A story of Freedom Vs Slavery

MASSOB members & supporters:
Biafra National Congress(BNC) in South Africa (an arm of MASSOB) demanding freedom - World Wide Demonstration

other related video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zcu5Wk-gok

Movemnet for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a non-violent seperatist movement in Biafra/Nigeria. The members/supporters are violently pursued and cracked down by Nigerian Officials.

Human Rights Abuse - Our situation requires Attention

We urge the world to support Biafran peoples in our demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Ralph Uwazurike, the Leader of MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, a non violent organization) and all other members of MASSOB currently being held in Nigeria’s prisons by the order of the government of Nigeria. Uwazurike and the MASSOB members represent our people in the exercise of our Right of Self Determination.

Self Determination as a people’s right is recognized, articulated and actively supported by the United Nations. Therefore, Self Determination cannot be unlawful; is not illegal and cannot be criminalized. Even in UK at the moment, and in the recent past in Canada, Self Determination rights and exercises are being exercised or have been exercised and are allowed to run their full course to the logical conclusion. In no case have activists or campaigners (or peoples with such beliefs and (or) political aspirations) been imprisoned or accused of treason. The Scottish campaign for independence (currently explicitly pursued and championed by the SNP) is just one example today. Quite recently, we have also witnessed the peaceful separation of Montenegro from the unhappy union of Serbia & Montenegro. To imprison Ralph Uwazurike and other MASSOB members or hold them in prolonged detention on account of their and our activities in pursuit of these same rights (Self Management) for our people is an unlawful and criminal act, because it contravenes International Laws and norm (that equally apply to Africans); and this unlawfulness is being committed by the government of Nigeria against Uwazurike and MASSOB and our people. The government of Nigeria and Nigerian agencies stand guilty, by their own admission and by general, public knowledge, of resorting to unbelievable violence against Uwazurike and MASSOB, and against our people in our Self Determination exercise.

MASSOB, by contrast, is a nonviolent organization operating a principled nonviolent, no exodus agenda seeking to negotiate the “negotiables” (treaties/agreements) with the other Nations found in Nigeria. The government of Nigeria and Nigerian agencies, have tried to falsely attribute violence to MASSOB, and have actually stage manufactured and managed such violence. However, neither the public nor the International Community is deceived. MASSOB is non violent and remains that way to a fault. Therefore, for the Nigerian government to accuse Uwazurike and or MASSOB of committing acts of violence, and to use such trumped up charges to justify holding them in prison till infinity and without trials , is a complete travesty transparent to the entire world. It is unacceptable. The government of Nigeria and Nigerian agencies are the guilty party when it comes to violence in this matter, most notably, unimaginable violence and mayhem against unarmed and innocent MASSOB and our people. The World is taking note.

Soyinka condemns continued detention of Dokubo, Uwazuruike - Accuses FG of lawlessness:
http://www.tribune.com.ng/22022007/news/news3.html

Police Killed 17 of Our Leaders - MASSOB
Daily Champion (Lagos)
March 5, 2006
Posted to the web March 6, 2006

12 killed over MASSOB protest
Posted To The Web: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - EMM OGU, Owerri,
and ALPHONSUS NWEZE, Onitsha

20 killed in bloody Police, MASSOB clash
By Anayo Okoli, Chidi Nkwopara & Eric Ugbor
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 Vanguard

MASSOB members to be treated as robbers in Delta — Police Posted To The Web: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - By Austin Ogwuda
NIGERIA: Biafran separatist leader charged with treason

ABUJA, 8 Nov 2005 (IRIN)
10 arrested as MASSOB members attempt to hoist Biafran flag in Asaba
Posted To The Web: Thursday, September 08, 2005 - By Austin Ogwuda

SSS declares MASSOB leader wanted
By Chidi Nkwopara
Posted to the Web: Friday, September 02, 2005

Police swoop on MASSOB, arrest 8
Posted To The Web: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - CAJETAN MMUTA, Asaba

SSS, MASSOB clash over Biafran money • Man swallows currency to evade arrest
Posted To The Web: Friday, August 12, 2005 - EMMA OGU, Owerri and
VINCENT ADEKOYE, Benin

The facts remain that:

1)Obasanjo and his armed agents can maim, kill, detain, and dispossess as many MASSOB members as can be pointed out to them, or as many as are suspected by them, but the agenda of MASSOB—the actualization of Biafra using non-violent means—is being pursued all over the world with unrelenting fervor and irrevocable dedication, with only the goal of the agenda as the single certain outcome.

