Abia state Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has said that South-East Governors only banned the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), but did not declare it a terrorist organization.
He stated this while speaking on The Osasu Show, where he also explained that the Governors only proscribed the activities of the group, to douse tension in the region.
Ikpeazu warned that labelling IPOB a terrorist organisation has far-reaching consequences.
“Put the action of the south-east governors within context. It became expedient for the south-east governors to look at their mandate,” Ikpeazu said.
“My mandate as a governor is to secure life and property of not only Abians but everybody that is doing business within the geographical space called Abia.
“So at that time, I should protect even those agitating for an independent country called Biafra. I come from a part of the country where the lives and property of visitors within your gate is perhaps more important than your own life.
“My duty and responsibility as at that day was to make sure that I avert bloodshed of monumental proportion.
“People make all types of agitations across Nigeria. But for me as governor, I supported proscription as at that day because we did not want news to gather under one location or another under the aegis of IPOB.
“But going forward to say this group is a terrorist group has international and far-reaching consequences.
“I don’t think the Igbo are getting a fair deal in this country. There is no other ethnic group in this country’s post-war experience that believes in one Nigeria more than the Igbo.
“The information that is available to the federal government is not available to me and if that is what they have said, it is up to them to defend it.
“But me as a person, sitting in my small corner, I can speak on any other Nigerian; ‘oh, the decision is a hasty decision’ but looking at it from the prism of the federal government is another angle.”
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