From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
A group, Peace In South East Project (PISE-P), said disgruntled politicians in the South East geo-political zone are using the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to malign the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.
PISE-P, in a statement by its media team, said its work cannot be complete without advocacy for the release of detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
IPOB, in a statement by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, had accused the deputy speaker of allegedly working against the release of Kanu. The group also alleged that the recent launch of the PISE-P was intended to “douse” the love of Ndigbo for the IPOB leader.
Nevertheless, PISE-P noted that “while the governors and the traditional rulers are fighting to reduce violence, they are seeking relevance by using IPOB. IPOB is seeking peace, but they want to push them to be killed like flies.
“We are aware that these fabrications are not from IPOB, but disgruntled enemies of our peace, who position themselves as leaders, are sponsoring fear in Igbo land; but, this time, they will face the law.”
The group added: “There is no gainsaying the fact that PISE-P, an advocate of non kinetic approach towards resolving the security challenges and other sociological issues in the southeastern geopolitical hemisphere, is a success and is on course with its objectives.
“Against this backdrop, some elements, unarguably driven by envy and vile, are invidiously concocting stories aimed at casting aspersions on the office and the person of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, who is the convener of PISE-P, blackmailing, maligning and assassinating his character before the right thinking members of the public.
“Those stories sound very infantile to any saner mind. They must have emanated from the figment of the imagination of the tellers. And out of ill-will too. They are unreasonable and unfounded. And it can only come from some ignoble minds who are working against the gains of the PISE-P. Maybe, they are happy seeing the blood of their kith and kin flowing on the streets of South East.
“That will never happen again. PISE-P is unrelenting in its advocacy to restore peace in the region without any loss of life. But, it must be said that we know those shooting this arrow of discord. We know their antics. A strong warning is, hereby, issued to them to desist from trading the peace of south east and the freedom of Nnamdi Kanu.”