BY ALFRED AGUDIEBUBE
The Alaigbo Development Foundation has said the Sit-At-Home Order observed around Igbo Land on the 14th of September, is worth doing no matter the source of the order.
The pro-Igbo organization however said that those who are arguing whether the order was observed fully are missing its significance. They also added that those questioning the right or authority of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in issuing such order also lack knowledge of the significance of such order as it were worth doing.
In a release made by the President of ADF, Professor Uzodinma Nwala, titled: ‘REFLECTIONS ON The Significance of September 14, 2018 Sit-At-Home in our Struggle’ which was made available to this medium, the erudite professor and one of the greatest Igbo leaders likened the sit-at-home to the victory Ndi-Igbo had over the Buhari led All Progressives Congress (APC) in their move to take over Anambra State in the 2017 governorship election held in the state.
THE FULL RELEASE
Those who judge whether the Sit-At-Home declaration by the IPOB and other Pro-Biafra organizations was successful or not in terms of having 100% compliance miss the point. That is the wrong way to judge the significance of what transpired on September 14th 2018 throughout Alaigbo.
Similarly, those who debate whether it was AN ORDER given to the people by IPOB and, therefore, question what authority IPOB has to unilaterally order Ndigbo and their neighbors in Biafra not to move out from their homes nor go to their offices or shops on September 14th, 2014, equally miss the point.
The response of Ndigbo to the Sit-At-Home declaration is akin to the response of Ndigbo to the last Governorship election in Anambra State. This is how the Alaigbo Development Foundation saw the outcome of the last Anambara Governorship Election of 2017. The result of that election reflects the same spirit behind the response of Ndigbo to the Sit-At-Home of September 14, 2018. And what is that spirit?
The Alaigbo Development Foundation considers the recent Gubernatorial Election in Anambra State as a historical milestone in the political history of Anambra State, nay of Alaigbo in general.
For us the result of the election reflects the following: –
The OPERATION PYTHON DANCE of the Nigerian Military which came in the wake of the Anambra Election took the entire Alaigbo by storm and left bitter memories especially the feeling of total conquest.
Matters were not helped by the manner in which the campaign train of President Buhari swept through the northern parts of Alaigbo, in the form of an Amada, with elaborate celebrations along the way that looked like victory parade.
The Amada descended into Anambra State with an arrogant smell of military intimidation in the strange act of withdrawal of the security details of the Governor of Anambra State in order to intimidate him into fear and surrender. Everything had an obvious display of an unstoppable determination to take over Anambra State politically. Some of the Party chieftains of the All People’s Congress (APC) had no restraint in their language proclaiming a forgone victorious political over-running of Anambra State,
It was in this context that the Anambra Election took place. ADF, therefore, see the result of the election first and foremost as –
Refusal of the people of Anambra State to provide an occasion and an arena for celebration to the Government and Military of Mr. President or to allow them dance on top of the mass graves of unarmed youth murdered by the Federal troops in the wake of the military invasion of Alaigbo otherwise called OPERATION PYTHON DANCE.
The result of the election was a determination of the people of Anambra state to spun the Armada which accompanied Mr. President and reject the attempt to take over the political control of Anambra
To spun the arrogant smell of military intimidation that was obvious in the strange act of withdrawal of the Security details of the Governor Obiano in order to intimidate him into fear and surrender.
It was a demonstration that anything that affects anyone or any part of Alaigbo affects all the citizens of Alaigbo..
It was indeed a demonstration to our brothers, sisters and friends in other parts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the spirit of the Igboman has not lost its courage and audacity and sense of honour, nor has it surrendered to alien forces that strive to enslave it.
It is indeed in the light of the above that the refusal of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Agbogidi, to leave his Palace and go to Awka to receive President Buhari and his entourage received popular approval of Umuigbo both at home and in the Igbo Diaspora.
There is an Igbo elder who lives in Lagos, as the Buhari Presidential train was sweeping through Ebonyi State and Mr. President was being crowned like a conqueror, he called on the President of ADF, virtually weeping and you could hear the panting of his heart; he said to him ‘Professor, I think am going home, there is nothing more to leave for again as an Igboman!”
The ADF President replied him very sharply and said, No Don’t do that, it is never over until it is over!
But as soon as the final result of the Election was announced, the elder called the ADF President again. “Thank God”, he said;“Chineke Ndigbo ka mu anya!”
The 2017 Invasion of Alaigbo by the Nigerian Army otherwise called Python Dance as well subsequent actions of the Nigerian Government, Military and Security forces touch the innermost cord of the Igbo man’s being. It arouses the historic valor of the Igbo man’s incessant quest for freedom.
When the ADF President led a delegation of ADF leaders to a meeting of the Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), Professor Ben Nwabueze got up from his seat as soon saw the ADF Delegation. He called the ADF President to his seat and hugged him and patted his back. He spoke – I rise to congratulate you and your colleagues in the Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) for your courage in challenging the Operation Python Dance in Court.
The important thing is not in the winning or losing the case; the important thing is that ADF has the courage to challenge this humiliation of Alaigbo in Court. He there and then gave ADF a cheque of N250,000= (two hundred and fifty thousand naira only) in support of the court action.
The next week the Igbo Global Alliance (IGA), one of the dedicated pan-Igbo organizations based in the Igbo Diaspora, sent N100,000= (one hundred thousand naira) in support of the case.
Talking about winning or losing the case – in filling the case at the Federal High Court in Enugu we were not under any illusion that the Fulani-dominated and controlled Federal Judiciary would give ADF fair judgment. The judge eventually gave the judgment to the Federal Government even when they made no appearance throughout the hearing of the case.
ADF has filed an Appeal at the Federal Appeal Court. In doing this ADF is not under any illusion.
When in the ADF Green Book and in the July 28, Enugu Declaration as a Re-Affirmation of Igbo Position on our future, one of the core elements of the Autonomous Region or the Independent Republic of Alaigbo (or Biafra as we choose to name our Independent Republic) is the ultimate ultimate element of our Self-governance, namely, control of our judicial system from the Customary court level to the Supreme Court.
For example, no court outside our Autonomous Region or Independent Republic shall have a place in deciding any case involving Umuigbo.
Uzodinma Nwala
ADF President
Writing from Dallas, USA
September 14, 2018.
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