Following the recent clash between the Nigerian security agencies, namely the Police and Army with Igbo youths suspected to be members of the Eastern Security Network, floated by Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to guard forests and bushes in Igbo land, Elder Statesman and prominent Igbo leader, Chief Mbazulike Amechi has expressed surprise and shock over the incident.
He said the development had exposed President Muhammadu Buhari’s partiality and biases against Ndigbo.
Though Amechi has got full details of the crisis as he only knew about it Tuesday morning when his son showed him videos of destructions sent to him by somebody over Orlu crisis, he lamented the burning of houses and shops of people and residents of Orlu.
The Movement for Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, described the clash as part of the revolutionary struggle for Biafra, warning that caution be applied so that the crisis does not escalate.
Amechi, a first Republic Aviation Minister, wondered when Orlu became a flash point of trouble in the South-East region. He said Orlu being the senatorial zone of the incumbent governor of Imo State and the newly elected President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, he expects no trouble there unless somebody is up to something funny to score a cheap political point.
Amechi said he did not understand when a fight between security agents and ESN said to be operating in the bush would turn to crisis that would lead to burning of Igbo properties and called for caution in handling the situation.
He called on Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, both from Orlu Senatorial zone, to speak up and stop further killings and destruction of people’s property, saying that ESN cannot be the people burning houses and shops of Ndigbo in Orlu.
MASSOB Leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu, said “the Orlu incident is not different from Okigwe massacre of 2003 or Onitsha crises of 2004, 2006 and Nkpor killings. Asaba, Obigbo, Aba, Umuahia, Okigwe, Owerri, Enugu, Abakiliki, Nsukka and Oji River have witnessed different dimensions of the revolutionary heat.
“The current warlike situation in Orlu province of Biafra between the forces of Biafra and Nigeria has once again exposed the bias and partiality of President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria against the people of Biafra.
“The Nigeria army is always eager and ever ready to clampdown on pro-Biafra agitators but always keep mum and inactive on the criminal and terrorist activities of Fulani herdsmen in Western, Eastern and Middle Belt regions.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has exposed Nigerian army as the most incompetent and unreliable force that is terribly tribalistic and ethno-religious.
“MASSOB hereby advises South-East governors to quickly engage all the pressure and youth groups in Igbo land to build a common synergy between the leaders and the people. The security situation in Igbo land has already escalated. What is happening in Orlu can be described as a childs play because Aba, Onitsha, Nsukka and Okigwe may soon catch fire.”
