By Chris Njoku, Owerri The Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu has said the struggle for actualisation of the s...
By Chris Njoku, Owerri
The Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu
has said the struggle for actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra has
nothing to do with oil domination in Niger Delta.
Kanu described the insinuation as ignorant and mischievous.
In a statement, he said those sowing discord among the Igbo
were bent on keeping the region in bondage.
He said: “The thinking that we are after Biafra so that the Igbo
can dominate other ethnic nationalities in the new republic and ultimately
claim their oil deposits is uncalled for.
Such unnecessary fear and warped opinion should be discarded
as they are unfounded and only a propaganda tool of those who want to perpetually
pin us down in the British bondage called Nigeria.
“Igbo have enough crude oil and other mineral deposits to
sustain her people as a country, but the quest for Biafra is for the freedom
and overall interest of all the ethnic nationalities involved.
“These propagandists and mischief makers tend to forget that
every square inch of Igboland is full of oil, gas and highly-sought-after
precious minerals, including rare earth.
Name the state in Southeast that hasn’t got oil. Shell is in
Egbema, Ugwuta and Ukwa; Agip is in Ohaji; Orient oil is in Agulueri/Umueri;
Addax Oil is in Awomama and Izombe. Ohaji has the largest in-use gas field in
Africa piped to the coast and shipped to world markets.
‘’The largest oil field in West Africa is in Nsukka, Enugu
State.
“If oil and gas or mineral deposits are the main reasons we
are agitating for Biafra, then it would have been more prudent to abandon
everybody else and seek a homogeneous Igbo nation.
But the fact is that all Biafrans are one, and we are
leaving Nigeria at the same time. Our greatest natural resource is our
God-given ingenuity and intelligence, not something located under the ground.”
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