Utomi, recently appointed into “Biafran cabinet”, says IPOB not a terrorist organisation

A political economist and one-time presidential aspirant in Nigeria, Prof. Pat Utomi, has ventilated his rejection of the recent classification of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by Nigerian government as a terrorist organisation.

He however admitted that the Nnamdi Kanu group might be a nuisance, but that it is not a terrorist organisation.

Utomi, who was along with former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, was announced during the declaration of “Republic of Biafra and its cabinet recently and has been reported by The DEFENDER to have kept mum over his Biafran appointment suggesting his consent, stated this while reacting to the Federal Government’s categorisation at a function at Holy Cross Cathedral in Lagos.

He argued that people have the right to express themselves, stressing: “People have the right to say they’ve been unjustly treated. To take away that right from them is to say you want to enslave them. When you talk about modern slavery, it’s the most grievous violation of human rights in the 21st century.

“I’ve not seen what terror they (IPOB) have committed. They are not, I repeat, quote me anywhere, any day, they are not a terrorist organisation.

“That’s just a political thing.  It doesn’t make sense which way you look at it. It’s just a political thing. You can carve any name, you can be IPOB or ITOT, it’s just a name.”

Utomi however carefully chose his word which saw him not clarifying whether he was also referring to the verdict of the court of competence which ruled that IPOB stands proscribed and as terrorist.

He continued, “Nigeria is going through a necessary and interesting phase of its evolution as a country. I am not one of those unduly worried about the things going on in the country. They are part of the thesis and anti-thesis that will produce synthesis that is a nation.’’

Asked to advise the nation’s leaders, Utomi said: “That we all seek God’s blessings for all, no one is a child of a lesser God. And as those who wrote that piece of play has said, our arms are too short to box with God. I wish peace to all, progress to all, growth of abundance mentality, human charity that leads to accommodation.”

Prof. Pat Utomi was expected to have used the forum to respond to his appointment into the cabinet of “Republic of Biafra” recently but his continued silence has continued to spark speculations that the man who once sought to be President of Nigeria and is a major beneficiary of Nigerian goodwill was only paying lip service to the nation that has given him so much.