{"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

\"States<\/span>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pro-independence Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) said the meeting failed to reflect the views of the Igbo people.<\/p>\n

“We want Biafra and nothing but Biafra. Nigeria must disintegrate. Her faulty foundation has broken beyond repair,” Massob said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Massob is one of the main groups leading the independence campaign.<\/p>\n

On 30 May, many people in cities and towns across the south-east stayed at home to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the breakaway state of Biafra.<\/p>\n

The 1967 declaration led to a brutal civil war, which claimed the lives of up to a million people, before the secessionist rebellion was defeated by government forces.<\/p>\n

Biafra at a glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • First republic of Biafra was declared by Nigerian military officer Odumegwu-Ojukwu in 1967<\/li>\n
  • He led his mainly ethnic Igbo forces into a deadly three-year civil war that ended in 1970<\/li>\n
  • More than one million people lost their lives, mostly because of hunger<\/li>\n
  • Decades after Biafra uprising was quelled by the military, secessionist groups have attracted the support of many young people<\/li>\n
  • They feel Nigeria’s central government is not investing in the region<\/li>\n
  • The government says their complaints are not particular to the south-east<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    –<\/p>\n

    Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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