Nigerians Football Fans Expelled from Senegal Stadium for Displaying Biafra Flags
Some Nigerian football fans were on Saturday expelled from a football stadium in Senegal for displaying Biafran flags.
The football fans were expelled minutes after they displayed
Biafran flags alongside Nigerian flags at a football match between
Nigeria and Algeria at the U-23 African Cup of Nations holding in Dakar,
the Senegalese capital.
In recent times, there have been protests in South-East Nigeria by
Igbos who demand for a separate Biafran country. Biafra was also the
name adopted by the Eastern Nigeria during the civil war between 1967
and 1970, after which a ‘no victor, no vanquish’ was declared by the federal government after Biafra was defeated.
On Saturday, the Senegalese football association officials
considered the display of the Biafran flags at the Leopold Sedar Senghor
stadium “a militant act”.
As a result, the Vice President of the Senegalese Football
Federation, FSF, Amadou Kane, who was in charge of the organisation,
ordered security officials to respond by tearing down the Biafran flags
and posters and expelling the supporters involved.
Senegalese FA officials said the group took advantage of the presence of the media at the stadium to raise the Biafran flag.
Dressed in T-shirts with the Biafra logo, eye witnesses said the group “invaded”
the left wing of the covered pavilion to flaunt the Biafran flag
alongside that of Nigeria. They later displayed a large flag calling for
Biafran autonomy.
The match eventually ended 0-0 with Nigeria coming second in Group B with five points, behind Algeria.
Nigeria will face Senegal in the semi-final next week while Algeria will battle South Africa.
Source: Premium Times
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