FORMER President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Nnia Nwodo has said there was no time he accused members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the carnage and killings taking place in the South-East part of Nigeria.
Nwodo said this in a statement yesterday while reacting to media reports that he blamed the spate of insecurity in the region, especially in Imo and Anambra States, on IPOB.
He said he had been out of the public glare since the expiration of his tenure as the Igbo apex socio-cultural group to allow his successor to reign without distraction.
“My attention has been drawn to a publication alleging that I made a statement on the recent killings in Imo and Anambra States,” said Nwodo.
“The statement further alleged that I referred to IPOB as being responsible for the killings.
“I state without reservation that I didn’t make any such statements. I have deliberately refused any press interviews since I finished serving out my tenure as President General of Ohaneze.
“I took this decision in order to ensure that my successor’s voice is undiluted and unmistaken as the sole voice of Ohaneze leadership.”
The South-East has, in recent times, witnessed a series of violence and killings of various proportions mostly carried out by the so-called ‘unknown gunmen.’
Recently, Chike Akunyili, a medical doctor and the husband of the late Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and later Minister of Information Dora Akunyili and eight others, were slaughtered on Tuesday night at Nkpor, a suburb of the commercial city of Onitsha in Anambra State.
It was gathered that unknown gunmen had opened fire in the usually busy area at a time Akunyili was returning home to Enugu after receiving a posthumous award by the University of Nigeria Alumni Association on behalf of his late wife at the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha, and he, his driver and Police orderly were caught up in the shooting.
According to the eyewitnesses, the gunmen were probably attracted to his vehicle by the policeman sitting in front of the car and then opened fire on the occupants. Some of them believed it was possible that the gunmen did not know the identity of Akunyili at the time he was shot. They also said that the gunmen cut off the heads of three of their victims before speeding off in a waiting vehicle.
Although security operatives have always accused IPOB of some of these killings, the group has repeatedly denied them, saying it does not engage in senseless killings.
