By Gladys Ekwu
A cross section of women in Onitsha, the commercial hub of South East Nigeria have expressed their opinion over the voice messages making the round, telling Igbo indigenes in other parts of the country to return home before Monday May 31, 2021.
Some of the women who spoke to Emerald News said that the voice messages have led to the Igbos living in the East to start panicking and calling their family members residing in the North, West and middle belt areas to start returning home.
The calls, Emerald News learnt, have succeeded in creating more tension amidst other problems in the South Eastern states of Nigeria.
A trader at a popular coke market in Onitsha, Mrs. Josephine Nwaiwu, said that though she was in support of Biafra Republic, she would want it to materialise at the appropriate time and under peaceful conditions.
Mrs. Nwaiwu who said that she was born during the Nigeria civil war, added that her parents narrated to her the untold hardship the Igbos passed through during the years of war.
She advised the canvassers of Biafra Republic to allow God fight their battle at the right time so that there will not be unnecessary destruction of lives and property in the course of radical crave for freedom.
Also, Deaconess Angela Umeh, a trader at Relief Market, Onitsha, said that the voice messages by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were wrong as they have caused people jiltering and alerting their loved ones of the looming danger.
Deaconess Umeh, however, advised the IPOB to shun their decision of ‘Monday sit at home’, adding that many have lost their lives in the past during such in the South East.
“I admonish those calling for war to have a rethink and desist from such as when it comes, they will not see mouth to talk what their eyes see.
‘I am in support of Biafra Republic but not through shedding of innocent blood. Yes I know that we have been marginalized right from the onset but the way we are going about it is more disastrous.
“I experienced the civil war when the Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu of m blessed memories championed it in the East but all his efforts were futile”.
Mrs. Umeh, however, advised Nnamdi Kanu and his boys to tread with caution and let everybody continue to pray to God to make Biafra dream a reality.
Other women who responded to Emerald News interview were of the opinion that Biafra Republic might not emerge through this way.
Some of them cried out how horrible those that experienced the 1967 to 1970 civil war felt, while saying that they do not want their children to see it.
The women advised the Biafra crusaders to mellow down and sue for peace now that the nation is facing chronic insecurity problem.
The women warned the Biafran supporters not to endanger their lives on Monday May 31, 2021 as the police and soldiers have prepared to deal with any group that will make a case for Biafra come that day.
The women in large numbers told Emerald News that they all wanted the emergence of Biafra, but not through destruction of lives and property.
Emerald News, however, gathered that many women in the Eastern states believe that one day, Biafra Republic will emerge.
But the question is this ‘ if we eventually succeed in our quest to have Biafra Republic, will the leadership do the needful to favour its citizenry now that corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of almost every Nigeria?
