BEVERLY HILLS, December 10, (THEWILL) – The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has rejected what it termed the politics of compensation been promoted by some Northern elders to the effect that the 2019 presidential slot will be reserved for the people of South-East – where the group is based.
Ever since an Igbo man in the person of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, served as Governor-General of Nigeria shortly after the country’s independence, no other Igbo son has tasted Nigeria’s foremost job. The closest the ethnic group got was the position of Vice President, which in Second Republic was occupied by Chief Alex Ekwueme.
Thinking that what was at the heart of the latest pro-Biafra struggle was because Ndigbo have over the years been shut out of producing the nation’s President, some northern elements have called for the presidential seat in 2019 to be occupied by an Igbo man.
But addressing newsmen on the issue yesterday, spokesman of the IPOB, Emma Powerful declared that the Biafran proponents are no longer interested in the affairs of Nigeria, warning those flying the kite of Igbo Presidency in 2019 to stop distracting the group.
Rather than the politics of compensation being played by those asking Ndigbo that they will become the president in 2019, apparently to douse tension, Powerful maintained that the IPOB demand is basically for its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to be released from the detention and for Biafrans to be allowed to go.
He recalled that politics of compensation was played during the June 12, 1993 saga when the Yoruba were compensated with Obasanjo presidency to make up for M.K.O. Abiola’s annulled election; just as Muhammadu Buhari was made President to compensate for the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to him, “If politics of compensation was used to favour Obasanjo in place of June 12 annulment and was also used to favour Buhari in place insurgency that is their own cup of tea. But for us in IPOB, we are not interested in that politics of compensation whereby we are being told that an Igboman will become Nigeria’s president in 2019 and we will begin to listen to them.”
“All we want or are interested in is to release our leader, Kanu and then allow Biafra to be and not Igbo presidency,” he stated.
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