Biafra: Nigeria’s representative at AU Commission blocked our petition – Ekpa claims
The Simon Ekpa-led Biafra Republic Government In-Exile, BRGIE, has alleged that its petition on Biafra’s declaration for self-rule to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, an organ of African Union, was blocked unjustly by the Commission’s Acting Secretary-General and Nigeria’s representative, Abiola Idowu-Ojo.
Ekpa, self acclaimed Prime Minister of BRGIE made the claim in a statement posted on his X account on Monday.
According to him, despite the response received on the 19th of June, the Commission had allegedly trashed its petition for Biafra Liberation amid rights abuses against Biafrans.
Ekpa stressed that the reason given for not acting on the BRGIE petition was unfair and the Commission had defaulted on its own rules.
He claimed that the development may escalate tensions in the region as impunity and injustice thrive.
“The Biafra Government wants to officially inform the Biafra people and the world that the Nigeria representative, Abiola Idowu-Ojo at the African Court, has trashed the filing of the Biafra Government.
“This development will escalate the tension in the region; it is corruption and impunity taken to the highest level at the AU by the Nigeria state appointee.
“We Successfully filed the communication on the 23rd of May 2024 and on the 19th of June, we received a response that the communication would not be seized, the reason being the failure to comply with rule 115(2)(d) of the 2020 rules of procedure.
“When you check the rules of procedure, failure to comply with rule 115(2)(d) subsequently requires rule 115(4) to be fulfilled and not the response we got,” he wrote.
Ekpa demanded further explanation on why the petition was not attended to by the Commission.
“Further investigation reveals that the Secretary to the Commission is a Nigerian Abiola Idowu-Ojo and has violated the rules of procedure which she amended according to the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.
“We have further demanded an explanation as to how the procedure was not followed and the commission never responded.
“We are also taking the matter up but we decided that the public must become aware,” he stated.
The development comes as the Ekpa-led BRGIE announced December 2, 2024, for Biafra liberation declaration.
The Nigerian government had on several occasions restated its plan to extradite Ekpa from Finland.
