South-East elders berate Dokpesi over comments on Igbo president

The Council of Igbo Elders on Tuesday slammed the former Chairman of DAAR Communications Plc and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Raymond Dokpesi, over comments on the reluctance of Nigerians to vote fior an Igbo President.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that Dokpesi through a statement on Monday, noted that the emergence of an Igbo President might precipitate the country’s break-up, citing separatist agitation by Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East.

However, the Chairman, Council of Igbo Elders, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, in an interview with The PUNCH, pointed out that there were agitations for separation across the regions today.

He further berated Dokpesi’s ‘unfortunate’ statement, noting that the Ndigbo has always supported a united Nigeria.

Read also: Northern elders advise northerners to leave South-East

“What he said is just like somebody who says if you give the presidency to somebody from North-East or North-West that the people will break away because Boko Haram want to break away from Nigeria.

“Boko Haram has even conquered part of those places and occupied some local governments. There is no local government in South-East where you have everybody saying this is Biafra apart from the protest which stemmed from injustice and unfair treatment of Igbos in Nigeria.

“The truth is that there is a problem all over the country, North-East and North-West you have the problem of Boko Haram and ISWAP and they have even come up in the Middle-Belt.

“In the South-West, we have Oduduwa groups; in the South-East, we have pro-Biafra groups; South-South too have people agitating.

“So, the truth is that all patriotic Nigerians should come together, and do whatever we can to unite Nigeria, and you don’t do that by discriminating against any tribe,” the council noted.

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