Presidency: Don’t ruin S’East chances, Ohanaeze begs IPOB

Members of the outlawed secessionist organization Indigenous People of Biafra have been encouraged by the top Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, to lay down their weapons and let peace reign in the South-East.Information Guide Nigeria

This is in line with Kanu’s Friday statement in which his attorney, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, advised his supporters to be “circumspect” since “the adversaries were continuously utilizing vulnerable means to blackmail IPOB.”

In a chat with our correspondent, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, the spokesperson for Ohanaeze, also said that several elders in the South-East, including Prof. George Obiozor, the organization’s chairman, were negotiating with President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) to secure Kanu’s release.

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He pleaded with IPOB members not to jeopardize the opportunities of the South East in the name of what he called genuine rights.

In response to the recent Federal Government refusal to release Kanu, several IPOB members demonstrated in Aba, Abia State.

If Kanu was not freed and Biafra was not recognized, the demonstrators pledged to forbid the South-East from hosting the 2023 elections.

They requested Nigeria to cancel the upcoming elections in the area in 2023 “if our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is still in DSS prison.”

Ogbonnia on Saturday cautioned the secessionists from creating a “Frankenstein” for themselves that would engulf them in an interview with Sunday PUNCH.

With the arrival of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, he claimed that the political atmosphere was favorable for the South East and that it would be fatal for any of them to undermine the system that the elders had worked so hard to create.

“Our position on this matter has been constant on the matter. Nothing is ever solved with violence. In the first place, the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador George Obiozor, has already teamed up with other Igbo elders to engage the president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, (Major General) Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to seek Nnamdi Kanu’s release.

“That engagement is in process and we are confident of that. We want to believe that the President will understand the viewpoints of the Igbo elders and do the needful. I want to also believe that this effort will be successful.

“We have often advised our young boys that they have every reason to agitate. They have sufficient reason to do so. However, they should listen to us as elders, especially when the political climate is favourable to the South-East. We cannot at this time create a Frankenstein – a monster that will destroy us. We don’t want to play into the enemy’s territory. We advise our youths to take it easy. We are doing a lot of work to see how we can overcome some of these challenges.’’JAMB Result

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