South-South not part of Biafra, IYC tells MASSOB

THE Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide has said that the South-South region is not part of Biafra and called on the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra to stop claiming that states in the region are among the territories of Biafra.

IYC said in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mr. Henry Iyalla, and issued in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, decried a statement credited to one of MASSOB leaders, Solomon Chukwu, that the South-South region was part of the Biafran territory.

Explaining that Chukwu’s statement, which was published in some national dailies on Tuesday June 6, 2017, the IYC pointed out that the Ijaw and Niger Delta struggle for self-determination predated the agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra.

“The attention of the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide has been drawn to a statement credited to one MASSOB leader, Solomon Chukwu, published in some newspapers of Tuesday June 6, 2017, declaring that the South-South region is included in the territory of Biafra which MASSOB, IPOB and other self-determination movements are agitating for.

“This comment has been made by other Biafra leaders in different fora. For the records, the IYC wishes to state as follows; that the Ijaw and Niger Delta people identifies with the Biafra struggle for self-determination.

“However, we wish to state clearly that the Ijaw and Niger Delta struggle for self-determination predates the Biafra agitations. It is on record that even before the Biafra declaration of independence in 1967, Major Jasper Adaka Boro, during the 12 days revolution, declared a Niger Delta Republic in 1966.

“This was before the advent and struggle for the actualisation of Biafra. The Ijaw and Niger Delta people had always maintained separate and distinct identity from our Igbo brothers of the South East,” the statement read in part.”