PANDEF says 'IPOB’s stupidity would erode any sympathy they had hitherto received from the South-South.’
The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has insisted that the six states in the South-South region are not part of Biafra, saying it is ‘puerile’ for IPOB or any group to consider the region in any “arbitrary contraption”.
PANDEF stressed that ‘no inch of the South-South Geopolitical Zone shall be part of any imagined “Republic’.
The group said this in a statement in response to an earlier statement by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Edwin Clark, an Ijaw leader.
Clark had reduced IPOB’s belief to include the South-South states in its Biafra agitation to a mere dream.
Reacting to Clark’s remark, the outlawed group tackled the 94-yr-old politician, describing him as a general without foot soldiers.
In the statement signed by its spokesman Emma Powerful, IPOB said the 94-year-old politician lacked the authority to speak for the people of South-South.
PANDEF has, however, demanded an apology from Igbo leaders, saying IPOB’s statement on Clark is irresponsible.
In a statement by Emmanuel Ibok Essien, its national chairman, PANDEF said, ‘IPOB’s stupidity would erode any sympathy they had hitherto received from the South-South.’
The group said, “Let us restate, without any equivocation, that the Niger Delta Region is not part of Biafra and that no inch of the South-South Geopolitical Zone shall be part of any imagined “Republic”.
“It’s rather puerile for IPOB or any other group to consider that Niger Delta Region would be part of any arbitrary contraption. If it becomes necessary for the Niger Delta people to pull out of this country, we shall do so, on our terms.
“Over the years, the highly respected Chief who was a Federal Minister of Information, and Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic, has in his capacities as an educationist, politician, public servant, lawyer, lawmaker, community leader and nationalist, continued to play vital roles to stimulate unity, peace and development in the Niger Delta Region, and Nigeria, at large.
“Though PANDEF assumes no well-meaning Igbo son or daughter would sanction the aspersion by IPOB on our respected National Leader, however, we would insist that the Leadership of the Igbo Nation denounce the irresponsible statement by IPOB.
“And tender a public apology to the Elder Statesman, and, indeed, the entire Niger Delta people, in the interest of healthy relations between the South-East and South-South Zones. Anything short of that would be inferred to be tacit approval of the balderdash of IPOB.”
It would be recalled that in 2017, the Nigerian army declared the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) a terrorist organisation.
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