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FNM Call to Action and Press Release (11/16/97)
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This posting contains:
1)Call to action
2)Press Release on Mayor Marion Barry's trip to Nigeria
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FNM Call to Action on Mayor Marion Barry's trip to Nigeria
The illegal Sanni Abacha regime which is holding over 100 million
Nigerian citizens hostage is hosting a "World Conference of Mayors" in
Abuja, Nigeria from November 16th to November 18th, 1997. In an effort
to seek legitimacy on the world stage, it has invited various elected
municipal leaders from around the world, unfortunately, about a hundred
of them responded and agreed to attend the conference. Among this lot,
the most high profile figure is Mayor Marion Barry of Washington DC,
USA, who along with his wife has chosen to participate in the
proceedings.
Mayor Barry's involvement is unfortunately going to give the
illegal
Abacha regime a lot of undeserved publicity and recognition. Since Mayor
Barry has already left for Nigeria, after declaring his intention to do
so with barely hours left before his departure, at this point in time,
the only thing left to do in regards to his trip is to make him issue a
public statement upon his return apologizing for taking part in a
conference which to all intents and purposes is an insult to the
conscience of all freedom loving people worldwide . Even though this
apology cannot erase the fact that he took part in the proceedings, it
would at least serve as a very useful tool to counter the propaganda
which the illegal Abacha regime would undoubtedly put out.
The only way this sort of apology can be extracted is if public
pressure is placed on his office from the grassroots. All it takes is
for you to place a phone call or send a letter, fax or email to his
office expressing your displeasure. You don't necessarily need to be a
DC resident or voter, or even be based in the United States, as the main
goal is just to let him know that global attention has been focused on
his misguided action.
Unfortunately, Marion Barry's office does not have a
conventional email
address, and all email has to be sent through his website at
http://www.ci.washington.dc.us/MAYOR/mform.htm, for those who don't have
access to a web-browser however, please send your letters to the Free
Nigeria Movement at PR@FreeNigeria.org for onward transmission to his
office. For those who can afford it, please call his office or send him
a fax at:
(202) 727-2980 (voice), (202) 727-6561 (fax) or drop him a letter at the
following address:
Mayor Marion Barry
Executive Office of the Mayor
One Judiciary Square
Washington, DC 20001
Your action and support is very important as the only way to cut
the
link between the illegal dictatorship in Nigeria and the powers that be
in the "Free World" is by embarrassing the latter into giving up their
relationship with the former. It worked in the case of South Africa, and
through the efforts of us the people, it shall work in the case of
Nigeria.
Lastly, if your elected municipal official(s) is/are also one of
those
who have gone to Nigeria for this junket, please let us know, and we
shall also target him/her.
Please feel free to forward a copy of this press release to your
local
media and other outlets.
Solidarity,
Free Nigeria Movement
-------------
Nigeria; Nazi Germany of the 90s
- Ibrahim H. Muhammed
For Immediate Release
(Please distribute widely)
Mayor Marion Barry’s trip to Nigeria for “World Conference of Mayors”
Contact: Nasiru Ikharo at +1(317)216-4590 or PR@FreeNigeria.org
Sunday, November 16, 1997
The Free Nigeria Movement (FNM), a global mass movement working
for the
restoration of freedom to Nigeria and its people is dismayed at the
announcement from Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry’s office about his
participation in the “World Conference of Mayors” which is taking place
in Abuja, Nigeria this week.
The FNM is not opposed to the principle of Mayor Barry sharing
his
wealth of experience in a global setting, but is greatly disappointed
that he, a leading voice in the African-American community, would so
brazenly participate in a conference being hosted by the General Sanni
Abacha led Nigerian dictatorship, unarguably the most repressive regime
in Africa today.
The Abacha regime which is sponsoring the “World Conference of
Mayors”
is responsible for unconstitutionally usurping the electoral mandates of
not only the elected President of Nigeria, President Moshood K.O.
Abiola, but also all the other democratically elected leaders of the
Nigerian people, including those in the Nigerian National Assembly
(Congress) (over 500 in number), the governors of the 30 States, the
legislators of the 30 States (over 6,000 in number), and all the elected
local government functionaries (over 20,000 in number), bringing the
total number of usurped mandates to somewhere in the range of 30,000.
Furthermore, the regime has intimidated, bribed, exiled, imprisoned or
murdered all those elected Representatives who have dared to refuse to
compromise their electoral mandates. In this regard, even the
duly-elected and legitimate President and Commander-in-Chief of the
Nigerian Armed Forces, President Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola has
since June 1994 been detained without trial at an unknown location and
under inhumane conditions; his “offense”; daring to insist that the
electoral mandate bestowed on him by the Nigerian people is superior to
the brute force used by General Sanni Abacha and his military
collaborators in seizing the reigns of State power.
It is therefore hard to see exactly what prompted Mayor Barry to
choose
to become a participant in a program being sponsored by a regime with
such a reputation. Furthermore, the information being conveyed by his
office that he is going to address over 700 recently “elected” Nigerian
local officials is extremely flawed based on the fact that the only
legitimate elected Nigerian officials are those of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), both of which
have been declared illegal entities by the Abacha dictatorship, along
with the democratically-elected office holders they produced.
The FNM 1st Vice-President, Alhaji Ibrahim Muhammed, who is
operating
from within Nigeria stated inter alia that “... from all indications
Mayor Barry and all the other democratically-elected Mayors [from
democratic countries] have chosen to make themselves pawns in the
macabre pursuit of the Abacha regime’s quest for legitimacy and
recognition...”, the 1st Vice-President further added that “...if these
people are sincere about having dialogue with Nigerian “Mayors”, and
other principled duly-elected representatives of the Nigerian people,
they should seek them out in the jail cells and graves where they have
been placed by Abacha...”
For his own part, FNM President Tunde Okorodudu, stated inter
alia
that he “...would have expected a Mayor who has no idea of the situation
in Nigeria to take part in such a charade, definitely not Mayor Barry, a
man who is allegedly so afrocentric that he even wears traditional
African costume to work...”, President Okorodudu also added that he was
“...extremely disappointed that principled African-American leaders are
falling for the age old tactic of “divide and rule”, currently being
employed by the illegal Abacha dictatorship to divide support for the
plight of the Nigerian people in the African-American community...”, the
President also added that “...the Conference is composed of three types
of people, those who don’t know about the situation in Nigeria, those
who know about the situation in Nigeria but are turning a blind eye to
it, and those who know, but are pretending that nothing is amiss...”
The FNM has among other accomplishments been instrumental in
passing a
number of selective purchasing/divestment ordinances against the Sanni
Abacha led dictatorship, the most recent being in Alameda County,
California on September 30th, 1997. The FNM has also established a radio
station to broadcast into Nigeria, called the Voice of Free Nigeria
(VoFN), it broadcasts into the country every Saturday evening between
1900-2000 Hrs. GMT. Currently, the FNM is in the process of putting
together a “Government-in-Exile” (GIE), composed solely of the
democratically elected Representatives of the Nigerian people whose
mandates were usurped by the illegal Abacha dictatorship, when fully
constituted, it is intended to serve as the moral voice of the Nigerian
people.
Long live Freedom, Long live the Free Nigeria Movement, Long live the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
On behalf of the Free Nigeria Movement:
Sincerely,
Nasiru Ikharo,
National Information Secretary, FNM