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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has announced the cancellation of the 2017 Igbo Day celebration in Bayelsa State.
According to the group, instead of an elaborate celebration as they do annually in the state, the day would be marked indoors for sober reflections and prayers for unity and peace in Nigeria.
The group while noting that the Igbo in Bayelsa State cannot pretend over the incidence of violence and killings in the Eastern states over the agitations by some members of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), the decision to cancel the celebration in Bayelsa was to mourn those that were killed in Aba and Umuahia in Abia State.
The President of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Maurice Amaku, who disclosed this in a press briefing in Yenagoa, said the decision was borne out of a collective agreement reached by the leaders and members of the Igbo community in the state.
Chief Amaku urged the Igbo to use the period for sober reflection by holding prayers in their individual homes.
