The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has described as insufficient, deceptive and unacceptable the disowning of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by South-East leaders chaired by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State.

CNG said the refutal by the South-east leaders was unacceptable and insisted that a referendum must be conducted to prepare the stage for the final exit of the Igbo from the rest of Nigeria that had never engaged in such violent agitations for breakup at any time.

The organisation alleged that while on one hand, the South-east leaders were pretending in their denouncing IPOB,

on another hand, they are working to give legitimacy to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which they renamed Ebubeagu, which we all know is a militant wing of IPOB.

The Spokesperson of CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, raised these objections in a statement issued yesterday evening titled, “Biafra: South-east leaders refutal insufficient, unacceptable substitute for referendum.”

He said,

In our earlier submission, we highlighted the conceivable implications of the uttered threats and practical steps being taken by the Igbo under the guise of IPOB. These South-east militant IPOB members unceasingly foment hateful violence against other ethnicities and the Nigerian State, while a handful of South-east leaders began a frantic move to cover their complicity in the atrocities by pretending to denounce the IPOB and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

We note also that while on one hand, these South-east leaders present a pretext of denouncing IPOB, on another hand, they are working to give legitimacy to the Eastern Security Network which they renamed Ebubeagu, which we all know is a militant wing of IPOB.

The extent of deception also becomes apparent in the way these South-east leaders give the appearance of dissociating themselves from the Biafran violent agitation and at the same time vehemently attempting to support and justify IPOB’s brand of self-determination bid premised on false claims of marginalisation and pursued through violence and violation of other ethnic nationalities and state institutions.

The CNG cannot be blinded by these desperations to cover up what is glaringly an attempt to downplay the atrocities committed, the complicity involved and the trivialisation of what is genuinely a case that must be resolved once and for all.

The refutal is belated desperation to run away from a raging fire they fanned with their own hands by several years of indoctrinating their youth with the hate of the North in particular, and the whole of Nigeria in general.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.