When has Freedom Become a Crime

Nigerian nation as the contraption of Frederick Lugard had since its inception been a terror to mankind. Formed, organized, and created not by divine providence, for the goodness and greatness of its citizens, but to serve the selfish interest of the British Empire. It was this glaring selfishness that led to the forceful amalgamation of the Biafran, Oduduwa, and Arewa ( Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa respectively) as one country.

In history, there is no meaningful growth and development where there is internal rift and rancor among people with ontological, ideological, cultural, and ethnic differences, yet of all these real and perceived anomalies, the government has refused the independence of Biafra as a sovereign state.

This rupture in the relationship among the merged nations had been employed to impair democracy in the region. The failure of democracy in this British farmland mistaken for a country is evident in the stew of aggression served to the Biafrans in recent years.

It is not that the barbaric nature of Nigeria has ever been unclear, no. Even without being bothered about thirty months of the genocidal onslaught against the Biafrans, the subsequent genocidal attacks against the remnants of Biafran from 1970, when the war was verbally declared over, to this present day speaks nothing but barbarism and sheer nepotism.

In all these, it beats my imagination when government agencies who are supposed custodians of the law and fundamentally created through a social pact, to protect life, and properties turn around to unleash everything inhuman on its citizens.

The barrel of a gun turned against anyone who dares to speak up against the brutality and corrupt tendencies of the government is better not imagined. When such folks are not being gunned down by the army or police, they are being abducted by the DSS and thrown into prison without trial, and when the trial is mustered, it is nothing but a jamboree since the judiciary itself has been sufficiently intimidated and disgracefully subdued making jokes of the supposed independence of the judiciary.

When is freedom a crime? Freedom is legal and a fundamental right of individuals as contained in the UN Charter. The Nigerian state itself fought and gained freedom from the occupying colonialist Britain, yet for asking for that which is legal and fundamental, the Biafran is gunned down. If it is otherwise, why did the Nigerian state ask for freedom from the British Empire?

In Nigeria, democracy is mouthed but not practiced. Consequently, asking for self-determination is misrepresented as asking for war, and without hesitations, guns, and sorrow are turned against the freedom-seeking Biafrans.

One wonders if the power-wielding giants in Nigeria understood the meaning of democracy. Dozens and scores of instances of this brutality of government against IPOB members are too numerous to be mentioned.

On May 30th, 2016, there was a military onslaught against IPOB members observing Biafran Heros day. At Onitsha Bridge-Head, where IPOB members were protesting the unlawful detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. It was a bloodbath of a joint attack of the Navy and police.

On the 20th of January 2017, in Port Harcourt city, indigenously known as Igwe Ocha. Biafrans held a rally in support of President Donald Trump, who on that day was sworn into office. Fearing that Trump might notice them and extend a helping hand to their agitation, the Nigerian state moved its military against the rallying indigenous people of Biafra, massacring a good number, injuring some, and incarcerating others.

To buttress further how democracy has been bastardized, where the core tenets of the fundamental right of freedom of association have been relegated to the gutters. On the 23rd of June, 2019, some high delegations of IPOB Excos gathered for an emergency meeting at Umuowa, in Orlu Imo State Nigeria to discuss the death of some members who were killed at Abakaliki- Ebonyi state.

The bloodthirsty and trigger-friendly government forces stormed the venue and started shooting sporadically. It was later gathered that the invasion was due to the presence of some high Exco commanders like Nwaokike Kayinayo(Ikonso), Emmanuel Nwankwoagu( powerful), Tochukwu Awugosi, Okagbue Ezekiel, Ibedimma Queenth, and Ibezimakor Roland amongst others, who had already left the venue of the meeting before it was invaded, leaving many dead and scores injured when they were scrambling for safety. Armless civilians, comprising of men, women, and children have died due to their quest for freedom.

Is it a crime to be free? These are some of the woos that has befallen the teaming population of the South Eastern Region of Nigeria especially the Youth, in their quest for a referendum for an independent state of Biafra. The Biafran battered and dripping blood seeks referendum, which is the most civilized medium of settling disputes of political concern.

Till this time IPOB family members are being clandestinely assassinated by some state-sponsored vampires in uniform.

Our concern to all civilized society is to take into cognizance the savagery of the undemocratic state of Nigeria and weigh in on this matter.