From Okey Sampson, Aba
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia chapter, has warned officials of state government against involving former governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor-Kalu, in the military raid of the home of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi kanu.
Answering questions on the invasion of Kanu’s home by the military in 2017, in a local radio programme in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, at the weekend, the Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi, said it was not Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who brought the army to invade the IPOB leader’s home, but Kalu.
Reacting, however, the APC state Publicity Secretary, Ben Godson, said the allegation was not only spurious, but the height of irresponsibility for the commissioner to try to twist facts and tell cheap lies to deceive Abians for the sake of politics.
Godson said what the commissioner failed to realise when he was trying to deceive Abians with his lies was that the IPOB leader is knowledgeable and intelligent enough to know who did what before his home was invaded by the military.
“Some of us should be responsible in our utterances; we shouldn’t bring sycophancy in everything we do. We should not be constantly telling lies to deceive the people even when the facts of the matter are very clear.
“The whole world heard Nnamdi Kanu narrate who invited the Operation Python Dance into Abia State, which culminated in the invasion of his home.
“ So, for the commissioner to say it was Kalu, when the IPOB leader himself has told the world who was behind it, is not only laughable, but a cheap propaganda which can only come from a lazy image maker.
Speaking further, the APC state publicity secretary said, “Nnamdi Kanu has told Abians what happened, and I will like to advice some officials of the state government to mind what they go on air to tell the public, so they don’t keep exposing themselves the more.”
Godson said prior to the invasion of Kanu’s home, governors from the South East met with top echelon of the military, in Enugu, where the decision to proscribe IPOB and other things relating to what happened to the IPOB leader, was taken.
He added that Okiyi should be bold and honest enough to tell the world whether Kalu was at the Enugu meeting, where the decision against IPOB and its leader was taken.
In a related development, Kanu, during his weekly broadcast, last Saturday night, put the records straight by absolving Kalu in the whole episode and, instead, named two governors from the South East, who he had mentioned in an earlier broadcasts, as responsible for the raid.
The IPOB leader said inasmuch as most politicians from the South East are guilty in one way or the other, concerning the military invasion, the two governors were allegedly directly responsible for what happened and termed them “murderers and number one enemies of Igboland.”
Kanu said even before the September 2017 invasion of his home by the Nigerian Army, for which Abia State government officials are now perversely blaming Kalu, that there had been several killings of his members in the state.
The IPOB leader said: “The fact remains that there is no way Orji Uzor-Kalu, who left office 12 years ago could be uniquely positioned to authorise such military raid.
“There was senseless slaughter of those agitating for Biafra, all happened even before the brutal invention of my compound in September 2017, which perversely those involved are now blaming Orji Uzor Kalu.”
Recalling how IPOB members praying at National High School, Aba were killed in 2016 and how some others were “doused with acid and dumped at borrow pit in Asa,” an action he said not even Hitler tried, Kanu said “the horrors and abominations of those involved are many and must be exposed.”
“If Kalu did not mean well for the IPOB leader as Okiyi wants Abians to believe, he couldn’t have gone to visit him when he (Kanu) was in prison and followed that up with a visit to his father in Umuahia.
“As the imagemaker of the state government, Okiyi should be able to tell Abians if he or any other government official has visited Afaraukwu community which is a stone throw from the seat of power, to at least know the extent of the damage to the home of the IPOB leader.
“The IPOB leader is one man that does not believe in bending facts, he says things the way they are, no matter whose ox is gored. He knows those that were responsible for the raid of his home and has mentioned them, he knows definitely that the former governor (Kalu) was not responsible, so, anybody bringing Kalu to the show, will not change the narrative,” Godson enthused.
He said no amount of cheap propaganda will stop APC from taking over the state and Kalu from going to the Senate after the election.