Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state has placed a ban on a planned meeting of some Igbo residents in the Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state over fears that such a meeting could spark fresh unrest in the area.
The meeting by a group known as the United Igbo community is scheduled to be held at Oyigbo on Saturday, April 10, 2021.
Wike in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim directed security agencies to ensure that the said meeting does not hold to forestall a breakdown of law and order in the area.
Oyigbo LGA which shares boundary with Abia state is considered a stronghold of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Wike had in October 2020 declared a 24-hour curfew in Oyigbo after a police station and other facilities were attacked by hoodlums.
The governor claimed that Rivers won’t allow troublemakers to take the law into their own hands and use the protest period to commit anarchy.
Wike also declared a N50 million bounty on a leader of the pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra in the state, Stanley Mgbere.
Wike accused Mgbere of “leading members of the banned IPOB to cause the recent violence and destruction of lives and property in Oyigbo Local Government Area (of the state).”