The recent killing of dozens of members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) further worsens Nigeria’s profile globally, writes SAM NWOKORO
As if confirming the string of bad reviews which attended President Muhammadu Buhari’s one year in office, Nigerian security agencies last week upped the ante in civil repression of dissent views and escalated public umbrage against the government. A battalion of Nigerian troops pulled the triggers on innocent unarmed citizens who were preparing to stage a peaceful protest to re-emphasise their demand for a separate nation, the Republic of Biafra – a part of the country that fought for secession in 1967 but could not succeed.
The invasion of the civil gathering by Nigeria’s security agencies could pass far a case of human right violation and repression capping previous ones since the regime took office one year ago.
According to reports, it appears the clampdown on Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) could well pass for one triggered by inexplicable paranoia about some untoward predictions and perhaps some faulty security briefs the government might have been receiving.
Many groups and senior citizens have denounced the clampdown which took place in the South East and some parts of South South.
Simply put, the government has allowed a huge dose of schizophrenia take a better part of its ways, compounding its not-so-clean profile. This, for now, is public interpretation of last week’s IPOB/MASSOB clash with security agents that left in its trail blood of both security agents and civilians.
Murmur and skirmishes
Media and Publicity officer of IPOB, Emma Powerful, carpeted the clampdown. He said the group’s protests had always been non-violent, but that overzealous security men provoked confrontation: “Peaceful assembly is not a crime. It is enshrined in human rights documents to which Nigeria is signatory. Even if they are in procession demanding Biafra, are they bearing arms? Why would they go and disturb an orderly procession and peaceful assembly?”
He wondered why a government that claims to follow due process of law would deny Nnamdi Kanu, a British citizen, whom a court had ordered his release, freedom.
“It shows that Nigeria is behaving like a lawless country that is not working in sync with United Nations conventions and protocols it signed.
“When does possession of dual citizenship be criterion to deny someone bail? Does this government even know the kind of world we live in today?” he queried.
Human Rights Agenda said: “Over 10 people lost their lives during the protest against the continued detention of Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. Various others sustained various degrees of injuries as security agencies clashed with protesters. Security agencies must restrict themselves to the rules of engagement.”
Reacting to the clash, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the public presentation in Abuja of the book, We are all Biafrans written by social critic and rights activist, Chido Onuma, called for a restructuring of the country, based on the ongoing allegations of marginalisation by some Nigerians.
Buhari, he said, is yet to learn from the past on farmers/herdsmen clash.
Atiku said: “The structure of the country is heavily defective as it does not provide the enabling environment for growth and progress among the 36 component states of the federation.”
He reminisced how Nigeria once operated a federal system at independence that allowed the regions to retain their autonomy, raise and retain revenue, promote development and conduct their affairs as they saw fit, while engaging in healthy competition with others.
The former Vice President also said: “Agitations by many right-thinking Nigerians call for a restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities. As many of you know, I have for a long time advocated the need to restructure our federation. Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country. In short, it has not served Nigeria well, and at the risk of reproach, it has not served my part of the country, the North, well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in the light of the governance and economic challenges facing us, and the rising tide of agitations, some militant and violent, requires a re-set in our relationship as a united nation.”
Fuel to fire
The latest clampdown and the security siege that has been built around the Eastern flank of the country paints grimmer picture of a nation gradually sinking out of control of its managers. In the past one month or more, Nigeria’s crude oil export has fallen drastically from a relatively manageable production level of 2.3 million barrels per day before the present government assumed power in May last year to barely 1.6mbpd as at mid-May.
With latest blow-ups by the militant groups fighting for a better politically-structured Nigeria, Nigeria’s export capability may come to zero level if the attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta area continue.
New militant groups like Niger Delta Avengers who are unhappy with government’s response to their complaints have emerged since the beginning of the year.
Bleak outlook
Most commentators on foreign affairs are of the view that continuous rights violations can undermine the credibility of the present administration. Professor Jon Muoma says: “Human rights violation under the present government is no longer in the interest of the nation. It can wipe away whatever little goodwill he claimed to have achieved with the series of foreign travels he has made in recent time.”
Civil protest is a normal order in a democracy, he added, arguing that since Buhari came to office with good dose of foreign support and they have extended goodwill for him, he ought to be on the watchout for the sentiments and values they hold dear and gauge his reactions to civil activism.
UN view on self-determination
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, September 13, 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour, four (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) against and 11 abstentions (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine).
While as a General Assembly Declaration it is not a legally binding instrument under international law, according to a UN press release, it does “represent the dynamic development of international legal norms and it reflects the commitment of the UN member states to move in certain directions”. The UN describes it as setting “an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples that will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the planet’s 370 million indigenous peoples and assisting them in combating discrimination and marginalisation”.
