Ebonyi State government said it has begun the data capturing and registration of the state’s youths across the 13 local government areas of the state that were misled during the agitation by Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
The state Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Job Creation, Uchenna Orji, stated this in Abakaliki while briefing newsmen on the activities of the current administration in the area of youth empowerment.
He said the current administration, apart from pursuing the action plan of making the IPOB members economically independent, the initiative would also help in reducing social vices and other forms of criminality currently plaguing the society.
The commissioner, who said the state government had extended its empowerment schemes to Ebonyi youths in other states of the federation, including Sokoto, Kaduna, Anambra and Lagos, added that over 3000 youths had so far been empowered in the state.
He said: “The IPOB youths are being registered in the Department of Education and Social Welfare in the LGAs. After their capturing, the state government will create a programme to train and empower them in their chosen career .”
Meanwhile, Directorate of States, DOS, of IPOB has accused the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, of sabotaging the agitation for the restoration of Biafra, urging him to rethink because those who have played similar roles against IPOB in the past regretted it.
In a statement from IPOB’s Directorate Of State, signed by Chinasa Nworu, the group alleged that Chief Kalu had demonstrated time without number and tried so hard and failed to induce its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, with billions of naira bribe for him to jettison the Biafra struggle.
IPOB alleged that the former “governor was disappointed by our leader’s uncompromising posture and he now decided to vent his frustration by claiming to know how Mazi Nnamdi Kanu developed wings and flew out of Biafraland to London via Malaysia.
“The point here is how would it be? Of all people, it is Orji Kalu that announced to the whole world the escape route of a person he claimed is his brother. It is not surprising because he is trying so hard to impress his slave masters and cover up the whereabouts of our leader who is missing after the military invaded his home in Afaraukwu in Umuahia.
“He has continually partook in the conspiracy act to destroy his people just for his own selfish gains, even when he has been hustling to be relevant with Biafra struggle, but we never allowed him because we all know he is an agent of the Hausa-Fulani and the British government.”
In a related development, Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, on Wednesday, described some lawyers that protested against Biafra agitation as “charge and bail lawyers.”
MASSOB in a reaction also chided Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, VON, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, for throwing punches at the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo. A group, League of African Democratic Lawyers, led by one John Oboh, had protested at the American Embassy in Nigeria over the rising agitation for Biafra.
But MASSOB in a reaction to the protest said it was a faceless group who through their actions gave themselves out as “nothing but charge and bail lawyers who do not know the meaning of democracy.
“How can qualified and well-trained lawyers protest against a self-determination group. Can these lawyers define the meaning of democracy? It is a pity that these so-called lawyers were paid by the Federal Government to protest,”
Samuel Edeson, MASSOB spokesman said. The group insisted that if the anti-Biafra protesters were really busy lawyers, they would not have had time for such charade.
MASSOB also condemned attack on President -General of Ohanaeze, Chief Nwodo by VON boss, Mr. Osita Okechukwu. MASSOB said it will not sit and watch people like Osita Okechukwu insult Igbo leaders. The group said: “Mr Okechukwu who prefers to be a servant should go ahead and serve Buhari and his APC. A hungry man and a slave will always do what his master asks him to do.
“We, Ndigbo know that Osita Okechukwu is just a puppet whom President Buhari wants to use to divide Ndigbo but it cannot work. Hundreds of Osita Okechukwus are no match for one Nnia Nwodo.”
Meantime, a Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Atayese, has cautioned the Federal Government on the handling of IPOB crisis, urging that negotiation should be embraced to avert a chaotic situation in the eastern part of the country.
Atayese, in the statement made available to Vanguard, yesterday, by its national chairman, Chief Tokunbo Ajasin, said the calls for restructuring are very crucial at this stage and was happy that the APC, in control of the Federal Government, has already taken the right step by instituting a public hearing for presentation of memoranda to its committee on true federalism.
He, however, warned that this matter should not be treated as a mere distraction, but a strong move towards the fulfillment of the party’s manifesto. He equally advised members of the IPOB to follow constitutional means to achieve their goals, adding that the violent steps being used would make their agitations less effective because they would not only lose the sympathy of the people but they would play into the hands of government might.
-Emma Ikechukwu
