Pascal Arogorn Ibe
Following renewed attacks on Police formations and officers, some elders from the South East have urged relevant authorities in the country to deal decisively with members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The elders under the aegis of the Conference of Concerned Igbo Elders for Peace and National Unity (CIEPNU) said on Friday in a statement that the attack on security operatives within the Orlu Council of Imo State and other places allegedly by members of IPOB is unacceptable.
The statement jointly signed by the National President, Mazi Prof William Okocha and National Secretary, Barrister Irene Chizoba, condemned IPOB for carrying out Tuesday’s attack on Abayi police station in Aba, Osisioma Ngwa local council of Abia State, which resulted in the death of two police officers and burning of the station.
According to them, the current level of force being deployed may not be enough to curb their violent excesses in the region.
They warned that the proscribed group may likely carry out more daring attacks, unless urgent action was taken to deter them.
They also urged on Igbo sons and daughters at home and in the diaspora to dissociate themselves from the group, with a view to sending a strong message across, that IPOB does not represent the views of Ndigbo.
“We use this opportunity to call on the military and other concerned authorities to bring the full weight of the law to bear on the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, in a manner that will ensure the restoration of permanent peace and order to the South East region.
“As respected elders committed to national unity, peace and cohesion, we rise in condemnation of the violent activities of IPOB, which we hasten to note, are not a representation of the Igbo.
“Ndigbo are peace-loving and peace-building people, whose commitment to the national cause is irrevocable, regardless of the negative tendencies of a few deviants, who have constituted themselves into cogs in the wheel of progress,” they said.
They also backed the call by the Ohanaeze Ndigbo for a review of the recent appointment of Service Chiefs by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While harping on the application of the federal character principle in making sensitive appointments, the Igbo elders decried what they considered was growing exclusion of the South East in national affairs.
They therefore urged Igbo sons and daughters of voting age, to take advantage of the ongoing registration exercise by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to register.
They said that integration into mainstream politics, through the instrumentality of the APC, will end the politics of exclusion and marginalisation against the South East geo-political zone.
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