The Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, has asked Nigerians not to take the threat by the Indigenous People of Biafra to stop the forthcoming governorship election in the state seriously.
He said while government would not allow such to happen, IPOB itself was also not going to carry out the threat. The governor view negates the plan of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu who has vowed that the election will not hold until a referendum is conducted for the Igbos.
Obiano, who is seeking ticket of his political party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance to contest the election, also insisted that the killings in a Catholic church in Ozubulu village in the state were not done by either the Boko Haram terrorist group or people agitating for seccession in the South-East.
The governor spoke with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday when he visited the national headquarters of the party to pick his nomination form.
He boasted that he would win the November 18 election. When asked if he did not nurse any fear that IPOB could disrupt the election, Obiano said, “That is not correct. They did not say there will not be any election. By the way, yesterday (Monday) you would have heard the war veterans who met with me, these are the people who fought the war, 87 of them.
“They were at the lodge to meet me and what they said was that they would support the election and they had endorsed my election on the second term journey.
“The leader of that group, Gen. Lathucia, most of you should know him, is the brains behind IPOB. So that comment that election won’t take place in Anambra, let me begin to dissipate that now.
“They didn’t say that and there would be election in Anambra. Nobody can stop election in Anambra when INEC has already mapped out the timetable. We would not even allow anybody to do that, to stop election in Anambra State, we won’t allow that.”
On the Ozubulu killings, the governor said, “Let me make this point: Ozubulu killings are not the kind of terrorism you know, it is not by Boko haram or anybody.
“Again, it is not by people agitating for separation. It was a feud between two gangsters that live outside Nigeria. They killed themselves over there and they decided to come home and both of them are from that village where the church was built.
“We have picked up some guys and very soon, I’m very confident that we are going to pick up the guy that did the killings dead or alive. “
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday said nothing would stop the governorship election in Anambra State scheduled for November 18.
It said the commission was ready to conduct the poll. The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Nkwachukwu Orji, stated this at a stakeholders’ forum held at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre, Awka.
He assured the people of a transparent, free, fair and credible election in the state.
