Townhall | Columnists | Terry Paulson A Call for America to Support Freedom in Kurdistan and Biafra Terry Paulson | Aug 08, 2014 Do the Christian indigenous people of Kurdistan and Biafra deserve our support in their fight against Islamic extremists? While supplying weapons to some insurgents fighting for freedom in Syria, why has the Obama administration not supplied support and weapons to those in Kurdistan or Christian Nigeria fighting for their survival? Why has the administration refused to give support to the independence of these beleaguered peoples? As ISIS expands its grip on lands in Iraq and turns its attention to Kurdistan, Prime Minister Maliki has finally sent in air support to the Kurds to stem the tide of the ISIS advance. Fearful that ISIS might capture Iraq's largest dam currently under the control of Kurdish fighters, Maliki sent Iraq's air force to bomb ISIS targets in Sinjar. But neither Maliki or the Obama administration have been willing to provide much needed ammunition and weapons to the Kurdish fighters. With the Kurds in a legal fight with Maliki over giving the revenue from the sale of the crude oil in their region to Baghdad, the Obama administration has refused to support the Kurds in fear of justifying any partition of Iraq. But with Christians throughout Iraq seeking refuge in Kurdistan, is it not time to consider the calls for freedom coming from these war-torn regions? After all, in 2010, President Obama joined the 145 countries who had supported the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People . It affirms that "Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence." It's time for the peoples of Kurdistan and Biafra to call on the world to go beyond words to actually support their cause. It's time for President Obama to stop retreating from leadership in this region and use the weight of his office to act. In the final of three interviews with Nnamdi Kanu , the Director of Radio Biafra, hear him explain what people craving freedom want and need from America. Radio Biafra is not alone in calling for independence. In a recent sermon, Nigerian Pastor Emmanuel Bosun confirms the critical need to fight for freedom now before the Islamic Hausa and their Boko Haram killers can take full control of Biafraland. The United States has always made economic development, military aid, and diplomacy a central tenet of its national security policy in supporting strategic developing countries. It's time to take a stand. Kurdistan and Biafra have long-standing histories to justify their existence as independent nations. Is it their majority Christian faith that is holding Obama and the world back from supporting their call for independence? Are Christians the only people around the world we won't support? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in defending his stand against his homeland in Germany, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guil tless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Ben Carlson, in his column on "The Spreading Scourge of Anti-Christian Persecution ," challenged all Americans to support action, "We have an obligation as Americans to denounce these acts of persecution. Even those who do not worship a higher deity should be concerned. For when we stand up to such intolerance, we are defending the root ofe freedom.".

Only God shall save his people

Okay.
The news source should be included in the main body.

townhall.com/columnists/terrypaulson/2014/08/08/a-call-for-america-to-support-freedom-in-kurdistan-and-biafra-n1876000/page/full

American can't set biafra free because international law consider biafra part of Nigeria.

While international law does not see the independent country of the kingdom of western Nigeria as part of nigeria



You have to see the fighting power any nation will face trying to free biafra. They would loss more than 1000,000 . biafra is history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnEBYRgUoUk

I see..

America Will Know..

I wish there was some paragraphs in OPs message. It's really not a pleasant experience when the whole message seem like a very long sensence.
I do admire a senses in the bit of the message I read though.

Davidsylva:
hi,u look very familiar.

really ? Cnt see your dp .. familiar how?? From where?

Davidsylva:
from my dreams,can I send u a private message

mtsceww.. I don't think so.. you are an Ogbanje.

ademusiwa3:
American can't set biafra free because international law consider biafra part of Nigeria.

While international law does not see the independent country of the kingdom of western Nigeria as part of nigeria

You have to see the fighting power any nation will face trying to free biafra. They would loss more than 1000,000 . biafra is history.

Biafra wasn't defeated by Nigeria. Nigeria was never a match for Biafra. Biafra was defeated by the World powers - Britain and USSR. Britain ensured Nigeria had unlimited supply of weapons, while Biafra had nothing but Awka/Aba locally manufactured weapons and the deadly Ogbunigwe. British recruited the Egyptian air force to do the aerial bombardments for Nigeria.

It took the world powers 3 years to stop Biafra...but did it stop?

