Nigeria’s Representative at AU Commission Blocked Our Petition – Ekpa

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Simon Ekpa, leader of the Biafra Republic Government In-Exile, BRGIE has made an allegation against Nigeria.

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He said that BRGIE’s 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.

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Ekpa, self acclaimed Prime Minister of BRGIE made the claim in a statement posted on his X account on Monday.

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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.

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Ekpa stressed that the reason given for not acting on the BRGIE petition was unfair and the Commission had defaulted on its own rules.

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He claimed that the development may escalate tensions in the region as impunity and injustice thrive.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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“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.

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Ekpa demanded further explanation on why the petition was not attended to by the Commission.

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“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.

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“We have further demanded an explanation as to how the procedure was not followed and the commission never responded.

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“We are also taking the matter up but we decided that the public must become aware,”he stated.

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The development comes as the Ekpa-led BRGIE announced December 2, 2024, for Biafra liberation declaration.

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The Nigerian government had on several occasions restated its plan to extradite Ekpa from Finland.

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