Asari Dokubo, a Niger Delta ex-militant has declared himself as the leader of the new “Biafra de facto customary government”.
Dokubo said the declaration is premised on the injustice and marginalisation of Igbo in the country.
Asari has been at loggerheads with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
According to a statement by Uche Mefor, the former deputy leader of IPOB, described as the Head of Information and Communication of the customary government, Dokubo vowed that the new body would take care of the current insecurity challenges faced by the Igbos as well as focusing on science and technology to make life easier for the people.
He said that as efforts are made to achieve the set goals, the ‘government’ shall never go into war with anybody, adding that the customary government is determined to take care of the needs of the people.
Among the government’s agenda, he said, are “securing the lives and properties of our people, we are going to invest everything we have in science and technology to increase the scientific and technological discoveries, fabrications and making life easier for our people through science and technology”.
“We are going to pursue rigorously the education of our people, we are going to make sure that we feed ourselves.
“You are all aware of the recent plot where they decided to stop food from the north. They failed woefully, they will continue to fail.
“Nobody can stop us. Nobody can blockade us as they did in the first war. We’re not going to fight any war with anybody, we’re walking to freedom.
“We will not shoot any gun with them, they will prepare their weapon but they will have nobody to kill with their weapon”.
The statement read in part, “We as people have resolved that as Biafra, it’s time for us to take our destiny in our hands and bring freedom to ourselves and our children and the generation of Biafrans yet unborn.
“I hesitate a little but I thank God that it’s time for us to do our duty and our service to motherland, I have accepted this role. I have dedicated my life a hundred per cent to play this role.
“My first act today in taking this position is to name those who would be on the driver’s seat to navigate through this period of the tempest, this period of uncertainty with me.
“I want to call on our brother, George Onyibe to come on board to join as the secretary of the de facto customary government of the State of Biafra. He will take care of the administrative, day to day administration of the Biafra State.
“I also call on our brother Emeka Emeka Esiri to take care of the legal needs of this nascent government.
“My brothers and sisters, the four of us will kick start the process, others will come on board. We want volunteers who are committed, we want volunteers because there is nothing anymore. We are the people who have volunteered to salvage ourselves and the rest of us.
“I also call on Biafrans in the various province of the Biafra nations in Aba, Abakiliki, Anang, Awka, Calabar, Degema, Eket, Enugu, Nsukka, Ogoja, Oji River, Okigwe, Onitsha, Opobo, Orlu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Umuahia, Uyo and Yenegoa province.
“We are going to proceed to set up provincial structures of government starting with provincial assemblies and provincial governance and administrators.
“Let nobody be mistaking that a Biafra will be worse than Nigeria. There is nothing that will be worse than what we are facing today in Nigeria”.
