The Southeast Governors’ Forum has refuted reports by an online medium that it had warned the federal government against killing and imprisonment of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The governors condemned the report, describing it as fabricated, false and a figment of the writer’s imagination.
In a statement signed by the Director-General and Director, Media and Communication of the forum, Prof. Simon Ortuanya and Michael Udah respectively, the forum said no such meeting was held in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State as alleged. It noted that the chairman of the forum under whose instance such meeting could be convened was away when the rumor was circulated.
According to the report, all five Southeast governors met in Abakaliki on Wednesday, September 6, 2017. And Engr. Nweze Dave Umahi, the chairman of the forum, addressed the press after the meeting, calling on the federal government to stop the incessant killing, torture and unlawful imprisonment of IPOB members by the military in the region.
“The report further falsely credited His Excellency, Engr. Dave Umahi with the claim that the federal government is maltreating the region, while the military and indeed the Chief of Army Staff have rebuffed all the letters which the South-east governors had written, requesting that the situation be redressed.
“In order to put the records straight, the Southeast Governors’ Forum hereby states as follows: There is no iota of truth in every material particular in the said publication. His Excellency, Engr. Nweze Dave Umahi, , Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum, is currently out of the country and was not even in Ebonyi State on the said Wednesday, September 6, 2017 when the alleged emergency meeting of South-east governors purportedly took place.
“No Southeast governor (or their deputy) attended any meeting, emergency or regular, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on the said Wednesday, September 6, 2017.
“Accordingly, the Southeast governors condemn in the strongest terms, this deliberate falsehood intended to undermine the milestone already recorded in their engagement with IPOB leader, Prince Nnamdi Kanu and the entire leadership of IPOB.
“The Southeast Governors Forum reaffirms its belief in the amicable resolution of all issues especially as it relates to agitations by IPOB.
“Since no such meeting ever held, it follows that the Southeast governors never at any point in time issued any warning to the federal government or its agencies, neither did it write any of its military commands or formations.
“The Southeast Governors’ Forum therefore urges the federal government, its military commands and formations and indeed the general public to disregard in its entirety and totality the said report as it is untrue and unfounded”.
