Ohaneze to protesting Igbo Youths: Biafra died in 1970

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the umbrella body of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, yesterday disassociated itself from the pro-Biafra agitation being championed by Igbo youths, under the auspices of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOD) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Addressing a press conference in Awka, the Anambra State capital yesterday, the Chairman, Forum of the State Presidents of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Chris Eluemuno, said after a critical look at the agitation for a Biafra State, it came to the conclusion that Biafra died in 1970 after it was denounced by Gen. Philip Effong (rtd), whom late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu handed over to during the Biafra-Nigeria Civil War. Eluemuno, who is also the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State chapter and a member of the recently concluded National Constitutional Conference, told journalists that he was speaking on behalf of the seven Igbo speaking states, including Rivers and Delta states. He said: “Ohanaeze has been silent on the Biafra pro-agitation, although the youth wing has been speaking.

We think it is the appropriate time we make our stand clear. Ohanaeze as a cultural organisation cannot afford to associate with Biafra insurgence. We cannot support it. Anybody who is aggrieved of anything should resort to dialogue and channel it appropriately. “Nigeria is our country and we believe in one Nigeria.

Ndigbo has contributed a lot in this country and we cannot afford to put the lives of millions of Nigerians into jeopardy. No sane Igbo man should pray to see what we saw in the civil war. Since 1970 when Effong denounced Biafra, Biafra was dead.”The Ohanaeze chieftain said what Ndigbo were interested in how to address the infrastructure decay among other economic woes befalling the South- East zone. According to him, the worst roads in this country are the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road and the Enugu-Aba- Port-Harcourt Road, some of which had been awarded over 10 years now.

He said the group cannot apportion the blame on the present administration because the infrastructure had been so bad since former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, down to the last administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Eluemuno said Ohanaeze believed that the agitation was borne-out of marginalisation of the region and once such lapses were addressed anybody who was agitating, would be on his own.

He said Obasanjo never believed in the Igbo nation pointing out that Anambra State alone spent over N29 billion to maintain federal roads in the state and the money had not been refunded to the state government up till today. He said the neglect was not caused by President Muhammadu Buhari who was just some few months in office and appealed to the president to forgive the agitators and enter into dialogue that would bring lasting peace and progress in the region.

-New Telegraph