News - South East - Abia
Updated: April 14, 2021

IPOB’s Grouse Are Valid, But I Don’t Subscribe To Their Strategy - Governor Ikpeazu

By Ridwan Yusuf
April 14, 2021
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Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor of Abia State says although he feels the grievances of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are “valid”, he is not aligning with their modus operandi.

Ikpeazu was speaking on Arise TV on Tuesday.

IPOB, an organization widely believed to be created by disapora-based pro-Biafra political activist, Nnamdi Kanu in 2012 has been accused of being violent by Nigerian authorities. This led to its proscription in 2017.

IPOB has persistently argued that misgovernance in Nigeria is one of the main reasons it is reviving the agitation to have a sovereign state of Biafra - more than 50 years after the Nigerian - Biafran civil war ended.

Governor Ikpeazu said: “I have taken my time to listen to some of these issues raised by IPOB: issues about injustice, issues of marginalisation, issues of trust deficits within the polity called Nigeria as it concerns people from south-eastern Nigeria. And I think some of those are valid issues and they should be addressed and spoken to; they should be addressed squarely. So that everybody and those of us that are in government today can have a foothold within the south-east region to continue to promote the unity of Nigeria.

“I do not subscribe to the strategy of IPOB in pursuing their goals. And the reason is because I’m yet to see the end of the tunnel from where I’m standing and I do not like to take a plunge in the dark.

“We must engage and discuss the issue which is bothering them and everybody and we can’t continue to pretend as if these issues are not valid.

“Equal rights and justice is an indelible right of all citizens and if through impunity and carelessness we allow a group of people to begin to feel like they’re not rightly represented within the polity, it creates a lacuna where people are no longer confident in the government to protect them and take care of their interest within the polity.

“There’s bound to be agitation one way or another.

“Some of these reactions may extrapolate to levels that may undermine national convention and unity.”