Anambra State Government has advised the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to restrain his followers from attacking Anambra politicians.
This is coming on the heels of an attack launched on the State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano by members on the group on Sunday at Ekwulobia, Aguata council area of the state.
Obiano, who was attending a holy mass at St Joseph Catholic Church was reportedly attacked by youths dressed in IPOB vests.
Members of the group had also attacked a governorship candidate, Chief Godwin Ezeemo in Ihiala at the weekend, disrupting activities at his father in-laws burial ceremony with chants of ‘no election in Anambra’.
A release signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Mr. James Eze cautioned that unless decisive action was taken by the leadership of IPOB, its growing popularity will soon suffer a setback.
Eze said the only possible explanation for the action of the youths on Sunday may have been the presence of Governor Willie Obiano who had arrived the church to celebrate with the Catholic Youths of the parish who were marking their 2017 Youth Day.
The release said that such unwarranted attack on the number one citizen of the state was bad for the image of the group.
Eze added that despite the interferences, Governor Obiano later addressed the congregation, urging the youths to dedicate their lives to Christ especially at this moment in the nation’s history which placed undue pressure on young people.
It added that the Governor further reassured the people that the coming gubernatorial election would hold as scheduled and urged everyone to strive to maintain the peace that Anambra was known for.
Meanwhile, IPOB has disowned the youths who attacked Obiano on Sunday, saying they were not its members.
Comrade Emma Powerful, the group’s media and publicity secretary in a press release denied the youths, saying that they may be fake IPOB members hired by politicians in the hope of labeling the group as violent.
He advised members of the public to be in the lookout for such elements being used to drag its name to the mud.Meanwhile in another development, the spokesperson for IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful has denied that members of the group attacked Obiano on Sunday. He claimed that some highly placed politicians hired hoodlums and some unemployed youths who claim to be IPOB members and stormed the church in Ekwulobia where Obiano worshipped.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Monday, accused the federal and Anambra State governments of recruiting those it described as uneducated individuals and students in the universities to infiltrate into its ranks in order to label the organization a violent group.
IPOB was apparently reacting to Sunday’s incident at Ekwulobia in Aguata local government area of Anambra State where some youths dressed in IOPB uniform and waving Biafran flags tried to force themselves into St. Joseph’s Church in the town where Governor Willie Obiano was worshiping at the time.
The indigenous people of Biafra(IPOB) and it’s leadership worldwide under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu accuses the Federal Government, Gov Obiano and some few politicians in Nigeria of recruiting some uneducated individuals and students in the universities to infiltrate into IPOB in order to label IPOB as a violent group.
In a statement on Monday, IPOB media and publicity secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful accused government contractors of mobilizing people stormed the Catholic Church and harassed those in a church service, alleging that the aim was to create room for security operatives to begin to arrest IPOB members in Ekwulobia and its environs.
The statement by Powerful read: “IPOB leaders and members are very intelligent people who cannot involve themselves in any act of violence. It is crystal clear to all and sundry that IPOB under Nnamdi Kanu remains non-violent in its pursuit for Biafra freedom and cannot change our methods of peaceful approach towards the restoration of Biafra.
"The election boycott in Anambra come November this year remains, but cannot cause any violence.
“We are aware that some politicians and some members of the Nigerian security personnel employed some uneducated individuals and groups in the society to harass the general public in the name of IPOB members.
"Some government contractors have printed IPOB t- shirts and Biafra flag with huge amount of money to be shared to some hungry youths to claim to be IPOB members under Nnamdi Kanu.
“We advise the general public to beware of fake IPOB members, who were paid by some politicians who want to score cheap points in the forth coming elections to cause confusion in Anambra and states in Biafraland.”, he said.One more photo below.
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