Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), under the leadership of Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, has called on SouthEast governors in Nigeria to declare 30th May as Biafra Heroes Day.
The group in a statement said it decided to make the call after a thoughtful analysis of the pogrom that led General Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu to Declare independent State of Biafra.
OYC in the statement urged Southeast Governors to Declare 30th May as Biafra Heroes Day Celebration with pronouncement of public Holiday to all affected states during the 1967 to 1970 genocide.
The statement reads: “The Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) implores the Southeast Governors to manifest unwavering courage and conviction by officially recognizing May 30th as Biafra Heroes Day, accompanied by a public holiday to honor the memory of those who laid down their lives to safeguard Alaigbo against the ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the Nigerian federal government in collaboration with the British government in 1967-70
“Southeast Governors shouldn’t play chameleonistic attitude anymore, but learn from Yorubas June 12 celebration. it’s a wake up call for Southeast Governors to honor their brothers and fathers who died in a Battle field in defense of Ndigbo. It’s a generational and social Evil for Southeast Governors to stand aloof over 30th May Biafra Heroes Day.
“We therefore demand that:
“The May 30th should not only be seen as a day of mere commemoration of our heroes but such a day should be eventfully accorded with a deep observance of symposium in the honour of the Biafran fallen heroes who were killed during the calculated genocide against the Igbos aided by Britain, United States of America, Russian and Germany and also in the honour of the recent Indigenous people of Biafrans IPOB/MASSOB members killed during President Olusegun Obasanjo/Mohammed Buhari administration whose their tyrannical 16 years ill-democratic administration were of catastrophic consequences upon the Igbos as endangered species in Nigeria.
“That 30th May should also be a day set aside to have creative discussions and lecture series to continuously design possible ways for economic development, sustainability and that of emancipation of Ndigbo in this contraption called Nigeria.
“Ohanaeze Youth Council(OYC) call on State house of assembly from Igbo extraction to pass a Bill adopting 30th May as a heroes day Commemoration in Igboland.
“That the Ohanaeze Youth Council, knowing that Ndigbo are the largest African race with the total population strength of 42.8% of the Nigeria population, therefore, accepts and adopts the May 30th as Heroes Day in propitiation and to appease the spirits of the thousands of Igbos and/or innocent Igbo children and pregnant women killed with policy of starvation introduced by Gen. Yakubu Gowon as advised by Chief Obafemi Awolowo supported and rationalised by Britain, USA, Russia, and Germany from 1967 to 1970.
“May 30th day commemoration should create room for a meeting point for all Igbos both home and abroad to discuss fundamental issues for a wider political development, cultural development and economic empowerment of Ndigbo.
“That Ohanaeze Youth Council uses this opportunity to call on the Igbo technocrats outside Igboland to use May 30th to locate home and offer their professional services to the overall developments of Igboland and to identify the bane of Southeast development with a view to ending the plethora of challenges facing our people.
“That, finally, the federal government of Nigeria should stop the illegal trial against the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi kanu and granted him unconditional release and pay him due compensation for four (4)years incarceration in DSS dungeon.
“As the new generation of Igbo extraction, who did not witness the 1967-70 genocide against the Igbos, we are, after 58 years, unequivocally convinced that Nigeria was created to fail, and as a failed state, we strongly advocate for a referendum in Nigeria to enable different tribes or regions to determine their stance on Nigeria’s current state.”