Pro-Biafran group urges Igbo to boycott 2015 polls

WORRIED by the continued incarceration of 11 of her members, including its leader, a pro Biafran group, the Biafra Zionists Federation (BZF) has called on Ndigbo to boycott the general elections scheduled for March 28 and April 11, 2015.

  BZF said the call became necessary following the refusal of a Federal High Court sitting in Enugu to grant bail to her members who are standing trial for treason.

 The members who were arrested on 5th of June last year, during an invasion of the Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) for the purposes of making alleged live broadcast had since then been in detention.

   Speaking to journalists in Enugu on Sunday, the national chairman of BZF, Comrade Onyia Cyril said any harm done to the detained BZF members was harm on Ndigbo in general.

   He therefore, called on the entire people of South-East not to participate in the election as a show of solidarity to the detained activists.

   According to him: “They 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 forth-coming elections; this is the only honour they should do to these great patriots”.

   Onyia who faulted the reasons given by the court, noted: “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”.

   “So, we are calling on the Federal Government to urgently intervene and see that these harmless freedom fighters are released.