Presidency hits out at Oby Ezekwesili asking her why she has not condemned Ipob's violence

PRESIDENCY officials have hit back at former education minister Dr Oby Ezekwesili who recently accused President Muhammadu of behaving like a sectional leader saying that it was the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) causing all the recent troubles.

Yesterday, Dr Ezekwesili accused President Buhari of acting like a sectional leader following his deployment of soldiers to the southeast in the military mission tagged Operation Python Dance. It has led to a series of clashes between Ipob members and the Nigerian Army, with reports of at least two deaths and a police station has been burnt down in Aba.

Criticising President Buhari for the crisis, Dr Ezekwesili said it was wrong for him to punish an entire geopolitical zone because of the actions of a few. She accused the government of punishing the entire southeast due to the actions of Ipob and its leader Nnamdi Kanu and urged President Buhari to rise above pettiness.

However, Mallam Garba Shehu, President Buhari's spokesman, said: “While the military are taking all precautions to observe the rules of engagement, there is a deliberate sinister agenda by Ipob to provoke the soldiers into killing innocent people in retaliation, so that Nnamdi Kanu would use the pictures of the victims for international propaganda by accusing the government of ethnic cleansing against the Igbo with the sole purpose of gaining sympathy.

"The presidency has advised the Co-convener of the #BringBackOurGirls group, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, to demonstrate a great sense of responsibility in the face of national security challenges posed by the Ipob incendiary propaganda designed to cause civil unrest in the country. A prominent influencer like Mrs Ezekwesili has a moral and patriotic duty not to give ammunition to any violent group that seems determined to pursue its separatist agitation through reckless and destructive methods.”

According to Mallam Shehu, Dr Ezekwesili failed to condemn Ipob and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who, he said, had been promoting violence for several months. He added that said since the former minister was very active on social media, she should have been using her energy to condemn the Ipob leader but she chose to look the other way.

“While it is convenient for the civil society activist to condemn the military and the government of President Buhari, Mrs Ekekwesili didn’t find it appropriate, even once, to criticise the dangerous and violent propaganda being propagated by the Ipob leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Oby, as they call her, tweets on everything, so why was she silent on this one?

“The attacks on soldiers and policemen by Ipob supporters were most irresponsible, indefensible and reckless and nobody in her position should elevate mobs to the status of rock stars for the sake of playing to the gallery. I wonder why she has retreated to the background or lost her voice while Ipob supporters were violently molesting, harassing, attacking and jeopardising the lives of indigenes and non-indigenes,” Mallam Shehu added.

He challenged the former minister to explain to Nigerians where the constitution of Nigeria, and international human rights law, support the killing and molestation of innocent people in the name of advocacy for self-determination. Mallam Shehu rubbished reports that the Buhari administration was marginalising Ndigbo, noting that the two most important economic entities in the country, the petroleum minister and the Central Bank of Nigeria, were being run by Igbos Ibe Kachikwu and Godwin Emefiele, respectively.