Annkio Briggs, a Niger Delta environmental activist has called on ethnic nationalities in Southern Nigeria to forge a common front and resist the attack on their rights to self-determination by the Federal Government.
Mrs Briggs also said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime broke international laws with the way it bundled the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu back to the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with StandardObservers, she said that: “I’ve always said that there are two Nigeria; there is Northern Nigeria that is controlled for the cabal, by the cabal; there is southern Nigeria that is also controlled for the cabal, by the cabal but the way that people are seen in the south and the way that people are seen in the North by this cabal, is totally different.
“If we recall, rightly or wrongly, Nnamdi Kanu left Nigeria while he was on bail. In my opinion, based on again, what happened, whether he was right or wrong, to protect his life, because just like Sunday Igboho’s case now, he was attacked, his home was attacked and he escaped and ended up back in the United Kingdom.
“He is a citizen of both the United Kingdom and Nigeria which is a legal position, that the constitution allows dual nationality, by Nigerian citizens either by acquiring citizenship in terms of fulfilling all the needs that the other country has either by being born there or by having lived there for so long or marrying somebody who is a British national, or whatever case it may be.
“Nigeria is a lawless country. If Nigeria is not a lawless country, Nigeria is a signatory to a lot of protocols that guides countries to behave in ways that are acceptable in the community of countries. So, the fact, therefore, is that, before a fugitive, if one is so declared a fugitive before somebody can be found guilty of that crime, the person has to have been accused of that crime, then the person has to have been judged by his fears in a competent court of law, which in Nnamdi’s case has not taken place yet. He’s been arrested, he has been accused and the case was ongoing. The fact that Nnamdi Kanu is declared wanted because he didn’t appear on the day he was expected to appear in court after his bail and the Nigerian government has declared him a fugitive, is legal, but now, what is questionable and unacceptable is that does Nigeria have a repatriation treaty with Kenya? Did Nnamdi Kanu travel to Kenya as a British citizen or as a Nigerian citizen? Then the next thing I have considered is the fact that Nigeria finds herself where she is”.
She recalled that “in 1983 or thereabout, about 37 years ago, gentleman Umaru Diko was kidnapped off the streets of London in front of his home, because the Nigerian government as at that time headed by the military dictatorship of Buhari declared him wanted and proceeded to, because the British government did not release him to them, proceeded to kidnap him, crated him, put him to sleep as if he was undergoing an operation, abused his human rights, they could have killed him and it was the grace of God and the alertness of his neighbors saved his life, otherwise, he would have ended up in Nigerian in a crate and that is illegal, anywhere in the world, YYou cant kidnap people.
“So, that is one aspect of it and I remember that Henry Okah, also suffered a similar thing during the Obasanjo era at the tail end of Obasanjo’s government, going towards the end of Obasanjo’s government, where he was kidnapped in Angola; Henry Okah, the then head of MEND was kidnapped in Angola and brought to Nigeria, not by going to court in Angola and by going through the legal process to have him repatriated back to Nigeria but by kidnapping him and bringing him into Nigeria in the night. So, these things, therefore, as bad and embarrassing as they are under a democratic dispensation, Nigeria is quickly turning itself into a rogue country, a rogue nation, where it does what it likes, how it likes and intends to get away with it.
“So, looking at Nnamdi’s case today when they brought him in and today that he is supposed to go on trial, we will have to watch and see but definitely the way Nnadi Kanu was brought into Nigeria is illegal, he was kidnapped in Kenya, that’s the only way that you can address it and people did not know what was happening to him for almost a week until he arrived Nigeria when the government announced that they have arrested Nnamdi Kanu and before the British government of what he’s a national and the passport he’s carrying and of course the British passport is a property of her Majesty’s government. It’s not the property of Nigeria and until Nigeria changes her laws, Nnamdi Kanu has a right and so does any other dual Nationality holder in Nigeria with Nigeria citizenship has right to hold dual nationality. Definitely, Nigeria has broken some international laws and some international rules of engagement in the way Nnamdi Kanu has been brought in. So, whether the Nigerian government is going to be allowed to get away with what they have done to Kanu by abusing his right, exactly what they have done to Sunday Igboho; what are the crimes of these people, their crimes have originated from, in the case of Nnamdi Kanu asking for a separate country, in the case of Sunday Igbohho again asking for the Yoruba nation”.
According to Mrs Briggs, what Kanu and Igboho are asking are not illegal.
She noted that self-determination is a basic right that ethnic nationalities have a right to express and exercise, adding that after all the soviet union ended up in almost fifty different countries when it broke down.
“The fact is that the community of the United Nations is allowing Nigeria to get away with such illegalities and I don’t understand why Nigeria can get away with what it is doing. I think the rights of Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu must be respected, as I always say.
“Today it is Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho. Tomorrow, who is it going to be? So all ethnic nationalities, no matter the differences that we have on different issues must come together and resist what is going on to other ethnic nationalities because that’s the only way, in my opinion, we can resist the illegalities that this federal government is carrying out on ethnic nationalities because if you recall, we have Boko haram, we have herdsmen, which have been declared terrorist groups by external organizations and yet Nigeria refuses to declare book haram as a terror group, refuses to declare herdsmen as a terrorist group and instead calls them bandits and unknown gunmen and they go around in other peoples ancestral homeland, pushing them out, killing them and yet, up till day, not one single Boko haram terrorist ie herdsmen or bandits has been tried and sentenced by any court of law.
“You have the cleric, Gumi, going around, meeting these bandits in the forest of Nothern Nigeria, in the states there, and coming out and bragging about it. You see people he calls commanders, coming on air with Nigerian television companies interviewing them, showing it to us as what they are saying. About two weeks go, eighteen or Nineteen police officers were attacked and slaughtered in their barracks and yet this government does not think that this is an act of terrorism and yet Nnamdi Kanu and his group that is demanding for his basic right are considered terrorists, I don’t understand.
“I’m afraid for the people of this country, I’m afraid for the ethnic Nationalities, and I think that ethnic Nationalities should also be afraid for themselves and begin to find a way where you will be assured of survival and at this rate, the only way is to have a county like Nigeria restructured, if we can not agree to be restructured, then we must have a referendum where the people can decide what they want and this must take place before 2023 because there will be no election in 2023, just declaration of governors, senators, which will really be a form of a military take over because they will take over by force under the guise of democracy and yet people will not vote for who will represent them.
“Nigeria is in a deep problem, but I think the ethnic nationalities are in a deeper problem and they must decide for themselves which way they want to go. Either they want ethnic nationality, or they want to be free and I think that is what Nnamdi Kanu is doing with IPOB, Sunday Ignboho with Oduduwa and the Niger Delta people for a very long time and I am one of those that have demanded self-determination. It is a basic human right that at this point, even secession is not a crime; to demand secession is not a crime, it’s not a crime anywhere”.
