A threat to life by the Indigenous People of Biafra, has made bishops of the Anglican Church escape from Anambra State.
File photo used only for illustrative purpose
A five-day meeting of the bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) which was peacefully taking place in Awka, Anambra State ended abruptly on Wednesday as the men of God hurriedly left the state.
According to The Punch, this was as a result of the fear that the 170 bishops attending the meeting could be trapped because of the sit-at-home protest declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra to hold on September 23.
The conference was scheduled to end on Friday.
The Primate of the Anglican Communion, Most Revd. Nicolas Okoh, had earlier in the conference expressed fear that the bishops could be trapped in the state should their meeting go on as scheduled.
He had asked the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, to prevail on IPOB members to shelve their Friday protest so that the bishops’ conference could go on.
He said the IPOB sit-at-home protest would hamper their activities and movement.
Okoh implored the pro-Biafran agitators to postpone their action until after the end of the bishops’ conference.
IPOB had threatened that markets, banks and other institutions would be shut down on Friday, while movement would be restricted in the South-East geopolitical zone and beyond as a protest against the continued detention of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government.
“We are not against whatever their agitations are, but we ask them to wait until we leave Awka on Friday.
“If they go on to carry out that protest, we may be trapped in Anambra as the Niger Bridge is the only exit from Anambra State.
“So, help us beg them to allow us to go,” the Primate enjoined Obiano.
A delegate who would not want to be named told our correspondent that, “there was no assurance that we were protected. We are human, so we had to put our heads together and decided to cut short the conference.
“That’s the most ideal thing to do in the circumstance.
“I will leave this evening (Wednesday) and most others will do same. Those who can’t make it today will do so early tomorrow (Thursday). There is no need waiting, it doesn’t make sense.”