The Biafra Story: Part Five

"The Biafra Story: Part Five"

On May 30th 1967, after much deliberation and numerous meetings with local, community, and traditional leaders in addition to prominent politicians, military advisors and Eastern intellectuals, Lt Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in response to a unanimous decision taken by the Eastern populace, announced to the world the secession of the Eastern Region from the Federal Republic Nigerian and the birth of Republic of Biafra.

An excerpt from "Ojukwu's Declaration of Biafra Speech" is as follows: "Fellow countrymen and women, you, the people of Eastern Nigeria: Conscious of the supreme authority of Almighty God over all mankind, of your duty to yourselves and posterity; Aware that you can no longer be protected in your lives and in your property by any Government based outside Eastern Nigeria; Believing that you are born free and have certain inalienable rights which can best be preserved by yourselves; Unwilling to be unfree partners in any association of a political or economical nature; Rejecting the authority of any person or persons other than the Military Government of Eastern Nigeria to make any imposition of whatever kind or nature upon you; Determined to dissolve all political and other ties between you and the former Federal Republic of Nigeria; Prepared to enter into such association, treaty or alliance with any sovereign state within the former Federal Republic of Nigeria and elsewhere on such terms and conditions as best to subserve your common good; Affirming your trust and confidence in me; Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name, that Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic, Now, therefore, I, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, by virtue of the authority, and pursuant to the principles, recited above, do hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria together with her continental shelf and territorial waters shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of 'The Republic of Biafra'..."#TheBiafraStory

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