“Ndigbo has sacrificed their material resources and blood, for the unity of Nigeria, more than any other people in Nigeria. Igbos developed Lagos, Abuja and other major cities of the country and cannot be taken for granted in Nigeria.”- Owelle Rochas Okorocha
The governor of Imo State and Chairman APC governor’s forum has belatedly reacted to ultimatum by a Coalition of Northern Youths, ordering Igbos resident in the 19 northern states of Nigeria to vacate the region before October 1st, 2017, calling for calm among the agitated and frustrated youth population in Nigeria.
Addressing youths of Igbo extraction on Tuesday over the vexed issue, Okorocha said, “If there is anybody to blame for your frustrations, blame us your leaders. And if there are people to sympathise with, you must sympathize with the north. Just visit the north and you will shed tears for their plight. The level of poverty, lack and deprivation is unbecoming especially for a region that has ruled this country more than any other.”
While expressing his distaste for the operational style of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Okorocha condemned the statement of the northern (Arewa) youths who he said may have acted out of provocation and called on all non-Igbos who encourage IPOB to desist forthwith.
“The statement by IPOB and Arewa youths are nonsensical and ill-informed. These groups of people may not have seen the effects of the civil war. And these non-Igbos who support and encourage IPOB should desist because when the chips are down, they will be nowhere to be found” Okorocha said.
Okorocha called on all leaders across political and ethnic divides to rise to the occasion and call evil by its name.
All leaders in Nigeria he said must speak out now and condemn this evil trend. Keeping silent will not solve this problem and if this crisis is allowed to fully erupt, nobody will benefit from it and we will all bear the loss at the end of the day.
He called on IPOB to rebrand and change their approach to the struggle and agitate for the right things and not the wrong things.
“You cannot be calling for a sovereign state while in a sovereign nation. Nobody would look kindly to such an agitation and most of us would have expected IPOB to focus on tangible issues of benefit to the Igbo nation. Nobody would criticise IPOB if it was something like a Movement for the Economic Survival of Ndigbo (MESON).”
Okorocha noted that nobody can play down on the stake and investments of Ndigbo in the entity called Nigeria.
“Ndigbo has sacrificed their material resources and blood, for the unity of Nigeria, more than any other people in Nigeria. Igbos developed Lagos, Abuja and other major cities of the country and cannot be taken for granted in Nigeria.”
