The apex socio-political body of the Igbo, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has said the ‘sit-at-home approach’ in the agitation for Biafra was not good for South-East economy.
Shops and markets in parts of the South-East were closed on Friday following the sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra.
The order was given by the group because of the disappearance of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, killing of some Igbo youths by the army during Operation Python Dance 2, and the recent arrest, arraignment and detention of hundreds of Igbo women in Owerri, Imo State.
It was the third time the secessionist group gave such an order.
A Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu, however, said closing shops and markets ‘every now and then’ is hurting the South-East economy.
Saying IPOB and other pro-Biafra groups had genuine grievances, he noted that the sit-at-home approach would discourage investments from the zone.
He said, “Our youths, including those in IPOB, have genuine grievances — they are structurally marginalised. But I don’t think this sit-at-home thing is the right approach to the issue because it is affecting our people negatively.”
Meanwhile, Founder/Leader of Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and Biafra Independent Movement, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has said he’s more interested in the security of his people than in an Igbo man becoming president in 2023.
He said, “What I am interested in is the lives and property of my people in the North and not whether an Igbo man will become the Nigeria President in 2023”.
Uwazuruike, stated this on Saturday, in Owerri, the Imo State capital, when the Spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi and his entourage, visited him.
