IPOB: Latest Biafra News Today Thursday 18th November 2021

Victor Umeh

He stated that agitations by the proscribed group should be immediately addressed in order for peace to return to the South-East zone.

Umeh added that issues of marginalization of the Igbos in the Nigerian polity should be properly attended to by dialogue and persuasion.

The former Senator said the sit-at-home order by IPOB and the palpable insecurity in Anambra almost threatened the November 6 governorship election in the state.

Umeh, however, revealed that critical stakeholders in the region such as traditional rulers and religious leaders reached out to IPOB to ensure that the election was held.

The APGA chieftain equally commended President Muhammadu Buhari for dominating the state with more security operatives to erase the fears that gripped the electorates.

He said: “Through negotiations, on November 4, the IPOB declared openly that people should go and vote in the election and the sit-at-home order which they had issued for one week beginning from November 5, the order was lifted.

“The greater commendation will go to our traditional rulers and traditional leaders. We had to resort to reaching out to our young people, the people who have been threatening that there won’t be an election in Anambra State.”

Father Mbaka Calls Nnamdi Kanu A Hero, Prays For IPOB Leaders

The Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria, Ejike Mbaka has warned that if Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) dies in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), there will be more trouble in Nigeria.

Mbaka stated this in a video posted on AdoMiracTV on Sunday evening.

The cleric further commended the leadership of IPOB for calling off its Monday sit-at-home exercise on the South-East and ordering the arrest of enforcers.

He also called Kanu a hero and prayed for IPOB leaders.

Last Thursday, the pro-Biafra separatist group reaffirmed that there is no sit-at-home on Mondays again in the South-East region.

IPOB stated that anyone caught compelling residents to sit at home when people are going about their businesses was an agent of the DSS or another Nigerian security agency. The group, however, said sit-at-home will only be enforced on days Kanu will be appearing in court.

The secessionist group titled the statement, “Monday Sit-At-Home Order Remains Cancelled, Anyone Found Enforcing It Is An Agent Of The Nigerian DSS – IPOB.”

Reacting to this, Mbaka called on all aggrieved stakeholders to sheath their swords in the interest of peace in the South-East region, noting that poor masses were suffering.

Mbaka said the cancellation of the sit-at-home exercise had averted political upheaval, constitutional logjam, bloodshed and economic stagnation in a nation battling terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping among others.

He expressed hope that other aggrieved people would toe the path of dialogue, peace and honour to jointly resolve all grievances arising from injustices and marginalisation in the country.

“The Indigenous People of Biafra has ordered the arrest of Monday sit-at-home enforcers in the South-East, I’m reading from the WhatsApp publication, no more sit-at-home on Mondays. We would expect that from tomorrow, people should go to the markets, schools, churches, people should open their stores.

“The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, the hero, Nnamdi Kanu, is expressing his empathy with the people of the South-East over what they are passing through. He came to know that Igbos are suffering because of him. And he would not wish that suffering to continue. Therefore, nobody should stop anybody from going to his or her business any Monday.

“All of us should keep praying for his (Kanu) release, and work towards his freedom because if he dies inside that place, it will cause more trouble. If he comes out, he will come out as a hero. We don’t want him to die because it is not Nnamdi Kanu’s issue, it is the issue that concerns the people that are suffering. Nnamdi is not asking the government to do anything for him; he is speaking for the Igbo people and we that are affected should do anything possible to see that it is well with him.

“Many said they saw me at Abuja some days ago, Yes. If I’m with you, I’m with you, if I’m not, there’s nothing you can do about that. I am not here to tell you why I was in Abuja but whatever will help the emancipation of my people, I will do that. I will help to see that there is an authentic manifestation of the salvation of souls, I must do it because I am a soul saver.

“I know that those who are enforcing the sit-at-home did it to make people feel that the leader was arrested but the arrest is affecting everybody. There are people that must go out before they can eat. If they don’t go out to sell their little vegetable, they may not be able to eat. The danger of sit-at-home is becoming a problem instead of a solution. I am blessing the IPOB leaders wherever they are, it shall be well with them and some people who may not be aware of this information may want to enforce it.

“IPOB has said the only day there will be sit-at-home is when Nnamdi will be going to court and the information will be passed before then, so don’t take every Monday sit-at-home as a culture.

Father Mbaka

“The fate of the church may suffer if the sit-at-home persists. Anybody saying I shouldn’t talk should be careful, somebody must stand out for the people. If you are the silent type when things are going wrong, no trouble, I don’t speak against you but don’t condemn what I’m doing, you’re not my God, you don’t know why I’m here on earth, I have a call. If the church cannot save the situation and the people, I don’t know what the church can do.

“If the people of God is suffering, all of us will suffer. Your conditions should affect us, and whoever can do anything to see that your situation is taken care of, the person should do it. I’m with you, my people. There are people who are working and meeting to see that Nnamdi Kanu is released and it is not by sitting at home here that he will be released.

