Dr. Anthony Obinna, the catholic Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese has opened up on his involvement in the protest organised by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.
The cleric while speaking to Saturday Sun in an interview explained: “what happened on that day was that we were on our way to Anambra State for the burial of one of the Reverend Sisters when we saw members of IPOB and MASSOB and they made way for us to
move on.
“But on our way back near Nkpor, the protesting youths barred us from passing. But after several minutes when the protesting youths would not allow us continue our journey to Owerri, as spiritual leader I had to come out of the vehicle and appealed to them that what they were doing was unnecessary as there are better ways to channel their grievances rather than destroying their own homes.”
He added: “I counseled the protesters that they cannot achieve Biafra through
violence or by killing anybody but through dialogue and that a wise man does not bring
destruction to his homestead. I reminded them that we have already witnessed the unnecessary deaths of some youths including men and women in the cause of the agitation for Biafra.”
The Catholic Archbishop while dissuading the citizens against violence said: “the death of any Nigerian is not good, whether the person is Hausa- Fulani , Yoruba, Igbo or Tiv and should not be tolerated in whatever guise, and so it is incumbent on the leaders of the country to fashion out an amicable solution that will ensure peace and harmony because we have no other country but Nigeria.”