Arewa youths took it far - Okorocha

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has tackled the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Arewa youths of making inciting statements.

Briefing newsmen yesterday at the Government House in Owerri, Okorocha denied media reports that the people of the South East supported the sit-at-home order by the pro-Biafra groups.

While dissociating the Igbo from the agitation by IPOB and MASSOB, he described the action by the Arewa group as ill-informed, saying it was championed by people who never saw the effect of war.

Okorocha regretted that the statements from both ends were capable of causing war.

“I want to warn those groups calling for support to stop forthwith because it is deceitful and incisive,” he said.

He, however, described the Igbo as peace-loving people who traversed every part of the country carrying out their legitimate businesses and building bridges of friendship with other ethnic groups.

According to him, the Igbo not only developed Lagos and other major cities in the country, but also invested in the country more than any other tribe.

He blamed the Arewa youths for taking the matter beyond scope by telling the Igbo to vacate the region, saying the people of the South East had enjoyed cordial relationship with other tribes in the country.

Okorocha emphasised the need to re-fix the already broken relationship between the North and the East, and called on leaders from the two regions to rise up to the challenge by speaking out and educating their children on the right way to go about doing things.