The Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has said he does not support the style and strategy being used by the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu to protest perceived injustice, marginalisation and inequality against the people.

He said that he could neither understand what the group seeks to achieve by preferring to attack institutions of civil rule.

The governor who was guest at a media parley hosted by Osasu Igbenedion in Abuja Thursday night said though some of the issues being raised by the group were valid and required attention, their approach is defeatist and smacks of brigandage.

He said:

I am under their fatwa now and some of my brother governors. They say if you see them kill them.

They are fighting in the kitchen, by the time the war in the kitchen ends, Mama’s pot of soup would have spilled, there will be no plate to eat and everybody would be hungry and eventually it would not serve any good purpose. I don’t understand their strategy,

he said.

Governor Ikpeazu said it was baffling to see the IPOB members attacking civil institutions and security agents who were meant to maintain peace and safeguard lives and properties.

According to the governor what the outlawed group was seeking to create by their activities was anarchy in the land.

I don’t understand what they want to achieve and I don’t understand why they prefer to attack institutions of civil rule. A lot of people who are apologetic to their strategy do not even know that they are riding the tiger because if the police and the military withdraws and brigands become the enforcers of law and order, if you have a little quarrel with your brother, how do you resolve it?

So, some of those things which Nnamdi said are valid. Some of us can see it. We cannot continue to hide behind a finger.

But some of us do not subscribe to his style or strategy. Because I do not understand where he is going and how he is going and when he plans to pull the break and what he wants to achieve.

If I have a way of conveying my views to the leadership of that group, what I will say that they should find a way to enter into conversation and let people know their grievances,

he said.

Speaking about ways of addressing the current insecurity in the country, Ikpeazu said there was need to restrategise, especially with regards to modernising the equipment and funding the security agencies adequately.

I would like us to address the insecurity issue in Nigeria holistically. I don’t want to look at the insecurity in South East as opposed to the one in the North West or North East.

The problem of insecurity in this country is as a result of the fact that the security admix of our country which we inherited from the late sixties or early seventies focuses more on spending on boots on ground, arms and ammunition.

That may be good classically speaking but if you are fighting an asymmetric war which is a war that is faceless, what you do is to change the arrangement and the ratio should be 65 per cent intelligence gathering, research and development and only 35 per cent for boots on ground because if you have not given intelligence to the boots on ground who are they going to battle?,

he said.

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.