2) Nigerians can pretend that they do not know about the atrocities being committed by Obasanjo and the Nigerian armed State organizations against MASSOB and against Biafra today (much like the Germans then claimed that they were unaware of what Hitler and his Nazi regime were doing to the Jews during the WWII years), but through our efforts, the world knows what is going on, and no one in Nigeria will be believed should they later claim that they did not know.

3) Nigerian government officials will have to explain, someday, somehow, the atrocities they committed against MASSOB and Biafrans—atrocities which are being recorded now and correctly attributed to them—and being exposed to the entire world. It’s no longer going to be “business as usual.” Very soon, foreign governments are going to have to restrict entry into their countries by Nigerian officials for these crimes.(excerpts from http://www.biafraland.com/NewsAnalysis2006/newsanalysis112506.htm )

Nigeria: Treatment of members of the Movement for the Actualizationof the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB); availability of state protection (August 2004-June 2005)
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa

A number of civil society watchdogs, including human rights
organizations, media sources, civil rights activists and academics,
say that members of the Movement for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) frequently face harassment and
the risk of arrest and detention by state authorities (HRW Jan.
2005; Denmark Jan. 2005, 11-13; This Day 13 Mar. 2005; Daily
Champion 18 Mar. 2005; IRIN 19 Apr. 2005). They report that the
group endures such aggravation in spite of its policy of non-
violence (Denmark Jan. 2005, 11-13; This Day 13 Mar. 2005; Daily
Champion 18 Mar. 2005; IRIN 19 Apr. 2005).
In World Report 2005, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that members of
the Biafran independence movement were “repeatedly harassed and
arrested” (Jan. 2005). The Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), one
of Nigeria’s leading human rights groups, recently condemned
the “brutal crackdown” on members of the MASSOB by state security
agents (This Day 13 Mar. 2005). According to CLO, the mobile police
use a tactic of “kill and go” to intimidate “a group that bears no
arms” (ibid.). The Lagos-based Human Rights and Justice Group
maintains that government security agents systematically kill
members of MASSOB, forcing many to flee the country out of fear for
their lives (Daily Champion 18 Mar. 2005). Professor Pat Utomi of
the Pan-African University in Lagos, a popular commentator in the
Nigerian media, explained that memories of the Biafran independence
war (1967-1970) are behind the government’s overreaction, which has
resulted in the arrest and detention of many MASSOB members (Denmark
Jan. 2005, 11). According to the Integrated Regional Information
Networks (IRIN), “the issue of Biafran independence remains touchy
for the government, not least because [President] Obasango, a former
army general, fought personally in the civil war on the side of the
federal government” (19 Apr. 2005).
In an interview with representatives of the Danish Immigration
Service and the British Home Office during their joint fact-finding
mission to Nigeria, Muhammad Sani Usman, Chief Administration
Officer of the National Human Rights Commission (Nigeria), said that
MASSOB is a non-violent political movement campaigning for an
independent republic of Biafra (Denmark Jan. 2005, 11). In a similar
interview, Clement Nwankwo, a Lagos-based lawyer and former director
of the civil rights group Constitutional Rights Project, concurred
with Usman, saying that MASSOB is an unarmed and non-violent
movement (ibid., 12).
However, Nwankwo explained that, because non-violent groups are
legal in Nigeria, the government insists that MASSOB is violent and
has therefore banned the movement (ibid., 13). Nwankwo added that
the National Police Force (NPF) has falsely accused MASSOB members
of carrying arms, and argued that reports to the contrary are
likely “set-ups,” orchestrated by the police to provide grounds for
arrests and detentions (Denmark Jan. 2005, 13). Nwankwo noted that
MASSOB has produced a Biafran flag and Biafran currency, both of
which are illegal, and claimed that those found in possession of
either one may be convicted of treason and sentenced to death
(ibid., 12; see also Vanguard 26 May 2005; The News 27 Sept. 2004).
Although Nwankwo is not aware of any death sentences handed out to
MASSOB members, he claims that extra-judicial killings are common
and that the National Police Force “frequently kills members of
MASSOB…with impunity” (Denmark Jan. 2005, 12).
According to a report by IRIN, for example, human rights
organizations claim that “dozens of pro-Biafran activists have been
killed over the last six years for campaigning for such beliefs and
more than 300 are currently in detention after being arrested by the
police at marches and rallies organized by MASSOB” (19 Apr. 2005).
The CLO also says that police regularly invade the homes of
suspected MASSOB members, use lethal force and confiscate property
(IRIN 19 Apr. 2005; see also The News 1 Nov. 2004; Daily Champion 16
Oct. 2004).
Reports by IRIN and the Africa Research Bulletin (ARB) suggest that
the government hardened its approach to MASSOB after the group
successfully organized a strike on 26 August 2004 which shut down
private businesses and markets in the southeast and major cities
controlled by Igbo-run businesses such as Lagos and Kano (1-31 Aug.
2004; IRIN 19 Apr. 2005). National media sources reported that Igbo-
run businesses shut down operations for one day to protest their
perceived marginalization by the government in support of a
directive by MASSOB, and despite official directives to the contrary
(Daily Champion 27 Aug. 2004; Vanguard 29 Aug. 2004). According to
the Daily Champion, a Nigerian national newspaper, the southeast and
south-south regions of the country, including Plateau State, came to
a standstill as “millions” of residents remained at home in
compliance with the MASSOB order (27 Aug. 2004).
On 11 September 2004, 53 people were arrested for participating in a
MASSOB youth football tournament in Lagos (BBC News 17 Mar. 2005;
Vanguard 29 Oct. 2004). After being incarcerated for six months were
they formally charged with treason on the grounds of planning to
wage war against Nigeria and belonging to an unlawful society that
attempted to incite Nigerians against the president, Olusegun
Obasanjo (IRIN 19 Apr. 2005).
In another crackdown on MASSOB activities, police raided what they
claimed was an illegal secessionist rally but what MASSOB insists
was a religious march (Vanguard 10 May 2005; IRIN 10 May 2005; BBC
News 9 May 2005). According to media sources, police confirmed the
arrests of 80 suspected MASSOB members on charges of treason,
conspiracy and illegal assembly on 7 May 2005 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi
State (ibid., IRIN 10 May 2005; Vanguard 10 May 2005).
According to a solicitor at the International Centre for Nigerian
Law (ICNL), the proposed Prohibition of Certain Associations Act
2002 did not pass through parliament and has since lapsed (17 June
2005). The bill called for the banning of any associations and quasi-
military groups who display “physical force or coercion in order to
promote any political objective or interest” (IRIN 11 Apr. 2002).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible
information currently available to the Research Directorate within
time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be,
conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee
protection.

