Martins Owoseni

Biafra Republic Government In-Exile (BRGIE) has said that the United States of America government will soon issue favorable statements backing Biafra liberation.

The Prime Minister of the BRGIE, Simon Ekpa, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, said there was a series of meetings by US congressional officers, lobbyists and BRGIE’s stakeholders.

Ekpa noted that the development showed the successes recorded so far by BRGIE in achieving Biafra Independence.

“In the week of July 8, 2024, the Prime Minister of Biafra, Ekpa Simon Njoku and members of the cabinet had a series of high-level meetings, arranged by BRGIE lobbyists, with prominent international journalists, senior U.S. Congressional officials, and senior Washington, DC think-tank leaders.

“These discussions yielded important outcomes, such as interest by U.S. officials in issuing favorable statements regarding the BRGIE and Biafra-related matters over the coming months.

“The results already achieved demonstrated the success of my administration as the Prime Minister of Biafra with my ‘multi-dimensional approach’ to achieve Biafran independence, and the importance of the lobbying effort”, he claimed.

There has been a resurgence of the call for Biafra liberation and the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the illegally detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Calls for Kanu’s release were recently drummed by South-East governors, as well as members of the National Assembly from the zone.

Kanu’s initial arrest in 2015 triggered protests by his supporters. In 2017, Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja granted Kanu bail.

Upon his release, a military invasion of his ancestral home in Umuahia, Abia State, in September 2017, forced into exile, hence he did not attend his trial on the next scheduled date and thereafter.

From then till June 2021 when he was abducted from Kenya and was subjected to “extraordinary rendition”, and brought back to Nigeria. There has been a robust public debate as to whether he jumped bail or not.

But, the Appeal Court had discharged and acquitted Kanu of all terrorism charges. This judgment was later overturned by the Supreme Court which transferred the case back to the Federal High Court.

Kanu’s attorney, Aloy Ejimakor, in January, clarified that the Supreme Court had settled the controversy on whether Kanu jumped bail or not.

The attorney said the Supreme Court also clarified that Kanu’s bail “should not have been revoked”.

In the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment delivered in December 2023, the apex court declared that Kanu did not jump bail.

IPOB wants a group of states in the south-east of Nigeria, which mostly comprises the Igbo ethnic group, to break away from the country and form an independent nation called Biafra.

In 1967 Igbo leaders declared independence for the state of Biafra, but after a civil war, which led to the deaths of millions of people, the self-determination movement was defeated.

But the idea of Biafra has never gone away and despite arrests of his members, Mr Kanu’s movement has seen a recent swell in its numbers.

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