10th October, 2021
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) claimed its members have been exculpated by Governor Willie Obiano over its being the mastermind of the series of bloody violence that has plagued Southeast Nigeria in recent months.
In a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, IPOB said it was in agreement with Governor Obiano that political elites in the region were behind the killings.
However, the statement that IPOB has relied upon was not directly spoken by Obiano.
It was issued by his political adviser, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, who claimed that Obiano shunned the Enugu meeting of South east governors because he suspected that some stakeholders at the meeting were fanning the violence in his state.
ObiOkoye, while dismissing the controversies surrounding Obiano’s absence from the meeting, said they are “mere factory noise” from desperate politicians who are out to justify the sponsorship of their benefactors.
“Did you really expect my Governor would be meeting, and dining with some persons ostensibly funding and sponsoring insecurity and terrorism in Anambra State?
“What people are saying goes to no issue in the first instance because it is a public knowledge that those doing the killings are not from Anambra state and no Anambra person would go to this extent.
“These people are from outside Anambra state and those sponsoring them are from outside Anambra state and you expect the governor to be holding meetings with them on security challenges which those people are executing?
“Be it known to all and sundry that the killings are politically motivated to create voter apathy in Anambra and then manipulate the electoral process to the advantage of these desperados.
“The governor has already put in place a full proof security arrangements to nip the problem on the board than going to sit in a meeting to tell the same people what he is doing to stop them killing innocent people in Anambra state,” Obiokoye said.
IPOB has now rested its case on Obiokoye’s statement.
“We are the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the able leadership of our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We have always distanced ourselves from the senseless killings in Biafra land especially in Anambra and Imo states but some gullible fellows do not want to believe us.
“Now we have been vindicated by the recent confession by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State on why he did not attend the meeting of southeast governors in Enugu.
“The governor said without equivocations that he deliberately stayed away from the meeting because he didn’t consider it proper to sit at the table and discuss security with those who are sponsoring the insecurity and killings in his state. Gov. Obiano did not mince words when he said that the killings in Anambra were politically motivated. He accused his fellow governors and politicians of masterminding the killings in his state for political gains.
“Now, our question to all those still pointing accusing fingers at IPOB and Eastern Security Network (ESN) operatives for the killings in Anambra is: How many of the southeast Governors are IPOB members? Since according to Gov. Obiano the killings are being sponsored by some persons expected in the meeting for political reasons, how many of the attendees are IPOB members? Can the same people who find it hard to believe our explanations now believe us if we say that all southeast governors except Obiano are our members and sponsors?
“For the umpteenth time, let’s restate that we have no hands in the senseless killings of innocent citizens in Biafra land especially Imo and Anambra states. Politicians and traitors bent on implicating IPOB to impress their Fulani slavemasters are the ones masterminding this genocide in collaboration with the wicked Nigerian security agents.”