By Charles Igbo
“The Igbo should be wise. Sit-at-home is nonsense. It is useless and nonsense because even if there were to be Biafra, Ebonyi will NOT be part of Biafra. I have said it, and I will continue to say it – Governor Umahi
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, an Engineer, has excused his State from the Republic of Biafra, if and/or when it is realized.
Speaking in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, when he received in audience members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Umahi, who is also a 2023 Presidential aspirant under the All Progressives Congress, APC, said: “Sit-at-home is nonsense. Igbo should be wise. It is useless and nonsense because even if there were to be Biafra, Ebonyi will not be part of Biafra. I have said it, and I will continue to say it.”
The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is agitating for an independent South-east Zone, to be known as the Republic of Biafra, based on alleged glaring marginalization of the South-east in all aspects of government and governance in Nigeria. IPOB says Nigeria has been unfair to the Zone, has not treated it as equal partner in the Federation, and is, therefore, asking for a referendum to enable the people of the Zone to decide whether they want to remain in the Federation under the existing situation, or opt out of it.
Governor Umahi, also, attributed the insecurity in the South-east, which worsens by the day, to politics. He, however, debunked the notion that South-east Governors were not working together to curb insecurity in the Region, but admitted that the Governors “are not bonded” in the fight against the security problems.
“When it comes to security, I must tell you in all honesty there is politics in our security situation in this Region. Do we say all the Governor’s are bonded towards tackling security challenges? The answer is no. There is extreme politics in this Region. And it must stop for the sake of our people.”
Insisting that the insecurity in the Region gradually grew wings from the initial activities of IPOB, Umahi said:
“When we started, we were all working together, and I was the person championing against the activities of IPOB; that the agitation is not good for our people; that the kind of agitation being meted out was not correct; the kind of hate speech. And from there, it developed to violence, and we continued to lie to our people, ‘oh, they have infiltrated.’ Not true. It is the South-east killing South-easterners and security people. And, if we are not able to speak out, it would continue.
Speaking on why a political solution has not been used to secure freedom for Kanu, Umahi put the blame on the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide led by Professor George Obiozor. He said it has not been possible to secure Kanu’s release because Ohanaeze leadership refused to follow- up on the already established discussion between South-east Governors and President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, not a few people say Umahi is economical with the truth. They recall a number of times the Igbo leadership, passionately, appealed to the President to release Kanu, using a political solution.
One of the times, 94 year-old Chief Amaechi Mbazulike, first Republic Minister for Aviation, led a delegation of some Igbo leaders to the President, to specifically appeal to him to release Kanu. Mbazulike personally asked Buhari to look at his age (94), and release Kanu to him as a special favour before his (Mbazulike’s) exit from Mother-Earth.
Buhari gave the delegation hope when he said it was a difficult request to make, but promised to look into it.
He never did.
On a working visit to lmo State a couple of months later, the Igbo leadership, led by Ohanaeze, at a meeting with Buhari at Government House, Owerri, again, passionately appealed to Buhari to release Kanu seeing that only a political solution would resolve the situation, the President refused, worked back on his promise to Mbazulike, and insisted Kanu’s case must go through every legal process.
During his recent visit to Umahi’s Ebonyi State, the Igbo leadership, also, made same request, but again, Buhari turned the request down, and took refuge on legal processes.
All these are apart from the several other times the Ohanaeze Ndigbo made same requests from Buhari each time they had an enlarged Stakeholders meetings.
On the contrary, the chorus is that the South-east Governors Forum, led by Umahi, has never gone to Buhari, as a Forum, to request for Kanu’s unconditional release from custody and prosecution.
Said an angry elder who pleaded anonymity: “They (Governors) don’t care. They are too pre-occupied with their political future to care. They are angling, each of them, for the position of Vice President in 2023, So, they don’t have the courage to speak to the President. They lack the courage to tell him the truth and what to do.
The sad thing is that with the insecurity in the Zone which has worsened since Kanu’s arrest, only the innocent people and the masses are either being killed, suffering untold hardship, or living in fear. The Governors are in their comfort zones.”
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