Biafra Heroes Day: Multiple Reasons to Sit at Home

Dave Umahi | Biafra Writers

May 12, 2019

From the first day Britain executed its coup against the indigenous nationalities living in the contraption they called Nigeria in 1914, Biafrans have been clear targets for mass murder. The reasons were obvious; the Biafrans were republican in nature, as well as democratic. They abhor dictatorship and feudalism, and therefore would not accept what Northern Nigeria would bring to the table.

Even though the British leaders at the time called what they did amalgamation, they knew very well that it was their first step in handing over the reins of leadership to the Fulani oligarchy, its house-slaves. Britain wanted a group of anarchists they would supply the jackboot with which to hold down the Biafrans and help them (the British) to prosecute their plan of long time looting of Biafran resources. The Fulani was tailor-made for the job.

They (the Fulani) are not indigenous to the land like the Biafrans and the other nationalists. They are feudalistic, expansionistic, mean, cunning and petty. To crown it all, they have no value for human life.  These qualities they judiciously employed against the Hausas and other indigenous peoples of the North when they (Fulani) took their lands by force of arms and sheer cunningness.

The Fulani were, and still are the only group of people that will kill off an entire town or village, chase the remnants away, and then take their lands. It happened in the past and even now it is happening under this malodorous regime of Jubril Aminu of Sudan, who they have brought in to impersonate late President Muhammadu Buhari – just to stay in power and continue with their evil mission of subduing all the indigenous peoples in the contraption called the zoo.

The republican and democratic in nature of Biafrans made them a stench to the British rulers and their Fulani house-slaves since the amalgamation. The Biafrans were therefore marked for complete extermination. This was why the first murder of Biafrans in Kafanchan in 1017, during the railway construction there was not investigated. Nobody was arrested and nobody was tried or jailed. The perpetrators had done a good job, the authorities must have thought.

There were several others before the big one – the anti-Igbo pogrom of 1966 meted against the Igbo and other non-Igbo speaking Biafrans of old Eastern Nigeria living in the northern hemisphere. It started in May 1966 and reached its peak after 29 September, 1966. Nothing less than 70,000 people were massacred by Northerners under the guidance of Fulani oligarchy.

The enormity of casualties and the failed peace talk at Aburi led to the declaration of Biafra as a sovereign state, the Biafrans realizing that they were no longer safe in the contraption. Rather than deal with the issue humanly, the British incited the Fulani oligarchy all the more, leading to more atrocities and mass murders under the guise of bringing the Biafrans back into Nigeria.

Such other atrocities included the Asaba massacre of early October 1967. About a thousand civilians were rounded up and executed by northern army officers. The Asaba massacre clearly showed the intent of the perpetrators. They were set to kill-off every Biafran above the age of six, so that the social, cultural, and political configuration of the people would be completely changed without much opposition.

Well, Biafran heroes stood firm and fought gallantly, rebuffing the Islamic aggression. This is part of the reason why Biafrans will be staying back home on May 30. It is so scheduled to remember and honour the gallant men and women who stood strong and died that we may live. Biafrans will be remembering also the children who were starved to death because Nigerian government, through the help of Britain, blockaded Biafra.

The leadership of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has upped the reasons why Biafrans must sit at home on May 30 to honour their dead. It said: “This year’s remembrance and sit-at-home order will be special because it will present a unique moment of shared pains and misery for all the families that lost their loved ones to war, hunger, starvation, disease, terrorism and state sponsored killings going on now in Nigeria.

“We remember the heroic few that stood up against tyranny especially those that sacrificed their lives to defend the defenseless and those that lost their lives because there was no one to defend them.”

It asked the Middle-belt people and Yoruba brethren to join in making it historic; to honour the memory of all that died unjustly in Nigeria. IPOB added: “We are calling on all the people of Southern Kaduna, Middle Belt … especially Benue, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, and all those affected by herdsmen terrorism in Ondo, Osun and other states in Yoruba land to join the great family of IPOB in observing a day of solemn prayer and sit-at-home to remember those who lost their lives unlawfully at the hands of Fulani terrorist herdsmen and security agencies even during the recently concluded fraudulent 2019 general elections.”
There are several other atrocities done to the Biafran people by the Zoo called Nigeria which time and space will not permit us to state here. But the fact is that there are multiple reasons why Biafrans must remember their dead on May 30th this year. To remember them is a task that must be done.


The Biafra Times
Edited by Nelson Ofokar Yagazie
Publisher: Chijindu Benjamin Ukah
Contact us: biafrawriters.org