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Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
Biafran war veterans have berated the five governors in the South-East geo-political zone and other politicians for abandoning them, despite their sacrifices and protection of the zone during the 30-month civil war.
They threatened a showdown with the governors, lawmakers and other well- positioned politicians from the zone and their political parties for abandoning them to their fate.
The veterans, who spoke during the flag-off of a political movement, People’s Restoration Movement (PRM) in Awka, the Anambra State capital, lamented that political leaders of the zone neither thought it wise to rehabilitate them nor liaise with the Federal government towards implementation of the three “Rs” promised after the war.
Spokesperson of the war veterans, Major General Emmanuel Onwuegbuna (rtd) noted that “Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the then military head of state and government, had declared that there was no victor and no vanquish in the 30-month old Nigerian-Biafran civil war.
“The Federal government also announced the three R programmes namely, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reintegration. But none of these have been implemented till date.”
They accused the Federal government of busy giving preferential treatment to their counterparts on Nigerian side of the war as against their earlier agreement, while the South-East leaders abandoned them at Oji River where most of them had died of hunger and penury.
The veterans, therefore, vowed to mobilise against the leaders of the geopolitical zone for excluding them from the governance, and for not caring for them.
Onwuegbuna described as appalling, that the people they fought for including their children that ought to consider their plights abandoned them on getting to power.
He said: “We demand that all the state governors, lawmakers and other political leaders in the zone come together to rehabilitate us. We fought for them to live. But instead of them to reciprocate the kind gesture by providing us with welfare packages including medical care and shelter, they abandoned us to our fate.
“If after this event we don’t hear from them, we will mobilise our members all over the world to stop them from attaining any political positions. Those coming for a second term would be frustrated from winning the election.
“Those contesting for other positions both at the state and national assembly will fail. We will rather support those who can carter for our needs. We have started gathering data of our members. All of us will join force with People’s Restoration Movement (PRM) to vote out any government or political party in power at any level that is against us.”
