Interview: Celebrating Biafra Heroes Day will gladden Nnamdi Kanu’s heart – Uche Mefor

Mefor

Uche Mefor is Deputy Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Speaking with Tim Tochukwu of Biafra Choice Writers, he, among other things, explained that celebrating Biafran Fallen Heroes this year will prove to Muhammadu Buhari and his cohorts that Biafrans will no longer be intimidated.

We understand Biafrans are set to celebrate what they call Biafra Heroes Day. But in view of the constant murder of Biafrans by Nigerian government in Biafraland, do you not think that it would not be wise to celebrate it this year?

Whether we call it Biafra Heroes Remembrance Day; Biafran Fallen Heroes Day; Heroes Day, or whatever thing you want to call it, as long as it has to do with honouring our fallen heroes, then you are saying the same thing. May 30^th is the day we remember our fallen Heroes, it was also on that date that modern Biafra nation was declared as an independent and sovereign country.

However, it is important we state at this point that what brought about the declaration of the independent state of Biafra then by the late People’s General, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, was the continued violence against our people by Northern Hausa/Fulani people.

The pogrom of 1966 was unprecedented in human history, the events that followed like the coup of Yakubu Gowon and his cohorts, the murder of even Igbo Biafrans in the military – the gruesomeness of it all – led to the declaration of Biafra as an independent state. What ensued was a 30 months war, and for us, it was a war of survival. Millions of Biafrans died as a result of that war between 30the May 1967 to 1970.

All over the world, countries remember their fallen heroes who died in active service. In our own case, Biafra and her people were forcibly reintegrated into the contraption called Nigeria. But I can tell you that since that day till now, they have done everything to destroy us as a people. We were told there was a program of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration, (the Three R). But it was never implemented.

Not only that the Three R was not implemented, what led to that war is still there and rearing its ugly head, even today. Our people have been bamboozled; our people have been boxed into a corner; most of us have been boxed into stupor and inertia, and since the end of that genocidal war against our people, supported by the world powers – especially the United States of America (USA); the United Kingdom; France; Russia; and sabotaged from within – nothing has been done to remove the cause of the war. Our have even been made to believe that they do not have any hope again.

To make the matter most humiliating, our fallen heroes – those who died for us to live – were never remembered. There was no ceremony honouring them and paying homage to their memory. Indeed, it was a giant stride in the present dispensation as our leader, Nnamdi Kanu initiated that. This is the third year now that we will be doing it. It started in 2014, if I remember very well. The most important thing here is that we are remembering our fallen heroes. They did not disappoint us. They gallantly, they fearlessly, and indeed they courageously fought and defended Biafra and her people.

We use the opportunity to also remember the civilian population – of children, women and the aged – who were killed by Nigeria under the cover of a war. A great number of them died as a result of hunger. Hunger as you know is prohibited in international law as a weapon of war, but it was applied against our people by Nigerians with impunity. Yet up till today, nobody; no war criminal has been arrested; nobody has been punished; nobody has been brought to book. As we speak, this same Biafran people are arguably on the edge – the most endangered species of human beings on earth – and therefore, since nobody remembers us, we will remember our own.

It is the practice all over the world, people remember their fallen heroes. In Britain, in the USA, and all over the world, the same thing is done, even though with different names. Even in the evil contraption called Nigeria, they call it Armed Forces Remembrance Day. But our own fallen heroes, they have been preventing us to remember and honour them. We are being hunted like animals in the streets of Nigeria, even in Biafran territory. They don’t want us to remember our own, but we will. It is our right; it is our responsibility; it is our duty, and it is a step in the right direction.

If you do not honour them, what will happen?

As you know, in Biafraland, if you go down memory lane and remember the specific issues of our tradition, you will see that we respect the dead. We believe that if they are not properly buried, honoured and remembered, their souls will not have rest, but will continue to hover around. So, every year we must continue to pay them that respect because without them, we would not be alive today to even talk about Biafra.

Now the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu is in detention, and he is usually the one that leads this celebration every year. Some people think the celebration should be rested until he is out of detention. What do you think?

No! It will be a great disservice and disrespect to our leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Like I have always said that I am here to make sure that all his intentions and everything he has put in place is followed. And we are just doing that. Secondly, our leader Nnamdi Kanu will be happier that we do it, rather than not doing it. Thirdly, it is very important that we put this across to the international community, and to send unmistakable signal to Muhammadu Buhari, his murderous security agents, and all his agents (saboteurs) in Biafraland that it is hallucination on their side to think that once they hold Nnamdi Kanu, Biafra struggle will come to a stop. They should understand that what is behind Nnamdi Kanu, is more than Nnamdi Kanu himself. So Buhari is wasting him time arresting, incarcerating and torturing our leader because Biafra will be restored irrespective of whoever is involved. Biafra is bigger than anybody. So remembering and honouring our fallen heroes in spite of every other thing is a step in the right direction. We cannot be intimidated.

