BIAFRA: WORLD EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DEPUTY DIRECTOR IPOB ( MAZI UCHE MEFOR)

Mazi Uche Mefor Deputy Leader of IPOB in this exclusive interview published in the Sunday Sun 2 September 2018 newspaper in Nigeria, offers fascinating insight into September 14 General Strike and many more issues pertaining to his interim leadership of the largest mass movement in the world.

1. Why do you want to embark on sit-at-home on Sept 14?

First, it is important to correct an impression which may have been erroneously held by the public regarding our pronouncement with particular reference to the 14th September 2018 date. It is pertinent to note that we are embarking on a General Strike action which some may rightly describe as sit-at-home, however, implicit in the notion of ‘strike action’, for our purposes, are all manner of conducts subsumed within the context or ambit of civil disobedience. This date is sacrosanct because it is all about remembering our dead, the maiming and humiliation of Biafrans from 2015 through to 14th September 2017 till date, culminating in the atrocious crime of torture and molestation, desecration and subjugation of our mothers to all manner of inhumane and degrading treatments. If any Igbo man is not repulsed and ashamed by the way our mothers were treated, then that person is not fit to be called an Igbo man or Biafran. They must have an incurable mental sickness.

As indicated earlier, what we are doing on 14th September is actually a general strike action which involves sit-at-home, total lockdown of business activities, disassociation from both public and private engagements, market closures, transporters keeping their vehicles off the roads, bank closures, parents and guardians withdrawing theirs wards from schools, tertiary institutions in Biafraland under lock and key, artisans holding back from their trades, both private and public sector employees staying away from work and so on and so forth. It is effectively a day of mourning and introspection. Our brothers and sisters who were massacred in cold blood in the Afara-ukwu compound of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by Islamic Salafist fundamentalists in army uniform drawn from rank and file of Miyetti Allah jihadists led by their commander Muhammadu Buhari must be remembered because it is the right thing to do. We also remember those that connived with them, like Ohaneze Ndigbo, the treacherous South East governors and some Lagos-Abuja based quislings. Like Judas Iscariot in the Bible, they gleefully and treacherously paved the way for the enemies of Biafra from the Sahel to come into our land and spill the blood of our people in exchange for money and political patronage.

2. Is this sit at home replacing the May 30 sit at home?

Absolutely not. We cannot rewrite history. 30th May is a date to remember our fallen heroes and heroines who paid the ultimate price in their righteous resistance against the genocidal war of attrition on Biafrans and their collective quest for our mental and physical emancipation as a race. 30th of May is sacrosanct and irreplaceable, if anything, we would be replacing Nigeria's October 1st with our 14th of September day of resistance.

3. If not replacing it, what do you intend to achieve with this Sept 14 sit at home order?

30th May and 14th September are two distinct watershed experiences or ugly events on our journey as a people to freedom. With 14th September, we simply intend to achieve collective victory over saboteurs in our land, internal enemies who for nearly 50 years have sold the people down the river. The treachery of these evil men, whose sole purpose is to serve their northern masters through deliberate sabotage and destruction of our quest for freedom, will also be reflected upon.

We want to prove that nobody or mortal can quench, suffocate or diminish the collective will and the aspirations of the Biafran people. We shall demonstrate that legitimate power belongs to the Indigenous People of Biafra in so far as Biafraland is concerned. We intend to press home the fact that genocidal orgy of violence, tyranny, Islamisation, terrorism and hatred by the Fulani military machinery against Biafrans can no longer continue without consequences. 14th of September 2018 will mark the beginning of what is to come.

4. Do you think Biafrans will comply or obey another sit at home due to economic hardship in the country?

This struggle is more of spiritual than material. Our people are desirous and eager to do anything within their powers to extricate themselves from this abominable nightmare called Nigeria. To have the most hardworking race on earth residing in a country with the largest number of poor people is a demonic curse, an unmitigated insult and a disservice to our God-given creative talent.

The grace of Almighty God and spirit of our dear departed have awakened and stirred the people of Biafra to a new level of morality and consciousness that economic considerations cannot negatively impact or override. This same cynicism was advanced during 30th May 2015, 30th May 2017and 18th November 2017. In all these cases, our people defied all economic odds to stun our oppressors by overwhelmingly passing a vote of confidence in IPOB. We are confident that Biafrans would massively respond to this clarion call, especially now the Nigerian establishment has gone after our mothers and grandmothers. The anger is simmering, our rage boiling and we know very soon it will explode. We are reaching out to all businesses, churches, market leaders, priests, transporters, artisans, private and public sector employees to heed this call and stay indoors on the 14th of September 2018.

5. What is you stand in forthcoming 2019 election?

It is going to be a charade as always. There has never been election in Nigeria. What you have is a process of selection. Without referendum, there shall never be any credible election in Nigeria because every right-thinking person knows the election is always rigged. With the registration of underage voters in the North, open ballot snatching and vote buying, exchange of PVCs for money, open thump-printing of ballot sheets, the manipulation of election results by INEC in favour of candidate of their choices and the mind-boggling revelations of Ibrahim Mantu on how elections are rigged; everything in Nigeria, how INEC is bought, where and how they are settled, who in their right senses will be foolish enough to trust such a system? In a country where opposition candidates are settled, election observers settled, party agents settled and electoral tribunals also settled, only persons with compulsive melancholic disorder will be clamouring for another election in 2019.

6. What is your take on the revelation by Senate President Saraki that President and Tinubu signed pact to hand over power to Tinubu in 2023 against the promise of rotation of power to Southeast zone?

It is simply a vindication of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB’s position that our people have no stake in British-created Nigeria. The only way forward is outright freedom and independence legitimised through the most sophisticated democratic process of all which is referendum. Anything outside this runs counter to our survival as a people and against our very existence.

