Delta monarch warns IPOB against infiltrating domain
The Ugoani of Okpanam, HRM Michael Mbanefo Ogbolu, has warned the agitators of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), against infiltrating his domain, Okpanam community including seeking an audience with his palace for undisclosed reasons, to stay off Okpanam community, saying that “my people have suffered enough in the hands of the defunct secessionist regime of Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War under the watchful eyes of late Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu”.
Reacting to the message by one Pastor Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Okpanam, that Nnamdi Kanu, leader of IPOB wants to visit his palace to propagate Biafra agenda, the monarch recounted what the people of Okpanam lost in the person of late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu because of the civil war, stating that despite Nzeogwu’s contributions in Biafra, his efforts were never appreciated by Ojukwu, the warlord of Biafra.
He noted that “after Major Nzeogwu’s death, late Dr. Tai Solarin embarked on the educational training of his siblings, family, while Chief Olusegun Obasanjo took care of his mother even till her death, as Obasanjo practically took active part in Mama Elizabeth Nzegwu’s burial without the concern and involvement of Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu or anybody from his family or colleagues in Biafra”.
Ugoani stated that Okpanam supports restructuring as most Nigerians are clamoring for it, but do not and will not support violence agitation for the splitting of the country, which will lead to hardship to greater majority of people in the country, adding that the United Nation’s Declaration and Charter on self-determination is very clear, but it did not suggest or support violent agitation or intimidation of innocent people or unwilling communities to join a struggle for the breaking of a sovereign nation, so Biafra agitators should seek to follow the procedures for self-determination legally.
He emphasised that “the death of Major Nzeogwu in Biafra was saddled with a lot of questions without answers to explain the circumstances surrounding his death”, while lamenting that most of the violent agitations for Biafra are raging because the agitators did not really witness the civil war, neither did they experience the catastrophy during the period the war lasted in the country.
Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
