Federal High Court, Owerri since 2012. Among the Igbo elders who instituted this case are His Majesty, Justice Eze Ozobu, former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Chairman of Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers; Dr. Dozie Ikedidfe, former Commissioner in the East Central State and ex-President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, General Achuzie, an outstanding soldier who fought during the Biafra war, Bar Debe Ojukwu, son of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and others.
These elders went further to establish a Customary Government in the name of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). This is the original IPOB. Nnamdi Kanu was the Director of Radio Biafra set up under the auspices of this struggle. His unjustified arrest and detention raised the renewed agitation for Biafra to a higher and intensified level. His eloquence and strong will have made him the rallying point for the younger generation who have rallied around the banner of IPOB Biafra.
3. It was in light of the above also that in March 2014 an International Colloquium was held in Enugu attended by over 2,500 Igbo intellectuals, public figures, traditional rulers, clergy, businessmen, women, and youth from both homes and in the Igbo Diaspora in such continents as the Americas, Australia, Europe, Asia and other countries of Africa.
The Colloquium examined the Igbo Question in Nigeria Before, During, and After the Biafra War, At the end of the Colloquium, it was decided to set up the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) to work with all our patriotic compatriots towards the survival and development of Alaigbo given the enormous challenges facing her in Nigeria. We vowed to work for the Rebirth and Development of Alaigbo so that she could become a major player in the Committee of Nations. So, the recent upsurge in the agitation for Biafra is only the rising crescendo of the struggle for self-determination of Ndigbo because they are rejected in Nigeria.
4. It is therefore an act of deliberate distortion and diversion to call the renewed agitation for Biafra an act of the youth.
5.0 RESTRUCTURING OR OPTING OUT OF NIGERIA –
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
5.1 From the pages of History.
In light of the above, the question of the Way Forward for Ndigbo in Nigeria demands a correct sense of history as well as a due appreciation of the uniqueness of the dangers they face in Nigeria today.
5.2 The Way Forward for Ndigbo – There` are two possible choices: –
a. RESTRUCTURING THAT CREATES A NEW POLITICAL UNION –
OR
b. A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION of the Federation so that Ndigbo can build a Nation-state of their own!
5.3 RESTRUCTURING THAT CREATES A NEW POLITICAL UNION –
Restructuring creates a new political and socio-economic foundation for the continued co-existence of the various nationalities that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is the only rational meaning of RESTRUCTURING that can ensure the survival of Ndigbo and at the same save Nigeria from tragic collapse given the prevailing political crises. More than ever before, most of the Regions and nationalities in the Republic want to breathe an air of freedom, to control their political and socio-economic affairs, and, where possible, maintain a form of peaceful union or association with their neighbors in the Republic.
Let us consider these two alternatives: –
5.4 A PEACEFUL DISSOLUTION – of the Republic as was the case of the East African Federation, the old Yugoslavia, the Indian Federation, the Soviet Union, etc.
If we do this, several independent nation-states emerge from the existing Federation, co-existing as autonomous and peaceful friendly neighbors. It will, no doubt, be possible that a new impulse will emerge to encourage a form of political and economic cooperation or union as has been the case with the European Union today.
Let us take a close look at the two options: –
5.5 Proposition or Choice Number One – Restructuring.
What does Restructuring mean in the Nigerian context as of today? After a careful and objective analysis of the persistent political and social crises in Nigeria and the level it has reached today, ADF is of the view that the only viable political union is the one based on certain social, cultural, religious, economic, and political principles and values. It is only these that can guarantee the continued co-existence of the various nationalities in Nigeria in any peaceful political union.
These principles include the following: –
i. A Union of willing and free peoples, totally devoid of master-slave relationship in the conduct of its affairs.
ii. It must be a Union anchored on the principles of Self-Determination of The Various Nationalities, Regional Autonomy, and Freedom of the Component Regions to manage and control their Political Environment and Resources. Thus, it has to be a Union that guarantees the fundamental principles of Equality, Equity, and Justice for the component nationalities and individuals who live under its authority.
It must, therefore, be a Union not held together by force of arms, but through an equitable structure as well as a clearly defined and collectively empowered Central Authority.
The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) would like to state quite categorically that no amount of military force can hold the Federal Republic of Nigeria together. Only the free choice of the people can. It is, however, possible for any madman in the mold of Hitler to think and insist otherwise.
