Tobias Sylvester
Leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu said the struggle for actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra has nothing to do with oil domination in Niger Delta as erroneously believed and peddled by Biafra haters.
Kanu stated this in a statement issued by the IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, where he described the insinuation as ignorant and mischievous.
The IPOB leader said Igbo people are the reason Nigeria has survived till date, adding that those sowing discord among the southeasterners were bent on keeping the region in bondage. He said:
“Contrary to unfounded misconceptions in some quarters, Ndigbo are not greedy or domineering but very accommodating and forbearing.”
“They are easy -going and enterprising people whose successes in life have rather earned them envy and jealousy instead of the admiration and applause of their neighbours.”
“The fact remains that Igbo are loving, accommodating, peaceful and enterprising people. They are the reason Nigeria has survived till date.
“The thinking therefore, that we are after Biafra so that the Igbo can dominate other ethnic nationalities in the new Republic and ultimately claim their oil deposits is uncalled for.
“Such unnecessary fear and warped opinion should be discarded as they are unfounded and only a propaganda tool of those who want to perpetually pin us down in the British bondage called Nigeria.
“Igbo have enough crude oil and other mineral deposits to sustain her people as a country but the quest for Biafra is for the freedom and overall interest of all the ethnic nationalities involved.”
Mazi Kanu, therefore, berated those whom he said are ignorance, describing them as propagandists and mischief makers.
He said they tend to forget that every square inch of Igboland is full of oil, gas and highly -sought- after precious minerals including rare earth.
The IPOB leader said Igboland is the only place on the planet where coal, oil, gas and highly- sought-after minerals occur side by side, but also has the largest oil field in West Africa located in Nsukka, in Enugu State.
“These propagandists and mischief makers tend to forget that every square inch of Igboland is full of oil, gas and highly-sought-after precious minerals, including rare earth.
“Name the state in Southeast that hasn’t got oil. Shell is in Egbema, Ugwuta and Ukwa; Agip is in Ohaji; Orient oil is in Agulueri/Umueri; Addax Oil is in Awomama and Izombe. Ohaji has the largest in-use gas field in Africa piped to the coast and shipped to world markets. The largest oil field in West Africa is in Nsukka, Enugu State.
“If oil and gas or mineral deposits are the main reasons we are agitating for Biafra, then it would have been more prudent to abandon everybody else and seek a homogeneous Igbo nation.
“However, the fact is that BLOOD is thicker than WATER . All Biafrans are one people and we are leaving Nigeria at the same time. Our greatest natural resource is our God-given ingenuity and intelligence not something located under the grounds.
“The mischief makers bent on sowing seed of discord among brethren should think of something else because their propaganda cannot fly. Not now nor even in the future.”
KanyiDaily recalls that a Northern leader, Senator Muslihu El-Jibrin Doguwa was of the opinion that Igbos will cry if they are allowed to break out from Nigeria.
According to the senator, any ethnic group that break out from Nigeria in the country’s present circumstances will not succeed.
Biafra must come