The Enugu State Government has warned the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, against the planned disruption of ongoing West African Examination Council, WAEC, examination on May 30.
This was contained in a statement by the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Aka Eze Aka, on Wednesday in Enugu.
Aka said there was no room for IPOB illegal activities in the state and urged the residents and students to go about their exams and normal activities on May 30, assuring them of adequate security.
He said the state government noted with deep concern the statement credited to IPOB directing WAEC to postpone the General Mathematics (Theory and Objectives) examinations scheduled for May 30, the day IPOB designated as “Biafra Heroes Day.”
He said, “We note with particular concern IPOB’s statement that “WAEC board should not endanger the lives of students because the day is not safe for any individual in Biafra territory.
“This is unacceptable to us, not only because of the well-known position of the Enugu State Government on illegal sit-at-home orders, which have dealt a great blow on the socio-economic life and fortunes of the SouthEast region.
“But it is also because of the far-reaching consequences of a whole generation of Enugu children failing to sit for a fundamental subject such as Mathematics in one year,” Aka said.
The commissioner stressed that Igbos excel on the wings of industry, education and human capital development, saying that any pronouncement or action that tends to deny the children their rights to education, which is their ticket to the future, was offensive.
He said the Igbo founding fathers and fallen heroes, who must be turning in their graves, would be wondering what could have happened to Igbos as a people.
“Many of the architects of such an unjust and evil agenda live in the comfort of civilized societies where they go to work and their children go to school every workday.
“The Enugu State Government recognises the sacrifices of our gallant forebears, who gave their all, including their lives, to defend Igboland.
“But we also recognise that they died that we may not just have life, but to have the best of it, which can only come from developing our human capital to be able to excel in all that we do as individuals and collectively as a people.
“The government will not sit by and watch the future of our children aborted by such ill-conceived pronouncement intended to keep them at home.
“WAEC, as the name implies, is a regional body not just in Nigeria, but across West Africa.
“The subregion will certainly not wait for us,” he said.