Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has said the issues of marginalisation and inequality raised by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, are valid.
The governor, however, faulted the strategy being employed by IPOB, advising the secessionist group to explore dialogue and peaceful ways to seek redress.
Ikpeazu, who stated this during a visit to the Osasu Igbinedion pan-African television studio in Abuja on Thursday night, said IPOB had placed all the governors of the South-East under fatwa (death sentence).
He said, “People are beginning to think now that some of the issues raised by Nnamdi (Kanu) are, if they were issues of injustice, marginalisation and inequality, any part of society has a right to begin to feel cheated or unwanted.
“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 (-up) 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 is that they should find a way to enter into conversation and let people know.
“I am under their fatwa now and some of my brother governors. They say, ‘If you see them, kill them.’”
The governor cautioned IPOB against instigating a civil war in the country, hinting that violence would not favour anyone.
“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 added.
Ikpeazu said the insecurity in the country should be addressed holistically, stressing the need for a change of strategy in the prosecution of the war against insurgents and bandits.
Igbinedion, in her remarks earlier, lauded the governor for empowering women and youths.
