On November 29, 2024, the United States of Biafra once again declared their independence from Nigeria. The move comes more than 57 years after the long persecuted and overwhelmingly Christian region first asserted their independence from Nigeria. After that declaration, Nigeria reacted with seeking genocide against Igbo of Biafra, killing more than 100,000 outright and then starving two million more in a land and sea blockade. Muhammadu Buhari, one of its perpetrators, used his legacy in Biafra to propel himself twice into the presidency; both times, he unleashed Islamist militias into the region to slaughter Christians.
Biafra deserves independence. It was an ancient kingdom. Travelers and cartographers spoke of Biafra beginning in the 15th century through the 19th century, though the British creation of Nigeria in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries incorporated and forcibly subjugated the Igbo people into the new British colonial project. While Nigerian leaders often embrace the rhetoric of decolonization, they remain oblivious to the fact that many of Nigeria’s peoples—and especially the Igbo who seek Biafra’s restoration—see Nigeria as a colonial project.
19fortyfive.com/2024/12/biaf…