By EMMA ELEKWA, Onitsha

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described as shameful claims by the Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma that it hijacked Eastern Security Network (ESN) from the Southeast governors.

The group said the governor resorted to what it termed as cheap blackmail following his attempt to infiltrate and possibly hijack its security network.

In a statement issued by the Media and Publicity, Secretary Emma Powerful, IPOB maintained that the ESN was established by its leader, Nnamdi Kanu following South East and South-South Governors refusal to float a security outfit in the region.

The group said it was unnecessary convincing anyone of those behind the setting up of ESN as it was in the public domain, insisting that it did not need any of the governors to sustain the outfit.

The statement read, “The attention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), ably led by our great Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been drawn to the fallacious, amusing and shameful claims by the Supreme Court Administrator in Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, that IPOB hijacked Eastern Security Network, ESN, from South East Governors.

“We don’t need to belabour ourselves in convincing the public over who set up ESN because it is a public knowledge.

“For five months, our Leader was begging South East and South-South Governors to float a regional security outfit to protect and defend our people against genocidal attacks by terrorists masquerading as Fulani herdsmen.

“Our Leader even wrote a letter to the governors which was made public but they turned deaf ear to all the pleas including the clamour by the people for a regional security outfit.

“Every honest person will attest to the fact that ESN was floated by IPOB in response to the yearnings of our people for self-defense against terrorists. It was a child of necessity borne as a result of the failure of the governors to rise to their responsibility of protecting lives and property of the people.

“Their inability to stand with the people was because of their usual tendency to please their caliphate slave masters even to the detriment of their people.

“Let somebody please remind Hope Uzodinma to stop disgracing himself further by claiming what does not exist. Anyway, we can understand his frustration. He had attempted but in vain, to infiltrate and possibly hijack ESN but was disappointed, hence his resort to cheap blackmail. But this too will not fly!

“We wish to remind Hope Uzodinma that IPOB does not need him nor his fellow governors to sustain ESN. IPOB with presence in over 120 countries is resolutely committed to sustain and finance ESN to actualise its mandate. We don’t need traitors and saboteurs in a crucial matter like the security of our people.

“Hope Uzodinma is only bitter knowing what awaits him. He knows that his days of reckoning are fast approaching. For colluding with the military to abduct IPOB members, Uzodinma knows he cannot escape justice. He should stop laying false claims to the formation of ESN because that too cannot save him.” (The Nation)

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