The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has said the current upheaval in the Southeast was informed by the military’s attack on the base of the Eastern Security Network at Orlu, Imo State.
The group also accused Gov Hope Uzodimma of inviting security agencies to attack its camp.
Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesman told BBC that the concept of the ESN was to protect the region’s forests and bushes against herders that ‘kill our people and rape our women’.
He said: “Hope Uzodinma was the first governor to invite the military to come and kill us in Orlu. Our problem with him will not be easy to resolve. Some people are using him to kill his own youths.
“Why was Uzodinma so quick to blame his political opponents for the insecurity in the state when he knew he had some scores to settle with some diehard pro-Biafra agitators? By politicizing a very sensitive issue as the security of the lives and property of the people he claims to govern, has Uzodinma not admitted his own moral unfitness to lead a decent political society?”
Commenting on the recent claims by the governor that peace had returned to the state, Powerful said “In the last five days or so, Uzodinma has begun to celebrate and congratulate himself, ascribing the ostensible cessation of hostilities in Imo to himself.
“The truth is that the absence of conflict does not mean there is peace. There can be a situation where neither peace nor conflict exists. The question is: What exactly has Uzodinma done differently to bring about any glimmer of peace in the state? He has done absolutely nothing beyond threats of incarcerating, crushing and annihilating whoever he feels is after his disputed regime.
He attributed the return of peace in the region to dialogue, saying the recent peace in the region was “As a result of the intervention of about twelve reputable Igbo organizations, including World Igbo Congress, ASETU, Alaigbo Development Foundation, Nzuko Umunna, Nkata Ndi Inyom, Igbo World Assembly, Igbo Board of Deputies, Ekwe Nche, Anioma Redemption etc., which met last Thursday in Enugu and demanded that no Igbo youth carry out any attacks on Igbo soil going forward.
“Uzodinma must never give credit to himself for the success of the genuine and patriotic intervention of these respected Igbo organizations. He must not also see this moratorium as an opportunity to continue to dance Makossa. If the fundamental reasons that sparked off the conflagration are not promptly addressed, we might be living on a borrowed time.”
