State of Western Togoland open letter to people of Biafra and Ambazonian
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF BIAFRA AND AMBAZONIA
I convey to you greetings from the people and the Governing Council of Western Togoland which I am privileged to have been made to lead as their Chairman in the fight for the statehood and reestablishment of our lost history and identity. It saddened our hearts to learn about the barbaric tactics being used by fellow African leaders to frustrate the legitimate demands of our people who want to be on their own and manage their own affairs.
We must all remind ourselves that slavery metamorphosed from buying of individuals to a state system where a kind of independence was granted to our nations but our governments and continent continue to bow down to the dictators who clothe themselves as helpers and donors while in the actual sense are still colonizing us and looting our natural resources.
Unfortunately, those leading our various blocs failed to understand that our predicaments are as a result of this same good looking but maggoty arrangement which they are bowing to. How on earth could we pass laws to allow strangers who live on other continents to rule over our consciousness and be visiting mayhem on fellow Africans who are not happy with the same system that is killing us all.
The call for statehood of Biafra, Ambazonia and Western Togoland must not be criminalized. We need to revisit our distorted history which is the origin of most of our problems and begin to correct the wrongs. That is the only way we as Africans can move forward in our development. It saddens my heart to learn that our brothers who are now leaders of our countries are using the same tactics of the colonisers to suppress us, and this is more heartbreaking than anything else.
My dear freedom fighters of Biafra, I, first of all, congratulate you for your tenacity and your resolve to see injustice ended in the Biafra land. Your struggle dated decades just like that of the Ambazonian and of course the Western Togoland. Strangely, the almost similar circumstances which our various lands have been made to suffer from is something every well-meaning brother of Africa and other parts of the world should feel and appreciate. Before the invasion of our lands and scramble for Africa, our borders were clearly defined and we understood perfectly the limit of each other’s territory, and even though we did not have the greatest surveyors with PhDs from Harvard and Oxford we were able to organize ourselves in our natural world and had a wonderful brotherhood until the unnecessary intervention from those across the oceans which we heartily welcomed because of our good hearts. Little did we know we were signing our death warrants.
The First World War marked the beginning of our woes, and Western Togoland was the starting point. The imperial system conniving with our ‘sell-out’ brothers just behind our borders brought a war which none of our fathers was party to and Togoland was reduced to ashes as if it was the headquarters of the war! Our poor women and children young or old were mowed down with no pity. The little economic system the land got as the result of being friendly and welcoming to the Germans was all destroyed.
But that was not all; the land was sliced into two from north to south and shared between France and Britain as proceeds from the war which had not even ended.
NONE OF THE WORLD POWERS HAVE EVER STOPPED TO THINK OF PAYING ATTENTION TO THE PAIN WE WERE FORCED TO GO THROUGH.
As if the end of colonialism will be the starting point of readjustment to the mistakes of the first world war and to show remorse for the pains caused to us, least did we know that more grievous plans were hatched to 'legalise' the genocide. Our land has been forced into another entity to cement the hatred for our race and existence.
More insult was added to our injuries in the name of a plebiscite, a term derived from the barbaric days of slavery in Rome, where some people are deemed more important and deserving of dignity and were called patrician while the lesser humans who were labelled as nonentities were called plebeians, yes that is the root of PLEBISCITE! We asked who among the Western Togoland were the plebeians and patricians? The big PhDs were not able to tell us. Yet if a citizen from the land speaks of his history he's arrested and charged with capricious laws! Can you imagine a country like Ghana that boasts of being the light of African democracy is charging fellow Africans with treasonous charges because those individuals are speaking about their history as a people? How can Ghana not mention Western Togoland territory in her Constitution if the 1956 plebiscite was for a union and not stealing of our land?. What exactly did we do wrong for Britain to punish us this way? We didn't steal anything from Westminster nor did we tamper with Paris but we were the ones who received the greatest punishment of a war we knew nothing about.
And it is so embarrassing that when the topic of Western Togoland is raised people who clothe themselves as think tanks and having influence will say the people decided their future by participating in the plebiscite. They failed to ask what exactly was the reason for the 1956 plebiscite. For God sake we understand it to be a Union and this is what is in the various UN documents. Question is, was the purpose of the plebiscite met and was it to suggest that Ghana should outlaw our history and slap anyone who will talk about or mention Western Togoland with treason?
