Biafra: Restoration Will Loosen Africa From British Spell
It is maddening to learn that the British government is one of the suppliers of military weapons to the Nigerian government. The weapons it uses to perpetrate acts of genocide against the indigenous people of Biafra seeking self-determination, emanate from there. And by this and the accessory silence while her weapons are being used to commit crimes against humanity, the British government is tarred with the same brush as the Nigerian government. Clearly, they work in concert in hopes of forestalling the restoration of Biafra.
By the global power and influence it possesses, the British government has long sat upon the criminal activities of the Nigerian government, concealing them so well that the world is perpetually kept in the dark. Put in another way, the impetus behind the culture of gross human rights violations by the Nigerian government and a host of other atrocities, particularly the ongoing acts of genocide against Biafrans of Igbo extraction and burning down of their houses, both of which have become a routine and show no signs of abating any time soon, is drawn from the United Kingdom.
Now, the questions are: how can a British government which claims to be great and oversees a people governed by the rule of law, freedom and equal protection before the law, yet supports the Nigerian government characterized by lawlessness, human rights abuses, terrorism, brutalities and genocide? How could the British government who had recently conducted a referendum for Scotland to determine whether they wanted to remain in the United Kingdom or not, insert itself between Biafrans and their rights to self-determination through the same referendum?
Again, how could the British government use one hand to idolize and cherish her children and with another hand, supply sophisticated military weapons to a habitually lawless entity as the government of Nigeria, knowing fully well that the weapons would be turned on Biafran children? I just cannot stress this too much -- it betrays leadership and an ideal image the British government tends to portray. It is the height of duplicity and hypocrisy. A double-dealing.
Therefore, it is clear that the British government imagines Biafrans less humans and as not a people with the rights to exist and thrive as a nation. It rather imagines Biafrans as money making commodities that can be sold and bought and their lands plundered at will. The ecological destructions by various British oil and gas companies across the oil fields in Biafraland which go on unabated, and with no compensation to the natives whose farmlands and streams are irreparably destroyed, is a case in point.
In any event, Biafrans are correct to surmise that the British government is unimaginably afraid to see Biafra restored. The reason being that a sovereign Biafra means a new dawn for Africa. An occurrence most likely to cut Africa loose to make their own way in the world. But that sounds like a threat and a huge loss to the British government whose best policy for Africa is a continuum of exploitative schemes and Africa in perpetual darkness, is a massive gain for British people who practically live and breathe on the backs and the blood of Africans. As the Brits will put it -- Biafra restoration would ruin or spoil things for them.
Biafra's re-emergence will usher in equity and fairness, the culture of exploitation baked in the relationship between the British government and the Fulani-controlled Nigerian government will be expunged. Apparently, such notion falls afoul of the British government's project of eternal neo-colonial enslavement of the African people and control of the rich oil and gas deposits in Biafra.
Still, the British government can refute the above charges against it, and perhaps reshape the narrative of her brutal past, by simply honoring Biafrans call and right to self-determination and forcing the Nigerian government to the table. To really live up to the name and the ideals she claims to hold so dear, it must put a stop to the supply of military weapons to the terrorists-infiltrated Nigerian government.
Furthermore, it must shine a spotlight on the criminalities of the Nigerian government, especially on the involvements with terror groups and the ongoing acts of genocide against the indigenous people of Biafra. And finally, yet more than anything else, the United Kingdom should stand in all respect as a countervailing force against the lawless, brutal, abusive and genocidal government of Nigeria. That way, the journey to redemption would have begun!
Written by
Chima Ono
Edited by
Chibueze Daniel
For Family Writers Press International
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