By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged to disqualify any would-be aspirant that shows affection or fraternity with Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) to the detriment of the collective interest of the Southeast region.
This appeal was made by a South-East group known as the Southeast Youths and Elders Forum.
The group also advised politicians of Igbo extraction to openly condemn IPOB like the Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr Dave Umahi, who it said has never hidden his firm believe in one Nigeria as well as in the unity and progress of the country.
In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mazi Ikechukwu Edwin, the group alleged that some Igbo politicians are secretly associating with the leadership of the proscribed IPOB in exchange for votes in 2019.
“Ordinarily, we would have maintained our silence waiting to see how IPOB will make them elected leaders in 2019, but because their dangerous scheming is detrimental to the interest of the Southeast region as well as the current crop of leaders in the zone especially with the anti-Igbo label place on them; most especially the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer Dave Umahi who has never hidden his firm believe in one Nigeria as well as in the unity and progress of the country, we have decided to do a follow-up to our earlier press statement,” the group said.
The statement said, “Based on this reality, we demand that all political leaders, religious leaders, traditional rulers, town union presidents, opinion leaders and all pressure groups in the southeast to come out openly and condemn the illegal activities of the IPOB in the region.
The current anti-Igbo label placed on Governor Dave Umahi is uncharitable and a total betrayal of the entire Igbo cause which the Governor is altruistically leading the struggle.
“As Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, Engineer Umahi is the first citizen of the region and as a result, it is incumbent on him to blend Southeast interest with national interest which will lead to greater prosperity and development of the region instead of IPOB’s divisive, tribalistic and retrogressive pursuit which will result in economic and political doom for the zone.
“In lieu of this, we also call on all state chairmen of the major political parties in the region as well as their chieftains and would-be aspirants to come out and condemn the activities of IPOB openly so as to prove to the world that they are not sponsors of IPOB in the country.
“Failure to do that, we urge the security organisations to place these questionable individuals on their watch list to ascertain their level of fraternity with the proscribed movement,” the group said.
“We also urge the Independent National Electoral Commission to use the security report generated by our intelligence community to disqualify any would-be aspirant that shows affection or fraternity with IPOB to the detriment of the collective interest of the Southeast region,” it added.
Adedapo Adesanya