Chairman of Air Peace Airline, Chief Allen Onyema says he did not call agitators for secession in the South-West and South-East geopolitical zones cowards as reported in some sections of the media.
He said this while reacting to a report in a national daily headlined, “Onyema Blasts Secessionists as Cowards”.
Recall that the national daily quoted the businessman as stating this Thursday in Lagos at the 25th League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) conference.
He was quoted to have described the agitators as cowards that could flee the nation at any slight opportunity.
Onyema said that the report was a misrepresentation of facts.
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According to him, the headline was sensationalised despite being different from the body of the story.
This, he said, made it possible for blogs to twist the story to mean that he was referring to IPOB, Yoruba Nation and other secessionist groups.
“I never called IPOB or anybo“So, I’m not here to condemn IPOB or to praise them, neither am I here to praise Sunday Igboho nor to condemn him. I’m also not here to condemn Arewa group or to praise them.
“What I always preach to everybody, be it Arewa, Yoruba nation or IPOB or any group at that matter, is peace.
“It is not in my character to condemn people. All I’m preaching is let peace be given a chance. Government should address those issues they were complaining about.
“What I preached in that forum was peace and for people to eschew violence. Yes, IPOB, Yoruba nation or Arewa have their reasons for doing whatever they are doing. So, we shouldn’t go into bickering or into outright condemnation. All we should do is to look at why they are agitating and try to bring them to discussion table and address the issues. And I believe the country will be better for it at the end of the day.
“I was only encouraging people in every part of the country to eschew violence because those who do violence are cowards.
Those that are cowards are those who do armed robbery, suicide bombing, kidnapping, and banditry amongst other violent crimes because they can’t brace up with their situation and tackle it peacefully.
“So, I never called agitators cowards because not everybody that says I want to secede is violent. I also didn’t use the word IPOB or Yoruba nation or Arewa. Therefore, there is no way I could have called those doing agitation cowards. I didn’t. I only called for peaceful resolution of issues,” Saturday Vanguard quoted him to have said.
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