Women group lauds commendation of civil war victims

• Urges Gowon to reveal truth about war
Igbo women under the aegis of Igbo Women Assembly (IWA) have said that it is proper and ideal to honour war victims by country, groups, relatives, survivor-colleagues or families, even if this is done on the date such war ended.

The group declared this at the weekend while reacting to the commemoration of the remembrance of the victims of the Nigeria Civil War that ended on May 30, 1970, during which thousands of citizens, including soldiers, civilians, adults, children, males and females lost their lives fighting in the war, or killed by prevailing hunger and hardship.

Some Nigerians had decried the remembrance of the civil war victims, accusing the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the declaration or imposition of sit-at-home or business-free activities in the South-East region.

In the South-East region, where there were more victims than in other parts of the country, May 30 every year was set aside to make the citizenry remember and honour the victims of this war by staying in their homes (sit-at-home) and pray that such calamity never repeats in the country.

IWA’s National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, said that such days should also be used to remember other fallen heroes and heroines, positing that this has been a global practice, warning that doing so should not be criminalised or misinterpreted to be a misconception.

“There is actually nothing wrong with honouring victims of the Nigerian civil war, contrary to misconceptions,” she said.

IWA urged General Yakubu Gowon, who was Nigeria’s military head of state during the said civil war, to let Nigerians know more about the war, including the Ghana (Aburi) Accord, and “not to die with the truth about the accord and the real cause of the war”.

Chimezie, who opined that the Biafra Remembrance Day that has become part of Nigeria’s history, which cannot be suppressed, commended all those who, despite all odds, observed the sit-at-home in honour of all those who died in the cause of “the avoidable war.”