The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has responded to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent claim that the Biafra secessionist movement is “dead and buried”.
In a statement, the group’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, dismissed Obasanjo’s remarks as “erroneous” and insisted that the movement to restore Biafra is still very much alive.
Speaking at a public event in Anambra State earlier this month, Obasanjo said that Biafra “died and was buried” following the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970.
The war began in 1967 when the predominantly Igbo region of southeastern Nigeria declared independence as the Republic of Biafra. After three years of fighting, during which up to two million people died from famine and war-related causes, Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria.
However, the Biafra movement has remained a potent force in Nigerian politics and society, with many Igbo people continuing to feel marginalized and discriminated against.
IPOB, which was founded in 2012 by Nnamdi Kanu, has been at the forefront of the movement to restore Biafra, and has clashed repeatedly with the Nigerian government.
In its statement, IPOB accused Obasanjo of trying to “blackmail” the movement and said that Biafra would be restored “or we die restoring Biafra”.
The group also highlighted what it called the “Igbophobia” that it says pervades Nigerian society and political discourse, citing the marginalization and persecution of Igbo people, as well as the Nigerian government’s designation of IPOB as a terrorist organization.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
