Pan-Igbo socio-cultural goup, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo has come out to criticize the threats of violence issued by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) clamouring for the release of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
It would be recalled that some IPOB members had threatened to destroy the Nigerian High Commission building in India over the continued detention of Kanu.
Speaking in an interview with Punch, the Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Joe Nwaorgu enthused that secession was not the right way to go about the marginalisation of the Igbos in the country.
He said: “We condemn the threats of violence issued by pro-Biafra activists. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo is not supporting violence. So, we don’t support the threats to destroy embassy buildings. Yes, there is marginalisation of the Igbo ethnic group in the President Muhammadu Buhari government but the threat of violence and secession is out of point.
“We are not planning to secede. We are going to sort out the inequality issue with our fellow Nigerians. We are fighting for justice, equity and fair play. That is why we want the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference to be implemented.”
On the decision of the two leading parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – to field Northern candidates for the 2019 presidential election, Nwaorgu said: “Man proposes, God disposes. Ohanaeze Ndigbo is not a political party and not under any political party. When the time comes, we shall analyse the situation and take a stand in the best interest of the Ndigbo.
“The political parties are playing their politics. That the North should produce a candidate for the 2019 presidential election is not binding on us. Neither is the APC’s decision binding on us. We shall take our decision and that will be in the interest of the Igbo people.”
