IPOB bans Independence Day celebrations in Southeast, caution govs, leaders

Celebrations commemorating Nigeria’s independence on October 1 have been banned by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, throughout the region’s southeastern states.

Emma Powerful, a spokesperson for IPOB, called for residents in the Southeast to skip the area’s Independence Day celebration.

According to those in positions of power, the Nigerian government does not like the Igbo and has consistently ignored demands for fair treatment in the Southeast.

IPOB issued a statement signed by Powerful asking governors and other political figures in the Southeast to skip the October 1 independence day celebration.

It reads in part, “The global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by the Supreme leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU hereby call on Biafrans both home and in diaspora to shun participation in the Nigeria Independent day celebration on 1st October 2023.”

All thinking people in Biafra need to know that the people of Nigeria, and the Ndigbo in particular, hate them. All of our attempts to be recognized as lawful citizens in Nigeria have been met with hostility. Biafrans have been politically and economically oppressed by Nigeria. Since Nigeria has turned its back on us, we will no longer participate in any of her festivities.

Time and again, the Nigerian government and people have shown that we are not a part of them; as a result, we must do everything in our power to break free of Nigeria’s shackles. After the charade they called the 2023 elections, a cretin would have realized that Nigeria is not for Ndigbo and Biafrans.

Our region’s governors and political leaders have been urged to skip the October 1st Independence ceremony as the Nigerian government prepares to honor the country’s flag’s independence from Britain. We strongly urge all Biafrans, both inside and outside of Biafra, to stay away from any Independence Day celebrations.

This is why, starting of October 1, 2023, “IPOB has banned the celebration of Independence Day and the flying of Nigeria flags in any part of Biafraland.”