Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has said that the best way to achieve the creation of an independent Biafra nation is through dialogue.
Speaking during his appearance as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Ikpeazu believes violence is not the best way to achieve the creation of a Biafra nation.
The governor said he does not recognise the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) spearheading recent agitations for the creation of the nation.
He, however, urged residents of the state to shun a sit-at-home order issued by the group in the Southeast.
“I don’t believe in Biafra through the barrels of the gun because I saw a little bit of the Civil War and I don’t want that kind of thing and I don’t see the prospects of that venture and I don’t want anything that will be suicidal,” the governor said.
“As far as we are concerned in Abia, there is nothing like IPOB. It is difficult to proscribe an ideology.
“If Biafra is a metaphor for agitation against injustice in any way, then there is Biafra in the heart of every Nigerian,” he added, just as he called on the citizens to project things that unite the nation,” he added.
While advocating for justice and equity in the nation, the Abia governor argued that some of the agitations from Nigerians are germane and should be addressed.
The governor who recalled that the late women’s rights activist and social mobilize Margaret Ekpo was a councilor in Abia State, and that someone from Kano State was once a mayor in Enugu State, lamented the rising level of disunity in Nigeria.
“Why are we not taking steps to build bridges? Rather we are emphasizing things that divide us – ethnicity, religion – all those things that divide us,” the governor said.
The article was originally published on Nigeria News