The people of Igalaland in the Eastern senatorial district of Kogi State, on Wednesday, disowned the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over the inclusion of Igalaland in the map of the Republic of Biafra
Speaking under the aegis of the Igala Socio-Cultural Groups, the people warned the Biafra’s agitators not to extend their territory to Igalaland.
The development followed a recent publication where Igala kingdom was included in the renewed agitation for the proposed Republic of Biafra as a clan.
The spokesperson of the group, Barry Idakwo, said the move by the agitators was an attempt to coerce the Igala nation and balkanise it.
The people stressed that Nigeria is a democratic country where everybody should be allowed to live peacefully and secured as prescribed by laws without any fear of intimidation.
Idakwo argued that the present agitation that included Igala people was not only provocative but very insulting to the people.
He said, “The agitators for Biafra have marginalisation as the main plan for their grievances. It is therefore unthinkable to annex the Igala kingdom without consulting us. This is against the spirit of fairness, sovereignty, equity, peaceful cohabitation and democracy; to falsely claim that Igala kingdom which was never defeated in any war as part of Biafra.”
While lamenting minimal presence of federal infrastructure in Kogi east, the group asked the government to in the spirit of fairness and equity, swear in Professor Stephen Ikani Ocheni as a substantial Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having passed through screening at the National Assembly.
“We urge our Igbo brothers to engage the Nigeria nation more purposefully for quality governance rather than agitations for separatist state,” Idakwo said.
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