In the same vein, the group chided the president of the Ohanaeze Youth Council over his recent call that Igbo youths should carry arms in self-defence. While cautioning the duo and other elements, Ohanaeze said the statements are "inflammatory, subversive, and incendiary broadcasts" from "latter-day Biafran warriors."
According to the statement titled "Simon Ekpa: Hero or Villain?" signed by Ohanaeze spokesperson, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, on Tuesday, the divisive statements could "constitute monumental problems for the Igbo in relation to the larger Nigeria." The highest Igbo group said again that pushing for Biafra was the answer to the unfair treatment and isolation of the Southeast, but it said that angry words from Igbo youth were not the answer.
The statement partly read, "The attention of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to a video broadcast circulating in the social media by one Mr. Simon Ekpa directing the people of the south-east of Nigeria that "in preparation to stop elections from taking place in Biafra-Land, there should be a chain of "sit at home on Friday, December 9; Saturday, December 10; Sunday, December 11; Monday, December 12; and Wednesday, December 14, 2022."
The instruction added that "Tuesday, December 13, 2022, is set aside for market, and all of these are in preparation for the exit of Biafra from Nigeria." "Ohanaeze Ndigbo laments the unruly behaviour among the Igbo youths. They believe they are making both name and cheap money in their utopia, but in reality, they are digging abysmal pits for themselves. "Last week, a young boy who claimed to be the president of the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) directed "the Igbo youths to arm themselves." Our major concern is that all these unguarded, inflammatory, subversive, and incendiary broadcasts by these latter-day Biafran warriors, in their delusions, constitute monumental problems for the Igbo in relation to the larger Nigeria.
"Ohanaeze wonders how somebody who proclaims himself a leader will neither seek the opinion of his people nor weigh the aspirations and political barometer of his people before going gaga. "For the purpose of clarification, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the then Military Governor of the Eastern Region, made several consultations and finally summoned a meeting of almost all the important dignitaries in the Eastern Region, comprising the present Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi States, and the Anioma in Delta State. "There is no doubt that the concept of Biafra was a response to a question for Eastern Nigeria: "To be or not to be?" it added.and that the spirit of Biafra has been sustained by a prevalence of orchestrated injustice, alienation, and marginalization, more specifically in the South East, from the centres of power.
"The preceding remarks are intended to justify the Igbo youths' constant agitation; however, it is as ridiculous as it is inconceivable that at a time when Nigerian youths and several elder statesmen, including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief E K Clarke, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and Dr Bitrus Borgu, among others, have lent their unwavering support to equity, justice, competence, and a track record of accomplishments in supporting the most Ohanaeze also urged eminent Nigerians of Igbo extraction to call Ekpa to order, saying the sit-at-home exercise has not in any way been of an economic advantage to the region.
"The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Prof. George Obiozor, and indeed all the well-meaning sons and daughters of Igbo land, with all sense of responsibility, hereby call on the Regent of Umueziaka community, the home of Mr Simon Ekpa; the Chairman of Ohaukwu Local Government, Hon. Ikechukwu Odono; the Member representing Ohaukwu South in the State Assembly, Hon. Chinedu Onah; the Member for Ohaukwu and Ebonyi Federal Constituency, Hon. Chukwu; the Senator for Ebonyi North, Sen. Dr Sam Ominyi; and the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. Dave Uma; the State Assembly, Hon. Chinedu Onah; the Member for Ohaukw They should remind Ekpa that no freedom fighter in history has ever faced the barrel of a gun inwards. "Elementary logic questions the rationale for a young man to wake up and begin to suffocate the very people he claims to protect." "When the Igbo are undergoing excruciating hardship arising from orchestrated injustice, a young man, or rather a self-styled hero, will be busy crippling the Igbo economy, thereby adding salt to injury," Ohanaeze added. Meanwhile, IPOB, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, has said it has no hand in the sit-at-home protest and called on its members and Igbo people in the South-East to go about their business without fear of molestation.
