The delegation of the Supreme Council of the Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra was accorded warm reception at a five-day meeting of the African Union (AU) held in Nairobi, Kenya.

The team returned to the country at the weekend even as another group dispatched to Cote d’Ivoire to thank the government and the people for harbouring the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu during his sojourn between1970 and 1982, has also returned. The Nigerian civil war ended in 1970.

Briefing newsmen in Nnewi, Anambra State, yesterday, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, said the pro-Biafran group which had recently been admitted as a member of Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the AU, sent its delegation for the first time since admission to be part of delebrations at the Africa’s apex body to facilitate its diplomatic approach for self-determination.

“The delegates have returned. The meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, lasted between December 18 and 22. Reports showed they were warmly received and given a place of recognition and honour to participate fully as members at the ECOSOCC meeting. They met other representatives from other countries and exchanged cordialities with them,” Dr. Ikedife said.

Although he did not disclose the outcome of the meeting since it did not concern the pro-Biafran group alone, according to him, there would be a stronger delegation at the next meeting for fuller and more active participation.

On the group sent to Cote d’Ivoire, the former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo also said: “32 years after our brother, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, returned from Cote d’Ivoire, we feel obliged that according to customary law, if somebody has done you a favour, no matter how long it has taken, you will go and say ‘thank you’. We sent a delegation of three people, comprising a medical doctor, a religious leader up to the rank of a bishop and a well articulated Biafran war veteran. They went with a thank-you letter and some gift items according to our custom. The government and people of Cote d’Ivoire received them with appreciation.”

Dr. Ikedife said the same thank-you visit would be paid to Gabon for sending relief materials to war-devastated Igbo and lifted their kwashiorkor-stricken children to take care of them.

The elder statesman disclosed that plans have reached an advanced stage to give a befitting funeral to Igbo sons and daughters who died during the civil war. He said a group had attempted to do that but could not. Dr. Ikedife said that a governor, whose name he did not mention, had agreed to organise the funeral.

•Adapted from a Daily Sun report. Photo shows Dr. Ikedife.

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