I am not a Biafran and neither am I igbo. I do
however believe that it is the inalienable right of
any human being or ethnic nationality to aspire to
be free and to be able to determine their own
destiny.
The right of self-determination is enshrined in
international law and it is guaranteed by every
moral stricture known to man. It is a right that has
been exercised successfully over and over again
in world history and it has led to the creation of
new nations which were carved out of older ones.
The denial of that right and the suppression and
persecution of those who attempt to exercise it
leads to nothing but defiance, dissent and
resistance and, if not properly managed, it
eventually spills over into war and carnage.
This has been the primary cause of most of
history's most brutal civil wars, including the
American, Russian, French, English, Indian, Sri
Lankan, Sudanese, Nigerian, Angolan, Congolese,
Zimbabwean, Yugoslavian, Ukrainian, Nicaraguan,
Cuban, Irish, Syrian, Libyan, Indonesian, Korean,
Vietnamese, Spanish, Iraqi, Italian ones and
countless others.
I do not believe in violent change and neither do I
believe in war, revolution, terror or the use of
arms in the pursuance of even the most noble
causes.
I do however believe in the power of ideas and
the right of any man, woman or people to yearn
to be free from bondage and to peacefully and
freely express that yearning.
It is in this context that I situate my belief in and
support for those that view the Nigerian
Federation as an oppressive entity which has
effectively enslaved its people in an attempt to
create what is essentially an artificial and
unworkable state.
Those that believe in Nigeria have every right to
continue to do so and to voice their resolve to
keep Nigeria one. What they do not have the right
to do is to refuse to offer the same degree of
freedom of expression to those that do not
believe in a united Nigeria and who instead
believe in the peaceful dissolution of our nation
to speak their minds and voice their views.
What is good for the goose is surely good for the
gander. You cannot grant one side of the divide
freedom of expression whilst you deny it to the
other.
This is all the more so because freedom of
expression is the lifeblood of any democracy. It
must be accorded in equal measure to those that
believe in Nigeria and to those that do not.
It is in this light that we must consider the plight
of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra
and the man that has been described by the Igbo
World Assembly as ''Buhari's first political
prisoner''.
We may not like his style, we may not like his
radio station, we may not share his views or
approve of his methods but one thing that we
cannot take from Mr. Kanu is his right to hold
such views and to express them in a peaceful and
lawful manner no matter how distasteful those
views may be to some.
To deny him this most basic human right is not
only an act of intellectual terrorism but it is also
the most grave and barbaric manifestation of
what is essentially an evolving police state where
different or contrary views cannot be
accommodated by those in power.
When Mr. Alex Salmon and his Scottish Nationalist
Party began the agitation for the dissolution of
the United Kingdom and for the establishment of
Scottish independence many years ago they were
not charged to court, locked up indefinitely or
murdered by the British authorities but instead
they were eventually given the opportunity to
participate in a referendum and test their ideas.
The same thing happened in the Catalan region of
Spain where the agitation for the establishment
of a new nation is compelling and very popular.
Sadly President Buhari who, like most in his
generation, are still stuck in the mindset of a civil
war general, has refused to learn from this.
The biggest mistake and miscalculation of his
administration so far is not the ruthless
implementation of its patently and monstrously
unapologetic northern agenda but rather its
absurd resolve to lock up Mr. Kanu indefinitely
and to effectively throw the key away simply
because he dared to call for the establishment of
Biafra.
As far as I am aware Mr. Kanu has not used or
advocated the use of violence whilst expressing
himself and neither have any of his supporters.
One therefore wonders what has panicked the
Federal Government to such a point that they not
only have to lock him up but that they also have
to violate the law of the land by not allowing him
to see his lawyer and by not presenting him
before a court of law and charging him within the
constitutionally-prescribed three days.
State-sponsored violence and intimidation, the
violation of human rights, illegal incarceration, the
murder of innocents and the vicious suppression
of legitimate ideas leads to nothing but hardened
hearts, greater defiance and the spread of anger