5.6 Restructuring Nigeria as of today means more than the Constitutional Amendment; It is beyond the Constitutional Amendment.
i. What is needed to salvage the Federal Republic of Nigeria as it is today and prevent the looming crises from bursting into a civil war is more than a Constitutional Amendment and, therefore, cannot be left to the National Assembly and the Executive to handle or to decide what should be done.
ii. The ADF believes that the perennial crises in the Nigerian Federation, which has claimed the lives of millions of innocent people, particularly of the Igbo race, has, as of today, raised the question “Which way Nigeria?” to an unprecedented luminous level.
iii. Therefore, only the people themselves through a Special Political Conference of delegates specially elected provide an answer to the question, “Which Way is Nigeria, to be or not to be?”
iv. Whatever possible answers they propose have to be put to the people in a Special Plebiscite or Referendum.
v. As said above, the ultimate two-related questions to be put the people now are: –
a. Whether we should continue to stay together in a common political union, i.e., in one country, or dissolve into our separate natural cultural and linguistic entities.
b. If we decide to continue to live together, then what type of political union will guarantee that we live under conditions of peace, human dignity, and social progress? If, on the other hand, we decide to dissolve, how do we do this without war among people who should be living in peace as citizens of neighboring states?
vi. In the light of the foregoing, we affirm that what is required today is either laying the foundations for a new political union or dissolving the Republic. This is beyond the powers of the present Legislature or Executive to decide or determine. Anybody who is looking in that direction or asking us to look in that direction is neither serious nor sincere.
vii. What the National Assembly is doing by way of tinkering with the discredited 1999 Constitution of the Federation is simply robbing paraffin oil on a deep-smelling cancerous would.
The Question of ‘Which Way Forward for Nigeria?’ must be returned to the People to Decide. Therefore, we wish to emphasize the absolute necessity now of a Political Conference of freely elected delegates by their constituents (units of ethnic nationalities).
In this regard, ADF holds the view that the proposed Political Conference has to go beyond the submission of the 2014 National Conference. The basic task of such a Political Conference is to provide answers to no 4 (v) above, namely,
a. Should Nigeria continue to remain as one political union or
b. Should Nigeria dissolve into its component Regions?
The answer(s) that the elected delegates of the people provide should be submitted to the people for ratification in a Plebiscite or Referendum.
5.7 The Principle of Self-Determination!
The foundation of any political union is based on the highest principle essential for the formation of any state, particularly a political federation. This is the fundamental principle of Self-Determination. This is the principle that underlies the proposed Referendum or plebiscite.
Thus, even after the General Plebiscite and despite its conclusion, any Ethnic Nationality, or Region that wishes to opt out of the Federation must indicate so after an agreed period of say a year or two years. Their choice should also be ascertained through a Plebiscite or Referendum conducted to ascertain whether that is the wish of the majority of their people or just the campaign of a minority of political agitators within the ethnic group or region.
In other words, ADF believes that the Principle of Self-Determination is the key rational principle that should decide the relation between peoples of different ethnic nationalities. This should be the guiding principle in the case of the new Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Union of Autonomous Regions.
5.8 The so-called Indissolubility of the Nigerian Federation.
This is the singsong of those who treat Nigeria either as their collective orchard or an estate of their forefathers and therefore regard the peoples of the various nationalities as their minions. That is to say, Nigeria is indissoluble for those who have amassed so much wealth acquired through looted and stolen funds and resources of the people and have them hidden in international and local banks and investment institutions. Some even own palatial properties with values greater than the budget of the entire country.
For those countries and their leaders who wish to control the natural resources of Nigeria perpetually, and in whose banks and financial institutions including real estate, Nigerian leaders and other looters hide their loot.
These are the people and countries desperate to keep the Federation as it is – a human Golgotha, an indissoluble political entity enjoying the peace of the graveyard.
5.9 The Option of Opting Out of the Nigerian Federation.
The option of leaving Nigeria to build a separate country called either The Republic of Alaigbo or The Republic of Biafra is very strong among Ndigbo whether living in the present Nigerian Federation as well as those living in other parts of the world.
It is an option no one can easily ignore. The extensive background discussed above demonstrates very clearly that there is great justification for that option. It is not, therefore, a matter of deciding for the people, especially if the decision is being made by those who have personal reasons to choose to remain in Nigeria.
To be continued…