GOVERNOR Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State,
Tuesday said that he will not dethrone the traditional ruler of Afara Ukwu
Ibeku Autonomous Community of the state, His Royal Highness, Eze Isreal Kanu,
the father of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
because of the involvement of his son in the ongoing tension in the state.
There have
been calls from some people from Umuahia that the governor should dethrone
Kanu’s father following the horrible experience the people had from the
military that had invaded all streets in the area to curb the activities of
IPOB.
Specifically,
the Umuahia Youths Movement On Sunday gave governor Ikpeazu a 24-hour ultimatum
to dethrone Kanu’s father as paramount ruler or else they would take the laws
upon their hands claiming that the royal father was not fit to be king as he
was unable to control his son.
But another
group, Ibeku Youth Assembly warned against any attempt to remove the
traditional ruler from his throne.
But Governor
Ikpeazu who was at the Presidential Villa to brief President Muhammadu Buhari
who was represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on the security
situations in his state told State House correspondents that there was a
difference between Kanu and his father.
According to
him, “I clearly separate Kanu from his father. The processes of handling
traditional institutions are enshrined in the laws of our land.
“Traditional
rulers who are members of our constituency have leadership, they will do the
needful at the appropriate time. But for me, I think their is a clear division
between Nnamdi Kanu and his father.”
Fielding
question on what went wrong, he said, “It depends from what point to what
point. But if you are referring to what happened in the past one week.
Nigerians know that for some time now this group called IPOB is agitating for a
separate nation called Biafra and that the home state of the leader of that
group happens to be Abia State.
“As
expected, when such things happen there is an interface between some members of
that group and the military, and the theater was Abia state.
“Some people
attempted to hijack that event to conflagrat our country. To the glory of God,
the rest is history, we are still working to stabilize the fragile peace in the
region. I thank God also for the instruments he used to be able to keep our
country as one. We are humbled by the privileges.”
On what he
told the northern governors that were in his state as a result of the ethnic
tension generated by the clash between the army and IPOB, he said that he
assured the northern governors of the safety of their people in Abia State.
He said,
“Well, I assured them of safety of lives and property of everybody that resides
in Abia whether you are an Abian or not an Abian. I swore with the Bible to
protect lives and property and because I take such things seriously, I will
continue to protect the lives and property of my brothers and sisters
irrespective of where they come from.
“You know
that the main stay of our economy in Abia State is trade and commerce and I do
not think it will augur well for our economy if we make our kitchen the theater
of Biafra.
“A native
wisdom in my place says you shouldn’t allow fight to ensue from your mother’s
kitchen. It is my responsibility also to grow prosperity from my state.”
Commenting
on the essence of his meeting with the Vice President, he said, “Well,
naturally I am heading a subnational government when this kind of thing happens
which would have had dimension of national proportion, it is right that you
will come and brief the Commander-in-Chief or his vice and that is exactly what
I have come to do.”
On his reaction
to allegations that the IPOB crisis was as a result of failure of leadership in
the South East, he said that the new crop of governors in the zone were doing
their best to better the lots of the people.
He said,
“Allegations are supposed to be investigated by investigative officers and I am
not trying to investigate such things, so is just the masses especially the
press.
“You know,
we are perception builders, we should try to say things that are good about our
country not things that are bad. I think there are enough reasons to see that
under our circumstance that we may not be Eldorado yet but there are concerted
efforts and attempts to make our place a better place.
“I do not
see how as an Ibo man boxing myself into a smaller geographic entity without
recourse of the most widely traveled people in Nigeria. There are Igbos in
Sambisa, what are you expecting of them if I narrow their geography of
coverage.
“But
agitation, marginalization, infrastructural deficiencies, these are issues
which are germane and they can be discussed, they can be spoken about, they can
be addressed. But I do not know how in 21st century how carrying arms in my
kitchen will grow the prosperity of my people.”
On his
message to Igbos all over the world he said, “First and foremost I think our
relationship with our brothers from northern Nigeria the governors, they have
assured that every part of Nigeria is safe for every Nigerian including Igbos
to continue in their business and enterprise.
“I want to
announce that the population of Igbos outside Igbo enclave is about 11.6
million, you don’t play with the lives of 11.6 million. So we all have to be
careful, the press, the leadership at the state level, the leadership at the
federal government level, everybody.
“I think we
should be guided by the rule of law and grow confidence in the Nigerian
citizens that under our laws that everybody is protected.”
News Source: - Vanguard | September 19, 2017.
Image Source: - This Day | July 27, 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment