My Stand On IPOB—Obiozor, President Ohanaeze Worldwide

<p><em>My stand on IPOB<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that over the past few months&comma; there have been repeated violent attacks on innocent citizens in Imo and Ebonyi States&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In all the attacks&comma; which have spread round the entire south eastern Nigeria&comma; jails have been broken and inmates set free&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In other respects&comma; police formations were burnt and innumerable property destroyed with many souls lost&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;At every point of the disaster&comma; fingers have been pointed at Fulani herdsmen&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In all this however&comma; the Indigenous People of Biafra&comma; IPOB&comma; a Biafra separatist organization in Nigeria whose main aim is to restore an independent state of Biafra in the South East of Nigeria through an independence <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">referendum<&sol;a>&comma; has been unrelenting in the pursuit of its objectives to secede from Nigeria and form a government of its own&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Its founder&comma; in 2012&comma; Nnamdi Kanu&comma; a British Nigerian political activist&comma; has long drawn a battle line with the federal government of Nigeria&comma; resulting into constant conflicts between military operatives and members of IPOB with deaths trailing each encounter&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This development reawakened the administrative adrenaline of the south east governors who rose from a meeting recently and announced the formation of Ebube Agu&comma; a regional security force to be funded from a common purse and designed to check the increasingly dire security situation in the region&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Analyses by security experts indicate further conflicts in the days ahead between Ebube Agu and IPOB as well as Eastern Security Network&comma; another local security group within the region&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Clearing the air on Monday&comma; Professor George Obiozor&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">President<&sol;a>&comma; Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide emphasized the superiority of the newly formed Ebube Agu far and above any security group in the south east&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obiozor who was elected president of the socio-cultural group on Sunday&comma; January 9&comma; 2021&comma; maintained that the governors of the south eastern states who are clearly behind the formation of Ebube Agu&comma; have the mandate of the people through the ballot to take administrative decisions on behalf of the people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The former director-general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs&comma; maintained that no other group has legally obtained the mandate of the people to discharge security functions on behalf of the people&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ebube Agu is superior to IPOB&period; This is because Ebube Agu has higher hierarchy and responsibility on account of the powers behind its formation&comma;” the former Ambassador to the United States noted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He however stressed that Biafra is a euphemism for fairness and equity&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There is Biafra everywhere&period; Biafra is in every Nigerian&period; Biafra is about fairness and equity&comma;” he explained&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Though Obiozor believes in the spirit of Biafra&comma; he disagrees sharply with its secessionist ideology propagated by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu which has brought both local and international attentions to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wsj&period;com&sol;">Ndigbos in Nigeria<&sol;a>&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I do not believe in secession&comma;” he declared&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obiozor who was also the high commissioner to Cyprus and Nigerian Ambassador to Israel from 1999 to 2003&comma; however called for peaceful resolutions of all the security challenges in Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I am currently in Abuja to preach peace&period; There is insecurity in the north and south west including south south&period; We need peace to move Nigeria forward and attract investments&comma;” he cautioned&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It would be recalled that Biafra had previously existed as an Independent Igbo ethnically homogenous Republic declared by Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu for three years&comma; 1967 through 1970&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The then Nigerian federal government fought hard to preserve the Federal Republic of Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The result of tensions between Biafra and the federal government resulted in the Nigerian civil war that went on for three years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There were an estimated 3&period;5 million deaths that were heavily civilian casualties caused by starvation and death on the side of Biafra&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In 1970&comma; the Biafran forces surrendered and the war ended&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;