A team of Igbo leaders under the
aegis of Alaigbo Development Foundation and South-East Elders’ Forum have
submitted a petition on the plight of Igbo people in Nigeria to the United
States House of Representatives and the United Nations headquarters.
Ikedife said “the two bodies made
up of traditional rulers, religious leaders, academicians, technocrats and
leaders of thought in many fields of human endeavour in Igbo land were
concerned about the ethnic group, Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.”
The petition submitted by the
Igbo leaders read, “We have suffered genocidal crimes committed against us by
Nigerians, especially those of the Northern Nigeria, dating back to 1945.
“This climaxed in the pogrom of
1966/67. By the general agreement of the people of Eastern Nigeria, we decided
to distance ourselves from the rest of Nigeria, based on many waves of
unjustified killings.
“We, therefore, elected to be
known as people of independent state of Biafra in 1967.
‘’Immediately after this, Nigeria
with her allies, declared war on this young state of Biafra.
“Unprepared, unexpected, we were
forced to defend ourselves for 30 months before we were overwhelmed by complete
blockade, starvation, heavy indiscriminate bombing of churches, markets and
other public places.
“We were forced to surrender to
Nigeria’s allied forces on January 12, 1970, to save the rest of the Igbo
population from complete eradication.
“Despite the window dressing
declaration of ‘no victor, no vanquished and the policy of rehabilitation,
reconstruction and reintegration, economic strangulation and systematic
exclusion of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria (Biafra) had followed since
then.
“Unprovoked, unjustifiable
sporadic killings of the Igbo had continued with instances of the Igbo massacre
in Jos and the Kano genocide which culminated in the 1966 pogrom,” the petition
said.
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Nice one, all hail Biafra
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