By Igboville Members

1. Nigeria is an oil rich country and a regional power in West Africa. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country with a population of more than 160 million people. There are three major ethnic groups, the Igbo (also known as Ibo) and the Yoruba in the South, and the Hausas in the North. There are about 250 other smaller groups in the federation. The Hausa are predominantly Muslims, and live in the Northern part of Nigeria, the Yoruba are split almost evenly between Muslims and Traditionalists or Christians, and live in the South-Western part of Nigeria, and the Igbo, 99% Christians, live in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.

2. In 1914 the Southern and Northern protectorates of the British Colonies were amalgamated into one country – Nigeria – without due consultation with the colonies or national conference on nationhood convened for the people to work out their own destiny. The consequence is that the country has been plagued with mutual distrust between regions, tribalism, ethnic squabbles, sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing, sporadic violence and terrorism, civil wars, and increasing violence and terrorism in recent times.

THE IGBO NATION

3. The Igbos inhabit the South-Eastern (popularly referred to as the East) part of Nigeria with a population of over 50 million. They speak the Igbo language and are predominantly Christians. A land blessed with human and mineral resources including oil. The Igbos are very commercially inclined and extremely industrious. The Igbos as a people had an established democratic institution even before colonization by the British. They are very republican and egalitarian in nature, and coexisted peacefully with their neighbours prior to colonization.

4. Today the Igbos of Nigeria have demonstrated to the world their commitment to peaceful coexistence by refusing to take up arms for self-preservation in the face of a targeted, determined and unrelenting genocide in the Northern part of Nigeria, by appealing to the UN and the International Community for immediate response and protection of Igbos (Ndigbo) of Nigeria. Today we have decided to bring to the attention of the International community the enormity of the crime against humanity, the despicable carnage, the pogrom, the ethnic cleansing going on in Nigeria today.

5. As you are reading this, the massacre is on-going with outrageous ferocity and wicked intent aimed at wiping the Igbos off the face of the earth. We continue to bury our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in thousands every week, and every month. We have watched our daughters and wives publicly Molested and butchered, pregnant women’s stomach cut open and the foetus removed and killed, bosom feeding mothers have had their bosoms cut off and allowed to bleed to death. Hundreds have been burnt alive, and the world is silent.

6. Innocent and law abiding citizens whose only crimes have been their industriousness, mobility, and Christianity continue to face the threat of extinction everyday. We have been persecuted and have even fought back against our powerful persecutors for more than half a century now. Rather than bring us peace and security, the silent support of some International bodies has increased the advantage of our oppressors over us.

http://www.nairaland.com/852961/genocide-nigeria-igbos-face-extinction

Photo report. The explosion, on July 3, a tanker in the town of Sange, in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has 235 dead.

http://www.afrik-news.com/

As I mentioned in the comment at top I could not verify the authenticity of the origin of the photo at top... I shall replace it with that of the Igbo chiefs discussing saving their language...

only an accident — my apologies...

Gus: I get a lot of emails about links and information, daily. A lot of it is garbage or unreliable... This one came from a usually reliable source who obviously had goofed. Further search proved the original email wrong... 

I should have gone to :

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/nigerian-church-massacre.shtml

If one cannot rely on priests to tell the truth, who can you rely on? Politicians? Journalists?

http://www.masdecerca.com/2011/11/juan-carlos-martos-cmf-pastoral-vocacional-en-la-asamblea-general-de-la-confer/