Standup9ja: South-East governors deny issuing warning to FG
over killings of IPOB members
The South-East Governors’ Forum has refuted reports by an
online publication that it had warned the federal government to put a stop to
the incessant killings and unlawful imprisonment of innocent members of the
Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).
The governors condemned the report, describing it as
fabricated and false.
In a statement signed by the Director-General and Director,
Media and Communication of the forum, Prof. Simon Ortuanya and Micheal Udah,
respectively and made available to newsmen in Awka, the forum said no such
meeting held in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State as alleged.
It noted that the chairman of the forum under whose instance
such meeting could be convened was away when the rumours circulated.
The statement reads: “The attention of the South- East
Governors’ Forum has been drawn to false and unfounded news published online by
igberetvnews.com to the effect that the South- East Governors did send a strong
warning to the Federal Government of Nigeria, urging it to “stop killing IPOB
members”.
“According to that report, all Five South-East Governors
purportedly met in Abakaliki on Wednesday, September 6, 2017. The story added
that His Excellency, Engr. Nweze David Umahi, the Chairman of the Forum
addressed the press after the meeting, “calling on the Federal Government to
put to a stop the incessant killings, brutal torture and unlawful imprisonment
of innocent IPOB members by the military in our region”.
“The report further falsely credited His Excellency, Engr.
David Umahi with the claim that ‘the Federal Government is maltreating the
region’, while the military and indeed the Chief of Army Staff have rebuffed
all the letters which the South-East Governors had written, requesting that the
situation be redressed.
“In order to put the record straight, the South-East
Governors’ Forum hereby states as follows: There is no iota of truth in every
material particular in the said publication. His Excellency, Engr. Nweze David
Umahi, , Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum,
is currently out of the country and was not even in Ebonyi State on the said
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 when the alleged emergency meeting of South-East
Governors purportedly took place.
“No South-East Governor (or their Deputies) attended any
meeting, emergency or regular, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on the said Wednesday
6lhSeptember, 2017.
“Accordingly the South East Governors condemn in the
strongest terms this deliberate falsehood intended to undermine the milestone
already recorded in their engagement with IPOB leader, Prince Nnamdi Kanu and
the entire leadership of IPOB.
“South-East Governors Forum reaffirms its belief in the
amicable resolution of all issues especially as it relates to agitations by
IPOB.
“Since no such meeting ever held, it follows that the
South-East Governors never at any point in time issued warning to the Federal
Government of Nigeria or its agencies; neither did it write any of its military
Commands or formations.
“South-East Governors’ Forum therefore urges the Federal Government,
its Military commands and formations and indeed the general public to disregard
in its entirety and totality the said report as it is untrue and unfounded”.
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