Biafra: IPOB Condemns Osinbajo’s Meeting with leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and South-east governors

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has condemned last Wednesday’s meeting between Igbo leaders, comprising the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and South-east governors, and acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

IPOB said the meeting was a futile one as the acting president could not be meeting with Igbo leaders to speak about the recently held sit-at-home protest by the people of the area without considering the group which declared the protest.

The group in a statement made available to newsmen in Awka and signed by its Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, described those in attendance as ‘few compromised political jobbers.’

It said the meeting was convened by the acting president following fallout from the hugely successful IPOB sit-at-home order of May 30, 2017.

The statement read in parts: “With one or two exceptions and with the greatest respect to the attendees to this Nigeria sponsored gathering in Abuja, the so-called South-east delegation is in no way a representation of the views of the leadership of IPOB worldwide, neither can they claim with any degree of sincerity to be speaking for the masses.

“What Osinbajo has succeeded in achieving with this meeting is to waste scarce resources that could have been channelled towards more useful purposes. None of those who attended this meeting with Osinbajo gave the order for people to sit-at-home on May 30.

“So we are at a loss to understand the justification for their invitation to the meeting to discuss something they know nothing about.”

The group therefore said it viewed the meeting as an insult to the sensibilities of Biafrans all over the world, especially the memory of the dead and injured.

“Our leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has made it abundantly clear that any discussion or dialogue with Nigerian government that doesn’t include an agreement on a referendum date to determine the issue of Biafra once and for all is an exercise in futility.

“In this regard, we wish to inform the government of Nigeria that the gathering and deliberations they thought they had on Wednesday is a complete waste of time and will continue to be until the federal government does the needful.

The group reiterated its respect for Chief Nnia Nwodo, the Ohanaeze leader, who led the Igbo delegation, but said presiding over the distribution of monthly allocation from Abuja does not qualifies any political office holder to discuss issues pertaining to IPOB and Biafra restoration when the leadership can be directly contacted.

It said none of the South-east governors has raised a voice to condemn the killing of IPOB members by soldiers and other security forces, and that the same governors cannot be invited to superintendent on the fate of the group.

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