IPOB: Agitation for Biafra not worth dying for – Uma Ukpai

 

A renowned preacher and president, Uma Ukpai Evangelistic Association, Rev. Dr Uma Ukpai has said no agitation either from the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB or from any other bloc in Nigeria is worth the life of any person.

He urged all agitators to go about their way responsibly so that no life would be lost in the process.

He also dismissed the media publications which erroneously portrayed him as either anti-Biafra or anti-Nigeria, saying that he belongs to both.

Rev. Ukpai made the assertion on Thursday in Uyo when newsmen asked his position about Biafran agitations and other social unrest bedeviling the country.

The cleric who called for peace recalled that agitation for the realization of Biafra started before the civil war, therefore, no more lives should again be lost in going about it, adding that it would be ‘madness’ for people to kill and be killed in this movement.

He, however, said the approach for the emergence of Biafra and the approach by the federal government to kick against the agitation were both wrong since each side was claiming right.

His words, “Rev. Ukpai is a Nigerian; he is also a Biafran. He is one man in three places. I said that the Biafran boys agitating are Nigerians. But when you think of harming your brother, then it is crazy. Every Biafran as at today is a Nigerian until they are handed the flag of their independence. Every man who calls himself a Biafran today is a Nigerian.

“We should agitate for whatever we want without killing anybody. I had said that before and I’m saying it again that Nigerians love each other; it is only the leaders that are spoiling for war. So don’t destroy a life you cannot replace because of agitation.”