S-East govs divided over pro-Biafra struggle

Corrupt S-East governors sponsoring Biafra — Ohanaeze, Okorocha

By Emma Amaize,  Vincent Ujumadu, Chidi Nkwopara, Jimitota Onoyume, Francis Igata, Ugochukwu Alaribe & Jude Opara

ENUGU — South-East governors appeared divided, yesterday over the ongoing pro-Biafra Republic protests.

While Imo and Ebonyi states kicked against the protests, Abia State remained neutral, while Anambra State said it was studying the developments.

Pro-Biafra protesters

Also the umbrella body of Igbo socio-cultural organisations,

Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha have distanced themselves from the ongoing protests in the South-East for the actualisation of Republic of Biafra, saying all genuine Igbo leaders are against the protests.

Okorocha, who is also the chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Governors’ Forum, said that the reported violent protests in some states’ capitals, including those of Rivers, Anambra and Delta, in the name of Biafra, do not in any way have the support or blessing of the governors and leaders of the South-East geo-political zone either directly or indirectly.

Meantime, the Biafra protests continued, yesterday, in Aba, Enugu and Port-Harcourt.

Okorocha said: “The ugly development is highly regrettable especially when it is clear that such violent protests in the name of Biafra wouldn’t add any value to the development of the South-East and the progress of the people of the area.”

Continuing, Okorocha said that the governors and leaders of the South-East condemn the protests, especially when they were carried out in the name of Biafra.

“If a section of the people in the South-East or even the whole people in the geo-political zone protest over the bad shape of the federal roads in the area or protest over the total neglect of the geo-political zone, every governor and leader in the area would support that but not to protest over an issue that is neither here nor there”, Okorocha said.

According to him, the South-East remains an integral part of Nigeria and the governors and leaders from the area so much believe in the unity of the country and would always work towards sustaining the unity.

“As far as the governors and leaders of the South-East are concerned, those behind the campaign for Biafra have their ulterior motive, which has nothing to do with corporate interest of Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria of our collective dream”, Okorocha reasoned.

While saying that the concern of the governors and other South-East leaders “is to get what is due for us in our country”, he added that any other quest, especially for Biafra was diversionary.

He called on those behind all the protests on the basis of Biafra to give peace a chance and regretted that some Igbo people could get involved in a protest that its end – result won’t benefit Ndi-Igbo in any way, but could lead to the shooting of some of them.

“The unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, and the South-East people strongly believe in that unity and would work assiduously to ensure its sustenance”, Okorocha said.

Echoing similar views, Ohanaeze said those sponsoring the latest agitation for the creation of the state of Biafra are corrupt Igbo politicians who are trying to hide under the agitation to avoid prosecution for their alleged crimes.

This is even as a new coalition  under the aegis of Neighbourhood Watch, over the weekend in Abuja, warned against the activities of the agitators whom they also accused of hiding under the demand for the new nation to enrich themselves.

Assistant National Publicity Secretary of Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo Worldwide, Mr Okpalaukwu Okpalaezeukwu,who noted that Ohanaeze and Igbo delegates at the 2014 National Conference articulated the challenges of the Igbo nation at the conference, traced the problem of the Igbo to some selfish and corrupt leaders from the zone who failed to use their former exalted offices to improve the lots of their people and have resorted to instigating the people to violence in the name of Biafra agitation.

In the same vein, Neighbourhood watch  also accused both MASSOB and Indegenous People of Biafra,IPOB, of using violence, bloodshed and blackmail as a means of advancing the Igbo cause, adding that the only civilized way of addressing such issues is through dialogue.

While pledging its unwavering belief in one indivisible Nigeria, National Coordinator of the coalition, Comrade Charles Inko-Taniah, said the Neighbourhood Watch is against secession of any part of the country even as he regretted what he described as “unpatriotic activities of the so called IPOB against the Nigerian state,” warning that it will no longer keep quiet and watch a few he classified as disgruntled and unguided to return the country to any form of crisis.

“We condemn in unequivocal terms the increasing trends of violent protests and lawlessness in various towns and cities in the country disturbing and crating panic amongst the people and  especially the proposed one million Biafra march against the Nigerian State. We condemn the so called Biafra Radio designed to blackmail, disunite and run down the Nigerian state,” Inko-Taniah added.

Kettle calling kettle black

In another development, former Biafran leader and Ikemba of Asaba, Delta State, Chief Joseph Achuzia, has berated former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for describing pro-Biafra agitators as miscreants, saying he is a kettle calling the pot black.

In an interview in Asaba, Achuzia said: “This is a question of the kettle calling pot black. The ex- President, Olusegun Obasanjo, is a friend and I have the greatest respect for him, but unfortunately, half or most of the times, he, out of arrogance becomes careless in the words he uses.

“They say that those living in glass houses should not throw stones. By virtue of his being a former President, the presidential aura should always remain with him. Consequently, we try to shy away from comments that will affect him, but when he descends outside that cocoon of presidential aura, then we use the law of level playing ground in addressing the issue.

“Obasanjo is not in a position to call people still talking about Biafra miscreants. Miscreants, being that we were parading the road, barricading Government Houses, destroying property and other places, is that the reportage from the toxic media? If that is the reportage, it means that the media has misrepresented what they saw or what they heard.

“For Obasanjo to call my people miscreants, I will say that he should look homewards, hence I say it is an issue of kettle calling the pot black. The issue of Biafra is something we can never forget, neither our children nor our great, great, grand children after our time because it is part of history. The problem Nigeria is facing now is the inability to come to terms with the reality.

“If they wanted to come to terms with reality, they should have looked into the lopsided constitution, which they are trying to use. The war ended, how many years ago and yet, we are still using a military composed and authored constitution, the constitution was not composed or authored by civilians; if it was, what we are seeing today will not be the issues.

“Where in the world would you see that in a democratic set up, when they are changing batons after elections, they still have a military composition where a president or person elected will run the country by himself for almost six months as a military dictator and nobody is questioning it? But like I said, I like the present leader’s style because it is what the people asked for that they got,” he said.

On the renewed agitation for Biafra, he said it was because nobody has addressed the issues that led to the war.

“I am still glad that the people who were present when the war ended are still in the saddle today because people like the present President was around; they were party to the so-called civil war. I say so –called because Biafra did not declare war, it was Nigeria that imposed war on them and they had to defend themselves.

“Ask him (Obasanjo) or any of the commanders if Biafra at any time tried to carry the war outside their territory, except the situation that happened in the defunct Midwest and it was not Biafra’s making. There was no time Biafra entered the Midwest because they wanted to invade the place. What happened was that our media capitalized on the situation of some ambitious officers within the operation that went beyond the terms and bounds of their operational order.

“And for that, they paid a penalty, nobody asked why the penalty, we all know why the penalty, because they carried the war beyond Biafra territory, stepping into the Midwest. Midwest was created by the Eastern region; it was part of the Igbo speaking area, both linguistically and otherwise. Until date, there is no Urhobo man that will say that his father did not understand Igbo language, no Ijaw person within the South Eastern area that will say that they do not speak Igbo, King Jaja of Opobo, all of them,” he said.

Protesters storm Enugu, Aba demand immediate release of Kanu

Meantime, hundreds of Pro-Biafra supporters stormed Enugu metropolis at the wee hours of yesterday, protesting the continued detention of the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and demanding urgent recognition of the Sovereign State of Biafra.

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