As reactions continue to greet the deployment of military forces under the name, Operation Python Dance 11 (Egwu Eke Ebo) to south-eastern part of Nigeria, youths from the south-south region of the country have called for the immediate proscription of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB before it gets too late.
IPOB is a group under the leadership of Nnamdi Kanu agitating for the rebirth of the defunct Republic of Biafra.
The group, under the aegis of Youths of Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers, while welcoming the launch of the military operation in the region, observed that if Kanu and his group are not urgently tamed, Nigeria might be witnessing another heavy bloodbath.
Speaking at a press conference held in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital on Friday, the National Co-coordinator of the ebullient youth group, Augustine Adeh said the recent attacks on innocent Nigerians in Rivers State by hoodlums identified as IPOB members was a clear indication that a military operation is needed to contain extreme tendencies set in motion by IPOB’s campaign of hatred which is spreading to some states in the South-south.
According to the youth leader, the group strongly warned Kanu to be ready to face the consequences if his group continues to prevent soldiers from carrying out their legitimate functions in the region.
Adeh said, “To us this launch of the operation is not unconnected with the success recorded by Operation Python Dance of 2016, which was widely credited for reducing crimes in the region before the Christmas festivities of that year.
“It is for this reason that those of us in Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers remain elated at the launch of Operation Python Dance II. The operation is well received in our states and it is not for nothing that it is so.
“We are therefore concerned that Operation Python Dance II is at the risk of becoming the casualty of politics and criminality in the South-east . While the operation is well received in Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers but being rejected only in some selected states of the south east, whose people’s interest it is meant to serve.
“It is most disappointing that all the wrong reasons are being adduced for maligning this operation. These include allegations that the soldiers were deployed because of the secession bid of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Biafra Zionists Movement and other groups that are campaigning for the balkanization of Nigeria. There have also been the false claim that the military exercise is an invasion.
“The attacks on innocent Nigerians in Rivers state by hoodlums that identified as IPOB members is proof that a military operation is needed to contain extreme tendencies set in motion by IPOB’s campaign of hatred. The attacks justify our call for IPOB’s criminality to be dealt with at its birthplace before it spread to other parts of the country same way that Boko Haram terrorism did.
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