IPOB bars Ohanaeze from speaking for Igbo as crisis deepens
Supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) / AFP PHOTO / STEFAN HEUNIS
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)’s attempt to stop the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the South East Governors Forum (SEGF) from speaking for the zone is creating tension in Igboland.
Spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, who announced the proscription of the apex Igbo organisation and the governors’ forum yesterday, described the leaders as traitors of the Igbo cause.
In a statement, it cautioned that any individual or group of persons working with the Nnia Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo or the governors was doing so at their own risk.
IPOB further alleged that the group, which was formed in 1976 was not formed by the Igbo, but by some northern leaders, using some Igbo men to destabilise the progressive established order under the leadership of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe in the run up to the 1979 election.
The few surviving founding members of Ohanaeze will attest to this fact. To weaken the post war cohesion that still existed among the people of the east, the Fulani caliphate gathered their Igbo agents together to destroy the Igbo from within.They blamed Ohanaeze for failing to stand up to fight for their people when it mattered most, saying their ineptitude was part of the reasons for the proscription of its activities.
IPOB described last week’s sit-at-home order as very successful, adding it showed that IPOB was the only group that could speak for the Igbo.
“By virtue of the overwhelming compliance with the September 14, 2018 sit-at-home order issued by IPOB and the mandate conferred therein as the authentic representative of the easterners, we hereby declare the proscription of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other gatherings of saboteurs and collaborators in Biafra.
“The two groups do not represent the Igbo and lack the popular mandate to do so. Events of September 14 confirmed that our people have rejected their politics of acquiescence, servitude and slavery.”“As far as we are concerned, Ohaneze Ndigbo no longer exists, but it may exist only on paper. Henceforth, any public gathering it organises will be disrupted,” the statement reads.
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