IPOB Members Not As Bad As Fulani Bandits – Ikpeazu

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has stated that South-East gunmen are not as dangerous as Northern bandits, but that they must find a method to talk about the issues at hand.

iexclusive News Nigeria reports that in an interview with Vanguard on Sunday, the governor stated that Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is his son.

He warned that other options for settling the current standoff between the Nigerian government and IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, outside than diplomacy and negotiation, could lead to more violence.

“We need to work with IPOB.” Yes, we need to find a mechanism to discuss the issues at hand.

These people are not as evil as those who go to schools in the North East and North West and seize the entire population of teachers and students.

Invade mosques and churches and kidnap all of the worshippers, with no way of knowing where they are until a ransom is paid.

“I believe that what these individuals in the South-East are expressing has some ideological meaning.

Even though it is illegal to take up arms against the state, there is something to be heard.

They’re trying to send a message through the procedure. Rather than using phrases that we should not use even as leaders, we need to generate confidence among ourselves.

Nigeria has a keg of gunpowder on its hands, but the answer is not difficult to find.

“Because I am the governor, I view Nnamdi Kanu as a citizen but not as the leader of IPOB. I am willing to work with you to fix the problem.

I am concerned about his well-being and believe that he should be tried in a proper and equitable manner.

“I applaud their desire to bring justice to bear by investigating the claims against him and putting him on a fair trial, but I would not want him to be treated as if he had been convicted when he has not.”

Until then, he is still my citizen, and it is incumbent upon us, as his father, to look after him, after all, the wayward son had a father.

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“The situation in the South-East appears to be moving away from the foundation of handling the IPOB crisis, but you must acknowledge that the security apparatus is strongly reliant on the federal government.

“The situation is exacerbated by the widespread availability of small guns in the hands of persons who should not have them. He also mentioned that the country’s police force is “ill-equipped, inadequate, and underfunded.”

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The governor also stated why the governors of the South-East have been unable to prevent IPOB from executing sit-at-home orders across the region.

“If you call governors the state’s chief security officers, they can’t decide how many police officers to deploy or what kind of equipment to use.

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Then governors’ ability to oversee security situations in the South-East becomes incredibly tough.

The governors of the South-East are handicapped, but we are doing our best.

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“As a result, when IPOB issues a sit-at-home order, governors are unable to properly respond because they lack authority over Federal police, who are not adequate nor well-equipped to cope with security concerns,” he added.