Elder statesman and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has berated the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for putting spanners in the wheels of the quest for an Igbo presidency in 2023.

Reacting to the agitation for the zoning of the presidency to the South East on the heels of the attack by IPOB on Ike Ekweremadu last weekend, Musa said that he is among those canvassing for Igbo presidency in 2023, but that IPOB is making their job difficult.

Musa said: “They (IPOB) are now breeding enemies for the South East. We are campaigning for the presidency to go to the South East, even though zoning was introduced by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that we are opposed to. It is good for us as a country because it gives every person and area a sense of belonging.

“So we support the zoning and we are saying the presidency should go to the South East and we have our reason. Now, they are making our job even more difficult and they are not helping even the people in the South East.”

On the attack on Ike Ekweremadu, the former governor of old Kaduna State said: “IPOB is wrong to have attacked the former deputy president of the Senate. Even though we are opposed to them because they are a separatist organisation, because they are an organisation that wants to separate Nigeria, but we also have sympathy for them because they have genuine grievances.

“They are now spoiling the little sympathy they have by doing what they did. It is uncalled for, the person they attacked is an individual, not an organisation. I think it’s wrong for them to have done so.

“They are also making it difficult for us. Even though we are opposed to them as a separatist group, we have sympathy for them because of their grievances. But this mindless violence is making them to lose sympathy. I expect them to be concerned with organisations, not individuals; they should engage individuals with reasons. They should stop this violence.”

Musa added: “The threat on the South East Governors is not worth it. As a separatist organisation like Afenifere, OPC, Northern Elders Forumand so on, these are separatist groups, what they are doing will further alienate them from people that have any sympathy for them.” (Sunday Telegraph)