Genocide: Biafra Group Drags FG To Court Over Starvation, Deaths Biafra, Oct.1968 Catholic feeding centre east of Oguta

Genocide: Biafra Group Drags FG To Court Over Starvation, Deaths Biafra, Oct.1968 Catholic feeding centre east of Oguta An Owerri High Court has yesterday commenced proceedings in a suit brought against the Federal Government by a human rights group under the aegis of Bilie Human Rights Initiative in the Suit No. FHC/OW/CS/102/2012 “for the self actualization and self determination of the The People of Biafra”. The suit against the FG and the Attorney-General of the Federation seeks to enforce the rights of indigenous people of Biafra to self-determination and independence which was brought by way of originating summons. They also seek compensation for the deaths, losses suffered by the people of the South-Eastern Nigeria in the hands of the federal forces/government, which they viewed as haranguing, genocidal and economically strangulating of people of that area. The group said they were determined to forge a new nation- Republic of Biafra, with its land, littoral and continental shelves. They dragged Nigeria as represented by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney General of the Federation to Owerri Federal High Court over the inalienable right of the descendants of the ancestors of Biafraland who are the remnants that were not consumed by the 1967-1970 genocidal war in which about three million Biafrans were killed, to self-determination and thus are praying the court to pronounce the territory as it was pre 1967 independent and sovereign in the light of relevant charters on Human and Peoples rights, realities of the incompatibility of those who make-up the geo-space called Nigeria among others. In a press release made available by the spokesperson of BILIE Human Rights Initiative, Comrade Arinzechukwu Awogu in Awka, copy of which was made available to The Guardian, signed by the group’s Secretary General, Elder Eddy Anyanwu, the group made good its threat to take the Nigerian government to court over Biafra’s quest for independence and other unresolved pre and post Nigeria-Biafra war issues, which included the use of starvation as “legitimate instrument of warfare,” the bombing of civilian targets, the 20 Pounds per account holder policy, the abandoned property saga, the hasty indigenization policy enacted and implemented before the recovery of war affected people of Biafra, among other vexed issues. Comrade Arinzechukwu Awogu believes that “Bilie Human Rights Initiative has commenced what would eventually lead to a peaceful and coordinated political and economic freedom for the people of Biafra. We are using legal method in our approach. We are in court to seek legal clarity on our right to self-determination vis-a-vis our inalienable right to decide our political future under Biafra geo-space. I consider that, with this legal action, we in BILIE Human Rights Initiative have decided to fast track our legal effort to compel the Nigerian government to among other things cease arresting anybody answering to or wearing Biafran emblem, insigner or any material that reflect their believe in Biafra. This is to make it possible for law in Nigeria to give clarity on this very important issue and to prevent the Nigerian state from using intimidation and unlawful acts to suppress the agitation for Biafra. “We need to put this thing in law, to test the validity of the claims by Nigeria. We will be asking the Nigerian government in court to tell the world if the word “Biafra” is a crime.” The suit also sought to know whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) were right to seize and confiscate the assets, properties, money, and all treasures belonging to the Claimants (Biafrans) by promulgating the Abandoned Properties Act of 28th September 1979 while the 1963 Constitution was in force, being more than nine years after the war and after the declaration of “One Nigeria” while regarding the Claimants (Biafrans) as Nigerian citizens but depriving them of their properties, money and assets; and if the answer is in the negative, whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) are still justified to withhold the said money, properties and assets belonging to the Claimants (Biafrans). It also sought the Court’s pronouncement on whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) were justified to violate the International Humanitarian Law and the Laws of War known as the Geneva Convention 1949 (to which the Defendants acceded and ratified on 20th June 1961) by bombing the Biafran civilians, killing the Biafran civilians and using starvation to kill the children, women and the elderly of the civilian population of the indigenous people of Biafra in the war of 1967 1970 in order to win the war, as was partly revealed by Prof. Chinua Achebe in his latest book “There Was A Country.” The suit is also asking the court whether the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) by registering Nigeria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in 1986 and licensing an Islamic Sharia Bank in Nigeria under the 1999 Constitution contrary to Section 10 of the Constitution of Nigeria have violated the Constitution and turned Nigeria into an Islamic country; and if the answer is in the affirmative, whether the Claimants (Biafrans) have the right to dissociate themselves from the Defendants (Nigeria and Nigerians) and refuse to answer the citizens of an Islamic country in the exercise of their right to freedom of worship, freedom of association and self-determination as a people Excerpts of the press statement read thus: BILIE HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE is a human rights organization and the only legal entity in Nigeria registered with the United Nations as an Indigenous Peoples Organization (IPO) and also as Incorporated Trustees by the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja for the purpose of protecting, defending and advocating for the rights of indigenous people of Biafra and all other indigenous peoples and nationalities within Nigeria whose rights and freedoms are violated by the Nigerian Government contrary to the United Nations Charter on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. The word “Bilie” means “Stand Up” or “Arise” in Igbo Language. We are calling on all Igbo speaking people in Nigeria to stand up for their rights. Bilie is a human rights group advocating for the rights of the descendants of the ancestors of Biafraland who are the remnants that were not consumed by the 1967-1970 genocidal war in which about three million Biafrans were killed. Bilie Human Rights Initiative is a national liberation movement for the purposes of international law with power to represent all indigenous people of Biafra in legal actions against any person or any Government whether in the Nigerian Courts or in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. They noted that the briefing was to let the world know what is happening in Nigeria. The safety of the lives and properties of indigenous people of Biafra living in Nigeria are no longer guaranteed. The Biafrans were forced to surrender their sovereignty and become Nigerian citizens on the promise that their lives and properties would be protected by the Government of Nigeria. Now, it has become clear that the Government of Nigeria is impotent and incompetent to protect the indigenous people of Biafra who were not consumed by the war. In fact, the Nigeria Police and Army Officers have continued to harass, intimidate, arrest, detain and kill the Biafran human rights activists who are agitating for the self-determination and independence of Biafra by peaceful means but spare the militant activists from other tribes agitating for their own tribes. There is a clear policy of discrimination, marginalization, oppression and racism against the remnants of the indigenous people of Biafra living in Nigeria which has caused some of them to deny their identity in order to receive favours from the Federal Government of Nigeria. The situation has compelled Bilie Human Rights Initiative to file multiple suits against the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agents on behalf of the indigenous people of Biafra to protect their human and peoples’ rights. At the moment, the two suits we have filed are as follows: (a) Case for the Self- determination and Independence of Biafra (b) Case for the Eastern Pilot Newspaper against the violation of our freedom of expression