Against the backdrop of bombings and perceived ethnic cleansing in Northern Nigeria, a pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement, BZM, announced yesterday that it had commenced the process to launch the struggle for a State of Biafra with the international community, echoing that the formal declaration of the new Biafra Republic had been slated for November 5.
This disclosure was made at a conference organized by Conference of Igbo Youth Organizations (CIYO).
The organization warned that Ndigbo “would no longer watch in silence while our brothers and sisters are slaughtered like animals” in the Northern States.
National President of BZM, Benjamin Onwuka, at a briefing said what prevented the realization of Biafra republic over the years was the inability to get the support of world powers, like the United States of America to back the project.
“As we approach the end of 13 years since the mobilization and struggle for Biafran Independence began under the aegis of MASSOB and other groups, the people of Biafra have not made much effort in realizing our dreams because the struggle has been internalized since 1999,” Onwuka said.
He expressed regrets that the international community did not know the aspirations of the Biafra people, saying “Biafra must therefore be internationalized because the forces preventing the dreams for our independence are vested in the United Kingdom.
Biafra can only be achieved when we secure the support of the United States of America; the day USA comes to our side, that day we shall be free from Nigeria; the story of South Sudan where a bloody civil war was fought for over 24 years is a typical example.”
Meanwhile, the Igbo youths in a statement endorsed by 10 youth leaders, including the National Coordinator, Igbo Youth Grand Alliance, Dr. Uchenna Uchehara, who read it after their emergency meeting in Owerri yesterday said: “Events of the past few months in Nigeria have become very disturbing to stakeholders, especially the Igbo nation that played a major role in the founding of Nigeria and inspite of the tragedies of the Biafran war, resolved to give total support to one united Nigeria”.
They lamented that the ugly experience of Ndigbo in Nigeria had been the persistent and unprovoked killings of Igbo citizens outside Igbo land.