The leader of the indigenous people of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has said that it is an abomination for anyone to call themselves a Nigerian. In his latest broadcast on Radio Biafra on the 24th of June 2020, Kanu stated that the word ‘Nigerian’ was a derogatory colonial word the British gave some indigenous ethnic nationalities in West Africa, and that anyone who uses it, insults themselves. Kanu said:
“It is unfortunate that most black Africans cannot reason. Those who call themselves Nigerians never stop to ask themselves how this word came about or what it means. The word ‘Nigeria’ was the merging of two words, Niger and area, it was coined by the then girlfriend of Lugard, Flora Shaw, in 1897 in London when she wrote an article in the Times Newspaper about the indigenous people Britain had conquered and colonised along the River Niger. She referred to them as Nigerians. It was after the publication of her article that people heard of the word Nigeria for the first time.
“But the word Niger, which the River Niger gets its name from, actually derives from the term ‘Nigga’, a derogatory word the white man used to describe black people. In effect, the word Nigeria actually means ‘Nigga Area’. How can any sane person call themselves by such demeaning name? How can anybody answer to such an insulting colonial name? It is an abomination! They killed 5 million people to uphold an insulting colonial name a small white girl in London came up with. Every time you call your self a Nigerian, you are insulting your self.
