HURIWA asks Southeast governors to de-proscribe IPOB to de-escalate violence in the zone

Leading pro-Democracy group in Nigeria- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has challenged the governors of the South East to immediately de-proscribe the Indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB) as the fastest path to restoration of peace and the creation of the enabling environment for constructive and law based dialogues.

HURIWA said the South East governors were the persons who urged the then President Muhammadu Buhari on September 15th 2017 to proscribe the then hitherto unarmed pro-secessionist group – Indigenous peoples of Biafra(IPOB) headed by the illegally detained Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

HURIWA recalled historically that the begining of the insurgency in the South East was when on September 15th 2017, the Chairman of the South-east Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, affirmed publicly that the forum decided to proscribe the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB to stop the rising tension in the zone.
Mr. Umahi, who briefed journalists in his office in Abakaliki said the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, was gradually losing control of the situation and his members prompting the governors to wade in to prevent further bloodshed. He said the proscription had achieved the desired result. He said IPOB has lost its original ideal by causing unnecessary tension and killings in the South-east which he said has affected investment drive in the region.

Besides, the then governor who is now both a Senator and a ministerial nominee under the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had in 2017 also said that based on the evidence before him, the military did not attack IPOB members on Sunday as claimed by Mr. Kanu and that it was the IPOB members who threw bottles and stones at the military officers who were passing by.“When you put a small fire, it can go very far and become difficult to control,” Mr. Umahi said. “The IPOB activities were gradually getting out of the control of Nnamdi Kanu. Soldiers were passing on the way when IPOB members started throwing stones and other objects on them and it sparked off the clash between the group and the military. “It is a shame that when this thing happened, a man called Charles Ogbu had to send phone numbers of all South-east governors, the Senate President and others and all our people could do was to be calling us to insult us. These are people who never experienced any war in their lives.”

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Offering what he called additional excuse for proscribinh IPOB even when the IPOB as at 2017 was absolutely non-violent agitators, Dave Umahi had said the lives of northerners and all non-indigenes in the state and zone must be guaranteed at all times, warning that security agencies have been directed to deal decisively with anyone that tries to cause a breach of the peace. “Our focus is how to save lives of every Nigerian and we believe in a united Nigeria. Lives of people are involved and we must not play politics with that,” he said. “Anybody that wants to foment trouble must be crushed and I want security agencies to beef up security around all the non-indigenes in the state and to report to me any problem because we must maintain the peace.”

The South-east Governors Forum rose from its meeting on Friday September 15th 2017 to announce the proscription of IPOB in all the five states of the zone.
The meeting was also attended by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Willie Obiano (Anambra) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) while Rochas Okorocha of Imo was represented by his deputy.
Also in attendance were the Ohanaeze leadership led by Chigozie Ogbu, former deputy governor of Ebonyi State, who represented John Nwodo, the then President General of the socio-cultural organisation just as the National Assembly members led by then Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who is serving prison term in the UK for human organ trafficking, and the then GOC 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Adamu Abubakar, were also in attendance.

HURIWA which then faulted the irrational decision of the South East governors to proscribe IPOB which occasioned the highest levels of military actions against members of IPOB include the arrest and incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, has again asked the new set of governors who met few days back in Enugu on the insecurity and instability in the South East caused by the illegal enforcement by armed hoodlums loyal to Simon Ekpa based in Finland, HURIWA has asked the governors to undo the collective harm they unleashed on the South East by their ill advised proscription of IPOB by immediately de-proscribing IPOB to DE-ESCALATE VIOLENCE IN IGBOLAND and to pressure President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu.

HURIWA believes that since the governors rushed to proscribe the Indigenous peoples of Biafra but has maintained undignified silence about the existence of a private Army led by Asari Dokubo who had confirmed that his armed gangs are operating in the South East, these governors should immediately de-proscribe IPOB, DEMAND THE RELEASE OF NNAMDI KANU AND COMPEL PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU TO CONSULT WITHTHE GOVERNMENT OF FINLAND TO REPATRIATE SIMON EKPA WHO IS THE PERSON INSTIGATING KILLINGS NOW IN THE SOUTH EAST UNDER THE GUISE OF WORKING FOR NNAMDI KANU WHO HAS DEBUNKED THE CLAIMS OF SIMON EKPA SEVERALLY AND DISSOCIATED IPOB from the violent sit-at-home orders he issues from his heavily air-conditioned and tastefully furnished European home in Finland.

HURIWA recalled that on August 10th 2023, the maiden meeting of the governors in the South East region since the inauguration of new governors on May 29th 2023 under the aegis of South East Governors Forum are meeting in Enugu.

The five governors of southeastern states – Alex Otti of Abia, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, Dr Peter Mbah of Enugu and Senator Hope Uzodinma of Imo met behind closed doors in Enugu State Government House.

HURIWA gathered tjat one of the things that featured prominently on the agenda was the issue of Monday’s sit-at-home protest in the region and the demand for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the separatist group, Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 2021.

HURIWA however thinks that the best way to begin is for these largely new set of South East governors to undo and untie the knotty proscription of IPOB pronounced by their predecessors and work much more constructively towards the nationwide de-proscription of IPOB by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since the immediate past President actually proscribed IPOB based on the advisory of Governors Forum of South East headed then by erstwhile Ebonyi State governor Mr. Dave Umahi who is a ministerial nominee under Tinubu’s APC-led government.

HURIWA said since 2017 that the hierarchy of the armed forces claimed that members of the Indigenous peoples of Biafra are armed and dangerous in their agitation for self determination, the Federal Government has failed spectacularly to convict even a single member of the now outlawed group IPOB of the charges of armed insurrection or violence despite the groundswell of propaganda in the media by the Army, the police and the DSS.

HURIWA, however, condemned the continuous enforcement of the adversarial sit-at-home orders by Simon Ekpa which engenders widespread killings of Igbo people, crumbling of South East economy and the deterioration of security in IGBOLAND.

We condemn any killings by any group of Police operatives, security forces and similarly we condemned the killings of innocent Igbo youths by armed operatives of the security forces of Nigeria.