2006: Open International Support for Biafra has started
CWIS (Center for World Indigenous Studies) leads the way…

May 10, 2006 News Release
Biafran Declaration
Biafra, the reemerging nation of Igbo people and their allies seek to reclaim their political right to freely choose their own political future through nonviolent political transformation, receives strong endorsement from the Center’s Board of Directors. With more than 25 million people and a history of a nasty war for self-determination with Nigeria in the late 1960’s the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) lead by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike (a strong advocate for non-violence in the tradition of Martin Luther King) now presses for Biafra’s transformation into a free and independent nation.

Huighlights of CWIS declaration:

shall undertake all possible effort to advance the human rights of the Biafran people and associated allies

support the self-determination of the Biafran Nation within a framework of non-violent action in pursuit of a peaceful political transition to self-government

right of self determination is guaranteed under the United Nations Charter and subsequent international instruments.

research or education to advance traditional knowledge to include topics beneficial to the Biafran Nation and her people

place the concerns of the Biafran Nation high on the list of priorities within the Center’s Forum for Global Exchange as a matter of international importance.

Continuing:

recognizes the Biafran Foundation as the principal representative of the Biafran Nation external to the Country

recognizes the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the efforts of MASSOB’s leaders to advance a non-violent and peaceful political transition of the political status of the Biafran Nation within the framework of international law.

recognizes the importance of gaining the release of MASSOB’s leadership and the leadership of allied peoples from Nigerian prisons where they have been detained since October 2005 by Security Forces under charges that ignore fundamental human rights.

supports all proper efforts to gain release of improperly imprisoned Biafran and allied people leadership

seeks to apply indigenous knowledge, research and education for the benefit of wider public understanding of the situation in Biafra.

——————————————————————————–

Biafra and her people are forever indebted to CWIS for its sensitivity and courage, and for its principled support of the rights of human beings.

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