Biafra Zionist appointment 'is a distraction' (Exclusive)

Former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi has dismissed the declaration of an independent Biafran country by the Biafra Zionist Federation (BZF) that named him as Foreign Minister, labelling it as a distraction.

On Monday, July 31, 2017, the Biafran group's self-appointed President of Biafra, Benjamin Onwuka, announced that Biafra's secession from Nigeria will take effect from August 1, 2017 to mark their independence.

He went ahead to announce several key interim government positions, that included Prof. Utomi as Foreign Minister.

In an exclusive phone chat with Pulse Nigeria, Prof. Utomi laughed when asked for his reaction to the appointment before calling the act a distraction from real issues in the country.

According to him, "There are so many distractions in this country. Please, let's focus on important things."

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While making the announcement yesterday, Onwuka declared, "I am the President of Biafra; we have formed an interim government that will be in place till the next 30 days.

"The interim government will take off tomorrow, August 1 and last till August 31, 2017, that is 30 days.

Other people that he named in the interim government include: Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, as the Governor of the Central Bank of Biafra, Prof. Jerry Gana as Minister of Transport, Labaran Maku as Minister of Aviation, and Mrs. Aruma Oteh as Minister of Finance.

Others are: Amarachi Ubani as Minister of Information, Chief Nnia Nwodo as Ambassador to the United States of America (USA), Mrs. Mary Okafor as Minister of Trade and Industry, Benny Lar as Secretary to the Government of the Republic, Gabriel Oluwole Osagie as Minister of Education, Prof Barth Nnaji as Minister of Energy, and Philip Effiong Jnr. as Minister of Health.