Alleged marginalization: Igbo group seeks Nigeria’s recolonisation

The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement, IBN, has called for the recolonisation of Nigeria.

The convener of the movement, Mazi Uche Mefor, said this in a statement to newsmen on Thursday in Owerri.

He said the call became necessary because of what he alleged to be a lack of equitable opportunities for Igbos in the political and socio-economic landscape of Nigeria.

According to Mefor, “If one-Nigeria represents the embodiment of black man’s inhumanity towards his fellow black man, if one-Nigeria means an epitome of backwardness and arrested development for the growth and development of its citizens, if it symbolizes perpetual enslavement and marginalization of the South-East region, particularly the Igbos-Biafrans, if it stands for Nigeria’s apartheid-like suppression of the South-Easterners, and if it means an existence akin to hell for its citizens, then let Nigeria be re-colonised.

“The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement (IBN) and the Indigenous People of Igbo Nation for Self-Determination (IPINS) vehemently support this radical proposition. We argue that the continued existence of Nigeria, in its current form, perpetuates a cycle of oppression, discrimination, and violence, particularly against the South-Eastern region.

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“These groups have consistently alleged that the South-East region(the Igbos) have long endured the brunt of systemic marginalization and discrimination. For them, the concept of one-Nigeria has been a euphemism for sustained oppression and deprivation. The political and socio-economic landscape of Nigeria has, for decades, failed to offer the Igbo people equitable opportunities or a sense of belonging within the federation. Instead, it has perpetuated a cycle of disenfranchisement and alienation.

“The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists Movement, therefore, sees the alleged overture for the establishment of American and French military bases in Nigeria as a welcome intervention and must be enforced if Nigerian rogue leaders decline. We urge these superpowers, traditionally seen as global guardians of human rights and democracy (if and when they want to), to disregard the UK’s concerns and to stand firm on their commitments to the principle of the responsibility to protect (R2P). This doctrine, born out of the international community’s collective conscience, mandates intervention when a state fails to safeguard its citizens from gross human rights violations.”

“Our call for international intervention, therefore, is not a cry for external dominance but a desperate plea for justice and equity. The Igbo-Biafra Nationalists believe that a reconfiguration of Nigeria’s territorial integrity, supervised by global powers committed to human rights, might be the only viable solution. Such intervention is seen as a last resort, a necessary measure to safeguard the future of a people who have long been denied their fundamental rights.”