A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Joe Igbokwe, has issued a stern warning to activist and politician, Omoyele Sowore, cautioning him against his recent call for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Igbokwe, who made the statement in a Facebook post on Friday, described Kanu as “a butcher who turned the Southeast into a killing field.” He warned Sowore to “run for his life” and steer clear of issues relating to the IPOB leader, insisting that the matter was “bigger than him.”
According to Igbokwe, Kanu’s activities over the past decade plunged the Southeast into chaos and bloodshed. He alleged that the agitation for Biafra had cost the region its peace, dignity and progress.
“Omoyele Sowore says he is marching to Aso Rock to protest against the detention of the butcher of Southeast called Nnamdi Kanu. I have told him as a friend to run 440,” Igbokwe wrote.
“Nnamdi Kanu’s men turned the Southeast into a killing field, a place of anything goes a Hobbesian state of nature where life became nasty, brutish and short. He decimated the Southeast and dragged Igbo land into a terrible mess that will take years to clear.”
The APC stalwart, who hails from Nnewi in Anambra State, said the region had paid a heavy price for Kanu’s separatist campaign, lamenting the loss of human lives and destruction of property allegedly linked to IPOB activities.
Igbokwe claimed that Sowore, who hails from Ondo State, lacked a full understanding of the situation in the Southeast, and urged him to desist from making statements or organising protests in support of Kanu.
“Sowore, Sowore, Sowore — how many times did I call you? Run 440 away from Southeast matter. You know nothing about what Nnamdi Kanu did in the region in 10 years in the name of a totally useless and senseless Biafra project. Blood was shed. I am a victim. Go to Nnewi and see my home before you join this senseless mission,” he wrote.
He further appealed to Nigerians from other regions — the South-West, South-South, North-Central, North-East and North-West — to stay away from what he described as a “reckless adventure,” adding that Kanu’s agitation had already “moved the Igbo nation backwards by 50 years.”
