While the Nigerian politicians especially the old and feeble are busy clamoring for the position in the forth coming elections, the Igbos are clearly not in the mood nor happy that their leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who without no doubt was brutally and lawfully brought back to Nigeria and detained is still in confines.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Thursday, called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to release the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.
The group also called on the president to release all Igbo youth in detention over the agitation for Biafra.
Ohanaeze President General, George Obiozor, made the call in his opening address at its meeting held at the Ohanaeze National Secretariat in Enugu.
The call came as Mr Buhari arrived neighbouring Ebonyi State for a two-day
working visit.
While expressing optimism that the Igbo nation would come out stronger from its current turmoil, Mr Obiozor said that Ndigbo seek healing, national unity, and progress on a platform of justice, equity, fairness and a sense of belonging in Nigeria.
He said such will start from the release of Igbo youth detained in various cells across the country without trial.
Reacting to the current security situation pervading the region, the Ohanaeze PG said each geo-political zone has its own peculiarity.
He said:“The advent of insecurity in the South-east is both bizarre and dramatic. The South-east had been adjudged the most serene and peaceful zone in Nigeria until April 5, 2021, when gunmen attacked the correctional facility in Owerri, Imo State and freed a total of 1,844 prison inmates.
“Since the April 5 episode, insecurity in the South-east has attained an unprecedented unbearable crescendo. In condemning the spate of violence in the South East, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide also called attention to the strategic capacity of the local non-state actors to overwhelm a highly fortified correction centre and discharge a total of 1,844 inmates without any arrest.”
2023
On the 2023 general election, Mr Obiozor urged Igbos wherever they reside in Nigeria to ensure that they acquire their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
“In this connection, I call on the Association of South-east Town Unions, traditional rulers, the leadership of Ndigbo in Diaspora, religious bodies, market associations and all other groups to take this message very seriously. It is a task that must be undertaken,” he stated.
The Ohanaeze President-General said no politician of South-east extraction should accept to be running mate to any presidential candidate in 2023.
He said the clamour for an Igbo to be elected president of Nigeria is justified and a project to which every Igbo must commit.
“All the double dealings about zoning and rotation of power are orchestrated conspiracy to deprive the south-east of the right to produce the president,” he said.
“I encourage all the presidential aspirants from the zone to remain focused, tenacious and optimistic.”
He explained that the Political Action Committee (PAC) of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo would meet eminent Nigerians to persuade them on why a politician from the South-east should be elected as president of Nigeria.
Mr Obiozor also lamented the effects of the sit-at-home observed on Mondays in the region, saying the South-east is recording huge losses.
“Ndigbo has tried severally (several times) to persuade the youth to realise the consequences of their actions,’’ he added
South-east leaders at the meeting include Mbazuluike Amaechi, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Nnia Nwodo, Chris Anyanwu, Enwo Igariwey, Victor Umeh, Peter Umeadi andFred Eze, among others.