“On that Wednesday, by the side, you see people carrying a casket, the Nigerian flag before another group came singing ‘Holy Holy Holy, Nnamdi Kanu is another saviour’ and they overpowered those with the Nigerian flag. What I want to tell you is that I was in Abuja, people were going about their normal businesses. I thank IPOB for cancelling the sit-at-home during the Anambra election. God will bless them.

“I’m still calling on our leaders, governors, Ezes, Igwes, senators, those in the House of Representatives, from the South-East, nobody should hide. It’s not our children that will be suffering for them. The youths should not champion this cause, the leaders should champion it. Whenever we mention IPOB, it would seem as if it’s about jobless youths, No! This is an Igbo issue and whoever is denying that it’s not an Igbo matter is a sycophant.

“Whatever affects our people should affect all of us so the whole leaders should come out, cancelling sit-at-home does not mean it is over. The poor masses are suffering. Most of those rich people do not have businesses down here. We are suffering ourselves.”

How Zik weakened agitations for Biafra Republic – Amaechi

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said the defection of Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Nigeria’s first President from the defunct Biafra Republic in August 1968 helped weaken the agitation of the secessionists.

The late Odumegwu Ojukwu had on May 30, 1967, declared that the eastern region is breaking away from Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra.

The declaration however resulted in a war between soldiers of the Nigerian government and Biafra secessionists, otherwise called the Nigerian civil war.

The civil war ended in 1970 after the secessionist surrendered and returned to be part of Nigeria.

The late Nnamdi Azikiwe had declared support for a bid by the Igbo, his kinsmen, to break away from Nigeria into an independent Republic of Biafra in 1967, but backed out a year later.

Zik, as he was popularly known later to begin the campaign for ‘one Nigeria,’ calling on Biafra agitators to abandon their bid to break away from Nigeria.

Reminiscing on that episode on Wednesday, at the 2nd Igbo Nsukka Zik Annual Merit Award, organised by Igbo Nsukka United Front (INUF) with the theme: “Preserving Zik’s Legacies for National Unity,” on Wednesday, Amaechi said, “Zik’s defection from Biafra in August 1968 (about a year after the civil war broke out) was the one decision that many of his kinsmen, including some people here never really forgave him.

But he noted that: “It was a move that weakened the case for secession and may have hastened the collapse of the Biafran resistance. For a significant number of Igbo people, it was unpardonable, but Zik was clear on what his motivations were.

Rotimi Amechi

Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State, also highlighted the various efforts and contributions of Zik in the country’s political evolution and his demonstration of unalloyed commitment to the oneness, indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria.

Represented by a former parliamentarian and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, the Transportation Minister, said: “Even in Biafra, Zik was consistent on his quest for national unity and pushed relentlessly for compromise and diplomatic solutions to the problems at hand.

He added that Nigeria’s first President and foremost nationalist, late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, widely referred to as ‘The Great Zik of Africa’, was a consistent promoter and relentless advocate of national unity.

“It is not an easy place to be when everyone around you is obsessed with tribe and self but it requires exemplary courage and clear-eyed commitment to national unity to stay the course.

“Nigerian politicians must jettison blind loyalty to tribe and self for Nigeria to live up to its potentials. Zik’s legacies must therefore be put forward as a template for courageous leadership with the unity of Nigeria as the focal point.”

He noted that the late Azikiwe “took critical decisions between 1959 and 1969 that established him in the pantheon of statesmen.

“Statesmen take decisions that may be unpopular, but which promote national interest but politicians take popular decisions that often times promote narrow interests.”

In his welcome speech, the Director-General of INUF, Hon. Chineme Onyeke, said “Igbo Nsukka Zik Annual Merit Award Summit which we organise every year is to honour Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe for his efforts in putting Nsukka in the global map, mostly by siting the first indigenous University of Nigeria in Nsukka land which therefore serves as a catalyst, not only for the intellectual development of our people but also for the economic, political and social development of the Nsukka nation. Two, Zik lived all his life and died in Nsukka.

“Zik Annual Merit Award is an occasion in which we appreciate and honour patriotic Nigerians who have in one way or the other helped Nigeria nation in the areas of policy formulation, investments, capital development and youth empowerment.

“Therefore our Group, in seeking to emulate Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and other patriotic Nigerians fixed the 16th of every year, marking Zik’s posthumous birthday, to host an Economic/Award Summit wherein we invite government officials, investors, captains of industry and policymakers to seek ways of collaboration to invest in Nsukka area in particular and other parts of Nigeria in order to gainfully engage the teeming unemployed youths.

“As part of our Action-Plan, and in order to further internalize the philosophy of One United Nigeria which Zik epitomized in life and death, we intend to build here in Abuja a Unity Institute in the name of Zik. The institute is to be called and named ZIK INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL UNITY. This institute when completed will serve as centre for National Dialogue and research for all Nigerians, institutions of learning, Civil Society Groups, Non-Governmental Organisations, students and the general public.”