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.
Go your own way
Half a century after the war,
angry Biafrans are agitating
again
Most Nigerians do not
remember their country’s civil
war. A large majority were born
years after the 30-month fight
between Nigeria and the
breakaway region of Biafra,
which ended when the
secessionists surrendered in
1970.
Yet over the past month
independence protests have
erupted in cities across the
south-east, 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.”
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, a pirate station. But
the grievances run deep.
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 were
killed before Biafra unilaterally
declared independence in 1967.
Between 1m and 3m people died
during the war, many as the
rebel territory was starved into
defeat. In the 45 years since the
war ended, they feel they have
been blocked from senior
political posts, denied public
services, and impoverished by a
post-war programme that they
say auctioned off their houses
and returned just £20 ($320, in
today’s money) to them.
In the presidential election in
March most south-easterners
voted for the incumbent,
Goodluck Jonathan, who comes
from their region. He lost to
Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim
from the north.
“#NigeriaWillRot”, Mr Kanu’s
radio station declared after the
results were announced.
https://www.naij.com/650656-biafra-restored-nigeria-will-rot-european-newspaper-biafra-protests.html