LAGOS: All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, has cautioned activist and politician Omoyele Sowore against leading a planned protest in Abuja on October 20, aimed at demanding the release of detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
In a post shared via his Instagram page, Igbokwe issued what he described as a “final warning, urging Sowore to distance himself completely from issues relating to the South-East and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
According to Igbokwe, Kanu’s separatist campaign had caused significant destruction across the South-East, leaving deep scars that would take decades to heal.
Omoyele Sowore says he is marching to Aso Rock to protest against the detention of the butcher of the South-East called Nnamdi Kanu.
I have told him as a friend to run 440 away from that matter because it is bigger than him, Igbokwe wrote.
The APC stalwart, who hails from Nnewi in Anambra State, accused the IPOB leader of turning the region into a killing field through a movement he described as a senseless and destructive enterprise s
Nnamdi Kanu’s men turned the South-East into a place of anything goes a land where life became nasty, brutish and short. It was a useless project that dragged the Igbo nation back by 50 years, he said.
Igbokwe, who serves as a special adviser to the Lagos State government, added that he personally suffered losses as a result of attacks allegedly carried out by IPOB loyalists.
He urged Sowore to conduct proper research before joining any campaign calling for Kanu’s release, warning that the movement had already claimed many lives and disrupted peace in the region.
Go to Nnewi and see my home. Speak to people before you join this senseless mission. The road leads nowhere. I have done my duty,” he stated.
Igbokwe also cautioned individuals from other parts of the country not to interfere in the matter, saying the agitation had become “a regional tragedy” that should not be romanticised or politicised.
If you are from the South-West, South-South, North-Central, North-East, or North-West, ignore Kanu and the reckless interloper called Sowore. This Aluta Continua adventure is no longer relevant, he wrote.
The comments have since sparked mixed reactions online, with many Nigerians on social media divided over Igbokwe’s remarks.
While some supported his position, describing it as a realistic warning about the dangers of reigniting agitation-related unrest, others accused him of betraying his ethnic roots and exploiting the situation for political gain.
Sowore, a former presidential candidate and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, has yet to respond publicly to Igbokwe’s comments.
His planned protest, according to earlier posts, is intended to draw attention to what he calls the unjust detention of Nnamdi Kanu and other political prisoners in Nigeria.