On an investigation tour in the aftermath of the May 30th 2016 Biafran Heroes Day Massacre in Nkpor-Onitsha; Pro-Biafran Journalists Chima Onyekachi, Ifeanyi Chijioke and Investigator Chukwuemeka Nduka, had an exclusive chat with NZE EMEKA UMEAGBALASI, Chairman of a non-governmental organization (NGO) known as International Society of Civil Liberties and the Rules of Law [INTER-SOCIETY]
EXCERPTS:
CAN WE KNOW YOU SIR?
My name is Emeka
Umeagbalasi, the board chairperson of
International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, simply known as
INTERSOCIETY.
THE UNWARRANTED PROVOCATION AND KILLING OF INNOCENT
BIAFRANS.
It is sorrowful and
also shocking. It is horrifying and inexcusable that all these atrocities are
taking place in the country called Nigeria. Moreover,
most appalling is the murderous
and barbaric response of the federal government of Nigeria towards an exercise
that is purely harmless to the society. What has led to the killings,
butchering and what have you? That a
people wakes up and asks the authorities of the government of Nigeria that
there is a need for the participation of
all ethnic nationalities in a project called Nigeria to be renegotiated, that is all.
Those who have demanded the renegotiation have never used or
advocated violence. There are two ways of going about self-determination under
the United Nations system; Violent way and Non-Violent way. The violent way is governed by doctrines of necessity;
that is if people who take to violence succeeds, then the world will
have no other alternative than to recognise
them.
However, under the international
system, it is not recognised, and it is frowned at. Then, the other way which is
non-violent is universally recognised,
and it is incorporated into the
international system, in the United Nations, the African Union, regional, sub-regional and even locally. Moreover, that is the option which the
Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, have chosen. It is expected that the federal government of Nigeria should act civilly
and handle the matter maturely, this is not the only country where the issue of
self-determination has risen.
Even in Nigeria, IPOB and its sister organisation are not acting in isolation. Other ethnic
nationalities in the country have done same, one of the ethnic nationality in
the country have taken up arms, if you like to call them Niger Delta Avengers or
whatever, the middle belt people are also giving the same signal. Outside Nigeria, you
have Catalonia (Spain), Scotland (UK) and Texas (USA), agitating peacefully, but you have not heard the various
government in these countries threatening or killing those calling for
self-determination in those countries. I
do not see any reason whatsoever why the authorities of the government of
Nigeria should be running riot on people, killing people at will without any
provocation and trying to justify that crudity. It is horrible and inexcusable.
SILENCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND
MEDIA ON THE EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS OF PEACEFUL BIAFRANS.
I think the truth of
the matter is that there are many conspiracies. I
do not know what happened, but there have
been so many conspiracies against the Biafran race. From the information we
have gotten, the present administration in Nigeria maintains dozens of lobbyists
in the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, etc. The government spends tens of thousands of
dollars on these lobbyists every month in order
to darken the scenario and also to contaminate and poison the minds of
most of the super powers and developed countries. Moreover, there is the stack reality that IPOB are not armed and
have stated clearly that their approach is non-violent, when you juxtapose it with the federal government of
Nigeria and their relationship with these developed countries and super powers,
you also look at the issue of demand and
supply.
For instance, if IPOB has taken
up arms, then these countries we have referred to would have been selling or
marketing their small arms and light weapons. Now, the issue is that IPOB has decided to be non-violent, it is now left for the federal government of
Nigeria who patronises those super-powers
by way of procurement of small weapons and light weapons that they use in
“crushing” the innocent and non-violent members of IPOB. I want to exact that aspect for you to know the extent of double standard
policies of these super-powers and democracies which explains why they are
silent.
Even the International Human Right Organizations, you see a situation where it appears that we
are begging them to do what they ought to have done since. I do not want to mention names, we have two
most powerful international human right organisations
in the world, we have Amnesty International of UK and Human Right Watch. These organisations, though are agents of Western countries,
but they have influence in that when they issue a report, those people they are affiliated to or work for, listen to them.
