Ikpeazu: There Are Igbo In Sambisa Forest

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has said there are Igbo people living in Sambisa Forest, in Borno State, northeast Nigeria.

The Sambisa forest, especially the mountainous region of Gwoza near the Cameroon border, is used as shelter by the jihadist Boko Haram group and is believed to be where they keep the hostages from the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in April 2014.

Ikpeazu made the shocking disclosure on Tuesday while speaking to State House correspondents shortly after a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the recent security challenges in Abia State at Aso Rock.

The governor said there are more Igbo living outside the south-east than those resident in the region, popularly known as Igbo-land.

According to him, the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) put the lives of south-easterners at risk but the action of government brought about peace.

“I want to announce that the population of Igbo outside the Igbo enclave is about 11.6 million; you don’t play with the lives of 11.6 million people,” he said.

“We all have to be careful, the press, the leadership at the state level and at the federal level, everybody. We are still working on stabilising and sustaining the fragile peace that we enjoy now.

“I swore with the Bible to protect lives and property; because I take such oath very seriously, I will continue to protect the lives and property of our brothers and sisters irrespective of where they come from.

“I do not see how, as an Igbo man, boxing myself into a smaller geographic entity will help the cause of the most widely travelled people in Nigeria.

“There are Igbo in Sambisa (forest); what are you expecting of them if I narrow their geography of coverage.

“But agitation, marginalisation and infrastructure deficiencies, these are issues which are germane and they can be discussed, spoken about and addressed.”