The maltreatment unleased on Biafrans by Nigerian Government

It is 50 years since Nigeria brutal civil war calling for the seccession of Biafra started. By the time it ended in 1970 over one million people had perished. Now a new movement has emerge calling for independence. Four old men sitting on a parallel wooden benches, propped up on metal crutches swaying and chanting along to an old battle song. They fought and were crippled in the bloody Biafran war. We went to that war with nothing, we went empty-handed, one of them says. Some held machetes some had sticks. They (Nigerian forces ) had machine guns. It was a desperate fight for survival. But it ended in a cease fire and Biafra became part of Nigeria again. At the end of the war the Nigeria head of state General Yakubu Gowon declared there was no victor, no vanquised. This became the motto of reunification. But for us in the south eastern part of Nigeria the reunion has been an uneasy one because we the Igbos are marginalized in a Nigeria that only serves the interests of the two other main ethnic groups, the Hausa and Yoruba. In almost 30 years of democracy, Nigeria hasn't had an Igbo president. In response to the recent pro-Biafra agitation, a group in northern Nigeria issued a threat, giving all Igbos in the region three months to leave. The move received wildspread condemnation even in the north, but reflected the delicate nature of Nigeria, a country created when hundreds of different ethnic groups were brought together by the British colonial powers. While the Igbos comprise one of the three largest ethnic groups, they have fewer states than the Hauses in the north and the Yorubas in the south west and subsequently get a smaller budget allocation. Top Igbo politicians recently rejected calls for Biafra but stressed the need for fairness and equity. Though some of these leaders are the problem, entrenched in the corruption that plaques Nigerian politics. Mr Nnamdi Kanu who is the overall leader for Biafra movement has called on all Biafra followers to boycott upcoming local and national elections. We the people of the South-east are left with a choice stick with their current leaders and Nigeria or choose a much less certain path