The Anambra Peoples Assembly (APA) has distanced the state and the people from the struggle for the secession sponsored by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The Assembly has also distanced the people from the call for the boycott of the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
The leader of IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, had directed the people of the state not to participate in the election as one of the civil actions to unsettle government and achieve the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra.
Mr. Mazi Nnamdi Okorafor, the coordinator of APA said in a statement that the people were law-abiding and could not be dragged along by any individual or group of persons.
“I will assume that there are no men in Igbo land, if we allow a small boy to drag all of us into war against Nigeria through hate speech,” he said.
Being Igbo, he said, doe not not automatically translate to membership of IPOB, the Leadership reported.
He warned that Kanu, who is standing trial for treason, was not a leader of the Igbo.
”Nnamdi Kanu is making a fool of himself, very soon his paymasters will distance themselves from him. He and his illiterate minions will be dancing alone in the market square naked. Being Igbo does not mean you are an IPOB member, neither does being an IPOB leader makes you the leader of the Igbos,” he stated.
Meanwhile Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has criticised IPOB and Kanu, and warned they desist from actions capable of heating up the polity.
Ohanaeze, which spoke against the group’s call for a boycott of Anambra election stated that IPOB and Kanu have no right to stop the Anambra governorship election slated to hold on November 18.
This came just as Governor Willie Obiano, commended Ohanaeze’s new leadership for showing great commitment to the Igbo cause.
Obiano, said the state government would continue to do everything to support Ohanaeze in protecting Igbo interest.
The governor spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Legislative Matters, Chief Chiedozie Ezeugwa, when President-General of Ohanaeze, Chief John Nnia Nwodo and his executive members visited Anambra State House of Assembly, yesterday.
Nwodo, who addressed members of the state Assembly at the Legislative Complex, Awka, expressed sadness that Kanu had breached the undertaking he took before him (Nwodo) and Ohanaeze when he (Kanu) visited him after his release from detention.
Nwodo said as a father, “the way I commended them as my children, is the way I have the right to chastise them when they go wrong. We don’t need this heat up.”
The Ohanaeze leader, who disclosed that the visit was part of the body’s sensitisation in the South-East region following the recent Arewa youth threat, stated that Anambra and indeed Igbo are Nigerians.
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