The wife of the late Biafra warlord Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has condemned the proscription of IPOB by the South Eastern Governors and as a terrorists organisation by the Nigerian military.
Bianca criticised those behind labelling IPOB as a terrorist militant group saying there was no justification for the categorization of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as a terrorist organization by the Nigerian army.
Bianca lampooned the governors for their positions against the IPOB.
The Nigerian army, had last week classified IPOB as a terrorist organization after they had a clash with them in Abia.
Nigerian army had launched an exercise termed “Operation Python Dance 2′ in the Southeastern states to tame kidnapping, violent agitations and to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria, the army spokesperson.
Apart from Bianca Ojukwu, the President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has also condemned the categorization of IPOB as terrorist organization, stressing that it was “unconstitutional.”
Bianca Ojukwu frowned at the attack on IPOB but called on every Igbo sons and daughters to rise up and condemn the pronouncement adding that an armless group does not deserve such treatment.
“The Federal Govt has just declared IPOB a terrorist Organisation after the Operation Python Dance 2 debacle with its attendant military occupation of our homeland.
“There is simply no justification for this categorization. The members of this movement do not bear arms. While I might have reservations about their sometimes provocative rhetoric as well as some of their tactics, this branding is to say the least, extreme.
“Ndigbo bear a painful historical burden. We lost almost 3 million of our people, almost a quarter of our population at the time between 1966 and 1970 in our battle for survival.
“Someone once said that the world laments atrocities only in aftermath, but not in the lead up when something could have been done.
“We have travelled this road before. We are now walking the minefield. When the tanks roll in, and the casualties begin to mount, the world will yet again call it another ‘internal matter’ or ‘ ethnic conflict’.
“And tell us that we ought to be grateful that we were not exterminated upon surrender. We owe it to the memory of those who we lost in the war.”
“Surely another shall rise, in God’s own time, But what every onye Igbo must rise up against is this categorization of IPOB or any other pro-Biafra movements which are not armed militias as terrorist organizations, and the increased military presence in the South East,” Bianca reiterated.