How police thwarted IPOB’s threat to disrupt Ohanaeze Ndigbo summit

Threats by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to disrupt Ohanaeze Ndigbo summit, which held in Awka, Anambra State capital on Monday, anti-climaxed as the agitators were overwhelmed by the number of security personnel deployed at the venue of the events.

Night before the event, large number of fierce looking police personnel were seen around the Alex Ekwueme Square, where the summit took place.

On Monday, the day of the event, police officers made sure that people entering the venue were thoroughly screened, turning out those who could not identify themselves.

The development left some of the IPOB members who could not enter the venue to merely stage a peaceful protest outside the venue of the event.

Although some members of the Biafra agitators where able to enter the venue, their efforts to disrupt the event were so insignificant and amounted to mere exercise in futility.

IPOB members who succeeded in entering the venue apparently had waited for a time issues of restructuring of Nigeria would be mentioned to carry out its disruption threat, and that eventually came to pass when Professor Charles Soludo, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was presenting the position of Ndigbo on restructuring.

Soludo had among other things listed national conversation, new constitution, convocation of a constituent assembly, six-year tenure for the president and vice presidents, with the VPs holding key ministries, rotation of the president among the geopolitical zones, as the position of Ndigbo.

Being the moment the IPOB group was waiting for, shouts of ‘No, no’ were heard from some people, majorly youths and women members of the pro-Biafra group, who later trouped out of the arena, with shouts of “We don’t want restructuring, but Biafra Republic”.

READ ALSO: Ndigbo push for constitutional conference, demand removal of terrorist tag on IPOB

Disappointingly for IPOB, the efforts amounted to nothing as the summit continued and ended peacefully.

Meanwhile, in a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, IPOB applauded its members, who according to it defied the police and army to disrupt the summit.

“We, IPOB family members wish to use this opportunity to commend our hardcore family members from across Biafraland that defied the full military siege at Ekwueme Square to disrupt the Ohanaeze summit.”

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