Biafra: Intimidation, harassment, arrest and detention will not stop the struggle
The past few weeks, we have seen protests across the southeast where the Igbos are in the majority, following the arrest last month of Radio Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu.
The protesters were seen carrying Kanu’s portrait, the Biafran flag and chanting freedom songs, the protesters called for his release and a separate state. One slogan read “Biafra or death.”
Though the Nigerian army has vowed to “suppress insurrection and act in aid of civil authority to restore order when called upon to do so,” stoking fears of a backlash and unrest.
Southeast governors have condemned the mass protests, questioning why the pro-Biafra campaign has re-emerged with a new government in place under President Muhammadu Buhari.
What People Are Saying:
Anayochukwu Okpara, the IPOB coordinator in Abia state’s commercial hub, Aba, has said that, intimidation, harassment, arrest and detention would not stop the struggle.
“We will step up non-violent campaigns to demand freedom from Nigeria. We are Biafrans. This forced marriage should be dissolved,” he said.
Patrick Odife, a 60-year-old textile trader in Onitsha, said “the Biafra flame is burning again because nothing has changed since the civil war.”
“The younger generation of Ndigbo (Igbos) are bitter about the structure of Nigeria,” he added.
“They believe that the structure is skewed against them, in politics, in education, in the provision of social infrastructure.”
Chukwuemeka Ezeobika, said “The southeast has been neglected by successive governments in Nigeria in the area of good roads, hospitals, seaports and jobs,”
Many Igbos were forced to abandon their properties in Nigeria during civil war and have not been able to recover them, making many feel “like a defeated people”, he added.
“The slogan ‘No victor, no vanquished’, declared by Nigerian head of state General Yakubu Gowon after the war, is a myth,” he said.
Businessman Ndubusi Ikemefuna, in Aba, called for the government to treat everyone fairly, irrespective of tribe, religion and social status, and had a stark warning if that failed.
“The lingering Boko Haram insurgency will be a child’s play compared to the scale of ethnic violence that will consume Nigeria unless the right thing is done for all,” he said.
-Aba City
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