A pro-Biafran group, Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM), has
formally applied that Biafra be accorded the status of an observer member of
the United Nations.
Briefing newsmen in Enugu yesterday, President of the
group, Mr. Benjamin Onwuka, said the application was submitted to the UN
Security Council on August 6.
Onwuka who said his group was working towards
projecting Biafra to the economic community, noted that the move was the first
of its kind since the struggle for an Independent State of Biafra.
He disclosed that his group had also, through the
African Union (AU) Secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, requested for a
meeting of all AU heads of state and governments to be convened in Kampala on
October 22.
Onwuka explained that with the application, the UN
membership would give Biafra the recognition and support it had lacked since
the republic was born on May 30, 1967. “The UN would now have the mandate and
power to intervene, investigate and issue arrest against anyone who uses
violence or force to kill Biafrans in their quest for self-determination.
“It would now be against international law for the
Nigerian State, through its president, governors or security forces to use
force to kill Biafrans either as individuals or groups.” The BZM leader
disclosed that the application was based on the grounds that, “the security of
life and property of the Biafran people were no longer guaranteed in the entity
called Nigeria. “It is also clear that the right of the Biafran people to
practice their religion and freedom of association is no longer safe and
guaranteed in Nigeria.
“Therefore the people of Biafra have resolved that on
November 5, 2012 we shall be re-declaring our independence and opt out of
Nigeria in order that we Biafran people can guarantee and protect the Biafran
peoples’ right to practice their religion without being bombed.” On the recent
statement where MASSOB leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, dissociated himself from the
declaration in November, Onwuka described him as one who had lost faith in the
struggle. “We have information about him and his preference for Nigeria and her
politics, so we are not interested in him or what he thinks. The struggle for
Biafra is on and advancing; we are determined and we shall realise the dreams
of our people with or without Uwazuruike.”