PRESS RELEASE, 25th June, 2024. CEDING OHAJI/EGBEMA LGA AND OGUTA LGA TO AKWA IBOM & THE CREATION OF ORLU STATE PART OF NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT’S DIVIDE AND CONQUER TACTICS AGAINST BIAFRANS-IPOB. The great family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by the indomitable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu rejects the proposal to create Orlu State, and the proposal to carve out Ohaji and Egbema LGA in Imo State into Akwa Ibom. The Nigerian Government’s continuous balkanization and confusion among Ndigbo in the name of state creation is no longer acceptable to Ndigbo. As the struggle for the independent State of Biafra is gathering momentum, the Federal Government of Nigeria is using her proxies (saboteurs of their people)in the National Assembly to sponsor bills that will create division and confusion among Biafrans. The global family of IPOB is against any divide and rule tactics among Biafrans in the name of state creation. The majority of Biafrans want a referendum date for Biafrans to determine if they want to continue to be part of Nigeria, and no additional state creation will solve that issue.
The existing states are not economically and politically beneficial to Biafrans. Biafrans do not need any additional state nor realignment in the Eastern Region. If Nigerians and its government want to create more in Igboland they should look round and bring those Ndigbo they carved out from Igbo territory and return them. Moreso, Ndigbo reject every plan to cede Ohaji and Egbema LGA in Imo State to Akwa Ibom. The past military government in Nigeria divided the Ohaji Egbema Community in Imo State into two separate communities, ceding one part to Rivers State and keeping the other in Imo State. As if that is not enough, the same Federal Government of Nigeria is now planning to carve the remaining Ohaji/Egbema LGA in Imo State into Akwa Ibom State through her proxies in the National Assembly. What is the rationale behind this wicked and deceptive carving of Ohaji to Akwa Ibom? Does Ohaji and Egbema people in Imo State speak the same dialet with the people of Akwa Ibom? What are the geographical coordinates between Ohaji/Egbema and Akwa Ibom? Ohaji/Egbema Communities in Imo State do not share boundaries with Akwa Ibom, so on what basis is the Federal Government of Nigeria trying to carve out Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta LGA to Akwa Ibom State? Even the new creation of Orlu state is not acceptable those championing such state must stop and retrace their steps. The Nigerian government created the region called South South to start the division and confusion among the Old Eastern Region, who are all of Igbo origin. Geographically, South South does not exist on the cardinal points. Only in Nigeria, with their malicious intent against the unity of Biafrans, does South South Region exist. In their malicious agenda against Ndigbo, the unrelentess agenda is to balkanize Biafran territory to perpetuate their age-old agenda of divide and rule among the Biafran clans of the South East Region. The mischievousness of the Nigerian government is basically to have control of the natural resources in Biafra land by creating division and confusion among the people of the Coastal Land and the people of the Hinter Land of Biafra. Ohaji/Egbema LGA was deliberately left undeveloped with no infrastructure by both the federal government and the state government despite the abundance of natural resources being extracted from their communities. The deliberate policy not to develop Ohaji and Egbema and the recent Creek gift to cede the communities to other clans is part of the federal government’s agenda to entice the Ohaji people away from their origin. Therefore, IPOB rejects the evil agenda to perpetuate confusion against Ndigbo by state creation and illegal gerrymandering and boundary adjustment at a time like this, even when the areas in question do not share boundaries. IPOB calls on Ohaji and Egbema people in Imo State to refuse the agenda to change their identity and history by carving them out of their ancestral lineage. At the same time, we call on the people of Akwa Ibom to reject plans to create ethnic confusion between them and other people in the name of state creation and boundary adjustment. We also call on all Ndigbo to rise up against this satanic agenda of confusion and division against them. Moreso, we are calling on the federal government proxies from Biafra Land in the National Assembly sponsoring these satanic bills to retrace their steps. IPOB is working towards unifying Ndigbo that the past Nigeria governments maliciously divided. We do not want further division and confusion among Biafran clans. The creation of South South zone from the united old Eastern Region was a premeditated plan to scuttle unity among Biafrans. Such divide and conquer tactics will no longer be tolerated by this generation of Biafrans. IPOB wishes to make it public that the National Assembly has no constitutional right to cede any indigenous people to another region even with their consent. Evidence show that the Federal Government of Nigeria punishes these communities until they agree to be joined to other people from other clans. In the worst case scenario, there should be a referendum for the people of Ohaji/Egbema LGA in Imo State to decide if they will want to join Akwa Ibom or remain in Imo State just like the MidWest referendum of 1963. Anything short of a referendum for the Ohaji and Egbema people shall be considered as violations of fundamental human rights of the people and shall be resisted by the Ohaji and Egbema people of Imo State. Ndigbo, in general, and particularly IPOB worldwide, rejects this diabolic proposal of division of our people.
COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL, MEDIA, AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.
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