• Ohanaeze youths set regional security agenda for governors
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Igbo Lawyers Association (ILA) and the Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in the Diaspora have asked President Bola Tinubu to release the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, unconditionally as a new year gift to the Igbo.
This is as the leadership of the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo called on South East governors to work closely with the youths to restore peace and security in the region.
The lawyers also called on the president to correct the anomalies and wrongs done to people of the zone by carrying them along in his administration.
ILA Coordinator, Victor Onweremadu, in an interview, expressed worry over the seeming military occupation of Igboland with hundreds of checkpoints, where they harass innocent citizens including travellers, in the name of fighting insecurity in the region.
“Since he came into office, President Tinubu has not shown any sign of carrying the Igbo along in his administration, despite our population and contributions to nationhood in Nigeria.
“We do not have people in leadership positions, at top levels, of the Federal Government and I believe he should carry everybody along and not just a segment of the society, as it is presently.
“There is a total blockade of roads in the entire South East in the name of fighting insecurity. Every road in Igboland is covered by myriads of checkpoints, with soldiers harassing motorists and innocent travellers,” the Igbo lawyers said.
For Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in Diaspora, an umbrella body of women of Igbo origin from the seven Igbo speaking states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Imo and Rivers, the best gift the president could give the Igbo is granting freedom to Kanu.
President General of the group, Lolo Kate Ezeofor, said: “Umuada Igbo Nigeria and in Diaspora has written a letter on November 7, 2023 to President Tinubu for the release of Kanu, our son, from Department of State Services custody.”
Meanwhile, acting National Youth Leader, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chukwuma Okpala Ezeukwu, said rehabilitation, reformation and reintegration of agitators in the South East, will de-escalate insecurity in the region.
The group urged the governors to invest in facilities that will bring the youths out of the bush.
“In this new year, we need all hands-on-deck, especially a youth-to-youth approach to curb the insecurity and put it under check. It is not news that majority of our youths in the bush are not there out of their own will, they were sacked from their homes by state actors who acted in response to the guerrilla attacks of the non-state actors and the fact they are there and their face have been seen, they cannot come out again even when they want to come out.
“On that note, we are proposing for a platform for effective engagement for reintegration of our youths back into the society as an effective panacea to solving the insecurity problem in the South East,” the Ohanaeze youths said.