Emmanuel Masha The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Onueze CJ Okocha, has dismissed the report that Rivers State is at war with Igbo people of South-East.
Okocha, who stated this while reacting to the curfew imposed on the Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state by the government, however, noted that Governor Nyesom Wike imposed the curfew based on the advice of the State Security Council. He said that the move was constitutional and done in good faith, even as he described the Oyigbo incident, where members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) killed no fewer than 10 security operatives, leading to imposition of curfew in the area as unfortunate. The former NBA chair said: “Our relationship is very cordial; it is only these political boundaries of states of the federation that tends to divide the people.
The Igbo people control 50 to 60 per cent of commercial activities in Rivers State. I have many of them as my friends. “I wonder why anybody will raise this banner of ethnic jingoism. We have never had Rivers State people have problems with the Igbo.
Most of us, including myself, my mother came from Onitsha, which is one major kingdom in Igboland.” Okocha, who also noted that many Igbo people have been appointed to serve in the state as commissioners, special advisers and heads of ministries of government under Governor Wike, wondered why some people would claim that Igbo people were hated by the state.