That is why their reports are important
but they have not been living up to expectation to the people of the eastern
part of Nigeria. If you compare with what
happened in Zaria, the quickness and prompt response of these same organisation, Aguta
massacre included. In Zaria Massacre, Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, issued reports. But in all the
massacre happening here, starting from 2nd December massacre in Onitsha, 17th
December massacre in Onitsha, 18th January massacre in Aba, 29th January
massacre in Aba, February 9th massacre in Aba and 30th May 2016 massacre in
Onitsha, nothing has been heard from them. We understand they are still working, but they must know a lot of time have been wasted.
If they issued their reports early enough, it would
have gone a long way in swaying away the enormity or gravity of crude force
that was applied in handling the May 30th
Biafra Heroes Day commemoration, and we
are not happy.
In Nigeria, the traditional media is controlled by the
south-west, with all due respect that media is not friendly to the people of
Biafra or people of old eastern Nigeria. You
see that we are facing wars from all fronts, the armed war from the military
and the pen war from the south-west. The totality of these are responsible as per why we have not been
able to get the attention that we deserve.
As for the human right and civil
society community in Nigeria, I can tell you without any fear of equivocation or
contradiction that 60% of the founders of human rights organisation in Nigeria are from the south-east. People like Olisa
Agbakoba, Uju Ogummo, Ojo Oto, and co but
none of them have spoken out against the butchery and massacre that has been
going on. Then of course, we have the National Human Right Commission, nothing has
been heard from them so that you can see the
depth of the conspiracy.
However, then we
should not be dampened or discouraged, that is why we kept on doing what we are
doing. You heard the lies cooked up by
the Nigeria Army, Nigeria Police Force, and the Anambra state government with respect to what happened on 30th May 2016,
but we have been able to reply them. We (Intersociety) are the only organisation that has issued very comprehensive
statements comprising of part 1 and part 2, responding appropriately to all the
lies.
And I have been receiving calls in
torrents from all parts of the world, commenting
and observing. What if we are not here? They would have succeeded in cooking up
and feeding members of the public and international watchers with basket loads
of lies. You can see the challenges we
are facing. I just want us to open and
expand our frontiers, so we will know the enormity of challenges we are facing but thank God for the internet and social media. If we are left with traditional media in Nigeria, it
would have been disastrous.
That is the situation. How many traditional media
has taken it upon themselves to investigate or indicated interest to have a
comprehensive report on all these atrocities? Punch, The Nation and the rest,
when you call them, they will stay away.
AIT, Channels Television and all of them, where are they? This is the worst form of human right abuse
that has been recorded in this part of
the world, that people unarmed and non-violent who were to remember their
fallen heroes, and the Nigeria government responded by planning a
well-coordinated and extensive violence
against them.
At the end of the day, these people still conducted themselves in
a very organised and civilised manner. We are aware of all that is
going on, concerning human right and we have also brought our professional
expertise to bear. I am talking you today as a graduate of criminology and
security studies. I have also majored in
peace and conflict resolution, so you can
see how prepared I am with other members
of my organisation
to go to any level on this matter.
We are not ignorant of the provisions of the
International Law. We are not ignorant of
the purposes and principles of the United Nations. We are not ignorant of the basic standard of International law. Nigeria is
a member of International relation under the United Nations system. Nigeria is
also a member of the African Union and
ECOWAS. Nigeria is not a jungle, it is a
country governed by a set of rules, both local and international. However, Nigeria is not honouring its international obligations;
that is why it can deploy the kind of force used against peaceful and
unarmed civilians.
RESPONSE TO THE LIES CONCOCTED
BY THE NIGERIA ARMY
The Nigeria Army claimed it acted within the albeit of Rules
of Engagement (ROE). Are we talking about war? For your information, rules of engagement (ROE) can never be applied in
a non-war situation. It is a war property,
but the Nigeria Army continue to confuse, mislead and contaminate the minds of
people. You can only talk about ROE when
there is an act of war, either internal arm conflict or international arms conflict. The ROE been talked about is a product of the Geneva Convention of 1949.
When you talk
about Geneva Convention, you talk of code of conduct that governs war, not
procession or protest.
Meanwhile, military or soldiers have no business going
into a civil protest or procession, it is
the responsibility of the police. In the ten commandments
of the International Law, the 3rd
commandment says “Forbids any member state from using force to control or
police ‘unlawful’ but non-violent assemblies” the law also states “if in
policing or dispersing a violent
assembly, you must use minimal force.” When you
shoot someone at close range, heart region, neck region, forehead, abdomen,
waist, it is longer minimal use of force
as it is seen on the victims of the May 30th, 2016 Biafra Heroes Day Massacre.
