WRITTEN BY Obinna Akukwe
Those planning to declare Biafra after launching attacks at the Lokpanta Hausa Settlement along Enugu-PH Expressway, the manner the Abia Cattle Market was attacked lst week, are members of the splinter groups from IPOB who believe that the DOS have sold out after collecting billions of naira from the Buhari’s secret police. We dissuaded an earlier planned attack on the said settlement, immediately after the botched arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu of November 2021 where Barrister Ejiofor and his group staged an unprofessional walk-out, which sentenced the IPOB leader to Yuletide in detention.
We have explained to the dissident commanders that the counsels to Kanu were not shut out of court premises, as propagated, but were a result of poor judicial representation, and that attacking any northern settlement will do Igbos no good. I have always posited that IPOB field commanders whom myself and other Igbo Veteran activists have been discussing with since the Endsars period, are reasonable, and whenever they see superior arguments, they bow down. Thus we have helped in taming activities of Unknown Gunmen in the South East, de-radicalized lots of IPOB members, and resettled a few.
However, the last week Abia Cattle Market attack caught our intelligence network napping. While we knew attack is coming, the location was hazy. I told a governorship aspirant from Ebonyi State, having battles with his Governor, that I cannot bring Igbo elders to address his complaints because we got wind that some secessionist miscreants wants to invade and attack an Hausa settlement, kill at least 150 persons, take visuals of tiers mutilated bodies and post all over Nigeria to instigate a reprisal and a quick arrival of Biafra, but the location of the attack is unknown. I had the conversation with the aspirant at a venue arranged by a Bishop, on Sunday while the attack came almost 24 hours later. Therefore the casualty figure of eight was due to ‘fear of the unknown’ by the hoodlums.
Our intelligence sources have informed us that the pot to attack Lokpanta in Imo State and kill the Hausa Traders in large numbers, have been activated again, after being suspended for three months. They choose Lokpanta over Four Corner Enugu, and Okigwe, Hausa settlements due to tactical reasons.
I want to beg the secessionists on the behalf of the Igbo Mandate Congress and veteran Igbo Activists that murdering innocent persons is not the manner to kick start Biafra. The murder of the best graduating student of Bayero University Kano, Sule Matthew by IPOB Gunmen, along with other travelers of Northern extraction in their bus, few days ago, at Ekwulobia, is very disturbing. Igbo Mandate Congress IMC have dispatched pacifists across certain volatile quarters in the north, in conjunction with select Igbo Elders, to forestall a reprisal, and we thank select northern elders who understood that the murderers do not represent Ndigbo.
I want to state that those murderous urchins, whose identities are well known to us, and many other key Igbo Veteran Activists and Elders, will soon put the entire South East into a precipe of war. Northerners doing legitimate business in the South East are entitled to doing their runs in peace, and buses conveying them should not be subjects of attacks. The day this pogrom of Igbos which they are instigating will commence, we will hand over these urchins to Igbo leadership at the highest levels.
I advise mainstream IPOB, Auto-Pilot Group and other splinter groups, who claim to want expedited Biafra actualization, to join hands with the Coalition of Northern Groups CNG in their suit seeking a court order compelling the National Assembly to organize referendum for Ndigbo. The activities of CNG are a genuine effort to stave off a civil war in Nigeria, and Igbo Mandate Congress IMC, and many veteran Igbo Activists see the genuineness of their law suit. Atacking Northern settlements and cattle markets are not the way out.
The mainstream IPOB should not treat the Auto-Pilot Group as orphans; they should give the Auto-Pilot Group and other splinter groups some respect, gather them together and seek peace in the South East. These splinter groups should note that Nnamdi Kanu have ordered the discontinuation of Sit At Home from his first meeting with his lead counsel. The Auto Pilot group should stop the unfounded rumors that Barristers Aloy Ejimakor, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Emma Powrful Chika Edozien, Kalunta Kalu have collected sums varying from between N1-5 Billion Naira from the DSS and Buhari to betray Biafra. I have trounced that rumor in the piece titled ‘The N5 billion betrayal of Nnamdi KANU:What I told Igbo Clerics’ where Istated the origin of the rumour thus
“Some clerics claimed N1 billion, N2 billion while some claimed N5 billion naira . When I inquired about the sources of the news, I was told that it ts news from the local chapters of IPOB who cited sources within the Presidency and DSS.The rumors of the betrayals by Barrister Alloy Ejimakor, Emeka Ejiofor, Emma Powerful and Edozien Madu has been rife since the third week of the Sit at home order was cancelled, but how the misinformation persisted till date is what I cannot understand”
I ended the piece y stating that
“I cautioned the clerics not to follow the examples of IPOB whose penchant for misinformation is legendary, and thanked them for seeking clarifications from me. The N5 billion naira betrayal of Nnamdi Kanu by his lawyers and IPOB leaders is a fabrication from disgruntled elements within IPOB”.
The DoS should stop blaming the Fulani, Army and DSS for activities of their dissident members, who murder innocent citizens and the security agents. They should admit they have lost control.
Governors should settle IPOB from their security votes to forestall total breakdown of law and order. I explained it in the piece titled ‘Destroying South East, Task that must be Accomplished: Gospel According to UGM’ where I stated that
“The only thing that will stop South East from being turned into Afghanistan War Zone starting from Yuletide Season is either the release of Nnamdi Kanu or the settlement of the separatist IPOB with their share of Biafran Cake from the security votes of the Confused Governors of the South East.”
Settling IPOB should be extended to middle commanders too, not just the Kanu family members. Equally, Buhari should state his conditions, and allow Nnamdi Kanu to go home in peace.
I will not shy away from leading other Igbo Veteran Activists in this God-Given task of not allowing South East become Afghanistan. However, if the warmongers and their political sponsors takes over, and declares the Biafra they want to declare amid chaos, we shall have no option than to seek the relocation of our people up north.
By this internal memo, those planning to attack Lokpanta Hausa Settlements should desist, and community leaders around the areas should initiate a proactive security, and avoid the resultant declaration of Biafra, through instigated bloodshed.
(Rev Obinna Akukwe , Director General of Igbo Mandate Congress , is releasing this piece by the authority of some Veteran Igbo Activists and Groups who are concerned about the gradual Afghanistanization of Igboland igbomandate@yahoo.com )
