Coordinator of Amalgamation of Northern Women Association (ANWA), Hadiza Adamu, has explained why they are in support of a sovereign state of Biafra, the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria are agitating for.
In a mass protest over the weekend in Abuja, the women group asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to initiate a referendum to enable the people of Eastern Nigeria to realise their much-sought after Biafra Republic.
Hadiza Adamu says they are particularly concerned about the safety of Northerners in the East, the hotbed of the Biafra agitation, pointing out that it will be risky to endanger a section of the country in a deepening political crisis.
The worried women carried placards and banners at the Unity Fountain in Abuja on Saturday, with different inscriptions such as; “allow the Igbos go, we don’t want another civil war”, “Stop killing Northerners in South-East”, “President Buhari should allow a referendum for South-East”, among others.
Spokesperson for the protesters insisted that Northerners irrespective of their tribes were no longer safe in the South-East, adding, ”Nigerian history has shown that women carry the heavy burden of war and acts of insurrections and terrorism.
”We have gone through it from 1967 to 1971, our men died and left us with the children to cater for out of nothing, other men that survived simply moved on, but we never moved on.
”We, therefore, unanimously call on President Buhari as the leader and father of the country and the leadership of the National Assembly, Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to immediately call for a referendum in the country.
”Let people choose to live in peace in Nigeria or leave. Any other group or nationality that wants to secede or exercise their rights of self-determination like the South-East has been agitating for decades can be allowed to leave Nigeria peacefully, without resorting to a second civil war.
”Today the Igbo nation has turned the entire South-East to almost a war zone. Northerners irrespective of their tribes are no longer safe. It is in the light of the above that we are saying enough is enough and let Mr President allow for a referendum that will make Igbos realize their long term dream of being a Biafra nation.
”No more killing of Northerners, no more killing of police officers, no more profiling of Northerners and attacking their businesses.”
For decades, Ndigbo have been crying of marginalisation and injustice by the Federal Government.
The current hot agitation for Biafra is being galvanised by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a mass movement that was misguidedly proscribed by the Buhari administration and tagged a terrorist group.
At the moment, the heightened security situation in the East is being attributed to alleged unwholesome activities of the Biafra agitating group.
