From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
APEX Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has asked the Federal Government to remove the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) from the list of organisations it has proscribed.
It said no activity of IPOB had qualified it for the tag compared to the activities of terrorist groups in the North and those of killer herdsmen.
President of Ohanaeze in Anambra State, Chief Damian Afam Okeke-Ogene, made the demand while fielding questions from newsmen in Awka, the state capital shortly after the state executive committee meeting where he received unalloyed support to contest for any national office zoned to the state in the January 2021 Ohanaeze Ndigbo poll.
Okeke-Ogene said that the Federal Government would need to concern itself more with ending the insurgency in the North East and encourage the security operatives to do more rather than chasing around flag-bearing young people who are agitated by the poor governance of the country.
He wondered why the apex government was very quick to label harmless IPOB as a terrorist group with instructions to the security operatives to hunt them down while terrorist organisations in the North move freely without being arrested or prosecuted.
The Anambra Ohanaeze leader who was visibly worried about the series of ugly developments in the country, also wondered why the killer Fulani herdsmen, bandits and other similar groups responsible for the kidnappings and killings in the northern part of the country were being treated with kid gloves.
“Have you ever had that IPOB kidnapped or killed anybody unjustly? Why should the government go to court within 24 hours after a misunderstanding between Operation Python Dance II of the Nigerian Army and IPOB without a proper investigation and declare the group a terrorist organisation, while those with intention of tarnishing the image of the country be- fore the international communities are roaming freely in society without any government action?”
While saying that the Federal Government was hasty in labelling IPOB a terrorist organisation, he said that the pro-Biafra group was simply a group of men from the South East and South- South who assemble, when the need arises, to deliberate on issues affecting their welfare and their regions.
He reminded that freedom of association and peaceful assembly are still being protected by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).