Is Professor Nwabueze saying that the question is too difficult for the Nigerian Judiciary to answer? There are 8 questions for the Court to answer. Are the Nigerian Judges and Lawyers no longer learned men? All we want is YES or NO. We know what to do with the answer whether it is YES or NO.
3. On the second part, Professor Nwabueze wondered how we would enforce the Order assuming the Court says YES. He thinks like many other Nigerian lawyers that I have encountered. Professor Nwabueze and all our Law Lecturers taught us in the Law School that declaratory remedies were not enforceable because there is nothing to enforce. I don’t want to argue with them, but let the Court say YES and watch how we can enforce a declaratory order. Many Nigerian lawyers have been asking me to tell them how we intend to enforce a declaratory order if the Court says YES but I have refused to tell them. Please, let the Court say either YES or NO and leave the rest to us. If they think that declaratory order is not enforceable, why are they afraid to make the order?
4. There are other issues for determination and prayers as contained in the originating summons. The Restructuring of Nigeria into six self-governing regions which Professor Nwabueze and other men are canvassing for is contained in the Prayer (g) as follows:
“An Order affirming the Memorandum of Ohanaeze Ndigbo dated 28th June 2012 submitted to the National Assembly for the restructuring of Nigeria into six autonomous self-governing regions, namely: South East, South West, South South, North East, North West and North Central, as a manifestation of the Will of the People in the exercise of their right to self-determination and directing the Defendants to present an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for a law granting autonomy and self-governing status to the six geopolitical regions in Nigeria; OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE, in the role of the Judiciary as the last hope of the common man, an Order directing the Defendants to present an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for a law dissolving Nigeria in peace along the compatible ethnic groups instead of allowing the country to break up in bloodshed”.
5. The fact is that the Defendants have no other choice. They have been given many options and they must choose one. The Biafrans want to exercise their right to self-determination. They want freedom either within Nigeria as a self-governing nation within a nation just like Scotland or total freedom outside Nigeria. The Claimants shall decide how they will exercise their right to self-determination. The law we have quoted says it explicitly as follows:
Article 20: 1. All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen. 2. Colonized or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community.
6. Article 20 actually defines the meaning of self-determination by saying that: “They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen”. The clear meaning is that the indigenous peoples of the land have the right to decide how to exercise their right to self-determination. The law says that the right to self-determination is unquestionable and inalienable. This means that it is classified among the fundamental human rights which are inalienable. There is no voting in a referendum to decide whether the people have the right to self-determination or not. The law says they have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. The only referendum is for the people to decide how they will exercise that right. My clients are divided into two parts: One group wants Freedom within Nigeria while another group wants Freedom outside Nigeria. The greatest joy is that all of them want FREEDOM. Let the Court answer that simple question of law whether my clients have the right to self-determination or not, then my clients shall decide among themselves by a referendum how they would exercise that right.
7. If the Nigerian Judiciary agrees with Professor Nwabueze that the question of law is too difficult for the Nigerian Judges to answer YES or NO, then let the Court say that the question is too difficult to answer. The ICJ in The Hague shall be happy and willing to interpret the law and provide the answer.
Signed: Emeka Emekesri, Esq. Solicitor for Indigenous People of Biafra Mekadolf Chambers
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