BIAFRA NEWS & UPDATESBIAFRA: IPOB STAGES PROTEST IN NEW YORK
yesterday staged a peaceful protest on
the 47th Street, Manhattan, New York,
United States, yesterday to press home
their demands for the Sovereign State of
Biafra and an end to the killings of its
members in the southeast.
The protest held as the 72nd United
Nations General Assembly summit holds
in New York. President Muhammadu
Buhari addressed the summit yesterday.
The protest was to draw the attention of
the world to the happenings in the
southeastern region. Speaking with Daily
Sun, the former Chairman of World Igbo
Congress, Chief Austin Egwuonwu, said
the protest was against the killing of
unarmed youths in the region.
“That has to stop. There has to be other
means to resolve the conflict. This is the
worst way of going about it,” Egwuonwu
said. “Killing people, burying them in a
mass grave is uncalled for, it is wrong.
The leadership of Nigeria has to do
something about it,” He said. Also
speaking, a member of IPOB, Chidi Owoh,
said they were at the venue to protest
the ongoing subjugation of Biafrans in
Nigeria.
“People have to understand what is going
on in Nigeria. Before 1914, we existed as
a people. We were on our own, living our
own norms and values and culture before
the European came. When they came,
for reasons best known to them, they
merged us with so many other tribes.
Just as we see in anywhere where you
have this kind of assignation of people
without agreement, it has not worked
out. There has been chaos,” Owoh said.
He added that their demand was for the
world to compel the Nigerian government
to arrange a referendum for the Biafra
people. “We want to vote in a referendum
whether we want to be part of Nigeria or
leave. That is what we want the world to
do,” he said.
In her comment, Lady Chikwe Njoku, an
indigene of Imo State, said she was at
the venue to protest against the killing of
innocent Igbo youths. “This is nothing but
ethnic and tribal cleansing and it is
wrong. Nigeria has civil leadership and
we are no longer in a military rule.
“I am calling on our president,
Muhammadu Buhari, to call back the
army, withdraw them from the streets,
stop them from killing innocent children,
stop them from killing innocent youths.
These youths are our future. We cannot
allow the military to cleanse them. It is
wrong. This is not about Biafra. This is
about right or wrong, this is about
fairness, this is about equity, this is about
illegal killing of the future of Nigeria,”
Njoku said.
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