Details have emerged of the collaboration between the Nnamdi Kanu-led proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and a separatist movement in Cameroon in the areas of training for combat operations and arms exchange.
It was gathered that While IPOB, through the Eastern Security Network (ESN), is fighting for the Biafra republic, the Ambazonian War of Liberation (AWL) and Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) are pushing to break away from Cameroon.
Recall that the leadership of AWL had on April 10, 2021, announced that they have established a relationship with IPOB towards pursuing a common goal of political and economic liberation.
During a virtual meeting shared on social media, the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and the leader of AWL, Dr Lucas Cho Ayaba, revealed plans to work together in the struggles for their two regions.
Both Kanu and Ayaba are spearheading the insurrections from abroad.
“We are in the know of what is happening…We are closely monitoring,” a security source who does not want to be named, said.
“There is a link between them because the Ambazonian militants are offering training to IPOB members,” a source told DailyTrust.
During the April virtual meeting, Kanu and Ayaba allegedly promised to forge a close alliance and accelerate international attention to grant them the right to self-determination from Nigeria and Cameroon.
Kanu said, “Over the years, our grandfathers and grandmothers have stomached this terrorist proclivity, with the hope that somehow, it would go away. But it is clear to us that after so much turning of the other cheek as well as payment in blood, these bullies never ever became reasonable. Instead, it has emboldened them. This is part of the reason Biafrans and Ambazonians are coming together. We are coming together to rediscover our shared biological and cultural heritages.
“So far, even though our struggles for freedom have shared different trajectories, Biafrans and Ambazonians have a shared destiny. Our collective destiny is once again to lead the continent of black Africa to achieve the type of civilisation that humanity would marvel at, just like our Bantu ancestors did when they civilised the whole of the known world around them.
“In the coming days, we the Biafrans and Ambazonians would be communicating to the world in sequence as the need arises, our blueprint for cooperation, preparatory to the re-emergence of our nations.”
Also speaking, Ayaba said the relationship between their people dated back in history, recalling that the people, who were originally part of the Eastern Region, in 1961, moved a motion at the Eastern House of Assembly in Enugu to re-join French-speaking Cameroon with their regional capital in Buea.
“As you have said, we are one people, inter-culturally linked. But I also want to remind Ambazonians that I take your concerns seriously. That is why alliance is split into three phases. There is the need to ensure that both people are liberated from the tyranny imposed on them and to establish within them a transitional period method of collaboration and cooperation to dismantle the economic blockade that has impoverished our two nations.
“And within this period, there will be massive consultations within Ambazonia to ensure that any treaty that would be binding on the two nations would be approved by the Ambazonian people,” he said.
Southern Cameroon had been demanding a federal system that grants greater autonomy for the Anglophone region line in pre-1971.
Like Kanu’s social media comments, Ayaba, the UK-based Ambazonian agitator, argues “that resorting to insurgency is a legitimate response to the abuses committed by the Cameroonian security forces and to match Cameroon arm for arm, method for method.”
This article was originally published on Nigeria News