A South-East group, the Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA, has demanded the immediate release of the new coordinator of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, George Onyeibe.
The IPOB had earlier accused the Department of State Services, DSS of arresting Onyeibe. However, the DSS is yet to make statement on the matter.
In a press release on Monday, signed by Chief Mrs. Maria Okwor, the Deputy Leader and Rev. Fr John Odey, the Publicity Secretary, the ECA said if Onyeibe was not released forthwith, South-East residents would pour out into the street in protest.
The statement read in part: “Just, last weekend, Mazi George Onyeibe, National Coordinator of IPOB was arrested in his home in Rivers State, by men suspected to be, officers of the DSS.
“This is the second time National Coordinator of the IPOB would be arrested without provocation, June last year, Chidiebere Onwudiwe was seized and detained, bogus charges slammed on him, as part of the failed plot to criminalize the group, in order to continue the brutal oppression and suppression of self determination activists from Eastern Nigeria. All aimed at forcing the failed unitary structure down the throat of two hundred million Nigerians.
“This wrong strategy of clamping down on a peaceful and non-violent self-determination group have always back fired. Catalans in Spain, Scotts in the UK and Quebec Separatists in Canada are not hounded and detained.”
The group added that “within Eighteen months, the Fed. Govt. has turned the IPOB, from a fringe, largely unknown group to the mainstream and clearly the most popular group in the country today, with sympathies flowing towards the group, from hitherto ambivalent elite in the land today.
“The ECA demands a disclosure as to why George Onyeibe was arrested two days ago and we accordingly demand his immediate unconditional release.
“The entire Eastern region is miffed, at the clearly childish strategy of the authorities, which in turn only earns the IPOB wider sympathy from the general public.
“We remind the F.G. for the umpteenth time, that the resolution of the loss of faith in Nigeria, as presently constituted lies in dialogue not in an untidy attempt to intimidate the activists through arrests and detention.
“The F.G. we hope, should not be surprised when people will pour into the street to demand the immediate release of Onyeibe and co.
“We conclude, by calling on the international community to demand the immediate release of Onyeibe and other self determination activists arrested and detained and their rights denied by the security agencies.”
