A video shared online shows the moment Cardinal Francis Arinze was speaking to some IPOB members in Rome after they asked him to convince Pope to support Biafra.
Cardinal Arinze is from Anambra state in Nigeria.
In the video, some IPOB members could be seen standing with the Nigerian Cardinal in a building in Rome while making their request.
However, Cardinal Arinze, 88, was not on the same page with them as regards secession and he made this known.
“It is those who did not see the civil war who are talking ‘Biafra, Biafra’. They have no idea,” Cardinal Arinze told the IPOB members.
The Cardinal added that citizens being separated is “not the mandate Christ gave to the Bishops.”
He encouraged the IPOB members to join politics instead and bring about the change they want to see in Nigeria.
He said: “It is for people like you. You get into politics and work hard with others.”
Cardinal Arinze was one of the principal advisors to Pope John Paul II. He was also considered a possible candidate to be elected Catholic Pope before the 2005 papal conclave, which elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Watch Video:
The last part of the video pic.twitter.com/SKcc07LfC1
— Waheed Alabede – Gaskiya Tafi Kobo (@wFalabede) June 2, 2021
