Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has said that politicians are the reason for the security challenges confronting the South-East, not IPOB. He recently revealed that politicians financing cultism across the region are responsible for the lingering South-East crisis.
Speaking on Channels Television’s “Politics Today,” Odinkalu shared that the IPOB issue in the region is exaggerated.
According to him, the habit of attributing every violent or criminal incident in the South-East to IPOB is beyond ridiculous, and the wrong generalization needs to stop.
He stated that while he agrees that IPOB has its issues, blaming the organization for the ongoing Obosi issue in Anambra State couldn’t be further away from the truth.
“Unfortunately, there is an IPOB issue, but the IPOB issue is overblown.
If somebody tells you that Obosi in Anambra State is an IPOB issue, that person is a liar. IPOB cannot survive in Obosi.
The idea that every issue in South-East is an IPOB issue is ridiculous. It’s absolutely not the case,” he said.
Acknowledging the possibility of some overlap between cult groups and IPOB members, Odinkalu stressed that the two issues are distinct.
The lawyer concluded by saying that cultism sponsored by evil politicians is the main problem troubling the South-East region, not IPOB.
“Let me tell you this. The biggest single issue, in security terms, confronting the South-East, in my estimation, based on the work I have done on this, is — I regret to disappoint you — not IPOB. It is cultism financed by politicians.
You don’t have a clue how terrible the problem of cults in the South-East is at this particular time.
Is there a crossover between that and IPOB? Possibly. But cults financed by politicians — that is the biggest single security challenge confronting the South-East at this time,” he added.
