Chidi Samuel || The chairman of South East Governors forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr David Umahi on Saturday said that anybody who wants to foment trouble in the country must be crushed.
Umahi’s warning is apparently aimed at members of the proscribed Indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB.
The governor who spoke to journalists in Abakiliki on their decision to proscribe the activities of the Biafra separatist group IPOB said that from all indications, Kanu was losing control of the group and that the governors took control to avoid unnecessary shedding of innocent blood.
Umuahi said, “When you put a small fire, it can go very far and become difficult to control.”
“Anybody that wants to foment trouble must be crushed and I want security agencies to beef up security around all the non-indigenes in the state and to report to me of any problem because we must maintain the peace.
“The IPOB activities were gradually getting out of control of Nnamdi Kanu. Soldiers were passing on the way when IPOB members started throwing stones and other objects on them and it sparked off the clash between the group and the military.
“It is a shame that when this thing happened, a man called Charles Ogbu had to send phone numbers of all south-east governors, senate president and others and all our people could do was calling us to insult us, talked to them anyhow. These are people that never experienced any war in their lives.”
According to the governor, the lives of south-east residents must be guaranteed at all times.
“Our focus is how to save lives of every Nigeria and we believe in a united Nigeria. Lives of people are involved and we must not play politics with that,” he said.
Umahi also noted that operation ‘Python Dance’ was not targeted at IPOB but intended to curb rising incidents of crime, especially kidnapping and armed robbery in the south-east.