IPOB:Biafran agitators lack experience, says Ohanaeze

 
Notable Igbo personalities, including a foremost lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze; and a First Republic minister, Chief Mbazuluike Amechi, were in attendance at the event organised by the Eastern Consultative Assembly when pro-Biafran activists went on the rampage and manhandled some of the dignitaries. Following the attack on some prominent Igbo leaders by Biafra agitators at an event in Enugu last week, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said the agitators lack inexperience. 

Reacting on Saturday, the spokesman for Ohanaeze, Uche Achi-Okpaga, advised the Indigenous People of Biafra to avoid playing into the hands of those who intended to hold Igbo down.

The Ohanaeze spokesman said the group was not in support of the attack on the Igbo elders.

He noted that the Enugu incident was caused by frustration on the part of the aggrieved youths, a situation he blamed on the harsh conditions in the country.

Achi-Okpaga said, “The youth would always behave as such. Now, some sections of the country feel that the Igbo should not be allowed to rule the country.   Instead of distrust and disrespect, the youth should see beyond their noses that there is a deliberate and well-orchestrated ploy to downgrade Ndigbo.

“However, our youths remain our children. No matter the degree of the attacks, they are our children. We are training them informally. They will soon become leaders or elders and would, as well, learn to bear with the youthful displays of their own children.”

But IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, said the majority of Igbo leaders were afraid of the North and did not want to take any action that would offend their alleged northern benefactors.

In response to enquiries by our correspondent, the IPOB spokesman said most Igbo leaders were actively engaged in ‘undermining Igbo interest’.

 Powerful said, “These same leaders never ran to Buhari to send soldiers to stop Fulani herdsmen from slaughtering our people all over Enugu State. But when it came to IPOB agitating to free everybody from the bondage, they found the courage to invite the army to invade Igbo land.”

A leader of the Movement for Actualisation for the Sovereign State of Biafra, Uchenna Madu, in an interview with , explained that moves were being made to ‘mend fences’ with the affected Igbo leaders.

He explained that the agitators, who attacked the Igbo leaders, acted out of provocation.