The Nigeria Army talks about self-defence,
but they must know you cannot apply
self-defence in isolation. Self-defence and use of force are strictly governed
by proportionality of force. The Anambra
state government claimed that they discovered “dynamite, Biafra flags and
machetes” on some Biafran agitators. Now, under the proportionality of force, finding these objects (assuming they actually found them), are those objects found
in consideration to the proportionality of force applied on the protesters? The
answer is No! That is why what happened on May 30th,
2016, is purely state murder and clearly a crime
against humanity.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
There is a difference between crimes against humanity and
war crimes. War crimes are crimes committed in the act of war but crimes against humanity are crimes
committed by security forces in the non-violent
and non-war situation. That is why we must make sure that ex-inspector general
of police, Solomon Arase, enjoys his post-retirement life disastrously.
Wherever he places his feet into, whether in Ivory Coast, France, or Germany,
he will be pursued and made to answer for all the crimes he committed. He was
describing IPOB as “armed independent people of Biafra” without any evidence
just to give a dog a bad name so as to hang it. What is happening
TRIAL OF NNAMDI KANU FOR TREASON AND THE KILLING OF
PROTESTERS IN SUPPORT OF HIM IN RELATION TO
THE RULE OF LAW, CIVIL LIBERTY AND HUMAN RIGHT.
I think we have
tragedy in the presidency of General Muhammadu Buhari. A former American
President said democracy can be the worst
form of government, but since the best
form of government is yet to be found,
democracy remains the best option. And again,
Democracy will be Democracy when it is properly
guided, no matter how beautiful a
law is, it cannot enforce itself. The democracy in Nigeria is steadily in
danger. Muhammadu Buhari never attended any leadership programme from the
moment he was overthrown as head of state via a coup d’état, and got his uniform hung.
He went into the bush and became
involved in Fulani animal husbandry. He did not attend any leadership programme
to be able to be tutored and mentored in acts of constitutionalism, human
right, rules of law or even good governance. If he has been mentored or
tutored, he will have understood what is meant by political tolerance, use of
non-violence in response to the agitation
of the people. People will always agitate, democracy means agitation.
In the
olden days, when they said Kings are
ordained by God and sacred only to God, that was when democracy came about. Then, if you were referred to as a
democrat, you will be lynched. Until a lot of revolution that subdued the divine
right of kings and replaced it with democracy and parliamentary.
President Muhammadu Buhari is ignorant of most of the principle that governs
democracy that is why we are having all these problems.
He came into power and
turned everything upside down, I don’t know whether to refer to his
administration as Oligarchy. The statement by the Nigeria Army that they acted
in diadem with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to them “not to
tolerate any uncivilised or unwarranted
assemblies.” You can see that democracy
is dead in the hands of Buhari. If in democracy, you cannot tolerate a gathering, what are you talking about?
If you talk about
Nnamdi Kanu, it is the same president that came on national television and made
a pronouncement that he must rot in jail.
His key adviser is Olusegun Obasanjo, who had told him that when he was
president he detained Mustapha and co, and they remained in prison till the end of his tenure. And Buhari is foolishly following the same pattern with Nnamdi Kanu. When a president
comes on national television and makes a
proclamation on a case in court, the judges becomes afraid and will not
assertive.
We are sympathetic to IPOB simply because of their approach
to self-determination which is within the ambit of the law. Nigeria is a party
to African charter on human and peoples right, and Article 1, 2 and 3 of the
African Charter contains a right to self-determination. It got into our
National Assembly which passed it into law and got it incorporated into our
municipal law. Apart from the legislative action, the African Charter also passes
through a Supreme Court judgement and
reviewed in the case of Abacha Vs Federal government in 2001.
The Supreme Court ruled that African Charter and human and peoples right is subject to 1999 constitution but superior to
any other legislature in Nigeria. That is to say that the African Charter is second in command after the constitution.
Till date, Nigeria has not opted out of that charter. Now, people who have
decided to exercise that charter in a non-violent
way are crushed. Illiteracy is
surely a disease. Buhari does not know we are no
longer talking about rigid sovereignty. The rigidity
of sovereignty is now out-fashioned.
