Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Ccommuniqué: Communiqué Of Igbo National Council Meeting Held On 28-10-2012
 |
| Igbo Traditional Regalia |
The Igbo
National Council (INC), after extensive deliberation on the state of Igbo
Nation resolved as follows:
That our position to produce a
president of Igbo extraction in 2015 is not negotiable giving the fact that
Ndigbo have contributed towards the survival, growth, unity and development of
Nigeria. That since Ndigbo constitute over 40% of total
Nigerian population, INC insists that Ndigbo are due to take up and direct the
leadership of the Nigerian federation by producing a president of the country.
The INC will massively mobilise Ndigbo at home and in diaspora, to actively
support the candidacy of an Igbo person for Nigerian presidency in the 2015
election.
To call the
attention of state governments of Igbo states to begin to re-empower the Local
Government Authorities for the development of the grassroots and as a grooming
ground
for younger leaders in Igbo land.
Praises the audacity and forthrightness
of our brother and renowned literary giant, Prof Chinua Achebe in publication
of his personal memo on the Biafran civil war in which he pointed out bitter
truths regarding crimes committed against the Igbo nation by Nigerian
officials, especially Awolowo and Gowon, during the war. The INC equally
commends the courage of many other Nigerians including Prof Wole Soyinka who
have persistently decided to take stand with the truth and condemn the evil
meted out against the Igbo during the war.
The INC expressed disappointment at the
efforts of certain Nigerians especially leaders of the Northern and Western
parts of the country who have made efforts at repressing the truth through
vehement criticism of the book as published by Achebe.
The INC calls for the prosecution of
all those indicted for genocide against Ndigbo: General Yakubu Gowon, General
Olusegun Obasanjo, General T. Y. Dnajuma, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (post-humus)
and many others in the International Court of Justice. They violated
humanitarian laws during the war they declared against ndigbo for trying to
express their rights to self determination and should therefore be brought to
book for their crimes against humanity.
That the massive investments being made by Igbos all over the country, especially
in the north, which has been the source of power of our people, is also the
source of our political weakness. This
is because of the constant threats to such investments by people of other
ethnic groups whenever they deem fit. Igbos have lost millions of naira through
unwarranted attacks by their hosts and many Igbos have insisted on politically
playing to please their hosts to avert destruction, looting or confiscation of
their properties. Igbos have lost lives and properties through various forms of
attacks including bombing, unwarranted riots as well as cold blooded murder as
being witnessed in the north today. Many state and local governments in
most of these states, especially in the north, have initiated anti-Igbo trade
policies to cripple businesses, investments and residents belonging to Igbos.
The INC therefore
calls on Ndigbo living in other parts of the country, especially in the north
where jihad has been declared against
them, to begin to bring their businesses and investments back home. They should as well begin to develop properties in Igbo land
to ensure safety. It is the position of the INC that people needing their
products will a always come for it no matter how remote the location of their
market could be.
That INC calls on governments of Igbo
states to begin to take serious issues of good governance, development of
infrastructures in Igboland and initiate pro-people policies to encourage
investments in Igboland. They should stop making any form of anti-trade and
anti-peoples policies in their domain. They should rather focus on policies that
would promote investment in Igboland and encourage trade growth and
development. This will encourage the absorption of Igbos in other parts of
Nigeria who decide to return to Igboland to invest because their places of
residents and trade are no longer conducive or safe for their purpose.
The INC bemoans the poor performances
of governments of Igbo states and resolves to begin to device querying,
criticizing, penalizing and bugging governments especially Governors and Houses
of Assembly in Igbo States, to serve as checks and balances in other to promote
good governance in Igboland.
After a detailed deliberation and
assessment of issues presented regarding the state of governance in Abia State;
a very high level of dismal performance in governance of the state in over five
(5) years, notably the absence of infrastructural development in the state,
especially the total collapse of roads in the state; incessant institution of
anti-people policies and persistence disregard for the labour welfare in the
state vis-a-vis the recurring multiple withholding of and refusal to pay
salaries of civil servants in Abia State, which presently stands at five months
in arrears. The INC observed that Abia State under Dr. T. A. Orji lags behind
in all spheres of societal living.
Consequent upon these, the INC insists
that Dr. T. A. Orji has failed to uphold the provisions of the constitution
which compels him as governor to work for the welfare of citizens of Abia
State. The INC therefore passed a vote-of-no-confidence on the Governor of Abia
State Dr. Theodore Orji and calls on the state house of Assembly to immediately
begin an impeachment procedure against Dr. T. A. Orji of Abia State to end the
sufferings of the people of the state. The INC insists that it henceforth
seizes to recognize Dr. T. A. Orji as governor of Abia State and calls on all
Abia citizens to, from now on regard all programmes of the Abia State
government under T. A. Orji as illegal.
