The Oodua People’s Congress has warned the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra against attacking any Yoruba territory based on the alleged attack on Igbo in Lagos State after the presidential and National Assembly polls.
The President of OPC, Rasaq Arogundade, gave the warning in a statement made available to SUNDAY PUNCH in Lagos.
Arogundade’s
statement was in reaction to an earlier statement by the Publicity
Secretary of the IPOB, Emma Powerful, which claimed that Igbo residents
living in Lagos State were attacked during the last Presidential and
National Assembly elections and were prevented from voting for the
candidates of their choice.
The IPOB publicity secretary alleged
that the attack might have been orchestrated by some Fulani people
against the Igbo who he said had been victims of such attacks in some
parts of the country before now.
The OPC boss said contrary to
the claims of Powerful, there was no Igbo stronghold anywhere in Lagos
State or any part of Yoruba land, saying such claims were not true.
The
statement read, “The Igbo are again exhibiting lack of contentment and
appreciation of divine goodness in their lives. Where in Igboland are
strangers accorded the privileges being enjoyed by Igbo in Lagos and
Yorubaland? Igbo have lived peacefully in Lagos and the entire
Yorubaland for ages. They carry out their business and own property
unmolested.
“As a matter of correction, there is no single Igbo
stronghold in Lagos or any other part of Yorubaland. What exist are
areas of high concentration of Igbo dwellers, who live side by side
other immigrants and indigenes.”
He stated that Igbo had always
been treated well and given opportunity to be elected into the Lagos
State House of Assembly and were represented at the state executive
council.
“It is no coincidence that Yorubaland (South-West
Nigeria) has been the most peaceful part in Nigeria. The relative peace
is not because of fear or cowardice but a deliberate policy of our
forebears, who after fighting many wars, have resolved to make peaceful
and communal living the way of life.
“That we are
accommodating and friendly should not be misconstrued as a weakness or
sign of timidity as the OPC is fully ready to repel any attack on Yoruba
territory from any quarter,” Arogundade added.
Source:- Punchng
Share your thoughts