The Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), has cautioned the Federal Government and its security agencies that Biafra as the rallying force of the Igbo nation, cannot be wished away either by ban, force of law.
The ADF which made this known in a statement to commemorate the May 30th Biafra Remembrance Day celebration, also proposed May 30 every year to be observed as a Remembrance Day – “a day to remember our history, to review our successes and failures, to remember those who have died fighting for the Igbo cause and also think of our future”.
The statement, which was co-signed by ADF President, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala; Secretary, Prof. Nath Aniekwu, and Publicity Secretary, Col. Justino Ezeoke (rtd), affirmed that it is in the light of the importance of May 30 to Alaigbo that the ADF supported the observance of May 30, 2018 and activities lined out for the day by different Igbo organisations.
“Events in Alaigbo on May 30, 2018, once more shows that May 30 has become an official Igbo Remembrance Day, not only in Alaigbo but throughout the entire world, where Igbo live.
“Notable media organs report high level compliance by Umuigbo to the call for sit-at-home order by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
“From London to Johannesburg, to several cities in Europe, Asia, America and Canada, the story is the same, with various activities organised by Umuigbo and their friends to mark the occasion.
“Last year, on May 30, 2017, the entire Alaigbo was shut down; markets, shops, schools and offices closed, while streets were deserted to mark the Remembrance Day.
“ADF is fully aware that May 30 is a day in the history of Alaigbo, deeply rooted in the hearts of our people, and which nobody can wish away or ban by force of law, or prevent by force of arms.
“It is in the light of this that ADF has fully supported the observance of May 30, 2018 and activities lined out for the day by different Igbo organisations,” ADF said.
The group pointed out that the total compliance of the 2017 and 2018 sit-at-home call by some Igbo groups throughout the length and breadth of Alaigbo, was not because the pan-Igbo organisations had become their supreme authorities, but that the call evoked intense yearning in the innermost recesses of their hearts and minds.
“Biafra evokes intense longing for freedom for our people. Biafra is indeed more than a state of the mind. It is also a material force that moves our people.
“Why will Biafra not be in their mind? Why will Biafra not symbolise their longing for freedom, when their predicament since the Amalgamation in 1914 up to the Biafra Declaration on My 30, 1967, and ever since?
“Biafra has been a continuous state of estrangement, brutal attacks and punitive measures against their spiritual, economic, political and physical survival?
“The ADF, therefore, proposes that we should turn May 30 every year to be observed as a Remembrance Day – a day to remember our history, to review our successes and failures, to remember those who have died fighting for the Igbo cause and also think of our future,” Nwala said.
Authority
0 Comments