‘Pro-Biafra protests not in the interest of south-east people’

OWERRI—IMO State Governor and Chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum, Chief Rochas Okorocha, is currently arranging a crucial meeting with other governors in the South-East, over the growing agitation by protagonists of Biafra.

Members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, shut down markets in Aba, Abia State, in continuation of its three-day one million protest march calling for the release of their detained leader and Director, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Similarly, Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, said it had mobilized over 2,000-members for a peaceful protest in Ebonyi State.

Governor Okorocha in  a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said the leadership of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo, and other stakeholders in the geo-political zone, were also being invited to talk and agree on how to check the activities of pro-Biafra groups in the area.

“The meeting is expected to take place this weekend in Owerri, the Imo State capital.   Already the Governor has begun to make all the necessary contacts to ensure that all those expected to be at the meeting, would be in attendance”, Onwuemeodo said.

It will be recalled that  Okorocha had earlier, while taking exception to the pro-Biafra violent protests in some of the South-East states and few other neighbouring states, disassociated the governors and leaders in the South-East states from the MASSOB protest, describing the whole exercise as “embarrassing, disturbing, counter-productive and to a large extent, distracting”.

According to Governor Okorocha, the pro-Biafra protests could not be in the interest of the south-east people but were only sending wrong signals to the rest of Nigerians.

“It has become increasingly necessary for the governors in the zone, Ohaneze leaders and other stakeholders in the area to meet, to call a spade, a spade”, Okorocha said.

The Governor  also said that “at the end of the Owerri meeting, the governors and other leaders will take a common position and will also invite the leaders of the pro-Biafra groups for a meeting, to let them know the socio-economic and political implications of their activities, including their demand for sovereignty in a united Nigeria”.

Chief Okorocha insisted that  the governors and leaders in the zone could no longer sit and watch the whole situation degenerate, even as he also noted that the Igbos as a people cannot afford to have its own kind of Boko Haram.

He wondered why the pro-Biafra apologists kept quiet all these years only to resume their protests and activities this time and few months after the new administration in the country came on board.

 Markets shut in Abia as over 30,000 sympathisers protest

In  Aba, Abia State, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, shut down markets in continuation of its three-day protest march, calling for the release of their detained leader and Director, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. The protesters in several groups, with each numbering no fewer than 5,000, marched through Azikiwe, Cemetery, Asa, Faulks, Aba-Owerri and Osisioma Ngwa from where they forcefully closed all the markets in the city.

According to them, the one million protest march was an attempt by the group to draw the attention of the international community to alleged injustice being visited on their leader who had been detained for over two weeks now.

According to them, they chose not to be violent because the “price has already been paid by our forefathers and the price we are going to pay for the sake of Biafra is exactly what our director (Kanu) is paying for at the moment.”

However, security agents including soldiers and policemen were on hand, to ensure that hoodlums did not hijack the protest to loot property. Vanguard observed that as early as 8am, some of the protesters had marched around the popular Azikiwe road and warned shop owners to lock up or face the wrath of the group, while another group visited the Ekeoha Shopping Centre to ensure that the order was not flouted.

Shop owners who had already opened for business were seen hurriedly closing their shops. The two groups later converged at the ever busy Azikiwe/ Asa road junction causing a heavy gridlock as they marched through Faulks to the Ariaria International Market where they had Saturday warned traders not to open for business yesterday.

MASSOB mobilizes 2,000 for Ebonyi protest

 In Ebonyi, MASSOB, yesterday, said it had mobilized no fewer than 2000 members for a peaceful protest in the state.

In a statement, the factional leader of the group, Uchenna Madu, said in Abakaliki that the body was protesting indiscriminate arrests and detention of its members by the federal government.

“We are unstoppable in this nationwide protest. No amount of intimidation, harassment, arrest and detention will prevent us from showing our grievances over the action of the Federal Government and the police. They have been arresting us and we want to let them know that there is limit we can endure all their actions. We have been very peaceful but the federal government and security agents are pushing us to the wall”, he said.exercise to checkmate influx of hoodlums, arms and ammunition into the state.

James Ibori disowns Biafra

In Sapele, Delta State, former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, has dissociated himself from the movement agitating for the creation of Biafra republic, saying Nigeria remains indestructible.

In a statement by his media aide, Mr Eluemunor, Chief Ibori denied any affiliation or association with the protesters and warned against the use of his pictures during protests.

He also stated that the peace that the country enjoyed for 45 years after the civil war should not be broken by residues being dug up by some people to further divide the nation and betray efforts at national reconciliation and development. This he said must not be allowed.

Revamping S/East infrastructure will douse agitation for Biafra —APC

Meantime, All Progressives Congress, APC, South-East geopolitical zone, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, to quickly fix the decayed infrastructures plaguing the region as a panacea to arresting the growing agitation for the Sovereign State of Biafra.

APC, however, lauded Mrs. Aisha Buhari for flagging-off her free medical pet project – Health Screening Initiative in Enugu State. A statement by the party’s spokesperson in the South-East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said “the decayed and collapsed federal roads in the South-East, the 2nd Niger Bridge, Enugu coal and other neglected federal projects in the region as well as the revamping of physical infrastructure will no doubt motivate Ndigbo to join President Buhari in constructing a progressive Nigeria, and dissuade and douse the pro-Biafra agitators.  “Asiha Buhari’s choice of Enugu State to flag-off her pet free medical project,in no uncertain terms demonstrates her pan-Nigerian outlook, political sagacity and uncommon patriotism. It gives a sense of belonging and similar concrete moves will help to convince ethnic merchants and engender hope on the Nigeria project.”

 Source: Vanguardngr