Fact Check: Can UN Intervene In Biafra Agitations In Nigeria?

On Tuesday, the federal government of Nigeria announced to the public that the leader of the proscribed separatist organization, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has been brought back to the country to face treason trial.

Since 1999, several separatist groups have emerged from the South-East region, with all of them claiming Igbos were being marginalized.

But IPOB, under Kanu, appeared to have taken the agitations  to the extreme, forcing the Federal Government to declare it a terrorists organization.

 Nigeria’s Attorney General  and Minister of Justice, Abubakar  Malami, cited IPOB’s  violent approach in a recent press briefing.

“He(Kanu) has, upon jumping bail, been accused of  engaging in subversive activities that include inciting violence through television, radio and online broadcasts against Nigeria and Nigerian State and institutions,” he had stated.

But a group known as the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in a statement to the United Nations (UN), reportedly linked the agitations by Nigerian youths as a sign of the flaws in the nation’s constitutional framework  and perceived persecution.

The statement also urged the UN to intervene in the Nigerian situation. “We are appealing to you to take appropriate steps to help Nigeria resolve the dangerous paths the country is treading now. Political upheavals, instability, another civil war are better prevented now by the international community because it will cost you far less if you prevent the possible eruption of open hostilities in Nigeria,” it stated on June 21.

But can the UN intervene in separatist agitations in Nigeria? Has IPOB or Biafra being discussed at UN?

HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW?

The UN is an international organization with jurisdiction over matters bordering on peace and security of nations and peoples.

One of its objectives is “to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.”

The UN has organs through which issues are reported  for discussions and decision making – the General Assembly, Security Council, an Economic and Social Council, a Trusteeship Council, an International Court of Justice and a Secretariat.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The UN General Assembly are made up of about 193 sovereign nations and each member state can bring up any matter for discussion and forwards it to the Security Council for final verdict.

“The General Assembly may discuss any questions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security brought before it by any Member of the United Nations, or by the Security Council, or by a state which is not a Member of the United Nations in accordance with Article 35, paragraph 2, and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations with regard to any such questions to the state or states concerned or to the Security Council or to both. Any such question on which action is necessary shall be referred to the Security Council by the General Assembly either before or after discussion.

“The General Assembly may call the attention of the Security Council to situations which are likely to endanger international peace and security.”

No Biafra On UN Agenda

However, checks by our correspondent on the UN official website revealed that “Biafra agitation” or “Biafra” has not been brought forward to the general assembly by any country.

A search of those words on the UN website brings out only blank space – implying that no document, article or statement has mentioned the IPOB regional agitation at UN yet.

UN Security Council Must Decide If Nigeria Is A Failed State

The UN Security council is the apex principal body of the organization with powers to maintain  or restore international peace and security.

It can determine the “existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression” in a nation and make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in line with UN Charter.

For instance, in a Security Council (5106th) meeting in 2004, the UN Committees and Working Groups captured in a document seen by our correspondent, that it may intervene or assist any population at risk if the country they belong to is a failed state.

It described a failed state as one that is about to collapse and require assistance by foreign countries to operate.

“The preoccupation of the Security Council with intra-State conflict has been conceptualized in the thesis of the responsibility to protect populations that are at risk in so-called failed or failing States. The question, of course, arises as to when that responsibility to protect commences — once the State is on the verge of collapse or well before, when conditions of poverty and underdevelopment clearly indicate that a country might collapse into State failure unless it is assisted by the international community in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

This means that the UNSC can determine whether the protection of a population is noteworthy, but it has to consider other associated issues like the concept of failed states.

VERDICT

The UN cannot intervene on behalf of Biafra secessionist agitation because the issue has not been considered by any UN organ yet.

No UN organ has also categorized Nigeria as a failed state to warrant such intervention.