IPOB and Governor Uzodimma

ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES

The current leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra has left no one in doubt about the fact that they have no better agenda than discrediting Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State. The group would hardly make press statements in a month without Governor Uzodimma being the focus of at least two of such statements.

And the more the group continues to advertise their hatred for Uzodimma, the more they make it obvious that they might simply be doing a political hatchet job for some politicians or individuals, while hiding under the cover of Biafra agitation. Governor Uzodimma is not the only governor nor the only politician in the Southeast, and EVERY politician in Nigeria somehow defers to Abuja from time to time for their political safety and progress. So, if you hate Uzodimma for having friends and political associates in the North, why are you friendly or seem to be protective of other Southeast politicians who enjoy the same level or even deeper political, business and personal affinities with “The Caliphate”?

And most of the accusations that the group levels against the Imo are outright ridiculous and even silly.

How do you write that the governor sponsors some of the criminals terrorizing the State and the Southeast, because he wants to paint ESN in bad light, yet, you are not able to tell us the names of the real ESN commanders and operatives? A major way to make the people know a fake from original is by showing them the original. For instance, if you say that Mr. Ekperima is not the real ESN commander for Lilu or that you do not even have a camp in Orsumoghu, then, tell us where your camp is and who are the commanders or the operatives.

Someone has dismissed me as a sabo or otellectual who wants to sell out the ESN or IPOB members, for asking for the names of their members. Well, the truth is it is either our IPOB brothers agree that the ESN is an illegal and criminal organization or they become bold enough to publish the names of their members and the law that permits them to operate. In the UK for instance, the IPOB is not an illegal organization, it is a business entity, registered for profit making and it’s directors and their addresses are well-known to the public and to the authorities.

It also reeks of sheer idiocy or something worst for anyone to suggest that a governor, the Chief executive and chief Security Officer of the State is sponsoring or inciting insecurity in the State. Apart from the fact that a governor stands to benefit nothing by making a State he governs insecure, a review of most of the attacks in the State show that if there is anyone or group that is behind these violent attacks it is the enemies of the governor or the enemies of the State or both.

Governor Uzodimma has paid personal prices, including the fact that his personal house was set ablaze by those known to be members or operatives of the ESN. No opposition politician in Imo State has either been attacked or had his or her property torched or their relatives killed or kidnapped since these terrorist incidents started. In fact, opposition politicians walk about freely in the State as if they have command over the terrorists while politicians associated with the governor are always at risk of either been kidnapped or eaten up by the cannibals.

The truth is that if the governor wanted to maintain a killer squad like the IPOB and their sponsors would want us to believe, no opposition politician would be able to step a foot into Imo State. By the time, one or two of them is kidnapped and a few others assassinated, those who have been going around laying all manners of accusations against the governor wouldn’t have been able to do that. Coincidentally, Imo is among the safest States in the country for opposition politicians.

If the IPOB wants to play partisan politics, they should stop deceiving the gullible with an imaginary and fraudulent agitation for Biafra and either lend their support to a political Party or form one, themselves. Then, we will know that they are sincere and we can have a true test of their popularity or otherwise.