The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) yesterday berated Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, for counting the Niger Delta out of Biafra.
The outlawed group dismissed Clark as a general without foot soldiers and therefore lacked authority to speak for the people of the zone.
The Ijaw leader had declared earlier in the week that the Niger Delta could not be part of Biafra, saying: “How can Delta be part of Biafra? In what way? Is Biafra older than or bigger than Delta?”
He added: “How can Rivers State or Akwa Ibom become part of Biafra? They are dreaming thinking about the eastern region of those days. They are very unrealistic boys. To me, IPOB is not pursuing the right thing.”
But responding yesterday, IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful said Clark’s statement was appalling.
He wondered whether Clark knew “that those who own Biafra are those he referred to as South-South or Niger Delta as the case may be.
He said: “How suddenly Edwin Clark has forgotten that it was an Izon man who brought the name ‘Biafra’ to the table for approval which Ojukwu and his Eastern Consultative Assembly approved without hesitation or debate?
“Edwin Clark should know that IPOB, led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, did not force any clan to join Biafra. But if his community, clan and tribe refuses to join Biafra through referendum at the right time, they should not blame anybody for their fate in Nigeria.
“By the time Biafra will exit Nigeria through a referendum, any clan in the so-called Niger Delta that refuses to be liberated from the Nigerian bondage should get ready to serve the Fulani as slaves forever.
“We, however, know that Edwin Clark is not speaking for millions of Niger Delta youths, men and women earnestly yearning for their liberation from the Nigerian bondage.
“He is only speaking for his Fulani slave masters, but very soon he will discover that he is a general without foot soldiers.”
Clark had queried: “How can Delta be part of Biafra? In what way? Is Biafra older than or bigger than Delta?”
“How can Rivers State or Akwa Ibom become part of Biafra? They are dreaming thinking about the eastern region of those days. They are very unrealistic boys. To me, IPOB is not pursuing the right thing.
“When this war was fought, I told the IPOB leader he was not born at the time. I’ve never met him, but I have challenged him and he has also challenged me that I was the slave of the north – that was how he branded me.
“I told him he has a good fight, that the people of the East are being neglected. They have only five states, whereas other regions have six. One, in fact, has seven. Based on what? Nobody knows.
“For every appointment that is being made in this country, the Igbo are shortchanged. If they are distributing universities per state, they will have five. South-south and Southwest will have six, Northwest will have seven, but the Igbo formed the third leg of this country when it was created.
“So, they have a good complaint, but not the way they are going about it.”
Meanwhile, the treason trial of Nnamdi Kanu is resuming on Monday July 26, his lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, said yesterday.
Ejiofor in a tweet said: “We have just received confirmation from the Federal High Court Abuja that the hearing on Our Client’s case above referred will still go on as earlier scheduled on Monday next week being the 26th Day of July 2021.
“Remember Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the entire Legal team in your prayers. Thank you all and remain blessed.@ EjioforBar”
Kanu is currently being tried by Justice Binta Nyako for terrorism, treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and management of an unlawful society.
However, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said the charges will be amended.
“He has, upon jumping bail, been accused of engaging in subversive activities that include inciting violence through television, radio and online broadcasts against Nigeria and Nigerian State and institutions,” Malami told reporters in Abuja.
Kanu, he added, instigated “violence especially in the Southeastern Nigeria that resulted in the loss of lives and property of civilians, military, paramilitary, police forces and destruction of civil institutions and symbols of authority.”
The IPOB leader was recently rearrested in Kenya and sent back home after jumping bail in the country.