In an unprecedented move, the United Nations General Assembly at an extraordinary meeting held its headquarters in New York on Friday, voted overwhelmingly by calling on Nigeria to conduct a referendum for a separate State of Biafra. It gave a time limit of six months within which to the referendum must be conducted.
In Resolution 7652, the United Nations said since it was moved by that decision because it observed that the agitation for Biafra has been active since the past 50 years.
It stated that the people agitating for the proposed new nation have been consistent in their demand for the actualization of Biafra Republic, noting that it had therefore no option than to acceed to their request.
The United Nations berated Nigeria for refusing to conduct referendum in the country to determine the support or lack of it for Biafra, even when it had earlier given the country the go ahead to do so.
The UN further observed with dismay that rather than harken to the clear directive given to Nigeria, the country had resorted to blackmail, intimidation, arrest and killing of some Biafran activists.
The United Nation warned Nigeria to ensure that nothing happened to the leader of the Biafra movement, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, pointing out that Kanu was not bound by any law in Nigeria, since the man was not a Nigerian citizen.
The UN frowned at the invasion of the home of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by armed soldiers in September 2017 and clearly stated it would not tolerate any such incident by Nigeria in future.
It wondered why a court in Nigeria should revoke Kanu’s bail and to issue a warrant for his arrest on him, and stated that any such warrant of arrest had contravened the Biafran leader’s right to personal liberty and his freedom of movement.
It then fixed September this year as deadline for conducting the referendum and warned that any violation of the order would be dealt with decisively.
Among the countries that voted for the resolution were the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, China, Germany, Israel, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Canada and South Africa, while most of the Arab countries voted against it.
April foul!
