Nigeria's separatist group plans Trump celebration rally

A separatist group in Nigeria, which wants to secede from the west African nation, has said it will hold a rally on Friday to mark the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) said it was inviting people to a pro-Trump rally in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt.

“This IPOB peaceful rally on 20th January 2017 will be for Biafrans, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom all over the world to understand how resolute and committed we are towards the emancipation, realisation and proclamation of our God given right to live as free men and women in our ancestral land of Biafra,” the group said in a statement.

The Biafra region unsuccessfully fought for independence in a brutal three-year civil war that ended in 1970.

The separatist group has renamed its push for secession “Biafrexit”, after the UK’s Brexit vote to leave the European Union, BBC reported.

Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the brother of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, who has been held by the Nigerian government since October 2015 on treason charges, said Trump had won their favour as he “supports the right to self-determination”.

Separatist sentiments have grown in the months since Kanu’s arrest and sparked clashes with security forces that have since been condemned by human rights groups.