The house of Assembly should also begin
the process of recall of civil servants in Abia State who were sacked from the
State civil service for no good reasons other than not being indigenes of the
State. INC regards this as working against the interest of brotherhood of
States and capable of building bad-blood and enmity among indigenes of
different states in the future. It has also worsened the economic conditions of
the sacked workers most of whom are daughters of Abia State married to
non-Abians.
The INC decried the total collapse of
roads in Igboland which has crippled all kinds of mobility and trade throughout
the land. This has further worsened the economic condition of the land and
sufferings of the citizens. Igbos now loose millions of Naira on daily basis as
a result of the state of the roads. It therefore calls on all governments both
at the Federal and State level to begin immediately to respond to the plight of
the people by reconstructing the roads in the land.
Chilos Godsent
Chairman.
Funda
Ikpegbu
Secretary.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
News Report: Court Adjourns Biafra Suits To Nov. 26
The Honourable Justice S.M Shuaibu of the Federal High Court one in Owerri Judicial division has adjourned the suits filed by pro-Biafra activists, Bilie Human Rights Initiative to the 26th of November, 2012.
The Cases could not be opened as scheduled for reasons that was not made clear at the time of preparing this report.
chidi opara reports however learned that by about 9.00am, the plaintiff's lawyers, Bilie Human Rights Initiatives officials and Biafra activists had massed at the Court premises.
News Report: Biafra Suits Open In Owerri Today
 | |
| Biafra Flag |
Hearing on the suits open today at the Federal High Court of Nigeria in the Owerri Judicial Division. Owerri is the capital city of Imo State, one of the states in South-Eastern Nigeria.
The organization, Bilie Human Rights Initiative with headquarters in Owerri, claims in its membership form obtained by chidi opara reports to be "a human rights organization advocating for the rights of the indegenous people of Biafra by the rule of law".
It claims further to be "registered by the United Nations and the Federal Government of Nigeria to advocate for the rights of the indigenous peoples which includes their right of self-determination and the control of their natural resources under the United Nations charter and the African charter on human and peoples rights".
Secretary-general of Bilie Human Rights Initiative, Mr. Eddy Anyanwu told chidi opara reports on phone earlier today that "there would be a world news conference later today".
Special Report: Niger Delta Militants Body Addresses Current Crucial Issues
There has been a long silence MEND and its affiliated groups
for a while now. Is the Niger Delta struggle still on course?
The Joint Revolutionary
Council (JRC) is not a MEND affiliated group. Rather MEND is a loose affiliate
of the JRC. You will notice in all our communications that we continue to pay
reverence to the likes of Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, Government Ekpemukpolo
(aka Tompolo) and Ebikabowei Victor Ben (aka Boyloaf). That should tell you
that in spite of what you see or think, these people play strong roles in
managing the affairs for the liberation and emancipation of the Niger Delta and
we recognize the roles they play within the hierarchy of the JRC.
Are the people of the Niger Delta in full agreement with the
leadership and Presidency of Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria?
Dr Goodluck Jonathan is
President of the Nigerian state. The Ijaw and Niger Delta territory is an
occupied territory with the Nigerian state. An Ijaw son being President does
not necessarily translate into redemption and liberation from poverty, squalor
and environmental degradation for the people of the Niger Delta because the
forces of evil and wickedness that have worked to suppress the people of the
Niger Delta are still at work today working round the clock to undermine the
Jonathan Presidency. They will fail.
We recognize the fact
the Dr Goodluck Jonathan is the most competent President that the Nigerian
state has ever produced. We recognize his humility and capacity for leadership.
We recognize his tact and humaneness BUT we also recognize the fact that he has
been treating certain Northern elements with kid gloves.
Boko Haram insurgent
elements in the Northern parts of the Nigerian state, in active connivance with
political elements and interests in the Northern parts of the Nigerian state
are still bombing churches and maiming Christians and indigenes of the Southern
parts of the Nigerian state while Boko Haram leaders camp in the boys quarters
of active senators from the North. These senators ought to have been eliminated
by now!
We pity anyone who
emerges from the North as President in the years to come. He may have to
contend with a politically tainted Niger Delta agitation.
The Federal Government has recently Okayed the addition of
more than three thousand ex-militants into the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
Does the JRC endorse such a move?
The Presidential Amnesty
Programme is an interventionist therapy and while we concede on its success, we
will not fail to point out that the Federal Government is failing in the areas
of infrastructural development in the Niger Delta. East-West road is yet to be
completed and is currently in a very bad flooded shape. A segment of the Niger
Delta has literally been cut off from other parts.
The Head of the
Presidential Amnesty Programme is a former spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council
(IYC) and frontline Ijaw youth leader. He has no choice but to perform and do his
job well. He has access to critical agitating centers and is known to be
accessible. We wish him well but even he himself knows that amnesty without
infrastructural development will lead us nowhere no matter how well he does his
job.
More importantly, the
Nigerian state must give to Caesar, that which belongs to Caesar. The Niger
Delta and its constituent units deserve a better deal if we must remain within
this contraption called Nigeria. This explains why we support the call for a
Sovereign National Conference.
