By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called on Biafrans at home and across the world to observe a solemn and dignified day today, Saturday, May 30, 2026 of remembrance of the millions of men, women, and children whose lives were lost during the Biafran struggle for survival.

In a statement on Friday by IPOB's Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group described the day as not merely a date on a calendar but a sacred covenant between the living and the dead.

The statement partly reads: "As long as there remains a single child with Biafran blood flowing through his or her veins, the memory of our fallen heroes and heroines shall never perish.

"Their sacrifices are engraved not only upon the soil of our homeland but upon the conscience of history itself.

"There are those who would prefer that we forget. There are those who wish that the mass suffering, starvation, bombardment, displacement, and deaths that occurred during the Biafran conflict should disappear from public memory.

"There are those who believe that with the passage of time, silence will replace truth. They are mistaken.

"The memory of our departed fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and children is not negotiable. It cannot be erased by propaganda, political convenience, or historical revisionism.

"Every 30th of May stands as a solemn reminder that an entire people once faced annihilation and yet survived. Against overwhelming odds, against powerful international interests, and against forces determined to extinguish their aspirations, the Biafran people endured. We survived because the Almighty God ordained that we should survive."

IPOB observed that though history records many great tragedies, the story of Biafra remains one of the most painful chapters in modern African history.

It noted that it was a conflict that drew in global powers and competing geopolitical interests, a battlefield upon which international rivalries were played out while innocent civilians paid the ultimate price.

According to the group, the world witnessed immense human suffering whichever included starvation of children, devastation of communities, adding that the world saw a people struggling simply to exist.

It said: "Yet despite everything, Biafra was not erased. The spirit of our people survived. The courage of our fathers survived. The prayers of our mothers survived. The dreams of our children survived. And because they survived, we gather today not in bitterness, but in remembrance.

"This year's commemoration carries particular significance as renewed debates continue regarding the origins of the conflict and the events that led to war.

"While many narratives have been written and rewritten over the decades, historical records, testimonies, and surviving documents continue to remind the world that the questions surrounding justice, accountability, and political restructuring remain part of the enduring conversation about Nigeria's history.

"For this reason, Biafra Heroes Remembrance Day remains not only a memorial for the fallen but also an opportunity for reflection upon the lessons of history and the necessity of truth. We remember the soldiers who stood when retreat seemed easier.

"We remember the scientists who created hope from scarcity. We remember the mothers who buried their children and continued to pray.

We remember the children whose names history never recorded.

"We remember the civilians who perished in villages, towns, markets, churches, hospitals, and refugee camps. We remember every family forever altered by loss. Their sacrifice purchased our collective memory.

“Their suffering imposes upon us a sacred duty. That duty is remembrance."

While calling on Biafrans everywhere to honour the past heroes and heroines through a solemn and peaceful observance of Biafra Heroes Remembrance Day on 30 May 2026, IPOB added: "Let our towns be quiet.

“Let our roads be empty. Let our homes become places of reflection.

"Let every family pause to remember those who paid the ultimate price so that future generations would know who they were and where they came from. This is not a day for celebration.

“It is a day for reflection. It is a day for mourning. It is a day for gratitude. It is a day for honour.

"Most importantly, it is a day for memory. For nations survive through memory. Peoples endure through memory. And heroes achieve immortality through memory.

"May the souls of all who perished find eternal peace. May their courage continue to inspire generations yet unborn. May their sacrifices never be forgotten. And may history forever bear witness that a people who remember their dead can never truly be defeated."

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