Anambra election: IPOB’s tactics harming Igbo greatly – Moghalu

A Presidential aspirant in the 2023 General elections, Kingsley Moghalu, on Wednesday said that the tactics employed by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is having a huge negative effect on the Southeast region.

Moghalu, a member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) lamented that the marginalization pro-Biafra campaigners complain about will be increased as a result of the “violence and state of fear” IPOB created. He expressed his aversion towards IPOB’s sit-at-home threat in the five South-Eastern states from Friday, November 5 till November 10.

Moghalu was making his thoughts known in respect of the Anambra election 2021, scheduled for this Saturday. He urged citizens to come out and exercise their franchise, while criticising the Nigerian government for not dialoguing with IPOB.

“As the Anambra State governorship election looms on Saturday, the legitimacy of Nigeria’s democracy will once again be tested. Anambrarians should know that VOTING is their civic duty. Except for reasons of physical impossibility, the people should vote,” Moghalu wrote on his verified Twitter handle.

“The security authorities need to reassure the people that the unprecedented security presence is meant to ensure that Anambra residents vote in peace and will be protected. Sadly, the state’s traditional voter apathy even in the best of times has not been countered with effective voter education by @inecnigeria and civil society groups.

“Anambra Nigerians, and Ndigbo in general, should know that, yes, we have valid arguments that the region has been politically marginalized, but we make the marginalization even worse, instead of confronting it with action, when we don’t turn out to vote.

“The complex problem of the IPOB sit-at-home order is a challenge. But that’s why there is a heavy security presence. @NigeriaGov has not handled the IPOB issue well, with its exclusive reliance on force instead of including dialogue among its options in what is essentially a political conflict that has turned into criminality. Even worse is the failure and illegitimacy of the region’s traditional political elite, a vacuum IPOB occupied. But IPOB’s tactics are harming the Igbo greatly.

“Say what anyone may, the violence, state of fear, and staggering economic productivity losses, increase rather than reverse marginalization and steals hope from the future of our young people in the region. Vote on Saturday. Vote for our hopes, not for our fears. Vote for @ADCNig,” Moghalu canvassed.