New pro-Biafra group warns Christians against praying for Nigeria 12 IPOB members arrested as sit-at-home date nears
Anew pro-Biafra group, Ancestors Warriors of Biafra (AWOB), has emerged with a threat against churches which encourage their followers to pray for the political and economic survival of Nigeria.
In a statement to journalists in Onitsha, Abia State, the General Commander of the group, General Nworie Onyeabo Ukwani said that the warning had become pertinent as most churches in ‘Biafra land’ preach for the survival of Nigeria as a country through their crusades, fellowships, regular worship and other intercessory sessions.
Calling on religious leaders to preach the message of Biafra in their various churches and interactions with followers, Ukwani stated that his group’s first two areas of concentration in realizing the state of Biafra would commence from the pulpit, while the schools were a major component of indoctrinating the young Biafrans the principles and expectations of a Biafran Republic.
The group is also canvasing a stop in the reciting of the Nigerian national anthem. Ukwani said, “We sent a warning to all the school heads in the South East and other Biafran lands, demanding immediate withdrawal of the recitation of the Nigerian national anthem, the pledge and other symbols of Nigeria’s sovereignty, because the Biafran people could not continue to pledge their loyalty to a country that thrives in injustice and denial of the good, gifted and dedicated people of Biafra of their natural rights and infrastructural development of their territory.”
In a related development, security operatives from the Enugu State Police Command said they have arrested 12 persons suspected to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The state police spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the arrest in a statement, explained that the suspects would be arraigned in court immediately after investigation.
Amaraizu said the suspects were picked up by security operatives following a tip-off while they were allegedly using public address system to intimidate the public at the popular Ogbette Main Market in Enugu to stop them from opening their normal businesses on September 23, the day IPOB has identified for a sit-at-home campaign for Biafra.
He advised parents not to allow their children to turn themselves to willing tools in the hands of trouble makers as anyone caught would be made to face the full wrath of the law, emphasizing that the command was ready to ensure that law abiding citizens were not molested or prevented from going about their normal lawful activities.
Also, the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, has warned Biafra agitators who had announced that there would be public holiday on Friday in all South East states and abroad as a day of protest to desist from any act capable of disrupting the public peace as the Police would not stand by and allow that.
Oyebade said yesterday when he addressed the press at the Police headquarters in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, that such announcements should be disregarded by members of the public, saying that only the federal government had the power to declare public holiday.
He reiterated that the police would deal decisively with anyone who would disrupt the public peace in the state.