By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, said yesterday that the agitation for the Sovereign State of Biafra was no longer realisable in view of the current political calculations in the country.
He said the decision to vote against the return to regional government at the last national conference and the fact that the Igbo nation were not united in the agitation makes it difficult to realise.
Okechukwu, who spoke at a gathering of the Abuja chapter of the pan Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, said the National Conference organised by former President Goodluck Jonathan administration and many other such conferences put the final nail on the Biafra agitation.
He said even though the Jonathan conference was populated by Pro-Biafra agitators, the conference voted against regionalism, with Enugu and Ebonyi states also voting against return to regional government.
He said: “If we must tell ourselves the truth, the greatest obstacle to the actualisation of Biafra, was glaringly demonstrated by successive national conferences, the Abacha Conference and Jonathan Conference, in each of the two conferences the issue of region was voted against by Enugu and Ebonyi states.
“The Jonathan Conference of 2014, for instance was made up of pro-Biafra elements that a lot had assumed will support regionalism as a prelude to secession. Other states like Ogun, Lagos, Bayelsa, Cross River and majority of Northern states rejected regionalism. To cap it all the Jonathan Conference recommended the creation of over 50 states.”
Okechukwu also said with an Igbo Presidency likely in 2023, when the North would had served out its eight years, there was the need for the Igbo nation to tread with caution, pointing out that presently, the Igbo nation were not united in actualising the Biafra dream.
“The agitation for Biafra sounds as a good music, much fun and furry as if it is the only route to Eldorado. This is false as some of us who lived in the defunct Biafra enclave can narrate. The question one had always posed is can Biafra be achieved via democracy or by force? Most people one had discussed with had always told me it will be achieved via peaceful means, which in other words means democracy.
