Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State.
From Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Thursday described some elements allegedly terrorizing innocent citizens in the Southeast region of Nigeria as criminals claiming to be members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB.
Umahi who is the Chairman of the South East Governors' Forum stated this at the Christians' Ecumenical Centre, Abakaliki during the elders and widows' Christmas party in the state.
He was reacting to the security tension created by the suspected unknown gunmen a few days ago while enforcing the sit-at-home order by Simon Ekpa, an acclaimed Disciple of the IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
The governor while expressing anger over the unfortunate panic, the enforcement of the sit-at-home order caused the residents of the South East States, particularly in Ebonyi, regretted how every effort made by the Southeast Governors' Forum was aborted, just to encourage the ongoing agitation in the region.
He recalled at the formation stage of the agitation under Simon Ekpa in the Southeast, the governors of the region kicked against it, following their observation, that the action would go beyond the IPOB, leader's workout for the Biafra Sovereign State.
His words: "We are reaping what we have sown. When this person started forming agitation, the South East Governors stood against it, but a lot of people started encouraging it.
"I told them that this matter will go beyond Nnamdi Kanu. Now that it has gone beyond Nnamdi Kanu, every criminal is now IPOB and ESN (Southeast Security Network); now we have another bandit called EKpa.
"Is it the Biafra we deserved? We are now killing ourselves and blaming others. That is why we said in the heat of the crisis, that Ebonyi State will never be part of Biafra.
"If Biafra is to start killing people that have done nothing and start declaring sit-at-home. People have destroyed the environment for no reason."
Governor Umahi however, persuaded Ebonyians not to hesitate from calling the phone numbers of security agencies to track down the alleged hoodlums threatening their peace in the state.
He revealed that "these hoodlums (agitators) are living in the forest which is never part of the culture of Igbos," and warned politicians who are sponsoring them to desist from such acts.
"We have phone numbers, telling us where they are in the forest; imagine an Igbo man living in the forest. It is strange to our culture. I am warning the politicians that are using them; they are the one that has been suing Ebubeagu in court and are the ones encouraging the killing of Ebubeagu security operatives," he alleged.
