Published January 21, 2021
Raphael Ede, Enugu
THE new President -General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo , Prof. George Obiozor , has said the issue concerning Biafra is beyond the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra , Mazi Nnamdi Kanu .
Obiozor also warned the people of the South -East and some organisations to restrain forthwith actions or utterances that put Ndigbo in imminent danger or harm’ s way .
Obiozor , who spoke on Wednesday during a World Press Conference at Ohanaeze National Secretariat Enugu , said the Igbo nation was not at war with Nigeria and had nothing pending before any authority that demanded a separate entity for Ndigbo .
At the conference tagged, ‘ Ohanaeze Ndigbo : The dawn of a new era,’ the new president – general of the Igbo apex socio -cultural organisation , appealed to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra , Mazi Nnamdi Kanu , to toe the part of honour, listen to the voice of wisdom and drop his agitation for a separate state .
He said, “ The Igbo nation is not at war with Nigeria and has nothing pending before any authority that demands a separate existence from Nigeria .
“ Nnamdi Kanu is one of us and he must listen to some of us for several reasons . The fact and reality are that the issues of Biafra are above and beyond his capacity to decide.
“ He must listen because he is one of us and we are all in this dilemma together . And our mutual and collective responsibilities are sacred and must be respected . ”
While dispelling insinuations that he will champion anti -Igbo interest , he reminded Ndigbo that what the late Biafran warlord , Chukwuemeka Ojukwu , meant by the bones shall rise didn’ t mean conflict , violence and war .
‘ Memo I wrote with Okadigbo led to Ojukwu ’ s pardon’
Meanwhile, Obiozor said a memo he wrote with late President of the Senate , Dr Chuba Okadigbo , led to the granting of presidential pardon and amnesty to late Ojukwu by former President Shehu Shagari in 1983 .
Obiozor disclosed this in Enugu when he paid a courtesy visit to former Deputy Senate President , Ike Ekweremadu.
Accompanied by his Secretary -General and former Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa , Okey Emuche ; and other executive members , Obiozor said , “ I want to tell you something about my own feeling about the Igbos . We are a people of destiny , the similarity between Igbo spirit and that of the Jews is amazing to me ; as an academician I wrote about it , read about it and as an Ambassador in Israel, I saw it happen . The greatest revenge against injustice is success .”
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Ndigbo who later visited his immediate predecessor , Chief John Nnia Nwodo said he had been working for Ndigbo , and did the negotiation to bring Ojukwu back to Nigeria from Ivory Coast.