Eze Nwanyi Eberechukwu Anigbogu is the Director General, Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria, MOBIN, read her interview, very explosive

'We are designing a pro-Biafran political environment to control our resources'

DG, MOBIN



Eze Nwanyi Eberechukwu Anigbogu is the Director General, Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria, MOBIN, a civil rights political movement of pro-Biafrans. Anigbogu, second in command to Nnamdi Kanu in Radio Biafra, was the first female leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) Worldwide.



Today, MOBIN, her group which is an arm of the IPOB has gone into an alliance with the United Progressive Party, and is currently touring Anambra State educating people on the need to participate in the coming guber polls and vote in a pro-Biafran.



Some journalists met her in Awka over the weekend and reports:









What is the goal of this MOBIN?



MOBIN came to existence in February 2017. We have a chairman, who is the Vision Bearer, in the person of Barrister Emeka Emekeresi.

What MOBIN is all about is that it's a political movement, a civil one which is out to see that we Biafrans take over the political space of our territory. That is to say that we are determined to ensure that core Biafran activists play a major role in the polity of Biafraland.





Are you saying that MOBIN's goal is to bring activists who don't believe in Nigeria to come and begin to involve in Nigerian elections?



Yes, because that is one of the easiest means of restoring Biafra.





What about the recent call by Nnamdi Kanu's IPOB for boycott of elections and call for referendum?



I should think that the faction of the IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu is borrowing referendum from us. Because that is what we want to do. But of course you know that referendum is a political process, you cannot just come out and you are singing referendum, without any plans, maybe setting out a process of achieving it. Referendum is politics and politics is referendum. One thing you have to know is that we are Biafrans who are still living in Nigeria. As long as we are living in Nigeria, and we want to go, there are methods to use. One is that we have to prepare for referendum. We have a Biafran national political party, and we will have to register and have our voters card, because it's this voters card that we will use to register during referendum.





You mean INEC voters card?



Not necessarily INEC card, but a voters card is needed. This is because the United Nations will not just come into Biafraland and bring people together. There must be a process. If you look at Scotland, who are also calling for sovereignty from Britain, there is a Scottish national party who involve in, and win political positions. If we have adopted UPP as the Biafran national party, when the time of referendum comes, it's through that process. It's still through a voters card that we will use to vote for that referendum.





Are you trying to tell me that if Nigeria decides to call for referendum today and you don't have a voters card, you cannot vote?



Nigeria cannot even call for referendum because it's not Nigeria who want freedom. Biafrans must build their own political space, Biafrans must design a coherent political environment that is acceptable in the comity of nations. It's only when there is such a political climate that the same Biafrans will constitute a political process for referendum, supervised by the United Nations, ECOWAS, AU, and other such organisations. Of course, Nigeria will play a role, but they will only be campaigning and lobbying for people not to vote for exit. MOBIN is building that political environment, just like Catalonia and Scotland have done. But Biafrans are more focused, resolute determined and united in their quest for Biafra, so, we have absolute faith that in no distant time, the fruits of today's efforts will bring smiles to the faces of all Biafrans.





You just said that UPP is Biafran national party. Can you throw more light on this claim?



Yes, because we have gone round and we have so many political parties in Nigeria. But we have discovered its only the UPP that has in its constitution and its manifesto self determination and referendum, the two ingredients that Biafrans are looking for to use and restore Biafra.





If peradventure, one of these Biafrans you talk about win in Anambra, what next?



We are not even saying peradventure. We are sure a core Biafran will win the elections come November 2017, that is the starting point. As soon as we have a pro Biafran or a Biafran activist as the givernor of Anambra State, that automatically means that we have gotten one state out of core Igbo states for Biafra. From here, we will begin to spread our tentacle. Come 2019, we hope to have core Biafrans as governors of Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Imo, Delta and Rivers States.





Your criteria, is it just that we vote for pro Biafrans? What are your expectations from these activists? Don't you think they may return to business as usual?



The number one expectation is that they pass the Customary Government Bill into law. When we have this Customary Government, it means that we are close to Biafra. Of course you know that if the Northerners want to leave Nigeria today, they already have their government, and they already have their Sharia court, who the governors of such states recognize and they are paying the staff who are working in this court, in this government, from the state money, and that is one of the things that we expect from these core Biafrans as soon as they win elections. They should pass Customary Government Bill into law and make it functional in all the Biafran states.



For you to see and identify core Biafrans, it's not difficult. Biafra is Spirit. In our local parlance, Biafra is 'Agwu', the Holy Spirit. Once it enters you, you will begin to behave like a positive mad man. A Biafran is that man who recognizes that his or her brother or sister will be treated fairly and finely. A core Biafran is that man or woman who believes in 'Onuru ube nwanne agbala oso'. A core Biafran is that man who will want Aba to be like Dubai. A core Biafran is one who will make Enugu to be like London, who will want Anambra to be like India. In terms of development, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of human resources, in terms of everything it will take for our people to begin to live a comfortable life. A core Biafran is one who knows that 'Aku ruo ulo, amara onye kpatara ya '. A core Biafran is that man or woman who will so develop our territory that our brothers and sisters abroad will be hungry to return.





With MOBIN seeming to say something different from Kanu, it seems the Biafrans are divided.



The Biafrans are united in their quest for Freedom through the exercise of their right to self-determination but divided into two groups regarding the type of Freedom they want. One group wants to have Freedom within Nigeria just as Scotland within the UK while the other group wants Freedom outside Nigeria.



The truth is that the Biafrans must be properly organized as a people to seek for whatever type of freedom they want. MOBIN has come to harmonize the diverse opinions by engaging all Biafran intellectuals in robust debates in free and fair atmosphere where nobody will be insulted or abused for holding a contrary opinion. The Biafran Movement has entered into the hands of intellectuals and elder statesmen. MOBIN is gathering together the Biafra Intelligentsia to take the Biafra Struggle to the final level. At the moment, Biafra has been restored as a people but without a delineated territory yet.



MOBIN is a human rights political movement of the Biafrans anchored on Freedom of Speech where everybody can express his political opinion without being tagged a saboteur.