Governor Nyesom Wike of River state on Monday said he supports the agitation by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) but not the violence associated with the separatist group.
Wike, who has indicated interest to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“I support the agitations in the South-East, whether anybody likes it or not, I do,” Wike said.
“We should sit down at the round table and discuss it.
“But again what do I do wrong when you have not gone to say ‘bomb everything there.’ I am a governor and you are telling me what has never happened and I should accept? Do you need to kill everybody in my area simply for me to say I am with you? And I say no, I won’t do that.”
The governor also faulted critics who shaded him for saying he wasn’t supporting IPOB. He wondered where they were when he publicly supported the cause of their agitation against injustice in the region.
According to Wike, there is injustice and division in the country. He, however, insisted that the best way to protest against injustice isn’t by killing innocent souls in the country.
When asked if IPOB poses a threat to him, the governor neither affirmed nor denied it.
He said, “Why will they be a threat to me? It is because of the division in this country today that we have never had this country being divided this way.
“What pains me is that people take politics to think that I want to use this opportunity to fight this person. There came a time IPOB was singing praises about Wike. This Nnamdi Kanu was singing praises (that) Wike is our son.”
With Channels Television report
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