In reaction to South East governor on the newly formed security outfit from the region, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has knocked governors in the South-East over their rejection of a newly formed Eastern Security Network.
IPOB had recently launched the security outfit to address the security problem in the region and check the activities of killer herdsmen in the zone.
But the move has been rejected by governors and leaders in the region, saying it was ill-conceived.
One of those who condemned the establishment of the security outfit was the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, who insisted that the South-East region remained the safest in the country and does not need the outfit.
At a media briefing in the Government House, Abakaliki, Umahi who is the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, urged the people of the region to disregard the security outfit.
He said the governors and leaders of the South-East were doing everything within their powers to protect the lives and property of the citizens.
The governor said: “Our region remains the safest and nobody can controvert this. And so, our brother said he has formed security outfit for the South-East. It is very laughable and should be totally ignored.
“I commend very highly the South-East governors. It is only in the South-East that the leaders are being castigated openly.
“It is the duty of the governors to protect the lives of the citizens and also the citizens of other regions living in their states that are not from the South-East. I want them to ignore the side distractions.”
However, in a statement he issued on Sunday, Kanu slammed the governors and leaders in the South-East for rejecting the security outfit, saying they are not only cowards, but kowtowing to their “slave masters.”
The statement read:
“We condemn in very strong terms, the recent statement credited to Governor Dave Umahi on behalf of governors of South-East against the newly established Eastern Security Network.
“Such a statement is nothing but a shameful display of their irredeemable enslavement and loyalty to their caliphate slave masters who, in the first place, appointed them governors.
“They only further exposed their emptiness and detachment from the people. At a time when well-meaning individuals and groups from entire Southern Nigeria and Middle Belt are hailing the setting up of ESN, the so-called governors are busy advertising their opposition to the people they claim to be leading.
“Anyway, they never had the mandate of the people. So, we are not surprised. But our message to the South-East governors and their South-South counterparts is that the train has since left the station and can’t reverse its cause.
”It’s pretty too late to have a rethink. The people have got what they long desired which the governors failed to give them because of selfish political interest.
“Maybe we remind them that the Eastern region cannot be sacrificed at the altar of their political interest. It’s either they key in or shape out. The East can exist without them.
“They should steer clear because they can’t withstand the force behind ESN. We reiterate that ESN is not a Biafra army but a vigilante group established to protect Biafrans against terrorists.
“The outfit is only a child of necessity born to bridge the gap of leadership failure by both states and the Federal Government to protect the lives and property of Biafrans who are daily dehumanised, raped, and killed by Fulani herdsmen and terrorists unchallenged by any security agency.
“ESN is beyond IPOB. It’s the people’s irreversible resolve to defend themselves against conquest and occupation by aliens who enjoy the protection of the Fulani controlled federal government and security agents.
