On Monday, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) called on members of the National Assembly, governors of Southeast, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo to back the initiative for the actualization of Biafra.

The statement was made by IPOB in opposition to the demolition of Igbo-owned buildings in Lagos.

According to IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful, the destruction of Igbo-populated markets is a sign that the Igbo people are no longer welcomed in Nigeria.

Part of a statement released by Powerful states: “We, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) family and global movement, denounce the economic sabotage that the Lagos State administration has perpetrated against the Ndigbo people, as well as the governors’, Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s, and Southeast Regional National Assembly members’ silence on the matter.

“Igbo leaders’ criminal silence demonstrates that they are either cowards or covertly assist the economic sabotage against the Ndigbo people.

“It is regrettable that neither Ohanaeze Ndigbo nor any Igbo politician has openly stood up for our people against the Lagos State Government’s intimidation and humiliation.” What has caused Ohaneze Ndigbo and Igbo political leaders to be so submissive and cowardly that they are unable to denounce the Lagos State Government’s systematic devastation of Ndigbo’s assets and ethnic profiling together? Why are these men so terrified to defend Ndigbo in the same Nigeria that they so fervently strive to support and claim to be a part of?

“Igbo politicians, governors, senators, representatives, traditional leaders, businesspeople, Ohaneze Ndigbo global leaders, and religious leaders ought to convene to deliberate on strategies for securing Igbo investments and businessmen in Lagos State. Politicians and Yoruba organisations are working together to oppose Ndigbo in Lagos State. As a result, our people ought to speak out against the Yoruba people and others who support them taking action against the Ndigbo.

“The same wind that drove Biafrans to separate the damnable Zoological Republic of Nigeria and form the Independent State of Biafra in the 1960s is blowing again. Ndigbo marketplaces and private homes in Lagos State being forcibly seized by the state government, while Ndigbo in the North are being systematically and covertly slaughtered. Nigeria won’t withstand this newfound xenophobia and aim of ethnic cleansing directed on the Ndigbo people. As long as Nigeria’s rulers keep up their efforts to suppress the Ndigbo, the Ndigbo and Biafran people will continue to thrive and Nigeria would eventually fall into a chasm.

“The deliberate destruction of Ndigbo-owned property and the illegal, recurrent lockout of Igbo marketplaces in Lagos demonstrate the Ndigbo people’s lack of necessity in Nigeria. Thus, the international world, UN, AU, and ECOWAS should step up and demand the peaceful separation of Biafra from Nigeria by a UN-supervised referendum in order to prevent another civil war in Nigeria.