This report aims to not only explore the rise of the Biafra project but to also explain why the rise in direct response to Nigeria’s political climate as perceived by the Igbos. Furthermore, since the marginalization of Igbos is not actively discussed in Nigeria’s political circle, reportage that examines this would have to reveal the unspoken alliances.
The Federal government in Nigeria is actively sabotaging political aspirations of the Igbos with a view to preventing the ethnic group from attaining the much-coveted role of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I come from a political family and politics has always been a primary interest of mine and has led me to be a vocal advocate for ethnic representation in Nigeria’s political sphere.
Being an Igbo man myself, I am keenly aware of the views, opinions and feeling of the Igbos as an ethnic group and this is very much willing to be a part of the solution.
Born and bred in the Igbo heartland, I have cultivated contacts within the Biafran movement which afford me access to high-level personnel who would prove a veritable goldmine of information on the demands of the Biafra project.
Here a list of people I contacted for insight information on this issue. I won’t be able to release some names, unfortunately, these are politicians.
Professor Toyin Falola: Toyin Omoyeni Falola is a Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies. He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, USA. He is a Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria and of the Nigerian Academy of Letters as well as the author and editor of more than one hundred books, and he is the general editor of the Cambria African Studies Series.
Professor Toyin Falola says that that the advent of an Igbo president, with all the power and authority the position confers, could lead to the fracturing of the country. Such a candidate might be sympathetic to the Biafra agitators and take steps to facilitate secession.
One time chief security officer of Nigeria had something to say.
A onetime CSO to the son of an ex-president opines that the resurgence of the Biafra movement is in many ways antithetical to the quest for power sharing and equal representation the Igbo quest for and the Nigerian government’s continual mismanagement of the situation only serves to make matters worse
I got in contact with some Biafran agitators, who felt they were being marginalized from this current government and they had this to say.
Biafra agitators revealed that the sentiment of marginalisation is growing in the community considering the recent Fulani herdsmen attacks that have been perpetuated by the Northerners
The government’s failure to address this issue has been linked to the fact that the current president is from the northern parts of the country and most his political base resides there and this has made it difficult for him to take any substantive action against the Fulani herdsmen. This further underscores the plight of the Igbo who feel they are without a voice in the country’s halls of power and are thus left to fend and defend themselves.
From my findings based on my sources its clear that “The interviews showed that it is largely believed that the ascendance of an Igbo man to the post of head of state would do much to alleviate the plight of the Igbo communities which are largely in a state of decay and disrepair”.