and dissent.
The principle is simple and clear: the more you
fan the flame of tyranny and repression the more
the passion and fire for liberty spreads.
It follows that the biggest favor that President
Buhari's security agencies could have done for the
Biafran cause was to lock up Mr. Kanu and
thereby transform him from being a little-known
secessionist into the living symbol of the Biafran
struggle, a respected freedom fighter, a champion
of the Igbo people and an internationally-
acclaimed political prisoner.
It is no wonder that leading politicians from all
over the world, including the former Home
Secretary and former Leader of the Labor Party in
the United Kingdom, Mrs. Harriet Harman, have
called for his release. President Putin of Russia
and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel
have done the same.
Their call was the right and proper thing to do and
I add my voice to that call. I have never met or
spoken to Mr. Kanu but I am moved by his
passion and courage.
I am also persuaded by the logic and force of his
public assertions. He has made a compelling case
for the establishment of Biafra and millions of
young Igbos from all over the world have bought
into it.
It is left for those that do not agree with him to
make a better case and to stem the Biafran tide.
That is the monumental challenge that those that
do not agree with Mr. Kanu's views or his
methods have.
I have not always been on the same page with
our Igbo brothers yet despite that one thing is
clear: only the callous would deny the fact that
they have suffered immeasurably in the Nigerian
Federation over the last 50 years.
Only the uninformed would deny the fact that
they have been butchered, murdered,
persecuted, broken, humiliated, insulted, cheated
and treated with contempt and disdain more than
any other ethnic group in the country since July
1966.
What the Nigerian state is confronted with in the
new generation of igbos who refuse to be cowed
is a time-bomb. Unlike their fathers they cannot
be appeased or intimidated.
They are not fearful of the prospect of a second
civil war. They are not prepared to settle for
crumbs and neither do they fear death, conflict,
defeat, incarceration, butchery or persecution.
They are imbued with a spirit that cannot be
suppressed and the more they cry ''Biafra'' the
more the spirits of the millions that were
slaughtered on the Biafran side during the civil
war are invoked.
The more they cry ''Biafra'' the more the souls of
the hundreds of thousands of their people that
were butchered during the barbaric pogroms in
the north in the mid-60's are remembered. The
worst thing that the Nigerian authorities can do is
to treat them with levity or contempt.
They are angry, they are fed up, they refuse to be
enslaved, they want a brighter future and they
have come to realise that they have nothing to
lose.
The most inappropriate thing that President
Buhari can do is to continue to underestimate the
power of their resolve or the clarity of their
intent. The worst thing that they can do is to begin
to jail them, to shed their blood and to take their
lives.
The more you lock up the Biafrans, the more they
will rise up. The more you mock them, the more
they will shout. The more you kill them, the more
their anger will be kindled.
The more you deny them, the more they will wax
stronger. The more you treat them with disdain,
the more they will defy you. You cannot resist an
idea whose time has come.
This is a fact that we must all accept and it is with
this in mind that I urge President Buhari and the
Federal Government to not only release Mr.
Nnamdi Kanu but also to tread with the utmost
restraint and caution when dealing with those
that are agitating for Biafra.

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153650384337210&id=62188827209&refid=28&_ft_=qid.6209084361246316918%3Amf_story_key.-3050457115722859417%3AeligibleForSeeFirstBumping.&__tn__=%2As

Cc: lalasticlala

FFk is indeed a wise man. You can not stop the yearn for biafra when
they are being butchered, murdered, persecuted, broken, humiliated, insulted, cheated and treated with contempt and disdain more than any other ethnic group in the country since July 1966 in a country you call one nigeria, and yet expect them not to fight for their freedom. “ the more you fan the flame of tyranny and repression the mor
e the passion and fire for liberty spreads. ” -- FFK 2015

Sum1 shud do d needful by narrating dat text book written by op

.,.

Should we applaud?

Bro u never take your drug ni

Bros u never take your drug ni.

Anytime I see an hausa man, I see a stark illiterate.unlike our elite nigg'ass in the west and our elite brothers in the east they are poverty ridden people..wot confuses me is how they becomes lord over these 2 elites...God is wonderful shaaa..say no to the zoo called nigeria