Mbaise traditional ruler says Biafra is a fraud and should remain confined to the cemetery

IMO State traditional ruler His Imperial Majesty Eze Nwabueze Soronnadi Ezewiro of Mbaise has distanced himself from the struggle for the creation of the independent breakaway republic of Biafra describing the agitation as a fraud.

Over the last three years since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power, calls for the recreation of Biafra have been deafening, with several groups demanding that Igbos leave Nigeria and create their own sovereign state. Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has led the agitation, leading to the arrest of its leader Nnamdi Kanu, who has since been charged with treason.

Speaking in Calabar earlier today, Eze Ezewiro, firmly distanced himself from the struggle for the recreation of the defunct republic that existed briefly between July 1967 and January 1970. He said the only institutional body that represents Igbo people all over the world, is Ohaneze Ndigbo.

Eze Ezewiro added:  “I am His Imperial Majesty Eze Nwabueze Soronnadi Ezewiro from Mbaise in Imo State as well as the Lord Mayor of the Igbo Nation and in Diaspora, Eze Agaba-Idu 1 of Igbo kingdom. Biafra is a fraud.

"Whichever way they take it but the truth has to be said anyway, the only institutional body that represents Igbo people all over the world is Ohaneze Ndigbo, not Biafra. Let me ask you one thing, when Odumegwu Ojukwu died, he was a general, he was given a state burial during the time of Jonathan, you saw in Nnewi that day that we, the Ohaneze Ndigbo were making our own preparations but the presidency was doing the burial.

He added that issues concerning Igbo marginalisation should be put on the table for negotiation with the federal government. According to the monarch, Ndigbo should sit down with the presidency, put heads together and discuss the matter as nothing will materialise from trying to force matters by threatening to segregate from the Nigeria federation.

"Ojukwu's body was carried by Nigerian soldiers, so where are the Biafran soldiers to carry the body? When they’re talking about Biafra, is Biafra only Imo, Abia, Anambra Enugu and Ebonyi states? No.

"It should be the south-south and the southeast all incorporated because these are the old eastern region excluding Edo. Have you seen anybody from those south-south states supporting Biafra?" Eze Ezewiro said.

He further pointed out that the Nigerian civil war was long over and the Republic of Biafra which came about as a result of the crisis was now history. Calling on Igbos to abandon the project, the monarch said the future is what they should look to.

Eze Ezewiro added: “The Biafran thing as much as I am concerned is dead gone, it was in the mortuary, it has gone to the cemetery. Its dead, there’s nothing and there would not be anything like Biafra.”

He also said the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, cannot impose his son-in-law on the people in next year’s general election. Governor Okorocha's son-in-law Uche Nwosu, currently serving in his cabinet as the chief of staff,  is seeking to take over when elections are held next year.