May 6, 2022

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was on Wednesday, May 4, in Ireland honoured with a special award, the Overall Entry Award by the city of Waterford as part of the events in commemoration of St, Patrick’s Day.

Also honoured alongside IPOB were Ukrainians who fled the Russia war on Ukraine to take refuge in Ireland.

IPOB members described the award as the “first open recognition of IPOB led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from official country.”

Historically, it is a religious holiday and it is now almost the norm for cities in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to hold St. Patrick’s Day parades and festivals, marked with people dressed in colourful attires of green and dashes of red and marching through streets. Members of IPOB in Ireland actively participated in this year’s event with some posting videos of members chanting and dancing through the streets of Dublin.

St. Patrick’s Festival is an annual celebration in Ireland particularly in Dublin and is usually marked on March 17 but Covid-19 pandemic has ensured that for the past two years, the event was cancelled in line with Covid protocols of zero crowd.

However, the event returned this year with Biafra community in Waterford actively participating. Ireland has over the years been sympathetic to the Biafra cause and a large of number of Igbo in the country have helped to push for the support of that cause from the Irish people.

This year’s parade, part of a five-day festival, was described as “bigger and better than ever before”, with estimated crowds of around 400,000 and special solidarity was shown in support of Ukraine and Biafra. Ukraine had been invaded by Russia and she’s currently undergoing refugee challenges as many Ukrainians and migrants had to flee the country. Irish citizens schooling in Ukraine were affected by the Russia war on Ukraine and they have since returned to Ireland.

The parade was a welcome boost to the local hospitality sector, still recovering from one of Europe’s longest lockdowns.

Prior to the pandemic, the St Patrick’s Festival was estimated to be worth €72m (£60m) to the Irish economy, with €50m (£42m) being spent in Dublin alone, reports Sky.com.

Organisers have been keenly aware of Irish public empathy with Ukraine and worked with the Ukrainian embassy to feature a “respectful and dignified moment” as a “message of peace and unity”.

Popular US actor, John C Reilly, was unveiled as the international guest of honour.

Speaking to Sky News, he said that “all of us are trying to process all of the stuff we’ve been through in the past couple of years with corona and world events, which are certainly very serious and deserving of attention.”