From: OKEY SAMPSON, Aba

Deputy Chairman, Supreme Council of Elders of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Dr. Dozie Ikedife, has warned those agitating for the state of Biafra to stop in-fighting among them if they were to make any headway.

Dr. Ikedife gave the warning in Aba, Abia State, in a paper he presented on the occasion of a memorial lecture for Prince Longinus Orjiakor organised by Eastern Peoples’ Congress (EPC) of which Orjiakor was the leader.

“We abhor in-fighting, personal attacks in any shape or form, propagation of any statement or story that is not entirely true. Never lace up the reports or presentations”.

Describing the late Orjiakor as a man with whom they shared a hope and vision, Dr. Ikedife said they gathered to celebrate him because of his heroism, and commitment to the dream of a liberated people.

He continued,  “We must use this opportunity to try to forge synergy among those who share a common dream, common hope, common goal of self-determination for all ethnic nationalities as by United Nations Acts which is accepted by the African Union and Nigeria”.

Ikedife  urged pro-Biafra groups to hold seminars on May 30, 2017 for their members to enlighten them on the tenets of good government, responsible good citizenship and patriotism which he said Orjiakor lived and died for.

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Secretary General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu, described the late Orjiakor, who hailed from Umuduruogu, Umuokwem, Umuokpu, Abajah in Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State as a dependable ally.

Okwukwu said that Orjiakor formed the EPC because he was betrayed by the powers that be in the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

“Our independent can only be achieved if we as a people have decided to come together and work together which was what Orjiakor dreamed and lived for”.

Victor Nwaugo, former National Legal Adviser of NBA and counsel to the 2, 000 1st 57 Biafran accused persons, informed that Orjiakor was a founding member of MASSOB and among the first 57 accused persons to be arraigned in court in 1999 for agitating for a sovereign state of Biafra.

“Orjiakor was the Eastern Province Co-ordinator of MASSOB until 2001 when he left the group on account of irreconcilable ideological divides whence he formed a strong Biafran group known as eastern People Congress in 2001”.

Other speakers including Okechukwu Orji, spokesman of EPC eulogised their late leader for his vision and doggedness in the Biafra struggle and urged his wife and children to take heart as what their father fought and died for was not in vain as they would continue to remember him until Biafra is achieved.