UNDRIP, which codifies “indigenous historical grievances, contemporary challenges and socio-economic, political and cultural aspirations” is a “culmination of generations-long efforts by indigenous organisations to get international attention, to secure recognition for their aspirations, and to generate support for their political agenda”, according to Canada Research Chairperson and faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan, Ken Coates. He argues that UNDRIP resonates powerfully with indigenous peoples, while national governments have not yet fully understood its impact.
The UNDRIP has always been the springboard with which many new nations,. South Sudan and Palestine obtained political independence, a fact that has always bolstered agitations for the resuscitation of Biafra.
Reacting to President Buhari’s policies towards Biafran independence, key agitators for Biafra, IPOB and MASSOB, have said that “Buhari cannot stop” them from actualising their dream.
The groups were reacting to Mr. President’s comment on Al-Jazeera television that he would not tolerate Biafra.
IPOB, whose leader, Kanu, is undergoing trial for treasonable felony in an Abuja High Court, and the two factions of MASSOB led by Ralph Uwazuruike and Chinedu Madu, dismissed the President’s statement as empty, saying that he was just deceiving himself.
Coordinator of IPOB, Clifford Iroanya, who spoke in Onitsha, Anambra State, lambasted the President, saying that the Al-Jazeera interview only exposed him.
“Buhari made mockery of the issue during the interview by asserting that because someone was not born before or during the war, he should not work towards the restoration of his nation of Biafra. General Buhari must understand that the Arabs started fighting Israel in June 1948 which was 16 months before Benjamin Netanyahu was born, yet the Israeli Prime Minister is still fighting the Arabs till today. Just because someone was not born before the war does not mean that the person should continue to live a life of slavery as is the case of all Biafrans living in Nigeria.
“During the interview, Buhari urged Biafrans to come together and vote for an additional state within Nigeria. We are hereby telling Buhari that statehood within Nigeria is not on the shopping list of Biafrans. What Biafrans want is the total sovereignty of the nation, Biafra. We do not want to exist inside Nigeria as one of its states,” he said.
“Buhari made an awkward statement that Biafrans are interfering with ‘the troops’ and the ‘economy’ and that because of this, Nigeria will not tolerate Biafra. One begins to wonder on which occasion did Biafrans ‘encounter and interfere’ with Nigerian troops other than the fact that Nigerian soldiers are always looking for defenceless Biafrans and mowing them down with their AK-47 rifles.
“If we may ask, in what ways are Biafrans interfering with the economy of Nigeria? Did Biafrans cause the dwindling price of crude oil? Perhaps, Buhari needs to explain more on what he meant by interfering with the troops and the economy.”
The Biafra territory
Biafra is a territory demarcated to the west by the lower reaches of the River Niger and its Delta, to the east by the Obudu plateau and the highlands of Oban and Ikom, to the south by the Bight of Biafra and to the north by an administrative boundary following, approximately, the 70N latitude. The total area is over 29,400 square miles. Thus Biafra, almost as big as The Gambia and Sierra Leone put together, is bigger than Togo or Rwanda and Burundi combined, and is four times the size of the Republic of Israel.
The territory is well-watered throughout the year, lying to a large extent in the basins of the Niger River, the Cross River, the Kwa River and the Imo River. Three quarters of these river basins are lowland, less than 400 feet above sea level. The Niger Delta, which extends through two of the 20 provinces of Biafra, occupies about one-fifth of the lowland. North of the lowland, the nation rises gradually through open flat land to the Oban hills and Obudu plateau in the east and the Nsukka and Udi hills in the west. The Obudu plateau rises to over 6,300 feet and is one of the coolest and mast delightful parts of West Africa. There are also beautiful uplands in the provinces of Okigwe, Orlu and Nsukka.
Biafra is wholly located within the tropics, being only a few degrees north of the equator. But the climate, although humid at some periods of the year, is on the whole not too hot. Monthly average temperatures range between 700F and 900F, and average rainfall from about 60 inches in the north to about 140 inches in the Niger Delta. Like the rest of West Africa, the territory has two main seasons: rainy and dry. The former generally begins towards the end of April but remains mild until June to September when the rains become heavy, though intermittent. There is usually a short break in the rains during the first two weeks of August. The dry season which, in most parts of Biafra, lasts from November to March is characterised by relatively light rainfall. A prominent feature of this season is the dry harmattan wind that blows from the Sahara southwards between the months of December and February.
The tropical climate of the country favours the growth of luxuriant vegetation. Mangrove forest covers a depth of between 10 and 40 miles of the coastal lowlands, including the Niger Delta. Beyond this belt is the rain forest which extends northwards for approximately 80 miles. In the few places where the forest is still virgin are to be found many species of giant and medium-size trees with a thick evergreen canopy of broad leaves which restrict the penetration of sunlight. North of the rain forest, as far as the northern boundary of Biafra, the vegetation thins out into rich grassland or Guinea Savannah which is characterised by tall grasses and medium-sized trees.
