Ahead of the forthcoming general elections in the country, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB, to address the people of the South-East.
Recall that Finland-based Simon Ekpa is being accused of sponsoring the unknown gunmen causing chaos across the Southeast.
Ekpa, who used to be a self-styled disciple of Kanu, was suspended by the separatist group over alleged insubordination.
Unpertubed by the suspension, Ekpa has continued his Biafra agitation and orders sit-at-home in the Southeast.
However, the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has placed a $50,000 bounty on him.
Findings show that the killing in the Southeast became more rampant following Kanu’s arrest and detention.
The IPOB leader has been detained by the Federal Government since June 2022 after he was arrested in Kenya and repatriated to Nigeria.
Over the weekend, a video surfaced online of unknown gunmen beheading Chris Ohizu, the Chairman of Ideato North Local Government of Imo State.
The decapitalization of Ohizu’s head is one of the many killings witnessed in the Southeast.
While these gunmen have denied links to IPOB, some stakeholders in the Southeast have accused Ekpa of backing them.
However, the Ohanaeze Secretary-General, Isiguzoro, said the killings in the Southeast would subside if Buhari allows the IPOB leader to address Nigerians.
Speaking with journalists on the activists of gunmen linked to Ekpa, Isiguzoro reiterated his stance on a plot to destabilise the 2023 elections in the Southeast using Ekpa.
According to Isiguzoro: “This madness of sit-at-home and incessant killings and insecurity we are witnessing in the Southeast can be traced to the continuous incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, which Simon Ekpa is taking undue advantage of.
“Ekpa is an opportunist, a fame and fortune seeker who saw the window and lapses of Kanu’s detention as an opportunity for him to venture into his journey of amassing wealth from politicians and destroying the people of the Southeast.
“The only cure to this madness of Simon Ekpa is a passionate appeal to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to allow the leader of IPOB to address Ndigbo possibly this February before the elections, because there is a grand conspiracy by some external enemies of Ndigbo, and they are using Ekpa to shortchange and ensure that there is an election boycott in the Southeast.
“The only cure to this Ekpa’s madness is for Buhari to allow Kanu, even if it’s a five-minute broadcast, because Kanu has continued to say through his lawyers that these killings and insecurity in the Southeast should end. The activities of unknown gunmen instigated by Ekpa should end, and why there has been no effect on those messages is that the people doubt if those messages are from Nnamdi Kanu.
“So, in order to have a peaceful election, the Federal Government should give Nnamdi Kanu a five-minute broadcast to talk to the people of the Southeast; this would end Ekpa and his madness.”
According to INEC the presidential election will hold on the the 25th of February while the gubernatorial elections will hold on the 11th of March.
