Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, has disagreed with those agitating for secession of southeasterners, saying that what the region needs are justice and equity, rather than secession.
He spoke during the weekly State House briefing on Thursday, arguing that the agitations in the South East are “rightful”, but noted that they had been hijacked.
“Are there rightful agitations in the Southeast. Yes. Has it turned violent? Yes. It’s been hijacked,” the Ebonyi governor said, adding that, “In the Southeast we don’t want war, we don’t want to secede, we want to be a part of a fair Nigeria where justice, equity and freedom exist.”
Umahi stated this against the backdrop of worsening insecurity in the South East as well as the calls for the secession of Igbos from Nigeria by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The region’s rising insecurity have often been linked to IPOB’s paramilitary organization known as the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
But Governor Umahi criticized the group’s alleged approach, saying: “I believe in dialogue, and that we can sit down to know and resolve our differences and strengthen our cooperation as a people.”