The Concerned Igbo Stakeholders Forum has urged the Federal Government to explore optionsof dialogue to solve South-East agitation and restore lasting peace in the region.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Spokesman of the Forum, Mr Chukwuma Okenwa, on Wednesday in Enugu while reacting to the recently launched “Exercise Golden Dawn“ meant for the South-East by the Nigerian Army.
The statement said that what the region earnestly needed was dialogue and not a military exercise or action.
According to the statement, the Federal Government and other stakeholders in the Nigerian project should consider dialoguing with the South-East.
It said: “We should learn from history and go for the better option of winning back the hearts of the citizens in South Eastern Nigeria.
“For the records, what we have in the South-East is agitation and not insurgency and as such the right thing would be to assuage the legitimate grievances of the region.
“How do you beat a child and expect the child not to cry?”
It also noted that from recent history it had been clearly known that insecurity became a concern in the South-East after “Operation Python Dance”.
“Why will the Federal Government follow the same ill-advised path when the current situation in the South-East is within the capacity of what the Nigeria Police can handle?
“This idea of preferring the military above the police in matters of civil unrest is simply creating pockets of war situation for which the military is designed to engage with.
“The result is that a nation at war continually with itself does not have the capacity to make reasonable progress,” the statement said.
It alleged that the lack of critical Federal Government intervention, the exclusion of the region in key appointments and the conspiracy not to mainstream an Igbo man to complete the cycle of the Presidency, “all confirms that the marginalisation is real”.
The statement called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to ensure it produces the embattled leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in court on Oct. 21.
“Should the DSS failed to present him for a fair trial on the said date, it will confirm our fears that certain individuals are trying to use the cloak of governance to fuel violence in the South-East.
“Mazi Nnamdi Kanu should be presumed as innocent until otherwise proven by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“Let it be on record that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu did not jump bail, but rather his home in Afara Ukwu in Abia was invaded and led to diverse casualties, including the loss of his parents,” it said.
It called on South-East governors to wake up from their slumber and stand up for the people who voted for them.