Why I support pro-Biafra agitators – Archbishop Chukwuma

Archbishop of the Ecclesi­astical Province of Enu­gu (Anglican Church), Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, has de­clared his support for pro-Biafra agitators, saying no one can stop the ongoing struggle for justice and equity by the Ndigbo through the agitators.

He said that the struggle was not aimed at the break-up of Nige­ria, but a quest for the correction of the maltreatment of the Igbo by successive administrations in the country.
The eminent cleric lamented that the plight of Igbo had become worse under the President Mu­hammadu Buhari administration.

In an interview with The Authority, Dr. Chukwuma, whose province covers Enugu and Ebonyi States, asserted that none of the appointments made by Pres­ident Buhari from the South-East zone has the power to fix the Sec­ond Niger Bridge and Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.

He stated that Ndigbo were yet to have a presence in Buhari’s ad­ministration and urged the Feder­al Government to release detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu to douse tension in the South East and other parts of the country.

Archbishop Chukwuma de­clared his support for Biafra agi­tators to fight for their rights and equitable distribution of Nigeria’s wealth.

The cleric said: “So, what we are agitating for is our right and equity and I support that and we shall fight to the end. The unwar­ranted detention of Nnamdi Kanu after the court has declared that he has no case to answer is another thing that is heating up the polity which, I think is not fair.

“The earlier they (the Federal Government) releases Kanu to douse tension, the better for Ni­geria. The government should be ready for dialogue because we are not operating in a military dicta­torship. So, the President should be careful of dictatorship. It will not help this country. We should be more democratic than autocrat­ic if this country is going to move forward. Any government that is not ready for criticisms is not ready for progress. But I believe and hope that people should criticise con­structively and the government should be ready to accept it.”

Archbishop Chukwuma continued: “Agitation is not bad but it has to be redirected and guided to put it in a better shape because the Biafra we talked about during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War is not the type of Biafra we have now. Many of them who talk about Biafra to­day were not born then to know what the Biafra was.

“We fought and lost the war; we lost properties and lost human beings. Nobody is calling for war now. The only thing we want is for the government to listen to us and give us what belongs to us. The re­ality of keeping Nigeria one is a task that must be done and if we fought the war to keep Nigeria one, what then is our benefit? The Biafra of the moment is saying give us our due; the government is being told to remember us as far as federal presence is concerned.

“Again, I often say that appointment of individuals into posi­tions of authority does not translate into infrastructural development of the people in the area. Appointing individuals as ministers has noth­ing to do with infrastructural de­velopment. What we are saying is that we need the Federal Govern­ment’s presence. For example, how many of the people he said he ap­pointed have the capacity and capa­bility to repair the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, the 2nd Niger Bridge, among others. Even the water­ways at Onitsha, nothing is hap­pening there. It is a white elephant project because no single ship has ever berthed there. So, one can say there is so much deceit. The Fed­eral Government has not made its presence felt in Igboland,” he said.