Biafra Zionists Federation urge Igbos to boycott election
-- “any harm done to the detained pro-Biafran is a harm done to all Igbos.”
-- “We urge all worthy Igbo sons and daughters not to participate in the forthcoming elections – this is the only honour they should do to these great patriots.”
The Biafra Zionists Federation, a pro-Biafran secession group, on Sunday called on the Igbos to boycott the general elections scheduled for March 28 and April 11.
The boycott is proposed as a show of solidarity with 11 members of the BZF, including the leader, Ben Onwuka, who were arrested during an attempt to declare the secession of the Republic of Biafra from the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the studio of the Enugu State Broadcasting Service on June 5, 2014.
Onwuka and the 10 members of the BZF are currently remanded in prison following treason charges filed against them by the Federal Government.
Urging Igbos to boycott the general elections, the pro-Biafra movement expressed anger that a Federal High Court, sitting in Enugu, had on February 19 refused to grant bail to Onwuka and the others.
National Chairman of BZF, Comrade Cyril Onyia, at a news conference in Enugu, called on the entire people of the South-East to boycott the election as a show of solidarity with the detained activists, who he said were in custody because they were fighting for the liberation of all Igbos.
Onyia argued that “any harm done to the detained pro-Biafra secessionists is a harm done to all Igbos.”
He said, “They (arrested BZF members) have been in prison custody not because they are pursuing a selfish cause but for the singular reason that they are demanding the liberation of Ndigbo.
“To this end, we urge all worthy Igbo sons and daughters not to participate in the forthcoming elections – this is the only honour they should do to these great patriots.”
Faulting the court’s refusal to grant bail to the 11 BZF members, Onyia said, “It is indeed very surprising that the court refused them bail on the grounds that they may cause security breach within this period.
“It is surprising because the BZF does not believe in violence, neither does it associate with any violent group. We can never disrupt any election, even though we shall abstain from voting.
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