You continually taunt Igbos with the images of the Biafran war. You brag to these victims of your genocidal exploits in the war - how Adekunle murdered innocent youths in their prime and how the starvation policies of Awolowo resulted to kwashiorkor-ridden children who were starved to death. And you think these things don't irk the common Igbo youth in the streets of Aba, Port-Harcourt and Lagos. Even now, you still turn a blind eye to the killings in the North and rather than protest against these killings, you still cunningly find ways to drag the Igbos into the mess.

“The right to development is a fundamental right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social and cultural development.

It is a right which includes the exercise of full sovereignty over national resources, self determination, popular participation in development and equality of opportunity."

That moment when the sleepy lion wakes to clear his throat, the barking dog begins to run for his dear life. 
That awkward moment when shouting mouth jams moving action, mouth becomes dumb. That time is here with us...

Davidsylva:
so u believe in those things,,pls we are in the 21st century nothing like that.

I know but I will saying it since u saw me in your dream

SomebodyLovesMe:

While I agree that this is a very sensitive issue, it must be said that Igbo people are constantly shooting themselves in the foot. They do not tell themselves the truth. You seem reasonable enough, but most other Igbos don't.

I watched in amazement in the months leading up to the last elections, how Igbos openly showed and boasted about their 'mass' lack of support for Buhari. They are the only tribe in Nigeria that made so much noise and made it clear that their decision at the polls would be based purely on tribe. How many Yorubas or Hausas did you hear boasting or making threats? Wisdom should tell you that since there is a chance that Buhari might win, you should not burn bridges. You would notice that Hausas never openly opposed GEJ, even though we all know where their loyalties lay.

Unfortunately, most (not all) Igbos are not politically sophisticated. Political sophistication means ensuring that you do not create permanent enemies for yourselves, by being tactful and strategic in your political moves and utterances. e.g. how can you go to another man's land and claim that it's no man's land? That is the height of political stupidity, as such comments simply attract negative reactions and negative attention. I can't think of any other tribe in Nigeria that would be so unwise as to say such things.

There is a quote that says: In politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies , but there are permanent interests. Unfortunately, Igbos have created permanent enemies for themselves through their lack of diplomacy, and that is why things are the way they are.

A lie may travel for a thousand miles, but it takes just one step of truth to catch up with it. ..

How are 'Igbo people constantly shooting themselves in the foot?'
When was it, that the Igbos are the only tribe in Nigeria that made so much noise and made it clear that their decision at the polls would be based purely on tribe?
Where and when did the Igbos boast or made threats during the last elections? 
How are the Igbos burning bridges?

How have Igbos created permanent enemies for themselves through their lack of diplomacy? Can you mention the Igbos involved?

Which media did Igbos use to make noise, stating that their votes in the polls would be based purely on tribe - Punch, PremiumTimes, Leadership, Osundefender, TheNation, LindaIkeji, TVC SaharaReporters or which one

How dare you falsely state that Hausas never openly opposed GEJ. 

Haba! What sort of lies are these? It is only people with dead consciences that fabricate wicked lies and distort history to achieve some undue advantages over others which are bound to boomerang. This is how these unrepentant hypocrites and treasury looters want us to continue in this false union.

Where is your verifiable proof for your assertions? Something is not factually true just because you said wrote it. What you just stated are simply your biased opinion. But it doesn't make them facts. 

Have a look at some past news via these links where Yorubas made so much noise in the media before 2015 general elections:

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/03/demurens-sack-fasehun-others-cry-yoruba-marginalisation/

http://thestreetjournal.org/2013/03/yorubas-in-europe-decry-jonathans-marginalization-of-the-south-west/

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/now-were-the-marginalised-yoruba-elders/

http://www.naij.com/334439-jonathans-attempt-to-persuade-yoruba-too-late-afenifere.html

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/tunde-fagbenle/ugly-signs-of-yoruba-marginalisation.html

http://ketekete.com/why-yoruba-will-never-support-goodluck-jonathan-in-2015/

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tambuwal-elected-house-of-representatives-speaker/92761/

https://ogala./2011/06/06/aminu-tambuwal-elected-speaker-against-pdps-wish/

The reasoning of the bigot who assembled the lies above is not only terrible but despicable. 
Many Yorubas are noise makers and become rattled when confronted with the truth. Many a time you do not know what  Yorubas stand for. 

