South East governors proscribe IPOB

GOVERNORS of the South East geopolitical zone on Friday proscribed all the activities of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).

They called on all other aggrieved groups to articulate their positions on all national issues and submit to the Committee of Governors, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and National Assembly members from the zone, through the chairman of the South East Governors Forum.

Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of their one-day meeting with the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and National Assembly members from the South East.

He stated that all the governors of the zone were mandated to ensure compliance in their respective states.
Umahi said they also reinforced their desire for the restructuring of the country where all national issues would be discussed and amicably settled to achieve justice and fairness to every citizen.

According to him, the South East Governors Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and National Assembly members from the zone also reiterated their commitment to a united Nigeria.

He, however, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw soldiers from the South East while the police should be allowed to perform their constitutional role.

Saturday Tribune observed that governors of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu states as well as the president general of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Deputy Senate President, the GOC, 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, among other leaders, were in attendance. The governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, was represented by his deputy.

The emergency security meeting came on the heels of the rising tension in the South East following clashes between troops of Operation Python Dance and members of IPOB.

The leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, expected at the meeting as a follow-up to the ongoing dialogue initiated by the governors to douse ethnic agitations, stood to his ground not to attend the meeting. He was not sighted anywhere near the venue of the meeting.

Founder of the Igbo youth movement, Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, in an earlier interview told reporters that Kanu would not attend the parley.

The twin cities of Aba and Umuahia in Abia State have witnessed violent clashes since last Sunday and there are fears that this might spread to other parts of the South East zone and the country, if not promptly controlled.