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PRESS RELEASE
July 14, 2002
PICAD's Articles of Surrender,
a.k.a. Proposed "Draft Igbo Charter"
Fellow Biafrans and Nd'Igbo:
The Biafra Liberation Movement (BLM) has reviewed a proposed "Draft Igbo Charter" submitted by a self-appointed
group that calls itself PICAD ("Pan-Igbo Constituent Assembly in Diaspora"). BLM has concluded that the
proposed draft document constitutes demeaning articles of surrender, prescribing the surrender of Igbo Nation to
Nigeria. Through its own language, the proposed document ratifies the crooked and planted instrument of surrender,
which Obasanjo and the British tricked and forced Maj. Gen. Philip Effiong and Justice Lewis Mbanefo to sign in
1970. It inures to the perverse wisdom of the British-Nigerian alliance of genocide that the instrument of surrender
in the Nigeria-Biafra war should carry the blight that Igbo did not accede to the surrender.
The proposed "draft charter" employs Nigeria as a frame of reference for Igbo nationhood and identity,
but assiduously distances itself from the notion of Biafra. Hence, this proposed document threatens to bequeath
to Nigeria the precious consent of Nd'Igbo to the defective instrument of surrender that Gowon and Nigeria received
from Effiong. That is completely unacceptable.
BLM considers Igbo and Biafra to be African nations temporarily trapped in Nigeria. The ahistorical concept that
emerges from the proposed "Draft Igbo Charter" is that of Igbo as a mere appendage of Nigeria. The proposed
"Draft Igbo Charter" is a document of cowardice tailored to appease Nigeria and give charter to the subjugation
of Nd'Igbo within that country. It compromises Igbo interest.
Therefore, although BLM recognizes the need for a Pan-Igbo document, BLM hereby distances itself from and is opposed
to further consideration of this particular proposed draft document as a charter for Nd'Igbo. We urge all responsible
Igbo and Biafra groups to similarly distance themselves from this incipient peccadillo before it matures into a
heinous crime. Our position will be reflected in any future public discussion of this matter.
A lutta continua!
Biafra Liberation Movement
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