Orji Kalu Says He Will Bomb Abia Forests; IPOB Dares Him, Threatens Him

By Charles Igbo

Worried by the unprecedented abductions in Abia State, a former Governor of the State, Orji  Uzor Kalu, has threatened to bomb all forests in the State.

It is not known how will do it, knowing that he is neither  the Governor who would report the situation to the Commander-in-Chief, nor the Commander-in-Chief who should give such orders.

Addressing his Constituents  in Umunneochi LGA where a number of high profile abductions have taken place, including that of the Methodist Church Prelate, His Eminence Samuel Kanu Uche, a number of Clerics and the recent abduction of four Roman Catholic Reverend Sisters, Kanu, who  is the Senate Majority Chief Whip, warned parents to ask all their children in the bushes/ forests in Abia State to leave because the forests and bushes will be bombed by the NIgerian Airforce and the Nigerian Army. He said anybody in those areas will be killed.

But in a swift response, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, has dared Kanu to carry out his threats. In a statement, its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, said those in the bushes/forests are IPOB and members of its militant wing, Eastern Security Network, ESN, who are protecting the bushes and forests as well as Women and girls from those who they claim are Hausa/ Fulani invaders.

However, Kalu warns that his threat of bombing the forests and bushes should be taken seriously because President Muhammadu Buhari, according to him, will surprise the people by the action he would take within the next four months. He regretted that he was no longer the Governor of Abia State, but pledged he would discuss with the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu,  on how to cooperate with the Buhari Government to manage the insecurity in the State.

Kanu: “What is happening in Abia is not acceptable to me. We will comb the bush in Umunneochi Local Government Area.We will comb the bush in Ohafia Local Government Area.We will comb the bush in Arochukwu and Bende Local Government Areas.

“I am warning everybody. Do not allow your children to live in the bush. Anything they see in the bush, they destroy.

“We will come with the NIgerian Airforce. We will come with the Army. We will come with everybody.

“We want peace here. We want our businesses to continue. The Igbo are losing N25b each day they close their businesses. And they cannot continue. I wish I am still the Governor of Abia State  but I’m not the Governor.

“President Buhari will surprise you people in the next four months. Warn your children to leave the bush  because we will comb the bushes.

“Anything we see in the bush we will kill because we have  disturbed the President so much that there is insecurity in the South-east.

“The aircraft will come here. It will be a surprise raid. So people living in the  bushes should leave. All parts of  Abia, we will comb it.”

ESN Ready For Kalu -IPOB

But in a statement entitled:  “ESN Ready for Orji Uzor Kalu in collaboration with Nigerian Army to flush those protecting our bushes and forests against terrorists”,  IPOB dared Kalu and the Military.

It said: “The global family and movement of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, under the leadership and command of Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu, wish to let the public know that IPOB leadership and members have been acquainted with the threat from the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, where he has given an order to the compromised Nigerian Security Agencies to wipe out IPOB/ESN  staying in the bushes and forests safeguarding our bushes and forests for our mothers, wives, and sisters who are going to the farms

“IPOB has nothing against anybody issuing such a threat, but it is not enough order, but carrying out the order is what matters.

“Orji Uzor Kalu has given us a time frame, and we are ready for him and his co-travellers who will be coming to us. Orji Uzor Kalu will pay after the attack  because he will understand that IPOB is not a push over.”

Not a few people have noted that inspite of IPOB/ ESN’s  claims to protecting the bushes and forests in the South-east, kidnappers still hold sway in the zone.