There is no explanation
why the East-West road has not been completed up to this time. The Niger Delta
and its people account for more than 96% of the foreign exchange of the
Nigerian state! How can you take the monies of the people of the Niger Delta
and use it to build infrastructure in other lands when the land and people of
the region rest on decrepit infrastructure?
Feasibility studies on
the Niger Delta Coastal Road has been successfully completed by an indigenous
Niger Delta consulting company but no body is talking about constructing the
road now even as the consultant has not even been completely paid.
Instead, the Federal
Ministry of Works is talking about a bogus Golden Triangle road network that is
of no strategic relevance to the people of the Niger Delta. We expect billions
of naira to be spent on testing the viability of this bogus road network before
it is eventually abandoned.
While billions of
dollars is being spent on the Lagos-Kano rail link, no one is hearing anything
about the Lagos-Calabar rail link! Yet oil is being pumped daily from the Niger
Delta and our people remain calm because a son of the Niger Delta is President. That may not
continue for long. Our tolerance limits are being tested. It will not be long
before a break point will be established.
Our lands are being continually polluted and degraded while we sit in our flooded lands and water-overran
houses.
The Ogoni land pollution
issue is yet to be fully resolved. While the Nigerian state reaped billions of
dollars from Ogoni land and used it to develop infrastructure in other lands
such as Abuja, the people of Ogoni land were left to suffer the demeaning
consequences of a devastating ecological situation. How long should we allow
that continue?
What is the position of the JRC on the Nigerian Budget and
how it affects the improvement of the lives of the people of the Niger Delta?
The Niger Delta
territory currently accounts for the survival of the Nigerian state yet only a
scanty allocation is provided to ensure that the people of the region live a
good life and access convenient infrastructure.
States
that produce literally nothing now suddenly seek to enjoy a larger
largesse from oil revenues. They have become so daring that a Governor
of state such as Kano State within the Nigerian state will demand to
have a portion of offshore oil revenues!...even when insurgents in his
state are killing southern people. Can you imagine this? Do we now see
why a Sovereign National Conference must be convened as soon as
possible?
With all its wealth,
there is no world-class airport or seaport in the Niger Delta.
With all the resources
of the Niger Delta, very few Niger Deltans own verifiably commercially
profitable oil blocs. Neither have they been beneficiaries of profitable oil
product allocation.
In the past few decades,
the people of the Niger Delta sat still while our resources were shared amongst
the Indimis, the Mai Deribes, the Dantatas, Babangidas, Atikus, Dangotes,
Rilwanu Lukmans etc! This is unacceptable!!
Will these people allow
our people to own oil blocs in the Northern part of the Nigerian state if oil
is eventually discovered in the North? Will they allow people occupy positions
within NNPC if the bulk of the oil is in their lands? How many Niger Deltans
own billion dollar oil businesses in the North the way Northerners (like Atiku,
Babangida etc) own such businesses in the Niger Delta?
The time will soon come
and it will not be long.
Cynthia Whyte
Spokesperson,
Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC)
Monday, 29 October 2012
News Release: Campaign For Democracy Abia State Chapter Condemns Award To Governor
 |
| T.A Orji; Abia State Governor |
Campaign
for Democracy (CD) Good governance, Human rights and civil society
organizations in Abia State, committed to the promotion of genuine democracy in
South East and Nigeria Condemns the Award of Icon of Democracy to the governor
of Abia State.
CD
is worried that a media outfit which ought to be the champion of true democracy
and in the vanguard of holding governments to account, is not in touch with
reality. It is unfortunate that the Champions newspaper throw moral to the
winds. This is an irony, the real
promotion of mediocrity and sycophancy which impend the realization of
democratic values among the ruling class.
The
group resolves therefore as follows:
1.
That the government of Nigeria
should put adequate measures in place to reduce poverty as it is evident that
there is a strong relationship between poverty and praise singing.
2. That NUJ, Association Newspaper
proprietors of Nigeria, and other regulatory institution should always review
and ensure high ethical benchmarks to guarantee professionalism among the Media
Houses.
3. That Abia State Government Should
without delay commences construction and rehabilitation of roads in Aba and
other roads in the state.
4. That the governor should demonstrate genuine commitment to the enthronement of
democracy and good governance by :
a. Appointment
of Substantive Chief Judge of the State.
b. Domesticating and signing of freedom
of information (FOI) Law.
c. Public Procurement law
d. Fiscal
Responsibility law among others to checkmate all mitigated corruption and abuse
of state funds.
5. That the governor should without further delay conduct Local
Government Elections in the state to strengthen grassroots democratic
institutions through participation and
fight against graft.
6. That the governor should recall all sacked indigenes and
non-indigenes from the public service, as well pay back log of salaries to
hungry Abian civil servants.
Until
all these are done, any honor or award given to the Governor will be a slap on
democracy and abuse of ethics in the journalism profession.
Emenike
Ogba
Chairman
Abia State Chapter
Campaign
For Democracy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)