Pro-Biafra activists continue protests in Aba
WORRIED by spate of protests by pro-Biafra
groups, seeking self determination for the
people of South East and their neighbours,
Imo State Governor and Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) Governors’
Forum, Rochas Okorocha yesterday said he
had taken steps to arrange a meeting of
governors and chieftains of the Ohaneze
Ndigbo “to discuss the matter.”
The move came on the heels of continued
protest by pro-Biafra activists under the
aegis of the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of
Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB) in Aba. The
groups had staged a miniature rally on
Saturday to protest the continued
detention of the Director of Radio Biafra,
Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal
Government.
Highlight of yesterday’s pro-Biafra
protest in Aba was a football match by
the group wearing T-shirts marked
Biafra along major streets of the
commercial town. Markets and street
shops were closed to encourage traders
to partake in the activism.
An estimated one million people
participated in the peaceful protest,
which compelled commuters to walk long
distances to their destinations even as
they were apprehensive of possible
chaos, which the security agencies were
on hand to prevent.
Residents of the commercial nerve centre
were also seen in some areas,
scampering to safety as they were
apprehensive of what might be the
fallout of the protest while men of the
Nigeria Police were seen moving from
one point to another to ensure that the
protest did not turn violent. Though the
protest was peaceful, it brought some
inconvenience to many travelers,
especially those crossing into
neighboring states like Akwa Ibom, Cross
River and Rivers.
According to the State Police Public
Relations Officer, Mr. Ezekiel Onyeke
Udeviotu, the protest was very peaceful;
hence, there was no arrest or report of
violence as at 4. 25 pm.
So far, nobody or group has decried the
protest. A middle-aged man, who
preferred to remain anonymous but
claimed to be one of the leaders of IPOB,
said that the protest would continue and
extend to all the local councils,
communities in the state, the entire Igbo
land and parts of the country “where we
have sympathy for their cause.
“Though we shall continue to stage
peaceful protests, we call on those
holding Biafra Radio Director, Mr. Kanu,
to please release him unconditionally.”
Governors of Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra
and Enugu states, according to
Okorocha’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Sam Onwuemeodo, are expected at the
‘peace meeting’ the date of which would
be announced later.
Onwuemeodo, in a statement, stressed
that the governor had earlier made his
position known to the world when he
distanced himself and the S’East
governors from the group’s decision. He
added that the outcome of the proposed
meeting would be made known to the
world.
It was unclear, as at press time
yesterday, whether, or not, all the South
East governors have been properly
briefed of the proposed meeting. But
Governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia
State, who gave the assurance on Sunday
that his state would be free of pro-Biafra
protests, said he has not been contacted.
Mr. Godwin Adindu, the chief press
secretary to the governor, said he was
“not yet aware of the proposed meeting.”
According to the governor, he has met
with some security chiefs in Imo to
ensure that the impact would not be felt
in the state. This is not withstanding the
fact that the group a Kanu, the IPOB
leader and director of Radio Biafra.
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.
Governor 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
protests describing the whole exercise as
embarrassing, disturbing, counter-
productive and to a large extent,
distracting.
According to Okorocha, the pro-Biafra
protests could not be in the interest of
the Southeast people but were only
sending wrong signals to the rest of
Nigerians. And said that 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.
It is also expected 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.
Governor Okorocha said the governors
and leaders in the zone could no longer
sit and watch the whole situation
degenerating and also noted that the
Igbos as a people cannot afford to have
its own kind of Boko Haram.
He also wondered why the pro-Biafra
apologists kept quiet all these years only
to resume their violent protests and
activities this time and few months after
the new administration in the country
came on board.
According to him, the governors are
going to take the bull by the horn in the
overall interest of Ndigbo in particular
and Nigerians in general.”
0 Comments :
COMMENT