We are now talking about sovereignty as a
responsibility, citizen sovereignty which is citizens first. It is there in the
Constitution, Section 14, subsection 2b
which state as thus “security of the people shall be the primary responsibility
of the government.” Power belongs to the people from where the government of
the day derives all its power and authority. All these are being observed
grossly by the government.
NIGERIA SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
Efforts have been made severally to bring the issue before
the Senate and House of Representatives,
but all these pro-establishment agents have made sure it never saw the light of
day. Ike Ekweremadu raised it in the Senate,
but they threw it out. At the same time,
what impact will the purported investigation by the House of Representative
bring forth? Just legislative entertainment because it has no force of action.
The killing of peaceful protesters is criminal in nature so the House of
Representative and Senate are limited in handling the matter. After the
investigation and they pass a resolution in condemning the action, that is the
end.
WORDS FOR BIAFRANS
What is happening in the country is terrible, but why do we
live? We are all in the field, visiting one place to another and trying to get
accurate information on what has happened. It is not only Emeka Umeagbalasi and
INTERSOCIETY management that is out, but you
guys (journalists) are also doing wonderfully well. The IPOB members are also
doing well, leaving all their personal activities and working voluntarily for
the struggle. There is a saying in Igbo land that says “Nobody has died and
buried himself,” it is another person that will perform the funeral.
As a
traditional title holder in Igboland, I
believe in after-life, that is life after here. That is what is described as the cosmic world. The dead protesters have become our ancestors;
ancestors are not only the aged people who grow old before they died. As we are
doing all these, they are somewhere watching,
and that place they are is where their powers are
doubled. They have an influence on
this earth and the cosmic world.
What I must tell you all is whenever you are in a just cause, do not give up but apply consistency. When
people see the consistency in what you are doing, they will change their mind. So long as IPOB remains
to focus on what they are doing, it will come to a point where it will
lead to a national lock jam, a point of no return. Our position is there is a need for national
questioning in Nigeria. Moreover, once
there is a national question, there must national answer.
Allow people to
decide their fate whether to live together or not. There must be renegotiation
and restructuring. You have not disarmed
the Fulani herdsmen causing havoc but you are shooting at unarmed people in a
peaceful procession. Any agitation that hovers on identity is unconquerable.
The best thing the federal government of Nigeria will do is to call for a
referendum.
POSITION OF INTERSOCIETY
What is required is consistency, knowledge of the rule of
law, the independability of the advocacy.
INTERSOCIETY is contributing a lot on the
defence of our democracy; we do not expect the people in the corridors of power to
change, but you push them to the point where necessity will force them to change.
Most of those in power have the problem of pride. Three weeks after his
ascension as President, Buhari started throwing Nalpalm
bombs in the creeks, provoking a war even when he is warned. Politicians get into power,
and they forget power is transient, that tenure expires and does not last
forever. If you are in the corridors of power, you
have to be very careful because you must
get out of power someday and live in the civil society with others.
SUMMATION
In summation, the struggle continues as it is said “Aluta
Continua, Victoria Aserta,” struggle
continues until victory is achieved.
Finally, these terror attacks on innocent Biafrans is mostly done deliberately to devastate Biafrans because
the struggle has become a religion. When you begin to refer to anything as a religion, you become an ardent exponent. Just like
football, if you love football so much you are called a football fanatic.
The
activists for the Biafra restoration struggle have become religious. Even after
the earlier massacre in Aba, Onitsha and Port-Harcourt, people still came out
in mass for the Biafra Heroes Day commemoration. If not for the earlier blockade by the soldiers, the number of people allegiance to the struggle that came for
the commemoration would have been tumultuous. The struggle has become a
religion and cannot be crushed.
The more you try to crush, the more you lose ground, at the end of the day you earn a pariah status internationally. On a
final note, the international system that was in place during the military
regime of some of the butchers like Obasanjo and even Buhari is no longer the
same today, even if they bribe their way to International Criminal Court (ICC),
there are other measures and international safeguards. There are some countries
with jurisprudence that has international jurisdiction. For instance, it was
not ICC that tried the former Chadian President Hissene Habre, but a court in
Senegal sentenced him to life in prison for his crimes against humanity.
Someone like Solomon Arase must answer to charges brought against him under
civil litigation in some of these countries. You
must know that an act of criminality has no expiry date.
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