Leader of proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu has said the struggle for actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra has nothing to do with oil domination in Niger Delta.
Kanu described the insinuation as ignorant and mischievous.
In a statement, he said those sowing discord among the Igbo were bent on keeping the region in bondage.
He said: “The thinking that we are after Biafra so that the Igbo can dominate other ethnic nationalities in the new republic and ultimately claim their oil deposits is uncalled for.
Such unnecessary fear and warped opinion should be discarded as they are unfounded and only a propaganda tool of those who want to perpetually pin us down in the British bondage called Nigeria.
“Igbo have enough crude oil and other mineral deposits to sustain her people as a country, but the quest for Biafra is for the freedom and overall interest of all the ethnic nationalities involved.
“These propagandists and mischief makers tend to forget that every square inch of Igboland is full of oil, gas and highly-sought-after precious minerals, including rare earth.
Name the state in Southeast that hasn’t got oil. Shell is in Egbema, Ugwuta and Ukwa; Agip is in Ohaji; Orient oil is in Agulueri/Umueri; Addax Oil is in Awomama and Izombe. Ohaji has the largest in-use gas field in Africa piped to the coast and shipped to world markets.
‘’The largest oil field in West Africa is in Nsukka, Enugu State.
“If oil and gas or mineral deposits are the main reasons we are agitating for Biafra, then it would have been more prudent to abandon everybody else and seek a homogeneous Igbo nation.
But the fact is that all Biafrans are one, and we are leaving Nigeria at the same time. Our greatest natural resource is our God-given ingenuity and intelligence, not something located under the ground.”