The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has dismissed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu as a young man seeking relevance.
Okorocha said the IPOB leader’s activities had been over blown by the media, thereby making him relevant.
The governor spoke while fielding questions form correspondents at the government house in Owerri, the state capital.
Okorocha noted that Kanu did not have the capacity to tell him or other governors in the region to go to war with the entire country and so should not be taken seriously.
According to him, “On Nnamdi Kanu you must understand the position of a thing and what has created this hullabaloo if you like, and the big noise about this whole thing. Nnamdi Kanu’s group broke away from MASSOB.
“Last time, I said it depends on how we define this whole thing that is taken out of context. Nnamdi Kanu, a young man seeking relevance, agitating for whatever he believes in, what he stands for must be treated separately from the entire Igbo nation.
“The question is does Nnamdi Kanu have the capacity to lead Igbos to war? Or lead me and the governors to war? So you mean I will stand now and Nnamdi Kanu will tell me stand up let’s go to war?
“Sometimes we over dramatize issue just to make a big deal out of it and that has been the big challenge.
“Like the gentleman that spoke for the Arewa youths, and these are not more than 17 young men speaking for millions of Arewa youths and it doesn’t make sense because if you ask any Arewa youth now if he is part of that event, he will tell you no.
“We don’t have that wisdom of narrowing things to the perspective where they belong but we like to enlarge it to create the confusion that we all enjoy and the confusion if not well taken care of will consume Nigeria one day. And that is what some of us are trying to avoid.
“So the issue of Nnamdi Kanu should be treated as a young man agitating and seeking for relevance, these are two different issues.
“And he can ride on the back of supposed Igbo marginalization which has been said is not right, and ride on those sentiments and push his agenda but that does not mean that the entire Igbo are with him.
“I was in Chatham House and I remembered how I was attacked by the IPOB boys when I was delivering my lecture. They walked up to me and they were shouting and I said calm down. Ironically, the young man has never visited Nigeria before. So, it is our duty to call our younger ones to order.”
Post a Comment
Post a Comment