BIAFRA: AHIARA DECLARATION

REFLECTION ON AHIARA DECLARATION AND THE NEED FOR BIAFRA BY EZE ANDREW OFORMA [THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR OF YOUNG AFRICA WRITERS LEAGUE]. THIS ARTICLE IS PERSONALLY REFLECTION; IT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE INTEREST OF THE YOUNG LEAGUE. Email: ezeandrew50@gmail.com

      Ahiara Declaration is a term used to describe the principles of the Biafran Revolution or struggle. Achebe (2012:148), excerpts that “it was an attempt to capture the meaning of the struggle for Biafran sovereignty.”  It was a document Written by the National Guidance Committee of Biafra (NGCB) which was chaired by the late literary icon Chinua Achebe. Other members of NGCB include, Justice A. N. Aniagolu, Emmanuel Obiechina, Chieka Ifemesia, Ikenna Nzimiro, Dr.Ifegwu Eke and Eyo Bassey Ndem. And it was delivered by the defunct Biafra Head of State, Late Gen. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu at Ahiara which is located at Mbaise, Imo State on June 1, 1969. According to Achebe (2012:145), it was called “Ahiara” because Ojukwu’s headquarters at this time was a camouflaged colonial building in the village of Ahiara’’. He further stated that the concept of the Ahiara Declaration was taken from a similar one issued by President Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, called the Arusha Declaration.
     Despite the origins, what are important for us are its contents for our analyses. Hence, the principles of this declaration were chiefly based on equity, social justice, self-determination, fairness, liberty, respect for human rights, life and value, zero tolerance to imperialism, ethnic genocide or pogrom, ethnic hatred and racism etc. It was a people’s oriented initiative and declaration. Achebe (2012:143) who experienced the movement states thus:For most of us within Biafra our nation was a dream that had become reality- a republic, in the strict definition of the word: “a state in which the supreme power rest in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” We could forge a new nation that respected the freedoms that all of mankind cherished and were willing to fight hard to hold on to. Within Biafra the Biafran people would be free of persecution of all kinds.
    Despite the fact that Ahiara declaration died a natural death following the defeat of Biafra in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war (1967-1970), it has remained a historical document or a source of reference for the people of the defunct Republic of Biafra and the entire black world in general. Some scholars have described it as a document of equity, fairness, social justice and progress.
    Therefore, the time is now for us to restore our nation [Biafra] that is anchored on fairness, social justice, equity, liberty, pragmatism, and technologically wise. Pro-Biafra youths should never wait for the elite be it Ohaneze or whatever name because they are benefitting from existing lopsidedness and centrifugal political system in Nigeria to led the struggle. It is obvious that those that are gaining from existing status quo fear change more than any other thing. Let the struggle continue.