We live in a very scary era where powerful countries and the so-called democratic countries overtly and covertly support vicious dictators while their victims are tormented in so many ways. The lingering problem in Nigeria started when the British Colonial masters partitioned Africa and split up blood ties, relatives and communities that got along very well, whereas, communities that were incompatible and against each other were foisted in one country and given a foreign nomenclature called ‘Nigeria’. Moreover, the constitution has never been approved by Nigerians, this same constitution is the tool the current dictators in Nigeria have been using to subjugate the Igbo Biafrans.
In 1967 to 1970 the Nigerian suppressive regime carried a 3- year-genocidal killing of the Igbos that claimed more than 2 million lives. Today the president of Nigeria and an ex-Military dictator Muhammad Buhari a Hausa-Fulani Muslim man is currently supporting genocide acts as defined by the Genocide Convention against Igbos and the Middle belt people because of their ethnicity and strong devotion to Christianity and belief system. The radical Hausa-Fulani Islamic terrorists are now having field days in their killing spree. In June 2017, when the Hausa-Fulani group issued a threat to expel by violence and confiscate Igbos’ properties in twelve northern Nigerian states that have adopted Sharia as their legal codes if they did not abandon their homes and businesses by October 1, 2017, Buhari approved it by remaining silent.
In the same vein, for decades until this day, the Hausa-Fulani terrorists have destroyed thousands of properties, farmland, churches and religious schools and displaced millions of people, majority Christian Biafrans and middle belt people. Hundreds of innocent civilians have died and more have been injured or terrorized by the military acting under the orders of Buhari. As I write this they are still in South East region for another round of suppression, code ‘’python dance III’. One of our leaders in the Biafra struggle Mr Nnamdi Kanu has had his home attacked by the soldiers during the previous Military attack code, ‘python dance II’ and countless of people were also killed. The evidence of this harrowing state-sponsored terrorism is on the internet.
The most powerful democratic countries, especially the UN should condemn this orchestrated genocide without mincing words, just like the Rwandan case that they dragged their feet until million were killed. The UN will live in notoriety for giving its podium on Tuesday, September 25th, 2018, to the dictator Buhari. I think the UN should lead by example, instead of inviting this man with the blood in his hand, Nigeria should be suspended indefinitely from the membership under Article 6 of the UN Charter. The United Nations should set up an investigative team to bring all the perpetrators of these past and present genocide acts to book. They should also be imposing an arms sanction on this evil regime of Nigeria pursuant to UN Charter , Chapter VII until the right of the Biafran people to self-determination is secured through peaceful referendum conducted by the United Nations Electoral Unit.
At present, the dictator is diverting arms purchased for ostensible use against Boko Haram the ISIS of west Africa, the vicious Fulani herdsmen, Ansaru and other mercenaries, to the terrorizing of Biafran Christians. The corrupt Buhari and his mercenaries have no interest in defeating Boko Haram as demonstrated by their recent terrorist activities. Also, it is on record that he had once bereded the former president of Nigeria for killing those he described as freedom fighters. Whereas, he has blacklisted those of us in the struggle for Biafra’s freedom as terrorist.
Sadly, in the western countries where some of the Igbo Biafran refugees have run to are still treated with grave suspicion and by so doing they are tacitly endorsing the ongoing impunity in Nigeria. I think the genocide of Biafrans is not just ‘’Nigeria business’’. As it should be genocide is a crime against all of mankind which concerns every country including all these western countries. It is shocking that the Catalonians who sought the same self-determination have the support of the UN experts that had made scathing remarks against Spain’s government. Also, the persecution of Burma’s Muslim Rohingya, Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq have captured western countries and Un attention, whereas Buhari’s far worse oppression of Biafrans has been largely ignored. Unfortunately, it is impossible not to allude to the conclusion that the UN and the rest of Western Countries have developed self-inflicted amnesia when Africans kill Africans just like pre-Rwandan genocide era.
Emeka Onwubiko
A Law Student at the University of Adelaide