Nwodo denies accusing IPOB of carrying out attacks in Southeast

The immediate past president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo has described as puerile and mendacious, a news item being peddled in a a certain media outfit,  he said he had been vindicated on his statement in 2019 that IPOB was responsible for the killings in the South East and that herdsmen were innocent of the killings.

Nwodo in a statement also dismissed as wicked falsehood, “a story credited me with saying that even the recent killings in Ebonyi State were carried out by IPOB and that I was not Governor Uzodimma and wouldn’t be cowed by IPOB and that any attack on my property would attract a reprisal attack from me on Afara ukwu.”

According to Nwodo, the story is “a terrible lie from the pit of hell and intended not just to tarnish my image but to set me on collision course with IPOB.

“Let me state categorically that I have not stated or given anybody the impression that I was interested in the 2023 presidential race, neither does my body language suggest it.

“Furthermore, I couldn’t have indicted IPOB on killings in the South East when I have always held the view that they are my children and share in their grievances arising from the overt marginalisation of the Ibo in the country.

“In my inaugural speech as President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in 2017, and in my address at Chattam House in London, I had stated clearly and firmly that the struggle of IPOB is my struggle except that we differ in modalities because while they sought outright independence for Biafra, Ohanaeze Ndigbo stood for the restructuring of the nation in a united Nigeria.

“It is also instructive that in the twilight of my service to Ohanaeze Ndigbo, we had reached an understanding to work in concert with IPOB to achieve the desired objective for Ndigbo.

“Where and when did I fall out with IPOB to make a public statement accusing them of any crime or denouncing their activities?” he wondered.