What do you call 'political sophistication'? Peddling lies and propaganda in every available media in order to tarnish and paint other people black so as to make some undue political gains that are bound to boomerang? 

[b]It's basically in Yorubaland that a man like Tinubu who embezzled Lagos State would call the shots and Yorubas would still sheepishly prostrate before him and follow him and his candidate blindly. Many Yorubas sheepishly follow criminals like they have no sense.

As big as Rochas Okorocha is, he was not sure of winning a second term as a governor of Imo State because his people were not satisfied with him. In Ebonyi State, the governor's candidates failed woefully. That's the Igbos for you. Nobody can hold Igbos down for too long; they will rise up against such political leader.
It's in Yoruba land that one person would perpetually control the people's resources and they will sheepishly follow him. If it were in the South East, Akinwunmi Ambode will deny Tinubu publicly to stand a chance of winning the gubernatorial election just like Ikpeazu, Abia State PDP candidate, denied TA Orji to win some votes.

Igbo people believe no man was born to perpetually lord it over them.  

Observe that most of the people talked carelessly if not stupidly as regards 2015 elections, both in the ruling party and the opposition were Yorubas. Many  took things overboard,  threatening fire and brimstone - from Obj, Tinubu, Okupe, FFK, Lai Muhammed, Fayose, Fashola etc.

Even Yoruba people who cannot handle their families and fence-climbing thugs with no respect for the law or law enforcement called president GEJ unprintable names.

These unrepentant thieves, prostitutes and murderers of yesterday have used their giant loots to attempt to grow legitimacy and to corner the "highest-bidder-gains-it -all" political process.
They seem to feel they are born kings and queens and that attention is owed them. They do not consider anyone else's nature, but bulldoze over other people with self-righteous arrogance and supposed 'sophistication'.

For the records, Igbos supported Tinubu, and Fashola as governors of Lagos State for 16 years! That was why an Igbo man, Ben Akabueze, has been a major cabinet member in Lagos for both Tinubu and Fashola.[/b]

Facts are sacred...
Yoruba have proven beyond reasonable doubt to be chief tribalists in Nigeria and can NEVER vote anybody outside their tribe in elections. Otherwise can you compare Obasanjo’s 4 years and Jonathan's 4 years Yet Yorubas supported Obasanjo for 2nd term notwithstanding Buhari was contesting in 2003.

Yoruba has been voting along tribal line since independence (facts are sacred). Quit denigrating other tribes especially Igbos to cover your lies and ethnic bias.
The South-West zone had 14,296,163 registered voters, which represented 19.44% of the total number of voters nationwide. In terms of national electoral strength, the zone was number 2. Taking into account the electoral behaviour of the South-West since independence, the zone has proven itself, without exception, of incapable of voting anyone other than its own. 

In the 1st Republic, it voted mainly Action Group in favour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo with about 69% voters’ turnout.

In the 2nd Republic, it voted 78.75% of its total votes cast for UPN in favour of Chief Awolowo, with 70% voters’ turnout. 

In the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the pattern was repeated more or less the same, except that the total percentage of SDP’s votes in favour of Chief MKO Abiola rose up to 84.5% in the zone. 

In the 1999 presidential election, mainly because the only two candidates for the presidency were both from the South-West, the zone’s voters’ turnout was abysmally low (48.09%) with about 68% of the votes cast to APP in favour of Chief Olu Falaye. 2003 also recorded poor voters’ turnout with 71% of votes cast for Obasanjo’s PDP. 

In 2011, with no South-Western candidate fielded by any of the major parties, the South-West voted PDP when a functional alliance with the CPC failed to field in Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu or his nominee. Besides, with the vicious experience of Alliance for Democracy in 2003 when the PDP Federal Government uprooted AD government in five states of the zone, the South-West could not afford to risk having an opposition PDP government at the Federal level again; certainly not after the hard pains and toils of forming the APC. It is therefore existential for the South-West to vote APC at the presidential election.

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/politics/50349-2015-presidential-election-how-and-why-pdp-will-lose

For many decades now, how did Hausa-Fulani build bridges with the frequent killings and destruction of lives, properties and places of Christian worships, not to mention the Boko-Haram insurgents who are not only threatening the existence of the country but maim and kill peasants farmers and villagers on a regular basis? But they now have the presidency while the Yorubas vice-presidency! What a misnomer!

