{"id":333774,"date":"2017-07-04T06:31:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T06:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=333774"},"modified":"2017-07-04T06:31:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T06:31:40","slug":"nigerias-igbo-leaders-reject-call-for-biafra-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/nigerias-igbo-leaders-reject-call-for-biafra-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria’s Igbo leaders reject call for Biafra state"},"content":{"rendered":"
Powerful Igbo leaders in Nigeria have rejected calls for the breakaway state of Biafra to be created for their ethnic group in the south-east.<\/p>\n
Their intervention is seen as an attempt to defuse escalating tensions between rival communities in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
However, a pro-secessionist group says it will press ahead with its campaign.<\/p>\n
Security forces have killed at least 150 people since August 2015 to quell pro-independence protests, Amnesty International says.<\/p>\n
The campaign has also fuelled tension in northern Nigeria, where some youth groups have retaliated by threatening to expels Igbos who live there.<\/p>\n
So, the statement by Igbo leaders pledging loyalty to Nigeria could help ease tension in the north, says the BBC’s Naziru Mikailu in the capital, Abuja.<\/p>\n
Following a specially convened meeting in the Igbo heartland of Enugu city to discuss the crisis, state governors, lawmakers, traditional and religious leaders issued a statement on Sunday to give their “full support” to a “united Nigeria”.<\/p>\n
However, the statement called for the vast and oil-rich West African state to be “restructured” to achieve a “a just and equitable society”.<\/p>\n
Many people in the south-east accuse successive governments of failing to develop their areas.<\/p>\n