The Berlin West Africa Conference, 1884-85, and the Berlin General
Act symbolized colonial lawlessness by treating Africa as a carcass to
be divided up among European vultures.
Restoration of Biafra’s sovereignty is justified under international law and practice—especially with the ongoing ethnic-inspired killings and persecutions of Biafans by Nigeria’s elected military dictator from the North touting sharia law, President Mohammdu Buhari.
Restoration of Biafra’s sovereignty is justified under international law and practice—especially with the ongoing ethnic-inspired killings and persecutions of Biafans by Nigeria’s elected military dictator from the North touting sharia law, President Mohammdu Buhari.
Biafra’s
sovereignty journey will require deft international diplomacy and the
marshalling of widespread popular support from Biafrans and their
resources. Power is never voluntarily surrendered. Rights ultimately
are what you are willing to fight and die for.
Prior to
British colonization in 1906, the great Igbo people to the East of
Niger, numbering some 3 million, and their cognate tribes enjoyed
decentralized self-government. They were not living in a state of
nature. Their self-rule came by force of arms—not voluntarily.
In 1900, the British government assumed responsibility for the Royal
Niger Company’s territories, and formed the Protectorate of Northern
Nigeria, the Niger Coast Protectorate and the Lagos Colony Protectorate
territories. 1913 witnessed the amalgamation of Nigeria into three
administrative areas: the crown colony of Lagos and the Protectorates
of Northern and Southern Nigeria.
In 1960, Britain ended its colonization of Nigeria without reference to the Igbo or any other peoples of Nigeria entitled to self-determination. The Nigeria Independence Act established Nigerian territorial boundaries not by popular referendum or other reliable manifestations of self-determination of peoples, but according to the Nigeria’s Orders in Council, 1954 to 1960. They reflected British selfish maneuvers to dominate Nigeria economically.
In 1960, Britain ended its colonization of Nigeria without reference to the Igbo or any other peoples of Nigeria entitled to self-determination. The Nigeria Independence Act established Nigerian territorial boundaries not by popular referendum or other reliable manifestations of self-determination of peoples, but according to the Nigeria’s Orders in Council, 1954 to 1960. They reflected British selfish maneuvers to dominate Nigeria economically.
Britain’s
failure to offer Biafrans the right to self-determination violated the
United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples adopted on 14 December
1960. Paragraph 5 of the Declaration required that immediate steps be
taken by the colonial power “to transfer all powers to the peoples of
those [colonized] territories...in accordance with their freely
expressed will and desire...in order to enable them to enjoy complete
independence and freedom.” The 1970 Declaration on Principles of
International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among
States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations emphasized
that, “By virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination
of peoples enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, all peoples
have the right freely to determine without external interference their
political status....”
The people of
Biafra—recognized as distinct by British colonial authorities—were never
provided an opportunity to vote for complete independence and freedom
from the rest of Nigeria according to their freely expressed will and
desire. They were never consulted on the subject when Nigeria became
independent in 1960. Further, the 1960 Constitution of Nigeria was
never approved by the people of Biafra in a referendum or otherwise.
And neither has any subsequent Nigerian Constitution, including the
current version decreed by a military dictator in 1999.
In sum, the
British decolonized Nigeria in violation of international law by failing
to transfer power to the peoples of Biafra in accordance with their
freely expressed will.
That violation
was not a technicality, but an affront to a fundamental human right.
All governments derive their just powers from the consent of the
governed. Consent is required to legitimate authority and to forestall
external subjugation, oppression, persecution, or even genocide fueled
by tribal, sectarian, ethnic, or megalomaniacal ambitions or hatreds.
After
independence from Britain, Nigeria soon became a charnel house for
Biafrans. Deprived of their right to self-determination, they were left
to the tender mercies of the Hausa-Fulani of the North and the Yoruba of
the South in a unitary state unsuited for its diverse tribal, ethnic,
and religious landscape. The gruesome 1967-1970 Biafran War was
emblematic. Ethnic-based massacres of Biafrans and countless starving
children who died as little more than skeletons was its grim face. The
horrors suffered by Biafrans gave birth to the first modern
international relief effort to lessen unspeakable misery.
At the war’s
conclusion, Nigeria’s General Yakuba Gowon’s sloganeered, “No victor, no
vanquished.” The words proved a cruel hoax. The Igbo were
marginalized, persecuted as traitors, and subjected to a Northern
political yolk. Under incumbent Nigerian elected military dictator
Buhari, the repression of the Igbo have reached new heights featuring
indiscriminate killings, torture, and detentions without trial.
Last March, for instance, 13 Biafrans were murdered and their corpses burnt to ashes and dumped in a burrow pit located in the area of Aba-Port Harcourt Road in Abia State by suspected Buhari agents. Last February, a team of Buhari’s Army, Navy, and Police and gunned down 22 Biafrans protesting Buhari’s detention of Biafan leader Prince Nnamdi Kanu.
Last March, for instance, 13 Biafrans were murdered and their corpses burnt to ashes and dumped in a burrow pit located in the area of Aba-Port Harcourt Road in Abia State by suspected Buhari agents. Last February, a team of Buhari’s Army, Navy, and Police and gunned down 22 Biafrans protesting Buhari’s detention of Biafan leader Prince Nnamdi Kanu.
A complete chronicle of Buhari’s horrors only would numb by repetition.
The point is
that there is no political remedy for Biafra’s suffering—like an abused
wife in a forced marriage—short of self-determination to regain its
sovereignty that was illegally extinguished by the British and never
surrendered after decolonization.
States born
from longstanding repression of peoples by ruling authorities are part
of the woof and warp of international law or custom. Think of
Bangladesh, Namibia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, East Timor, Eritrea, and
Kosovo.
The case for Biafran sovereignty is as strong or stronger as these precedents.
But to succeed, Biafrans will need to organize, unify, and make their case to the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the African Union, the European Union, and the United States.
But to succeed, Biafrans will need to organize, unify, and make their case to the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the African Union, the European Union, and the United States.
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