ANAMBRA 2017 ELECTION AND BIAFRA AGITATIONS: THE NEED FOR YOUR OFFICE TO ROBUSTLY RISE IN DEFENCE OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY AND HALT THE IMPUNITY OF CHARLATANS
The above subject-matter refers.
We bring you warm greetings in the name [and from the constituency] of Anambra State Lawyers in Defence of Democracy [ASLADD] and from the constituency of all lovers of democracy, advocates of constitutionalism and apostles of Rule of Law.
BACKGROUND FACTS:
Our Dear Anambra State is now due for another governorship election. The electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission [henceforth in this letter called the INEC], has slated the date of the epic contest to be 18th November, 2017. The atmosphere is gradually heating up. This is understandable. Now, we have the Indigenous People of Biafra [henceforth in this letter called the IPOB]. They [the IPOB] are now concededly a factor in the political epic battle coming up. This is so, not because the IPOB is a registered political party under the Nigerian laws. The IPOB is not even registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria and therefore enjoys no legal entity in the Nigerian nation.
However, the IPOB activities and the consequences flowing therefrom now transcend both political/geographical boundaries. The Leader of the IPOB, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu, has taken a decision and consequently issued a directive to the effect that elections would no longer hold in Biafraland.
THE SOUL OF THIS LETTER:
The seat of this letter is furnished by the vehement opposition to the holding of the said election by one Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the self-acclaimed Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra [henceforth in this letter called the IPOB] who is currently standing criminal trial bordering on treason before the Federal High Court, Abuja in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015. It is the position of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu that the said governorship election would not hold in Anambra State and that he and his followers are determined to boycott the elections. In so doing, it is their belief that Biafra as a country will speedily be realized.
THE CRUX OF OUR CASE:
Sir, there is no denying the fact that the exercise of the right to vote is tied to the discretion of each citizen. In other words, a citizen is at liberty to abstain from voting [for whatever good or bad reason] even though it is a civic duty recognized by the constitution. The IPOB have taken a position that they would “boycott” the forthcoming Anambra 2017 elections. We do not have any problem with them on this position. However, our challenge with IPOB is their seeming inability to appreciate the meaning of the word “boycott” as it relates to Anambra election.
We are worried that their mode of propagating their “No referendum, no election” mantra suggests that the word “boycott” has another meaning assigned to it in their own dictionary which is “disruption” of all legitimate activities of government and electioneering activities calculated at striking terror in the minds of the citizens who have made up their mind to discharge their civic duty on the 18th day of November, 2017. We now proceed with aplomb to demonstrably instantiate this point.
Sir, the Nnmadi Kanu led IPOB are always quick to raise the green banner of “non-violence” and take refuge under its canopied ambience whereas their official dissemination channel, Radio Biafra, is a flowing river of hate-speeches, incitement to violence and war. ASLADD commend to you the video of Nnamdi Kanu in the United States asking Igbo residing there for money to buy arms to fight other Nigerians. Hate speech leads to war and war leads to deaths and, therefore, IPOB preaches violence. In the
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