Almost throughout GEJ regime Hausa-Fulanis and some traitors in the South West were preaching hate messages in the North and in the South West.
These unrepentant prophets of doom devised every crook tactics (falsehood, media propaganda, threats, sponsored Boko-Haram insurgency still rearing its ugly head, blood shed etc.) and they still believe that Nigeria can subsist.

And what would you say of the North where Jonathan carried out most of his developmental projects at the expense of his Ijaw people and yet the greedy tribalists colluded with Yorubas and voted against him? Or the Yorubas who voted against Jonathan because Buhari's vice, Osinbajo, is a Yoruba man?
The last time I checked Jonathan is not an Igbo man. Many Igbos voted voted for Jonathan because treachery and betrayal is not in their DNA unlike the Yorubas and their co-travellers.
Many disgruntled Yorubas called GEJ many unprintable news - clueless, weak, visionless and impotent - online and offline simply because he is not from the born-to-rule tribes. There cannot be peace in a country where some people regard others as second-class citizens even in their own fathers' land that's feeding the country.
Many of these tribalists and hypocrites were in government and nothing worked. They fleeced our commonwealth and there was no transparency. Now these sets of hypocrites have begun another round of propaganda and deceit against Igbos - their nightmares!.

If Yorubas are accommodating and friendly, why have Yorubas persistently bred and used miscreants to distort money and distrupt the businesses of law-abiding citizens in Lagos? Why would any Yoruba person dare utter such word like 'accommodating' other people in Lagos - a city developed with crude oil money and by the communal efforts of every tribe in Nigeria for close to a century; as if Yorubas feed other people and give out lands for free? 

If Yorubas didn't want any Igbo man to own a part of their land, why did they sell their lands to them in the first place? Why should thecYoruba man collect over N300 million from an Igbo man just to sell a plot of land to him in Ikoyi; collect taxes and other tenement rates from Igbo man and yet, they will not want him to claim rights of a landlord? Did any Igbo man stop you from buying properties, lands and other assets in Igboland and laying claims as a landlord? 
When did Orji Uzor Kalu's outburst that Lagos is a no man's land represent the opinion of over 70 million Ndigbo. Yorubas are aborigines in Lagos state. But if they decide to sell their fathers' properties to an Igbo man and collect his hard earned money and come back later to trespass, they should be jailed! Did anybody compel Yorubas to sell Igbos lands? Enough of this ethnic bigotry.

Asiwaju conducted census in Lagos state and told us that the Igbos are 45% of Lagos population, Yorubas are 47% and others make up the other number.
The Igbos are not daft or cowards to be threatened to vote for a particular candidate in Lagos 2015 gubernatorial election. It is so pathetic for Oba Rilwanu Akiolu to do so!

Between the Igbos and Yorubas, which of them constantly display insensitivity, crass disrespect, mindlessness arrogance and continued to insult the dignity and sensibility of other people using their numerous media outfits to heat up the polity, creating enmity and problems in the country and still foolishly think they are the 'sophisticated' tribe? The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had already exposed such wicked lies in his paper titled 'YORUBAS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA'.

Igbo people are no betrayers and don't harbour traitors, chronic, perennial, perpetual, pathological liars! 

Igbos have been killed in the North since 1940s, long before independence. They have continued to be killed in the North up till present. Nzeogwu's coup only provided a pretext for the North supported by the treacherous West to embark upon their favorite past time. Ojukwu defended Igbos from ethnic cleansing. Igbos survived the war because they are very resilient.

Yorubas and their co-travellers accuse Igbos of being greedy. That Igbo's love for money is insatiable, while every other Nigerian groups hate money! Abacha, Gowon, Obj, IBB, Danjuma, Abiola, etc, heartless men who looted the Nigerian treasury dry, is any of them Igbo?

If there is any one tribe in the world that values and protects the stranger that tribe is Igbo. Igbos permeate almost every nook and cranny of the country, peacefully and immensely contributing their quota to the economic advancement of the locals and the country at large. I am yet to read Igbos on rampage causing havoc and fighting their 'host'. Igbos network with their 'host', build business empires and some of them even get married to their 'host', all for peaceful co-existence and building bridges. Is that tantamount to stupidity, creating permanent enemies,  preaching hate, not being tactful   and not building bridges?

