Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has advised the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to desist from agitating for secession, saying the Igbo were not ready for another civil war.
Okorocha gave the advice at a news briefing at the Government House in Owerri on Tuesday.
He also urged the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and other Nigerians in diaspora, drumming support for the actualisation of Biafra, to stop.
Okorocha called on Igbo youths to calm down and redirect their agitation toward the actualisation of economic advancement of Igbo rather than asking for a new sovereign nation.
On the recent sit-at-home ordered by IPOB and MASSOB, he said the exercise succeeded because the people, especially traders wanted to avoid trouble.
He described the statement by some Arewa youth groups directing Igbo to leave the North as “nonsensical and inciting”.
The governor said that Igbo are peaceful people, who have come a long way in contributing to the economic development of the country, adding that no other ethnic group has contributed as much.
He called for reorientation of youths to repair the broken political relations between the North and the East and end the existing hatred and division between them.
Okorocha said: “We have failed as leaders hence the campaign of hate for one another; we need to take responsibility and end it.
“We need to rise and take steps to end it and get rid of the inherent hatred and division we inherited from the colonial masters.”
Okorocha also said that agitation over the leadership of the country by the different geo-political zones was an ill-wind which has not done something good to the country.
He, therefore, called on all Nigerians to guard against hatred and unite to fix broken relationships.
