Sunday 29 March 2015

BOFF resurrects! Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters claims responsibility for bombing across Biafra

BOFF resurrects! Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters claims responsibility for bombing across Biafra
The Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters (BOFF), a group seeking the freedom of Biafra from Nigeria has claimed the responsibility for several bomb explosions reported across the Biafra yesterday.
Explosions were reported at many polling unit and INEC offcices in Awka, Enugu and other parts, which marred the conduct of the election the affected areas. In a statement released yesterday through their spokesman, Mr okonkwo N. Ukpai, BOFF stated that: "We the Biafra Organisation of Freedom Fighters (BOFF) formed in the year 1969 have woken for the last time and had taken responsibility of the bombings that exploded all over Biafraland. We are motivated by Radio Biafra London (RBL) propagating facts and figures about our dear country, this is to let the world understand when we say we are not Nigerians and can't associate with any activity happening in Nigeria anymore. We are Biafrans not Nigerians and can't vote unless Biafra comes. We use this opportunity to urge all other Biafra agitation group to wake up to realities on ground. We stand to declare that we can no longer be part of any happenings in Nigeria and are ready to take our beloveth Biafra Kingdom freedom by force, this is just the beginning

Related Story:
In Pictures: Biafrans protest Nigeria's election in London. Delivers protest letter to British PM

BOFF was formed at the peak of the Biafra-Nigeria War by Ojukwu. 

According to Prof Chinua Achebe in his memoir There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, Ojukwu created BOFF as a unit that would improve the overall relationship between the Biafran Army and the people it served and on whose behalf it fought. Colonel Ejike Obumneme Aghanya was appointed the chairperson. He had been president of the Nigerian Broadcasting Service Eastern Region. Other staff of the BOFF included Dr Ukwu I. Ukwu, Dr Oyolu and Major Okoye. Ojukwu created BOFF to make Biafran Army different, by making it pay attention to the welfare of the people of Biafra. Young women were also recruited into the BOFF, some whom eventually joined the Biafran Army. 
With the progression of the war BOFF got involved with militaristic operations such as infiltration of enemy camps, guerrilla warfare and propaganda. Col Onwuatuegwu had wanted to transmute BOFF into a full-fledged guerrilla army towards the end of the war, but his entreaties were rejected by authorities at the time.
According to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, her father Prof Okonjo, who was a Brigadier in the Biafran Army, once headed BOFF.
In a related development, Biafrans in United Kingdom protested the Nigerian election in London. Letters of protest were left for the British Government at No 10 Downing Streets by representatives of the Indigenous People of Biafra. The election was also boycotted in some parts of Biafra as a demonstration of Biafra's protest against the election.

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