Don’t resort to armed-struggle, Ohanaeze begs IPOB
The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has appealed to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), to rescind its threat to resort to armed self-defence following the latest killing of its members by security agents.
The National President of Ohanaeze Youth CounÂcil (OYC), Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, who made the appeal in Umuahia during an interÂview with The AUTHORITY on Sunday, said the unwarrantÂed attacks on Biafran agitators by security agents were a ploy by âthe enemies of Ndigboâ to provoke them to reprisal.
He said some elements in the security circles had been lookÂing for excuses to turn the South East zone into another theatre of war as currently witnessed in the North East, but pleaded with IPOB and other agitators to resist the temptation.
âIPOB and all Biafran agitaÂtors should know that some persons in the corridors of power are looking for the slightÂest opportunity to unleash horÂror on our people.
âThe continued mindless killÂing of unarmed Biafran agitators is nothing but a ploy by the archiÂtects of Igbo problems to lure the agitators into violence, and tag them as terrorists to justify any military actionâ, Isiguzoro said.
The OYC leader who strongly condemned the spate of killings of Biafran activists on peaceful protests, also cautioned against the grave implications of supÂpressing peopleâs freedom of exÂpression in a democracy.
He also renewed OYCâs apÂpeal to President Muhammadu Buhari, to proffer a political soluÂtion to the primary cause of the wave of protests in South Eastern states by releasing the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
âBuhari should release NnamÂdi Kanu to Igbo leaders and that will put an end to the tension in the country over his continued detentionâ, Isiguzoro said.
He argued that, âthe continued detention of Biafran activists at a time when hundreds of susÂpected Boko Haram fighters are being routinely released by the same security agencies raises a lot of questions.
âIt boggles the mind to reflect that just on Friday, the army freed about 275 suspected Boko Haram members while on the other hand, Nnamdi Kanu and other Biafran agitators who have never taken up arms against the state are still languishing in jail even when a court has ordered their releaseâ.
Isiguzoro further called on the Federal Government to imÂmediately address the causes of the renewed agitation for BiafÂran secession such as systemÂatic marginalisation of Ndigbo in the power equation of Nigeria and infrastructural decay in the South East.
He however said that OYC in collaboration with Igbo leaders would continue to intensify efÂforts towards releasing Kanu and other detained Biafran agitators.
