The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has expressed contempt over the activities of South East governors and the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, stating that it has proscribed Ohanaeze Ndigbo and all other “gatherings of saboteurs and collaborators operating within Biafra”.
In a statement issued to the press by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, the group cautioned that anybody or group of persons working with Nnia Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo or South East Governors’ Forum is doing so at their own risk.
It stated: “By virtue of the overwhelming compliance with the 14th of September 2018 sit-at-home order issued by IPOB and the mandate conferred therein as the authentic representative of the people of the east, we the Indigenous People of Biafra do hereby declare the proscription of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and all other gatherings of saboteurs and collaborators operating within Biafra.
“In keeping with the spirit of this declaration, we warn that anybody or group of persons working with Nnia Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo or South East Governors Forum is doing so at their own risk. These two groups, Ohanaeze and South East governors do not represent the people of the east and lack the popular mandate to do so. Events of September 14, are confirmation that our people have rejected their politics of acquiescence, servitude and slavery.”
It stated that Ohanaeze Ndigbo was formed in 1976 to destabilize the progressive established order under the leadership of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in the run-up to 1979 democratic rule.
It added: “The few surviving founding members of Ohanaeze will attest to this undisputed fact. To weaken the post war cohesion that still existed among the people of the east, Fulani caliphate gathered their Igbo agents together to destroy the east from within. With what Ohanaeze has become in recent times, there is little doubt that our oppressors succeeded in holding us down through their agents in Ohanaeze and governor’s lodges.”
It further alleged that the Ohaneze was foisted on the people by the Arewa’s determination not to ensure a proper leadership in the eastern part of the country and the body does is not a creation of the igbo people.
It stated: “Contrary to public perception, Ohaneze Ndigbo is not a creation of Igbo people but rather is an assemblage of high profile traitors during the war, with the exception of Dr. Akanu Ibiam. It was a group engineered by Arewa north to provide the east with false leadership. From inception, Ohaneze Ndigbo has been answerable to Arewa North not to the people of the east. No Ohaneze Ndigbo leader can emerge without the blessing of the northern ruling class.”
It also stated that the group has the antecedents of betrayal and using “financial power” to carry out wishes that are contrary to what the people want.
It said: “It was this same Ohaneze Ndigbo that took money from their Northern masters to allow three Igbo speaking local governments from Ebonyi to be carved into Benue State. The same Ohaneze Sat and did nothing as Obigbo, Egbema and the rest of Igbo speaking people were gerrymandered into Rivers State and Delta State to be categorised as South South. They abandoned Igboakiri (Igbanke) to Ogbemudia and his Northern masters, that made an Igbo territory part of Edo State.
“They betrayed Anioma people by repeatedly refusing to fight for their absorption into the core Igbo family. Today we have families in Egbema divided along state lines. Some people in the same family, with the same surname find themselves in two distinct geo-political zones. Some are South East the other is Niger Delta. This is an unpardonable crime by Ohaneze Ndigbo against the land and the people.
“All efforts by South East governors to use financial inducement and media misinformation to fool the people into thinking some parts of Biafra did not comply with the order has been laid bare by secret photos of empty Enugu streets.”
It added: “The era of traitors and collaborators presiding over the affairs of the people of the east has come to an end.”
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