By 
Abiodun OBA
THE threat by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, that the Nigerian national anthem and consumption of cow meat should be banned in the Biafra territory from April this year has attracted reactions from some people, with the respondents urging the Biafra agitators to thread softly. Those who reacted said IPOB should realize that the people of the South East have been at the receiving end since the agitation began.
The former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, has cautioned that banning national anthem and consumption of Fulani cows in Biafra land might jeopardise the case the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Wabara advised members of the group against taking any action that might worsen the already precarious situation in the region.
He urged the movement to be calm in the face of the current ordeals of Kanu instead of making utterances that could further aggravate the situation.
“The group shouldn’t further fuel the tension but should wait for other possible options. This might further jeopardize the situation on ground. They shouldn’t do that now”.
In his reaction, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Abia State chapter, Apostle Emmanuel Agomuo, disagreed with IPOB leadership on the latest order.
Agomuo said the group was taking laws into its hands as the order was not enforceable.
According to him, any attempt to enforce the order will result into serious confrontation with the federal authorities, a development he added, that would further worsen matters for people in the region.
He said the group should rather focus on efforts to secure release for its detained leader instead of dishing orders that are capable of setting the region on fire.
The CAN boss argued that even if President Muhammadu Buhari had declined from considering political solution to Kanu, there could be other options of resolving the impasse.
“The order amounts to taking laws into their hands. We are talking of how to release Kanu. Pressure is on President Buhari to release Kanu, and they should not take any action that could truncate that effort.
These boys should not set South East on fire. We don’t support this style.”
The former Commissioner for Environment and Chief of Staff to the Governor, while reacting, advised IPOB to pursue the release of its leader, instead of issuing orders that could hurt the struggle for its cause.
“We are still in Nigeria. You must count one before counting two. Why don’t we pursue the release of Nnamdi Kanu because he is our son, and every Igbo man is concerned about his condition? Why not pursue referendum for Biafra to give people opportunity to vote Yes or No to Biafra agitation? If we stop reciting national anthem, how has it helped the agitation for Biafra?”
Former Deputy Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Dr. Cosmos Ndukwe, who said the order ‘is very disturbing”, advised IPOB not to embark on projects that could further jeopardize Igbo interest in the scheme of things in Nigeria.
Ndukwe argued that 2022 is a very important year in the political history of Nigeria, and that anything capable of truncating the efforts for South East to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023 should be avoided.
The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, on its part said the order would not benefit the people of the region. Speaking with Saturday Vanguard in Owerri, COSEYL President, Goodluck Ibem, said, “it is undemocratic to ban cow meat. It is not in the interest of the Igbo people that there should be no national anthem in the southeast schools. These things will not solve our problems, instead it will worsen the whole thing. Rather we should look inwards and resolve our problems.
“IPOB is chasing shadows when you say people should stop eating cow meat or there should not be any national anthem. It will not solve any of our problems, it will not enhance the future of the people of the South-East people and it is not in the interest of the economy of the Igbo people.”
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