By
John Owen Nwachukwu :
A team of Igbo leaders
under the aegis of Alaigbo Development Foundation and South-East Elders’ Forum
have submitted a petition on the plight of Igbo people in Nigeria to the United
States House of Representatives and the United Nations headquarters.
A member of the
delegation, Dr Dozie Ikedife explained that the team spent some weeks in the US
to ensure that the message was delivered to the recipients for necessary
action.
Ikedife said “the two
bodies made up of traditional rulers, religious leaders, academicians,
technocrats and leaders of thought in many fields of human endeavour in Igbo
land were concerned about the ethnic group, Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the
world.”
The petition submitted
by the Igbo leaders read, “We have suffered genocidal crimes committed against
us by Nigerians, especially those of the Northern Nigeria, dating back to 1945.
“This climaxed in the
pogrom of 1966/67. By the general agreement of the people of Eastern Nigeria,
we decided to distance ourselves from the rest of Nigeria, based on many waves
of unjustified killings.
“We, therefore, elected
to be known as people of independent state of Biafra in 1967.
‘’Immediately after
this, Nigeria with her allies, declared war on this young state of Biafra.
“Unprepared, unexpected,
we were forced to defend ourselves for 30 months before we were overwhelmed by
complete blockade, starvation, heavy indiscriminate bombing of churches,
markets and other public places.
“We were forced to
surrender to Nigeria’s allied forces on January 12, 1970, to save the rest of
the Igbo population from complete eradication.
“Despite the window
dressing declaration of ‘no victor, no vanquished and the policy of
rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration, economic strangulation and
systematic exclusion of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria (Biafra) had
followed since then.
“Unprovoked,
unjustifiable sporadic killings of the Igbo had continued with instances of the
Igbo massacre in Jos and the Kano genocide which culminated in the 1966
pogrom,” the petition said.