BIAFRA
While the international media have been largely silent on the pro-Biafra agitation that is currently unfolding in Nigeria, a popular British periodical the Economist has finally gathered some facts about the Republic of Biafra to plunge into the depth of its unique history.
Nigeria did not exist until British colonialists drew a line around hundreds of fractious
ethnic groups dominated by the Igbo in the east, the Yoruba in the west, and the Hausa-
Fulani in the north. The country’s regions have jostled for power ever since. Predominantly IGBO protesters have not forgotten that tens of thousands of their people who were killed before BIAFRA unilaterally declared independence in 1967.
This is a concern for Nigeria’s new government. Secessionist organisations in
BIAFRA have been agitating for years, but analysts reckon the scale of the current
marches is unprecedented. Superficially, they were sparked by the
arrest of NNAMDI KANU, the outspoken head of the Indigenous People of BIAFRA (IPOB)
movement, and director of Radio BIAFRA. But the grievances run deep.
Yet over the past month independence protests have erupted in cities across the old-eastren region, where the self-declared state once was. Agitators say that this time they
will not be beaten. “BIAFRA is a country to be restored,” declares one of them. “We are
determined to fight to the end.” Over the years, too many of Nigeria’s politicians have been too busy filling their pockets to think of solving the common underlying problems, ignoring them until they got out of control.
BY CHIGOZIRIM ALEX
EDITOR UDEAGHA OBASI
FOR IPOB WRITERS......
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