Igbo Genocide Day of Remembrance on 29 May

Thursday 29 May 2014, seven weeks away, is the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Igbo genocide. Starting from that fateful mid-morning of Sunday 29 May 1966 and through the course of 44 months of indescribable barbarity and carnage not seen in Africa for 60 years, the composite institutions of the Nigeria state, civilian and military, murdered 3.1 million Igbo people or one-quarter of this nation’s population. The Igbo genocide is the foundational genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa. It inaugurated Africa’s current age of pestilence.

This year’s commemoration will, as in the past, be a day of meditation and remembrance in every Igbo household in Igboland and the 10-million Igbo diaspora  for the 3.1 million murdered, gratitude and thanksgiving for those who survived, and the collective Igbo rededication to achieve the urgent goal of the restoration of Igbo sovereignty and justice. There will also be lectures, discussions and exhibitions on varying features and phases of the genocide organised by individuals, students, the youth, women, family unions, village, town, district, regional and professional associations. This is now time to begin to prepare for the elaborate and expansive worldwide jubilee commemoration on 29 May 2016 – 50th anniversary of the genocide.

The 50 million Igbo people heartily welcome all peoples of goodwill across the world to join them in commemorating the 48th anniversary of the launch of the genocide.

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe