|
TRIBUTE TO OUR DEPARTED HERO GEN. PHILIP EFFIONG
Fellow Biafrans, We are gathered here today to pay our respects to Obong Philip Effiong, the man who stood firmly with all Biafrans and with his people, and fought valiantly for their protection and preservation when Nigerian vandals threatened to exterminate them.
General Effiong, we salute you. We salute your courage, your vision, your wisdom, your resolve. We salute your commitment to freedom, liberty, economic and social justice, the rule of law, respect for the fundamental rights of man to life liberty and the legitimate pursuit of happiness, and above all respect for the dignity of man.
Many of us young people here today were supposed to have been starved to death by the satanic forces of evil and darkness. Millions of us were turned into walking skeletons with balloon stomachs, fake white mans hair, spindle hands and feet, sunken expressionless eyes, and edematous hands and feet. Our mothers and fathers were condemned to the same fate. Many millions of our age mates are not here today. They succumbed to this evil machination of the Nigerian Government of Yakubu Gowon, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Benjamin Adekunle, Olusegun Obasanjo, Hassan Katsina, and others. Many of our parents also fell prey to the deadly hatred of these evil men. They were starved to death. What was our crime? We were Bia! frans. These Nigerians hated Biafrans so much they starved even babies to death.
General, we salute you. You and other Biafran leaders and soldiers put your lives on the line to defend and protect us. You were willing to pay the supreme price to save us from genocide perpetrated by Nigeria’s evil men. For three long years you fought like lions. You endured deprivation, contended with treachery, and juggled with insufficiency and want. Yet you persevered. How can we thank you?
Since 1970, many of your colleagues and even the young like us who were almost starved to death by Nigeria’s evil men have crawled back to Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Ota, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Ibadan and Minna in slavish supplication. They creep around these demonic men snorting crumbs and cavorting for political positions and for contracts. Some even apologize to the perpetrators of the Biafran holocaust for what we do not know. They have become a disgrace to the ideals and the principles of the Biafran Nation. But, not you General. You stood tall and firm on the principles of the Biafran Nation. You never wavered, you never dithered. You are and will always be a true Biafran. We salute you.
You have taught us in the words of a Native American, Chief Seattle that, “All Biafrans are connected like the blood that unites us. We did not weave the web of life. We are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web [of Biafra] we do to ourselves.” You have taught us in the words of Wole Soyinka that, “The man dies in all who keep quiet in the face of tyranny”. You have taught us in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. that, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed; that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; that structures of evil do not crumble by passive waiting …evil must be attacked by a counteracting persistence, by the day to day assault of the battering rams of justice; and that to accept passively an u! njust system is to cooperate with that system thereby the oppressed becomes as evil as the oppressor.” General we have heard you and we have soaked up your message.
General, on October 18 2003, in far away Maryland, USA, Biafra Foundation honored you for your gallant contribution to the defense and sustenance of Biafra. We sent a beautiful plaque home to you. But little did we know that the time was nigh. If we had known, we would have brought you to Maryland specifically for that honor. But this is why we are human not God. Great man, as you look at us today from your lofty height, we assure you of one thing: Your struggle for Biafra shall never be in vain. Your sacrifices for Biafra shall never be in vain. Those principles, values and beliefs you and other veterans so eloquently stood and fought for shall never be swept away. Biafra Must Be. Biafra Must Come to Pass.
When the history of this great Nation shall be written in concrete the polished bronze statue of General Philip Effiong shall stand majestically in the hallowed pantheon alongside other great Biafran Leaders for you are one of the symbols of a peoples will to fight genocide and planned extermination. We commit your soul to the Lord. Peace be with you, your family and all the good people of Biafra you left behind.
Signed , Board of Directors , Biafra Foundation.
Biafra Foundation 733 15th Street Suite 700, N.W Washington DC 20005 Phone: 202-347-2983 Fax: 202-347-2984
March 2004
|