Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia state, says the proscription of the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the south-east helped in averting what could have been the greatest bloodbath in history.

Ikpeazu said this on Sunday when he visited the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state to sympathise with reporters over the attack by soldiers.

Some of the troops deployed in the state had invaded the NUJ secretariat, descending on some of the union members they met.

Appealing to the union over the incident, the governor described it as part of the hazards of the profession.

He said the lives of “over 11 million” Igbo people scattered across northern states would have been endangered if the crisis in the south-east had gone out of hand.

“God has intervened in what could have been the greatest bloodbath in the history of the whole world,” he said.

“What could have been a holocaust has been averted.

“If the face-off had continued, the attendant reprisal attacks would have led to massive bloodbath.”

To the journalists, he said, “Though you didn’t deserve what happened, it is part of the hazards of the (journalism) profession.”

He commended the army for demonstrating “rare humility” by apologising for the invasion of NUJ press centre and restoring the damaged items.

Ikpeazu regretted that the security situation in Abia has attracted negative attention to the state at a time his administration is putting made in Aba products on the global stage and concluding plans to establish three industrial parks in the state.