Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Advocating referendum as internationally recognised and a legitimate way of actualising self determination, Mr Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafran, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has said that the demand for referendum by Biafra agitators is legitimate.
Ejimakor argued that without referendum, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubarkar, would not have been a Nigerian citizen.
He said it was by referendum that Adamawa, Atiku’s home state which was originally in Cameroon became part of Nigeria.
Ejimakor who took to his Twitter handle, argued that peaceful agitation for self determination “is legitimate” and recognised by the United Nations.
He further argued that the recent opinion of the United Nations, asking Nigeria to unconditionally release Kanu and pay him compensations for illegal detention, was an endorsement of referendum as a legitimate tool for resolving agitation for autonomy.
He, therefore, wondered why the current administration of the country is reluctant to conduct referendum for Biafra.
Ejimakor further argued that if Adamawa State became part of Nigeria through referendum, it should not be strange if Biafra leaves Nigeria through referendum.
He further said: “The UN directives on #MNK affirmed that separatist agitation is legal & that referendum is a legitimate tool for settling it.
“Nigeria gained Adamawa and lost Southern Cameroon through referendum and nobody was detained, killed or extraordinarily renditioned.”
Ejimakor further said: “It’s referendum that made Atiku a Nigerian. And it’s through Referendum that Mid-West Region came into being in 1964.
“This is all within Nigeria, not counting nations created by referendum – Eritrea, Kosovo, South Sudan, etc.
“The problem is not the separatist agitation. The problem is the militarist response to it. That’s is exactly what is convulsing South-East and Nigeria by extension.”
Ejimakor challenged the Federal Government to stop suppressing the agitation for Biafra by using brute force on the agitators, but simply organise a referendum and allow the people to decide whether or not they would like to be autonomous.
The UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, had in a recent report, indicted both Nigeria and Kenya over Kanu’s rendition, and requested that he be “immediately released.”
Ikengaonline had reported that the UN Working Group gave Nigeria six months to comply with the opinion or brace up for further actions.
Nigeria has remained taciturn since the opinion was made public penultimate week.
But s coalition of northern groups urged the Federal Government early this week to ignore UN, claiming that Nigeria is a sovereign country.