7. What is your advise to Igbo leaders on that new arrangement between Buhari and Tinubu?

By Igbo leaders, I know you mean those that betrayed IPOB and vowed publicly to sabotage our quest for Biafra independence. They must join and support IPOB for our absolute freedom, that is the only way they can remain relevant. Any so-called Igbo leader seen conniving with our oppressors remains the enemy of Biafran people and will pay a heavy price at the right time. They must de-proscribe what they proscribed on the steps of Enugu Government House. We have the audio tape and press coverage of that sad event.

Compare the conduct of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and South East governors with that of Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern governors when it comes to an armed terrorist outfit like Fulani herdsmen. That is the only comparison you need to make in order to appreciate the level of betrayal IPOB have endured in the hands of these men we call Igbo leaders. They are not working for the interest of the masses, their interest is their bank account and families. To them, the poor masses can die and suffer all they like, they just don't care.

South East governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo willfully made themselves the enemies of the people by working against the overwhelming aspirations of those they are leading, which is an independent Biafran state. We must always be minded of the fact that millions have died for this cause, they did not disappoint us, neither did they capitulate. Therefore we will never retreat nor surrender in our quest to restore Biafra. We must ensure that Biafra is restored for their sake and those unborn. We make bold to say that Biafra Restoration is sacrosanct and irreversible.

8. As deputy leader, how are you coping since Nnamdi kanu was around or seen?

Truthfully speaking it has been very difficult without our leader. His collosal presence and charisma made everything appear so easy but I can put my hand on my heart and say that running IPOB is not as easy as he made it look. The enormity of leading the largest mass movement in the world with presence in about 100 countries is mentally and physically demanding in this age of social media. Thankfully I have an excellent team of officers in our Directorate of State (DOS) led by Mazi Chika Edoziem, helping me to ensure a smooth and effective running of IPOB.

9. It was alleged that there is a crack or division in your group, how true it is?.

Any person or persons alleging any crack or division in IPOB is probably on hallucinogenic medication or other form of mind-bending drugs. We defeated every attempt by the federal government, Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo to use non-existent fictitious groups and names to infiltrate and damage IPOB from within. The traitors and criminals that fell for their financial inducement were quickly identified and promptly expelled from IPOB.

We all recall RE-IPOB, RENIPOB, SEXIPOB, TRIPOB and many other POBs that came to nothing. People are attracted to the success of IPOB but sadly some of them that came to us are unscrupulous money hungry individuals that will do anything to become relevant. Perhaps the easiest means and way for some traitors and saboteurs to gain the attention and trust of anti-Biafra sponsors like Arewa Consultative Forum, DSS, Aso Rock, Department of Military Intelligence, Ohaneze Ndigbo and Igbo governors, is to claim they were once part of IPOB.

Such person or persons don't exist, they have no presence on the ground, they have no following and are smart enough not to show their faces on Biafran territory because they will be lynched by the masses. If you claim you are part of IPOB and influential enough, we challenge the person or entity to call for a meeting of IPOB in Biafraland and see what shall become of them.

The government have tried and failed to take-over IPOB through Dr. Dozie Ikedife's disbanded Council of Elders. They tried to replicate IPOB through some criminal elements in Europe and US and failed too. As our slogan says, we are IPOB and one family, indivisible under God. No human being can divide IPOB, not now, not in the future.

10. The operation python dance 3 is coming again in southeast as stated by Army, what is your take on that since it was the python dance they used to invade and attack Kanu's compound, it is a threat or target at your people?

Some South East and South South politician erroneously thought that Biafra-Nigeria War ended in 1970 but they were wrong, naive and some would say downright foolish. Operation Python Dance is a legitimized well choreographed annual killing exercise and nothing more. As long as a Fulani man remains the president of Nigeria and army chief of staff, Biafrans will continue to be killed, either through Operation Python Dance in the South East or Operation Crocodile Smile in the South South.

The most troubling aspect of it is that Igbo politicians and Ohaneze Ndigbo are the people that clamored for Python Dance to be brought to our land because they wrongly thought IPOB had come to take food from their ravenous mouths. Have you heard any governor, senator, representative speak against Operation Python Dance 3? Ask yourself why!

Some Igbo politicians, including those in Lagos and Abuja, connived with Nnia Nwodo’s Ohaneze Ndigbo to invite Fulani soldiers to kill Nnamdi Kanu and his family. We have stated this repeatedly with no counter from these collaborators. To confirm my assertion, journalists should investigate the conveners and funders of the Nike Lake Resort meeting in Enugu on the 15th of September 2017. All government retained informants and traitors in Igboland gathered at that meeting, including Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Chief Guy Ikokwu, Eze Eberechi Dick and Nnia Nwodo among others, to endorse the prescription of IPOB and seal the fate of Nnamdi Kanu and his parents.

At that meeting Archbishop Emeritus Anikwenwa and a few other conscientious clergy opposed the motion of condemnation drafted by Aso Rock, approved by SE governors and Nnia Nwodo’s Ohanaeze, sanctioning Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB for daring to agitate for Biafra. It was at this meeting that Igbo traditional rulers aligned with the governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo to proscribe IPOB. Therefore Operation Python Dance 3 is the continuation of stealthily organised persecution of IPOB and her leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the same Igbo politicians that have held the people down for 48 years. Nnamdi Kanu coming to liberate the people was not something they envisaged. They were willing therefore to do anything to show their masters in the north that they are still in control of the South East, not IPOB.

To.make matters worse, we have not finished burying those they killed last September, they have come again this year to kill many more. That is the reason why we are calling for a general strike on the 14th of September 2018 to protest this unprovoked invasion.

Published By Udeagha Obasi

For Umuchiukwu Writers