By Okechukwu Onuegbu
The National Coordinator, APGA Media Warriors, Evang Chinedu Obigwe, has slammed some dissidents masquerading as members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for attacking the Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
The suspected IPOB members confronted Soludo at a Town Hall meeting in London convened by the Governor to interact with Anambra in diaspora on the developmental strides of his administration as a point of departure for the next four years.
It was learnt that they accused the Governor at the occasion for not making efforts at securing the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, including sponsoring the attacks and killings of youths in the area.
But Obigwe, in a statement issued at Awka, condemned the attack and challenged the IPOB members "to come home in order to have a first hand and on the spot assessment of the peace in Igbo land rather than making very bogus and false claims."
"For the first time in the past ten years Anambra state celebrated a mass return as cultural and other traditional functions were held with pop and pageantry. These fifth columnists are apparently the real enemies of Anambra and indeed Ndigbo giving the fact that they are protesting against the peace and tranquility that our people are currently enjoying.
"Apparently it is indeed most regrettable that some fifth columnists and uninformed people chose to protest against the restoration of sanity ,peace , security and Rule of law in Anambra state. Most of these perceived agitators have not come home in the past ten years for fear of being kidnapped or killed and their relatives have continued to advise them not to return home .
"It is indeed clear that those that came to confront Soludo at the Town Hall meeting are those sponsoring the killings, arsons and insecurity in Anambra state as they have actually lost their deposits in this bloody and deadly enterprise," he alleged.
He recalled that Governor Soludo has been on the vanguard for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and even requested the Federal government to hand him over to him.
He added that "At the inception of Soludo's administration he had appealed to criminal elements leaving in the forest to come out under his amnesty program and be rehabilitated. Soludo urged them to hand over their arms and join in the development of Anambra state which lasted for months .
"Those who accepted the offer were reintegrated into the society and those that had been in detention were granted bail. Above all Governor Charles Soludo also visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the DSS facility where he described the Monday sit at home order as illegal and also described the killings and kidnappings in Igbo land as unacceptable to him .
"Despite these honest and deliberate moves by the Governor those miscreants operating under the guise of IPOB persisted holding eight local government areas of Anambra state under siege. People fled their homes and the economy of the entire South East was criminally being sabotaged to say the least.
"Consequent upon this lawlessness that pervaded in the state as it where, Governor Charles Soludo introduced and launched the Operation Udo Ga Chi which is made up of the Agunechemba Security Squad as well as all the Service Commands in the state aimed at putting an end to the carnage in Anambra state."