My fellow brethren of Biafra and Ambazonia, the sad reality is that our brothers just like the rich man’s dog who dine under the table of the rich now see themselves as part of the rich club so they are ever ready to spit onto our face to please their masters. So even if there is nothing to cry over they will cause chaos to disrupt the master’s sleep and blame it on us because that is the only way the master will see them as useful.
We are at the crossroads of our destiny and this very moment, we must do whatever that can project and safeguard the interest of our race. We are just like the helpless rare species of the Amazon who are faced with extinction. Sadly we have no campaigners writing petitions to safeguard our lives. Our African leaders see nothing wrong with what we were made to suffer. The sad reality is everlasting poverty; to date not even a single nation in Africa can boast of eradicating malaria. We are still struggling to get potable water to our homes while the great River Volta and the Niger all waste into the sea. Our forest cover is heavily depleted, the hyenas from across the oceans were allowed to chew onto our resources leaving not a single bone behind. Africa is still battling with an adequate power supply and the leadership can only give itself beautiful accolades.
This and many unthinkable things are what we faced here and this is the exact reason we all must come together and reshape our future. The call for reclaiming of our lost boundaries is seen by wicked brothers who tag us with adjectives pleasing the colonial dictatorship must be done away with and we must treat the
SECESSIONIST tag with the contempt it deserves. Biafra is not part of the entity of today's Nigeria and we all know the history perfectly. The English Cameroon which is known as Ambazonia is also not a property of France, likewise, the Western Togoland, of course, is never a property of Great Britain. So Britain and France have no land or country in Africa to dole out as a gift to any African brothers so that if today we the owners of our land who wish to see our dreams and aspirations materialising as that of the children of France and Britain, so that our children can also have a good sleep and dream of a fulfilling future so that we don't go to bed on empty stomachs and wake up with hardship day in day out, another brother of ours will tag us as secessionists or rebels and with the same support of those who have no right will be killing and arresting us.
We the people of Western Togoland and our Governing Council condemned in no uncertain terms the way and manner Mr Nnamdi Kanu the leader of Biafra was arrested and the situation he is in now and call on all African brethren to see this as an injustice and rise against this barbarism.
We call on all well-meaning individuals and groups too, as a matter of urgency, demand the release of all who are being arrested and charged with frivolous colonial acts. We must all understand that what caused the sleeplessness of the poor boy in Kinshasa is the same thing responsible for the starvation of that poor girl in Garu Tempani and Bamenda.
We need to understand that we are connected and we must help ourselves to reshape the bad past. Biafra will still be neighbours of Nigeria just like the Ambazonia will be with Cameroon and the same can be said of Western Togoland and Ghana. We knew our history and must stop being ostriches hiding our heads in the sand while our bodies are outside.
I will conclude by calling on the UN and all its useful bodies to see and feel what we are going through in today's world and to revisit their works to let Justice be given to us. UN must speak to the atrocities being visited on us by her member nations so that we do not do anything in safeguarding our interest and make any mistakes for our rights as peoples and nations have been taken for granted for far too long.
African leaders must stop paying lip service to the reality facing us and roll up their sleeves and get to work! We already have our various borders and we must not continue to dwell on the colonial borders and be killing ourselves if we truly mean well for ourselves.
It will be in the interest of the Presidents of the Republic of Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon to choose peace and call for dialogue than to be following some frivolous and non-materialising artificial laws created by the colonial masters called state borders and sovereignty to think of protection and in the same spirit be killing their brothers for violation of such unthinkable laws. Before the scramble for Africa what is known as Gold Coast didn't extend to Togoland and we all knew and respected ourselves.
The leadership of AU must make their existence meaningful to earn the respect of their citizens. To the general populations of Biafra, Ambazonia and Western Togoland, I say at my age of 87, l have seen and heard, if not all, almost all and I want to tell you that every good fight has enemies both inside and outside. No great nation is born without a challenging history so I challenge you NEVER dare to stop the good fight! Keep pushing and one day you'll sit at the seashore to recount your success.
I pray for you all. Remember to adopt all peaceful processes to achieve the goal for a single life lost in this struggle is not worth it!
We are ending colonialism and the suffering of our people.
I bless you all
Thank you.
CHARLES KORMI KUDZORDZI.
From:
THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, WTLGovC.
D.K.N
Director of Communications
Bureau of National Communication
WTL.
Approved by:
BNC WTL || WTLGovC || WTLHR || EXECOM HSGF
0 Comments