I Cannot Condemn IPOB’s Militants Arm, ESN, What Everyone Needs Is Dialogue – Peter Obi

ESN is the paramilitary organization of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, says that the agitations for Biafra is a product of bad leadership, while promising to adopt dialogue to deal with the issues, if elected president in the 2023 general elections.

 

Obi, who spoke at a presidential town hall series “The Candidates”, on Monday, said he could not speak nor condemn the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the South-East because he was not certain about their activities.

 

ESN is the paramilitary organization of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a pro-Biafra separatist movement. It was set-up to address the insecurity in the South East as a result of the failure of the state security system to protect the local communities in the South East.

 

While he maintained that security of lives and properties of Nigerians is the topmost agenda of his administration if elected, Obi categorically stated there was nothing wrong with agitations.

 

According to him, “Everywhere in the country is full of agitation. It is the effect of leadership failure. There is nothing wrong with agitation. You dialogue and discuss with everybody.

 

“The first of our seven-point agenda is to ensure the security of the lives and properties of Nigerians. This is by ensuring that there is equity, justice, and doing things following rule of law.”

 

“I can’t condemn ESN, because I am not sure who is doing what. You can only condemn people when there’s a process in which they have said this person has done something,” he said.