‘We are in South-South. You lack authority to give orders in Rivers,’ Wike tells IPOB

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) lacks the power to direct the people of the state.

Wike, who stated this when he featured on Channels Television’s programme, “Politics Today,” was reacting to the sit-at-home directive issued to people of South-East by the proscribed group.

The group issued the sit-at-home directive in honour of the people that died in the country’s three years civil war of 1967 to 1970.

The governor reminded the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, that Rivers State belongs to South-South unlike Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, that are located in the South-East.

He said: “With all due respect, I have said it before and I will continue to say it: IPOB cannot make an order to say sit at home in Rivers State because it (IPOB) does not exist in Rivers State. Rivers State is South-South; we are in (the) Niger Delta.

READ ALSO: Asari-Dokubo, IPOB, secessionist groups have no business in Rivers —Wike

“I am not saying whether the people of the South-East should obey IPOB or not but they cannot give order to Rivers people to sit at home. It is not possible.”

However, Wike said he was not against activities of IPOB in the South-East, noting that the group has a right over its people.

The governor added: “I am not against IPOB’s activities in the South-East; they have a right to whatever they are doing with their people but as far as Rivers State is concerned, you cannot give an order when we are not part of what you are doing. It does not work.”

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