Is there any tribe that exhibits such 'Nigerianess' than the Igbos? Can the greedy tribalists boast of this? NO!

But what do the Igbos get in return for this patriotic display of One Nigeria - threats and destruction of their lives and properties by the so called 'host'? Igbos are being harassed, molested and their legal businesses distrupted on regular basis by the 'host' and its government. 

Oba Rilwanu Akiolu of Lagos even went as far as threatening to drown Igbos in the Lagoon if they did not vote for his candidate in the last 2015 election. And a good number of Yorubas hailed and supported their Oba for the bold step - Dr Ariyo, Kunle Afolayan etc.!

YORUBA LEADERS SOWED THE SEED OF TRIBALISM AND RUINED NIGERIAN ECONOMY
Many of the achievements of the Yoruba tribe is largely due to the fact that they have been unjustly favoured by the lopsided arrangement in the polity. That's why a great number of Yorubas would prefer the status quo to remain. A number of Yorubas have used the unjust system to their advantage, looting the treasury with reckless abandon. Yoruba leaders wrecked this country and brought her to the present miserable state! 

When a couple of distinguished past nationals like Nnamidi Azikiwe did their best to promote national patriotism even to the disadvantages of their own people, the likes Obafemi Awolowo used their positions to entrench hatred, bitterness, tribalism, nepotism and religious bias in the polity for their selfish gains. The latter are still being held in high esteem by their tribesmen, and they even use any means to shove it down the throats of other people.

Informed people are not deceived by Yoruba usual shouting, crying, weeping, wailing, yelling, cursing and making much noise on every available media. This a tribe that is after all well known for being loose cannons. Uncouth, uncivilised and disrespectful set of people who made a career out of abuse and slurs.
If there is any southern tribe that have gained much from this fraudulent union, it is the Yoruba tribe! 
Yoruba tribe have only flourished at the expense of others courtesy of the unjust system! 

In saner climes many Yoruba leaders should have been behind bars spending the rest of their miserable lives for the great looting of our commonwealth.

Inspite of the crass looting of the treasury by many Yorubas, Yoruba land still remains one of the illiteracy and poverty stricken regions in Nigeria! Yoruba achievements have not in any way given her people a better welfare than the Igbos.
Whichever way the loudmouthed tribalists turn, one is certain - they must be made to eat their words! 

The bottom line remains that guilty conscience is the problem of many Yorubas which has practically beclouded their sense of judgement. They taunt the Igbo with images of the Biafran war. They brag to these victims of their genocidal exploits in the war; how Adekunle murdered innocent youths in their prime and how their god Awolowo used starvation policies to create kwashiorkor-ridden children. And they think these things don't irk the common Igbo youth. 

The Igbos have done much and achieved much for themselves and Nigeria. Whatever negative impression you get from any quarter is as result of envy - the pull-him-down syndrome. But that has not deterred Igbos from waxing stronger and excelling in almost every socio-economic index.

In the light of this, it is very unjust to accuse Igbos of not being tactful and strategic or not building bridges just because they seek a legal way of determining their destiny. Stating that Igbos are not building bridges or not reasonable is all hogwash and amounts to nothingness. 

'One Nigeria' seems to be just for self benefit - anybody or tribe who is benefiting from it, be it in civil service, politics and business through monopoly, backed by evil structures put in place by past leaders will not agree that Nigeria should be restructured or otherwise. So many lives have been sacrificed and are still being sacrificed to keep Nigeria one at the expense of some people. Rather than challenge the gross inequality and injustice (quota system, false census figure, lopsided local government areas) in thepolity these tribalists still consider it right to fabricate and spread malicious messages to score political points that are bound to boomerang. 

Igbos may go through pains in the beginning, but majority are resolute fighters and never quitters. They are very confident of overcoming like they did after the Biafran war. 

Whatever Igbos may be going through now is part of the struggle. Freedom isn't given, it's taken. Definitely,  there is no pain, no gain.

The typical Igbo man is civil and values the sanctity of life.  

No matter how hard these evil men try to cover up and silence the truth; truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by a strong hand at the bottom of a river so that she should not be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that strong hand that seeks to suppress her forever shall wither and dry up. At that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day, in the fullness of time, the pernicious and perfidious verdict...that the powers that be have claimed....will be exposed for what they are.