South East Govs Pledge Allegiance To Nigeria Govt, Distance Selves From Biafra Agitation

• “We do not want to secede from Nigeria” – Umahi

The South-East governors say they are vehemently opposed to the agitation for secession and actualisation of Biafra republic by IPOB and reiterated their commitment to upholding sovereignty of Nigeria.

The Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, Governor David Umahi, made the position of his colleagues known in Abuja at a media event organised by the Presidential Media Team.

The governor, however, said a Nigeria where premium is placed on justice and fairness remained their priority.

“We do not want to secede from Nigeria. But we want a Nigeria where justice and equity prevail. We want peace,” stated the governor.

Umahi, who bemoaned the deepening security crisis in the south-eastern region, noted that bandits had hijacked the peaceful agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other groups in the region.

“The situation in the South-East right now is a situation in which non-violent approach of IPOB at the beginning has been hijacked by bandits, by cultists, by criminals,” he claimed.

He said insinuation that “foreign mercenaries” are behind the widespread violence and atrocities experienced in the South-East is mere war propaganda.

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According to him, some Nigerians from the South-East are responsible for the killings, the burning down of police stations, and destruction of property in the region.

The governor added the agitation for a better region by Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, IPOB, and the Eastern Security Network were offshoots of years of neglect by previous governments.

He condemned the mayhem in the region and urged security operatives to intensify efforts in checking the situation.

The governor also called on South-East youths to aggregate their demands and present them to their governors to be tabled before President Muhammadu Buhari.