So how is it going to be done this year? I understand it used to be held in more than 88 countries of the world – wherever Biafrans are – since it was instituted; as well as in Biafraland. So how is it going to be done in Biafraland this year?

There are no changes and there are no exceptions, it will still be done the same way it was done in the past, with some modifications however. The modifications are to give it some more verve. Everything we used to do, we will also do this year.

Biafraland is not left out. But because of the peculiar security situation that our people face, we will not say everything openly here. But just understand that we are moving massively and relentlessly. Our principle officers of state on ground in Biafraland are aware of all these, and preparations are on top gear to make sure that this year’s Remembrance of our Fallen Heroes resound more than the previous ones. We want to make sure that this year’s celebration of our Fallen Heroes will be even more successful than the ones we did in the past.

Buhari has boasted that he would rather die than see Biafra restored. What would be your response to that?

You see Buhari is an illiterate; a school dropout and many intellectual discussions are beyond him. So many times he talks like a tout. He is more of a monster called to preside over what is left of the carcass of the zoo called Nigeria, hence he doesn’t hear, and he doesn’t listen to reasons. He is not even articulate enough to make his points. So you can understand his frustrations. To make matters worse for him, many times he says things before he thinks about them. I am sure he would be regretting some of his utterances, including this one you are making reference to. If you look at it critically in the real sense of it, Biafra was in existence long before the concoction called Nigeria was concocted.

Most of us are even older than Nigeria. Your village is older than Nigeria. My father, your father, our fore-fathers are older than Nigeria. Then Buhari is coming to say that he will not be alive to see that Biafra is restored. That is an intellectual disgrace on his side and on the side of the country he is said to be presiding over, for towing that line. His problem is that he has been listening to porous arguments of people like him – such people as would say that Biafra is trying to secede from Nigeria. They do not understand that you cannot secede from something you predate. You cannot secede from what you precede. Biafra has been in existence before Nigeria; Biafra predates Nigeria. Therefore there is no way we can be seceding from Nigeria. We are just trying to restore our land that was taken over and occupied by force of arms.

Now, since Biafra predates Nigeria and has been in existence before Nigeria came into existence, it is as well that Biafra will outlive Nigeria and outlive Buhari and Nigerians. Buhari is going to die anyway. It is as simple as that, he is going to die because Biafra will outlive him and all of them standing against Biafra. Biafra outlived Lugard; it will outlive the queen of England; it will outlive Buhari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Yakubu Gowon, Theophilus Danjuma, and all other pathological haters of Biafra. So that statement from Buhari should show you how intellectually empty he is. Biafra has been in existence and will continue to be in existence. Instead, it is Nigeria that will disappear and Buhari and his cohorts will die.

In view of all that have been happening concerning the Biafra restoration efforts, what will be your advice to Biafrans, especially those of them in the “barricade”, so to speak?

First of all, I want to salute the courage of our Biafran men, women, and children, who have been receiving gun shots, living under the storm of Nigerian wickedness, and receiving all manners of brutality from Nigerian security agents. We are well aware how they are being molested, being incarcerated, taken to court on trumped up charges, murdered and dumped in mass graves. They are receiving all manners of inhuman and degrading treatments, and yet they continue to be strong for Biafra. We want to salute their courage.

We want to tell them that without them what we are doing would not have been possible. Without them, we would not have made appreciable progress in certain areas as we have done. It was because of them, and the unalloyed application of themselves to the struggle for Biafra restoration that the world is hearing about the Indigenous People of Biafra today.

Because of our brothers at home in Biafraland, the journey is almost over. We have now gone more than 80 per cent for Biafra restoration. This is why we commend them and tell them that it will be wasteful for anybody to begin to go back now. I want to urge everybody to remain resolute now more than ever before. They should apply themselves to the course of restoration of Biafra, more than ever before, because the end is very near and we are getting to our final destination.

Intimidation will come, they will continue to shoot us; they will continue to kill us, but in the end Biafra will be restored. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, in the end Biafra flag will be hosted in the important places of the world. In the end the spirit of Biafra will prevail, and the world will once again recognize and acknowledge that, indeed, we are the people of God, and that the almighty creator, Chukwuokike Abiama is our God.

(To be continued tomorrow)