Some Nigerian football fans were on Saturday expelled out of a Senegalese stadium 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.

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 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.

There have been protests in South-East Nigeria by Igbos who demand for a separate Biafran country.


Premium Times